It's a Spooky Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Donny!

Yes six years old already. When I asked him what theme he wanted for his birthday this year he told me "Halloween of course". Okay so it is August but the end of August and close enough for Halloween where I can just leave the decorations up until then anyway. Why not. Hey it is a birthday do what you want on your Birthday. It only comes once a year so why not!

So about a month ahead of time we started preparing and decorating the inside of the house with Halloween décor. Donny also decided he wanted to be a Pumpkin for Halloween and his Birthday. Perfect I just happen to have that pattern already. A little alterations to make the pattern bigger and we are good.

I wanted to make it fun for Donny so I decided to make the food Halloweeny too. I did some Mummy Dogs, Apple Teeth, Veggie Skeleton, Olive Snakes, and of course some fall cheese cut outs. Now you know I hand carved each one......NOT. Good thing for cutters.

Oh and I had to add some Dry ice to make it all come together. I am pretty proud of myself actually.

 The kids got here all in their costumes, Pirate, Cowboy, Cat girl, and my Pumpkin. We even had Donny's favorite cake "Coffee Cake" from Pure Bliss here in Oregon City. (Great Pastries and desserts). They even put a "friendly skeleton" on the cake just as I requested.

 

We did get a Pinata too. I ordered a Pumpkin one but it didn't get here quite in time so a star will do. :)

Everyone had fun and we had one HAPPY  BIRTHDAY BOY!!

Love you Donny!

 

 

Tribute to our Hummer

Tribute to our Hummer!

As I had mentioned in my last post, our hummer returned. I think he brought some new friends with him too. Not only have we seen our Rednecked Anna's Hummingbird but we have seen some others. Probably females or even maybe young birds.

The one with the black neck eating I think really is red neck. They have iridescent feathers that make it look black from some angles and then red when the light hits it right. The bottom right I think is actually a Anna's female as she has the little patch on her throat. She is very dainty and cute. Anna's Hummingbirds tend to stay in this area year round. I know we have had them all year (minus a month or so when they were hanging out over at the nature preserve).
Our Hummer aka Twister (yes we name our birds don't you?) is very relaxed in our yard and he definitely treats it as his home. He has many feeding options. Our man made feeders, the great variety of flowers (we have Coral bells and Crocosmia)

 

They also love the water fountain and it also makes me laugh to watch the splash and play in the water. The other day he was actually clinging to the side of it. I assume that he was getting a good belly wash.

 

 

 

Our hummers tend to be rather selfish sometimes we have noticed. We have seen them chase each other off from the feeders, sit in the tree's and chirp at us to go away, and occasionally chase other birds. This last time this particular hummer was pretty brave I think. He actually went up to the seed bird feeder and was telling those birds to go away or maybe he thought he would try some sunflower seeds I am not sure. But I never saw that before and I was quite amused.

 

 

 

Little hummer you always keep us entertained and that is why my friend this post is for you! 

 

 

 

 

Change in season, change in visitors

Welcome back friends to the third edition of the "Backyard Birding Adventures". I realize I have been in cognito for awhile, but never fear your bird watching, camera clicking, exciting friend is here.

So exciting news since my last post......wait for it......I GOT MORE BIRDS hehehe. Yes our first little friend here is the lovely chickadee...chick chick chickadee. They are so adorable and I just love the little tweets they make. They even decided to check out a few of our bird houses. First they checked out the yellow one in back. Apparently the price was out of their range or the location wasn't to their fancy. They then tried the worn  but very cozy Bed and Breakfast that was in closer proximity to the food. They are so sneaky. They would swoop in and land in the Crab Apple tree with a big wad of what looked like a cotton ball, and just sit there very still. They would wait....look... and swoosh into the bird house put down their nesting materials sneak back to the opening peek out and swoosh they were gone again. All three of us watched with excitement. We were going to have cute baby CHICKADEES! 

 

Well that is what we thought anyway. Apparently the neighborhood got a little busy for them.

 

First came the darling American Gold Finch. Gorgeous, absolutely stunning. Well he brought his girlfriend and then came the House finch with his girlfriend ( I think, could just be a friend) and then we have on the top right I think a sparrow??? Donny and I aren't quite sure yet. The bottom right probably is the female gold finch (saying "what you looking at") or it could be the lesser gold finch. Donny thinks it is the Lesser. Lesser in color but definitely not beauty. One time, obviously when I was not looking or else I would have a picture, Don and Donny say a flock of at least five baby Gold Finches. At least that is what I have been told.

And then there is the Blue Scrub Jay. The Scrub Jay found our Suet feeder that our little chickadee and tit mice loved so much. He found out how good it was and decided to keep coming back on a very regular basis. Then the nerve he brought a group of black birds to share it too. Well those big bully's must of scared out the rest of the neighbor hood in our backyard because the poor little Bed and Breakfast has been pretty quiet for quite some time. Poor Chickadees....come back.

 

We enjoyed seeing the pretty blue on the Scrub Jay so we kept putting Suet out for a bit. Every now and then our friend the Flicker (see previous post) would stop by. I think most of the time he is over at Ann's house tapping on her Chimney cap hahahaha.

 

Finally I said enough and decided to get back our little friends instead of just the Scrub Jay and Black birds. I took down the Suet (for now) and so far the finches still come back. I think I did see a chickadee in a tree the other day but it flew off to quick to tell. I am still waiting for our little friend to come back. Chick Chick Chickadee come back!!!

 

We did get our Hummer back though. He disappeared for a month or so. We thought for sure the cats got him. Donny said he told them to do it (remember Donny doesn't like the Hummer, he gets to much attention lol). To our surprise he showed back up. YAY.

 

We finished the front yard to with Bird bath and all. So hopefully they will come enjoy that area as well.

See little Chickadee we have room for everyone..... They'll be back I know it.

So it is now June almost July. I promise to make my next post more frequent than every 3 months.

Until then friends, get out there and bird watch and explore! Ta Ta 



Part II of New Bird Friends

Okay so today I have to tell you about a more recent event. I believe it was last week, but I am still just as excited as if it happened this morning. Don, Donny and I were down stairs enjoying our morning coffee and milk and had the windows open wide for a clear view of the bird feeders. First thing in the morning we have a group of Oregon Dark Eyed Juncos visit. There is usually a group of 10-12. They visit us all through out the day, but always seem to be the first ones to the feeders in the morning.
So as we are sitting there all of the sudden this huge bird (compared to the others) is on the feeder. I almost scream with excitement as I hustle to get my camera and tell Donny to look out the window.Don and Donny grab the bird identification book and go to work right away. What could it be? After the bird flew away and I was able to calm down (hehe) we identified it as the "Northern Flicker Woodpecker". Luckily for us we don't have any trees in our yard that are big enough for him/her to make holes in. Wow what a pretty bird. Has yellowish/orange underside that you see as they fly. Love the markings. Since then this bird has been back in the mornings to eat the suet and then perches on top of our neighbors house. It usually has a buddy with it with looks like a black bird (still to be identified). 

Northern Flicker

But wait friends that is not all. Again we were sitting there and all of the sudden (again) we look and see a fat Robin and a little bird with red on it. "AAAHG, where is my camera" I say in panic. Another bird visitor for our book. "Donny, what is it?" (side note...he loves birds, well most, and is super good at identifying them). 

Okay so we got a Robin and we think the other is a Purple Finch or a Pine Grosbeak. Although the book states the Pine Grosbeak is more in Washington, but hey he could of flew to our yard. Stranger things have happened. Cool....click...click...click.. (that is me going crazy with the camera).

Then if that wasn't enough another bird flies in that we have not seen in our backyard before. WOW unbelieveable!!! SO EXCITED (can you tell I have plenty of coffee in the morning).

Varied Thrush

This little guy we identified as a Varied Thrush. Beautiful coloring so bright and vibrant. Love it!!

So we are chatting amongst our selves watching these birds still in awe when Don looks over to our bubbler or water fountain and notices our little Hummer flying in for a bath. Guess what I caught it on camera too!!! So cute! I love our little Hummer!

WOW what an exciting morning. I almost get just as excited just telling you about it. hehe. I never thought I would get into birding but man once you start looking you notice how awesome and amazing these birds are. Just like flowers all the different varieties, what can I say I love gardens and almost everything that comes to visit. 

Until my next writing adventure......Have a great day....and go look out your window for some birds!

~Em

Welcome Birdy Friends (and non birdy friends :) )

Since we moved out to Oregon City over three years ago I have gotten a bigger yard, which means ....THE MORE I CAN DO WITH IT. I love to garden, flowers, veggies, you name it. I have made some changes to our yard over the last three years mainly because the soil is clay and well.....holds tons of water and doesn't appear to like grass for very long.

Before

After

So out with the old and in with the new and by golly NO MORE GRASS. We transformed the back yard into a Bird loving haven not to mention one my family and I love tons. I am really looking forward to this Spring and Summer so we can experience the full array of colors these plants have to offer. 

Our first main guest that I that we have seen is the Anna's Hummingbird. We have a Male that has been like a pet almost. He has claimed his territory as his own and then started attracting the females. Over the winter we have had three Hummers total. The male, who we named "Twister" and two females.

Needless to say our two neighbor cats have been very entertained as they try to figure out a way to get them. But No worries I have air cans that scare off the cats if they get to close. Plus those little birds are pretty smart and super fast.

That is all I am able to blogg at the moment but stayed tuned as we have seen a lot more birds now that Spring is just around the corner...and I got pictures to prove it. EXCITING!!!!!

Backyard Birding Adventures