What's Happening in our Yard this week????

First, let me say that our Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are still here. AND---the females are here also now. A birder friend told me that they are migrating and will stay a couple of weeks before heading north. In the meantime, I'm enjoying seeing them at our feeders off and on all day!!!! The picture above is of the female Grosbeak. I think she looks like a HUGE Sparrow ---with that big white eyebrow!!!!! (Excuse the window screen in the picture.) Below are many more pictures of things going on in our yard!







Is that male Grosbeak sticking out his tongue at me?????? ha ha







Another picture of the female.. She has that same huge beak as the male. But--except for the beak, they are very different--one from the other.







I had a couple of pictures with both male and female at the feeders. AND--I had a picture of FOUR males at the feeder together... Unfortunately, I was using my small camera from inside---and the window screen came out so bright that it almost covered up the birds totally. I was so mad!!!! Oh Well!!!! I have enjoyed seeing the Grosbeaks so much!!!







Also in our yard yesterday was our first (of many) IRISES... Isn't she pretty???? Her name is Honey Glazed Iris.









Another first for us this week is one of our beautiful Azalea blooms. We have about 7 Azalea bushes --and this color is always one of my favorites.







Here's one more picture of this pretty Azalea. This bush is in our back yard ---in front of our deck.







I absolutely love Pansies. They usually do well in our area. We purchase them in the Fall (about 60 plants) and put them all over our yard to add color through the winter. Most years, our Pansies make it through the winter--and live until June or July --when it gets hot outside. However, this past winter was consistently colder than most.. SO--we did lose many of our Pansies. BUT--we probably have about 20 left..AND--it's still nice to watch these pansies bloom and add color in our yard. Below are three more of our pretty Pansies.







I love this deep wine color, don't you?









I love this one also... Pansies are all just so pretty I think!!!









These are so unique-looking... I love them!!!









And last but no least, these are the first two Bluebird eggs in our nestbox in the back yard. Bluebirds add one egg a day until they get to five. Mama incubates the eggs for about 12-15 days. Once the baby birds (fledglings) hatch --it takes another 12 days before they get big enough to leave the nest.

I'm SO SO SO SO excited. It was the bluebirds nesting in our back yard last Summer (July) that got me interested in birding... I've certainly learned alot about many, many birds since last July.... Yeah -Rah!!!!


Hugs,