Baby Robin

As I have been working in the garden this Spring, I kept hearing baby birds chirping loudly from time to time, when the Mama bird brought them food. I followed the sounds and found three fat baby Robins, in a hedge of trees that borders our property. They were so big, they barely fit in the nest anymore. I intended to take a photo, but forgot about it....and when I went back a few days later, the baby birds were gone from the nest. :-( As I walked back to the house, I heard chirping.... and gazing into the hedge, spotted this baby robin sitting on a limb.

I love how it still has a tuft of downy feather on it's sweet little head!

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" Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God." Psalm 84:3

The Promise of Spring

The signs of Spring seem to be coming forth early this year!

A maple tree's buds are swelling with life...against the backdrop of a bright blue sky.

A container of Pansy's, stored in the greenhouse over the winter, is blooming!

Mr. Robin....singing from the highest branches of a budding Poplar tree.




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"For, lo, the winter is past; The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come..."
Song of Solomon 2:11-12

A Not-So-Pleasant Pheasant Sighting

The male pheasant is a beautiful and colorful bird, and we often enjoy watching them on the hillside near our house. I've tried without success to get a photo of them, because they are so cautious and scare very easily. So I was quite surprised to look out the window a couple mornings ago and see one in my flower bed!

I have a a bird feeder hanging on a tree branch above this bed and apparently some seed had fallen unto the ground. This rooster and two hens were just a-scratching away there! They did damage to some newly emerging tulip bulbs I planted there last fall. You can see some of the broken foliage in this zoomed shot, just to the right of Mr. Pheasant. (A side note: These particular flower beds are formed with natural basalt rock we have here in GREAT abundance. I guess you could say we are taking advantage of our natural resources.)

Here, Mr. Pheasant has sensed my presence in the window, and is standing at attention, ready to take flight. The females had wisely disappeared by now. I'm glad to have at least gotten a photo of this elusive creature, and I don't think the tulips are so badly damaged as to not bloom, though they may be a little raggedy. In the mean time, I will be moving the bird feeder, to hopefully avoid this happening again. The Ringneck Pheasant is named for the white ring around it's neck, but I confess I may have had some other impulses regarding the term ring neck. (Ha) On a happier note....if you click to enlarge the photo, you can see some soon-to-bloom daffodils, to the left of the fencepost.

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A few Pheasant Facts :

* Roosters will range in weight from 3.5 to 4 lbs

* Hens will range in weight from 2 to 2.5 lbs

* A typical rooster accumulates a harem of three to seven hens

* After hatching, pheasant chicks immediately begin growing flight feathers, and are capable of short flights at 2 weeks

* Pheasants do not migrate, they stay relatively local all year long

* On flat ground, a ringneck pheasant can run at speeds of 8-10mph

* Pheasants can fly up to 48mph

* Pheasants main predators include: Fox, Raccoon and Skunk (as chicks) and Man, Fox, Hawks and Owls

* Pheasants eat berries, seeds, young shoots and insects and prefer open country with
brushy cover

* Through most of the growing season, pheasants can survive on the moisture they
consume in insects and the morning dew on vegetation

* During the summer, insects comprise considerably more of the chick's diet and weed seeds
more of the adult's diet

* Pheasants are in the Phasianidae family and are cousins of Quail and Partridge

* The spring ratio of hens to roosters is usually about 3:1

* 30% annual survival rate and only 2-3% of population lives to age 3, whether they're hunted or not

* Pheasants, a native to China, were brought across the Pacific in 1881 by Judge Owen Nickerson Denny in an initial batch of 30 (with 26 surviving the journey)

Signs of Spring

With March well under way, there are changes going on the garden. Slowly, but surely.... signs of life are re-appearing.


Daffodils emerging, with their flower buds already intact.

Same daffodils, a week later under an inch of snow! Yup... it's March, and anything can happen. Fortunately, the snow melted very quickly, in this case.

Forsythia branches, being forced on the windowsill.....

.....it's first yellow blossoms opening in the sun.

Garden clean-up begins in earnest, with the first ritual of Spring.... the pruning of my Simplicity rose hedge. This was a stealth shot by my dear husband. :-)

And lastly, a robin... looking for worms.


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"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world."

Virgil A. Kraft

Coneflower Birdfeeder

I always leave the dried seed-heads in my front flower garden as Winter food for the birds. A favorite of the birds is Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) seeds.

Here a Junco sits on the Coneflower head, searching for seed.

Mission accomplished. If you look carefully you can see the seed in the bird's mouth. (Click photo to enlarge) Even with the birds eating the seeds, plenty seem to fall to the ground to start new plants.

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God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.

~J.G. Holland

Feeding the Finches

With all the snow on the ground, the birds have had slim pickin's lately, so we purchased a big bag of wild bird seed to supplement their lean diet. We've had lots of Juncos, Chickadees, Quail, and even some Wild turkeys that stop by each day. But the day we put out the seed was the first day the House Finches appeared. How did they know?



This male House Finch sits near the top of our Blue Spruce Christmas tree, which we left in the stand and placed outdoors, near our front door. I threw bird seed on and around it, and was soon rewarded with many birds to watch. I love the House Finches, both their temperament and that little touch of red that makes them so pretty.

This one is sampling a dish of birdseed....while completely ignoring the yummy Cherry suet treat just behind him, in the feeder.

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"Behold the birds of the air; for they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them....." Matthew 6:26




Poor indeed is the garden in which birds find no homes.

~Abram L. Urban