Sarah made a cake for her parent's 40th wedding anniversary!



They were kind enough to include us in their celebratory dinner.

This morning brings our first rainfall in like 2 weeks. Everything is way too dry and in need of a really good soaking. Perhaps this has persuaded the birds to come out and eat, since it is currently very active at the feeders. After just looking outside for a few minutes, the following birds were all feeding at the same time:

House Finches (about 10-15)
American Goldfinches (2)
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Downy Woodpecker
Black-Capped Chickadee
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

While at the Tin Fish, I was able to get a few photographs of baby Brooklynn. Isn't she cute?



Here's a photograph of her with her dad.

So finally the Hummingbirds are back at the feeders! They are not here in large numbers, but one Hummer is a start. Hopefully more will start feeding here as well.



I happened to be in the right place at the right time. If I hadn't been standing outside with the camera, I would have likely missed this opportunity to capture her.

Now that the Baby Bluebirds have fledged and their nest box is empty, other birds have taken to checking out the space. This Downy Woodpecker seems to really like the Bluebird box, and has been spending a lot of time hanging out on it.



And she found the entrance to the box, where she proceeds to go in and out and in and out repeatedly, oblivious to all activity around her.



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This little guy has been hanging out at the feeders the past few days. He has a bit of orange in his feathers. I've never seen this before in a House Finch. I'm guessing it is because he is near to shedding his summer feathers... or he was just in a paintball competition... and lost.



Here you can see more pronounced orange down his tail feathers.

The Baby Bluebirds are doing quite well so far! All 5 of them look to be healthy and developing nicely.



This one was not shy at all while I was taking a few quick shots today. It's not a good idea though to spend too much time with them while they are this young since they are in constant need of feeding because they are so weak. Also, the parents get very protective of the nest, despite being comfortable with me being around all the time.

He looks a little rough around the edges today, but this Gray Catbird has been a regular visitor to the bird feeders since about July 4th. Okay, so I am a little behind in breaking the good news! Seriously though, he has been at the feeders pretty much every day eating from the blocks of suet.

Perhaps about 10 minutes before I took this photograph of him, I spotted a bird on the ground that, after bouncing around for about 20 seconds, flew off into the trees. I was sort of freaking out trying to identify it from memory (since I was without camera at that moment). I kept thinking I saw it wrong, and that it REALLY WAS the Gray Catbird, but it had a bright red/orange beak. Also, it was of dark plumage. After some memory recall, a beer or two, and a lot of page turning in the many bird books in the house, I deduced it was an immature Northern Cardinal.

Initially, I thought it could very well be a Northern Cardinal, but the darker plumage threw me off. That is more common in immature Cardinals than in the more seasoned ones people are used to seeing in their backyards.

SOOOOO... mystery solved! You can breathe easy now!