More Backyard Birds Enjoying my Bird Kitchen

DADDY CARDINAL FEEDING HIS BABY

Today is September 11th... This is a sad day for our country since we lost so many of our hard-working citizens in 2001 due to a Terrorist Attack.   SO--whatever you are doing and wherever you are now,  take a moment  of silence to remember those families--and to pray for our country.

Hopefully,  even though it is a sad day,  my post today will put a smile on your face.  My last Bird Blog was just about our Bluebirds.   SO today I'll show you many of the other birds which come to my Bird Kitchen. All of these photos were taken this summer.

The picture above shows a molting Daddy Cardinal feeding one of his babies.  We have several 'babies' around now --and it is so much fun to watch them.  The Baby Cardinals are as large as their parents ---but are still learning how to eat.  I love hearing the Cardinals since the babies just tingle all over --making the sound of a little tiny bell.

Be sure to click on the photos for enlargements.

DOWNY WOODPECKER

You will notice through these photos that many of my birds love the new suet I buy.  Woodpeckers have always enjoyed suet --but now,  other birds love it also.   This new kind is called "Peanut Delight" and is a no melt suet dough... It smells just like peanut butter... I get it at Walmart --and the birds love it.

FEMALE HOUSE FINCH

MALE HOUSE FINCHES at the BIRD BATH

I have two birdbaths ---and the birds enjoy both of them.

TUFTED TITMOUSE

Birds that I ALWAYS have at the feeders (Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Carolina Chickadees) will eat most anything I put out there.  BUT--until now,  the Tufted Titmice never ate the suet.  Now they LOVE it.

MALE AND FEMALE MOURNING DOVES

The male is the one on the right... He has a blueish area on his head.  The females are mostly brown... These big birds think they OWN the plate feeder.  They will get on the plate and just sit there for a long time (until I 'encourage' them to move on).... ha

RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER

This bird  (along with the Pileated Woodpeckers) squawk and make alot of noise when coming to the feeders... I'm not sure why they do it --other than to let the other birds know that they are coming (and to get out of the way).... ha

MALE GOLDFINCH (molting)

Here is one of our pretty little male Goldfinches... They are so pretty in spring and summer ---but like the Cardinals,  they molt --and look rather bedraggled these days.

CAROLINA WREN

This little bird is the best singer we have in our neighborhood.  To be so tiny,  he can really belt out a song!!!!!!  They also never used to eat the suet---but love it now!!!!

PILEATED WOODPECKER

Our biggest woodpecker is the Pileated Woodpecker.  They can really eat the suet.... I love this photo since he is getting his daily exercise at the same time that he is eating.  He's a multi-tasker for sure!!!!!!! ha ha

WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH

I was hoping to capture this guy with a big peanut in his mouth--but missed that photo.... They are at the feeders off and on all day long!!!!!  They are busy little guys!

BLUE JAY

Here  is one of our many Blue Jays --who come and go at the plate feeder,  as long as the peanuts last!!!!! 

BLURRY TUFTED TITMOUSE

I apologize for this photo... I was SICK that it was blurry ---but decided to show it to you anyhow since it made me laugh.   This is a TUFTED TITMOUSE actually carrying a big peanut.... I wondered how he could get it in his mouth --but it must have had a small piece of stem on the end.... SO CUTE....  The little birds usually don't bother the peanuts since they can't get them in their mouths....

RED-HEADED WOODPECKER

Here is one of the prettiest of all of the woodpeckers.  I can't tell the male from the female --but they have been around here most of the summer.

JUVENILE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER

Finally,  here is my FAVORITE bird of the month!  I enjoy seeing all of the babies of the different birds we have ---but until now,  had not seen any baby Red-Headed Woodpeckers...  Isn't he adorable?  Soon--he will have the bright red head and black and white colors like his parents have...

JUVENILE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER

I wanted to show you one more photo of the Baby Red-Headed at the suet feeder.  The lighting was not very good --but you can see his underneath side... I love the way that woodpeckers use their tails to help with balancing... The Pileated Woodpeckers do the same thing.  He is a Cutie ---and managed to work his way to get some suet...  Hope he comes back!!!

Hope you enjoyed seeing more of my Backyard Birds today... If you don't feed the birds,  you should.... They bring me so much pleasure!!!!   We also have 3 hummingbird feeders --and have had more hummingbirds the past month than we had all summer.  BUT--I have yet to get a photo this year... I'll keep trying.

Now--hop over to my Photo Blog (click HERE) to see a special photo that I took...

Have a great day.
Hugs,

Emoticons

Day Trip to the SMOKIES (9/5/13)

SUNRISE on Sept. 5, 2013

I enjoyed my week off from blogging SO much --even though I missed each of you.  I did try to read some of your posts during the week but didn't do much commenting.  I've been working on Family History most of the week with three exceptions.

First,  on Friday,  August 30,   we met another blog friend and her hubby.  Nellie and Gene (photo below) were headed to Nashville to visit their daughter.  SO--we met them (where else) at Cracker Barrel here in Crossville for lunch... Nellie has been a great blog friend for awhile,  but this is the first time we have met in person.  Twas WONDERFUL!!!!! You can see Nellie's blog (Berries and More) by clicking HERE.

On Labor Day (Sept 2),  we drove to Ashland City (near Nashville) to visit with George's daughter and hubby --who have just moved to the Nashville area.  We had a great day with them and are thrilled to have them closer to us (from Buffalo--where they lived before).

Then on Thursday,  Sept. 5,  we got up before dawn,  took our car to Knoxville to the Toyota place for her maintenance.  After that we headed to the SMOKIES for the day.  We first did some hiking in the Tremont Area (on the Middle Prong Trail).   It was a great hike and we saw SEVERAL waterfalls along the way.  After that,  we drove on the Foothills Parkway stopping at the overlooks for more photo opportunities.  We finished the day by having dinner at one of our favorite places,  the Texas Roadhouse.  It was a fabulous day ---and we had over FOUR miles on our pedometers!

Today I will talk more about the Smokies Trip. Be sure to click on all photos for enlargements.   Above is a picture of the SUNRISE we saw while we were driving from our home toward Knoxville. 

US at LOWER LYNN CAMP FALLS

The picture above is a favorite of mine since it is 'different' from most of our photos together with the tripod.  I told George that you all are seeing our BEST side.. ha ha ...We are enjoying one of several waterfalls,  Lower Lynn Camp Falls.

George taking a photo of Lower Lynn Camp Falls

George hiked down a STEEP hill in order to get some better photos of Lower Lynn Camp Falls.   Can you see him down there??????  (I took this photo from the bench on top.)

LOWER LYNN CAMP FALLS

Here is one of George's photos taken from the bottom!!!

One of SEVERAL cascades between Lynn Camp Falls and Lower Lynn Camp Falls

We both hiked down to the bottom of several of these cascades to get photos of the falls.  Here's a cute picture of George taking photos at this waterfall.

Top of Lynn Camp Falls

Lynn Camp Falls is in layers. I took this photo from the TOP of that waterfall...

After the wonderful hike,  we stopped at several overlooks along Middle Prong for more photos.  Again,  we enjoyed seeing several beautiful cascades.  This is a photo of us sitting near one of those cascades.

See that little flower in the lower right corner in the previous photo????   This little beauty was growing down there near the water --and it was all alone!!!!  Isn't it pretty?  (UPDATE:  a blog friend said that this is a Cardinal Flower.)

Beautiful Smoky Mountains!!!

After leaving the Tremont area,  we drove along the Foothills Parkway.   Have I told you how much we love our PRIUS?  We are averaging about 55 mpg in that car!  Awesome!   AND--have I told you how much we love the SMOKIES?  We want to return to this area after the leaves change colors.

Dogwood leaves changing colors

Speaking of FALL,   I did manage to get some photos showing some of the indications that Fall is coming... Above is one showing the changes in the Dogwood leaves.

I love the colors in these leaves. They seem to turn a very very deep purple...  I think this is one of the many types of MAPLES.

Finally,  here is a neat photo I got while looking up at the top of this tree ---showing some color changes near the top.  Can you tell that AUTUMN is on the way?????   I get so excited this time of year --just like I do in Spring.

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Here's a photo of my blog friend,  Nellie and her hubby,  Gene...  WONDERFUL people!!!!!  I'm so blessed to have met them both.

Hope you had a good week...   Be sure and catch me up on anything important which I may have missed last week...  Have a fabulous Monday.

Hugs,

Emoticons