Feathered Visitors

Peekaboo Macro Monday

Is it any wonder my windows stay dirty? She's on the window directly above my sewing machine.  I guess she wanted to see the quilt I was working on.

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign MckLinky. :) MM started on Sept 29, 2008 - THANX to all of you for helping make it such a fun start to the week!

finch egg

The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it. ~ Arnold H. Glasgow

~ You can see the explanation behind this project by going here or see the all posts in this category by going here.



The little finch egg didn't hatch, we assume it had something to do with the tiny hole in it.





I think it would take a lot of them to get full.

House Finches

I really wish my little House Finch family would move back in. I miss watching them.

Macro Monday ~ Hatchling

Exciting things happening here over the weekend! I had to share that our eggs are hatching and the House Finch couple are parents to 3 so far. I am working on a longer post of their journey thus far that will be immediately below this one, but I had to take advantage of this neat experience for a Macro Monday.  He's still attached to his little egg, maybe an hour hatched.

I cropped in a little too far in this one, but I was hoping to enable you to really him.

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign MckLinky. :) MM started on Sept 29, 2008 - Thanx to all of you for helping make it such a fun start to the week!

A boy and a girl start a family

One day this puffy boy "stalked" this girl. . .

She was preoccupied making a nice home for herself near the grocery store, so she didn't notice him right away. Finally he grabbed her by the top feathers and flew her into the bushes. {The bird feeder in the background fell a few days ago - Eek!}

Shortly thereafter she returned to her house building project. She decided it wouldn't be bad to have a little muscle help, so she allowed him to assist.

It wasn't long at all before she decided that she would like a little family to enjoy her new house. So she coaxed the boy back into the bushes and when they returned she popped out an egg. . .

. . .then there were two. . .

. . .then there were four. Proud as she could be she sought approval from the Big Orb in the Window.

Once the eggs were laid, she frequently called out to the boy to bring her food, and an occasional bit of chocolate. The sad thing is, although the boy worked very hard on the house, and he catered to her every need, he was not allowed to sleep in the house.

She sat, and she sat, and she sat some more. Occasionally she remembered there was a grocery store all around her house and would lazily graze while sitting. Occasionally she would go for a fly with her beau, but most of the time, she sat and waited.

Exactly 2 weeks after the first egg landed in the house, a baby broke out of the egg and began demanding food.

It was the girl's time to fly and fly and cater to someone's needs. However, the boy loved her so very much he was more than willing to share her load. She once again inquired of the Orb in the Window, hoping to please him.

Sometimes, when the babies slept and all was quiet, the boy and the girl would sneak back off into the bushes.

Suddenly there were three, soon to be four, more mouths to feed.

The End (for now)

Sidenote: I have noticed that my venetian blinds are reflecting in the window and will try to remedy that for the next photos. Dang! It's kinda hard flying blind, lol. I love that I can leave the camera there, but it's difficult making sure it's pointed in the proper place and not so easy to adjust without disturbing the clan. I'm happy for the remote and tripod in this situation but boy I want to be able to move around them without the glass between us and all these new challenges to overcome.

Hatching

We have one baby bird so far! I have taken many photos but am too pooped to share tonight, will try to get them up tomorrow and hopefully more babies too! :0)

Patience

Patience was never my strong suit. Cancer changed that too. I used to stress and worry and want things done yesterday. But they can't take the tumor out the second they find it, there's always more tests to do and a game plan to come up with. Chemo is not done in one huge dose, but over a period of time. And remission is waiting for the next check up to make sure the cancer's still gone. Yep, cancer taught me patience.  I have become an expert at waiting, and while I wait I busy my mind with anything I can find.

Our little Finch mama should be having her eggs hatch any day.  She also is full of patience.  Sitting and waiting, turning the eggs, stretching her wings and returning to wait some more.

~ You can see the explanation behind this project by going here or see the all posts in this category by going here. ~

I have put the 50D on the tripod about an inch from the window, the fisheye lens (which isn't so fishy on a cropped sensor) poking through the venetian blinds. I attached the remote trigger and just occasionally poke the button to see what's going on.  She's pretty curious about the lens, but it doesn't seem to bother her too much, she just looks at it a lot.

Sometimes she gets too close and the camera won't focus. I had to blindly pull the tripod away from the window a little until it would focus.  She is turning the eggs here. It's important to turn them every few hours or the baby bird won't develop.  Can't wait to see babies!

Say a little prayer that the suction cups keep holding.  The bird feeder I had on the window next to this one fell off a few days ago.  This has happened before and has been my biggest fear for these babies.

Voluntary Pets

Very soon my parents will be here. It will be the first time they have visited in the summer, the last time they were here was 3 1/2 years ago, for Tristan's birth. This time they are coming for Mikal's wedding.

They'll be bringing their dogs with them, but I can't help but wonder how their voluntary pets will fair while they are gone.

Who will feed the birds?

Let's all say a little prayer that they will manage while their caretakers are away, especially this little blind finch.

Hosted by Cecilyand Lisa

Rainy Day

Everybody needs a little help sometime.  Although, why the female house finch needs the male to bring her food, when she built her nest in a bird feeder, beats me.  Day 5 and she has laid 4 eggs so far.

~ You can see the explanation behind this project by going here or see the all posts in this category by going here. ~

Bottoms up!

Each round of testing brings huge agitation.  I fret and worry and am unbearable to live with in the days prior to the tests, and if there's a waiting time for results I'm just as bad.  However, the test I have tomorrow ~ the dreaded colonoscopy ~ gives results right away.   That doesn't stop me from being extremely jittery, hyper, moody, unable to think, easy to tears and somewhat cranky today though.  Bottoms up!
~ You can see the explanation behind this project by going here or see the all posts in this category by going here. ~

As a bonus I wanted to share that the finch laid another egg. From the research I did it appears that she'll be laying one a day until she has 4-6 eggs, they will incubate about 14 days and leave the nest a couple of weeks after that. Very cool!