Flying bandits and Federation Squirrels

One of the rest stops we stopped at in Iowa, on our way home from vacation, had about 20 Cedar Waxwings. Of course, I ran and got my camera and made the guys wait while I admired them. They were a little shy, but still so beautiful! This was the second time in month I got to admire the Waxwings, even though I had never seen them before.

I think they like the berries.

In fact, they get their name from their red wax-like wing tips and because they eat small blueberry-like cones of the cedar.

They’re mostly seen in flocks and will eat insects when berries can’t be found.

I love the splash of yellow on the tips of their tails amongst all their earth toned feathers. And their bandit-like black masks; they’re like tiny flying raccoons.

They are so majestic!

Another little treat at another Iowa rest stop - - - wait, no, I don’t “go” that much, but we were caching and while the guys ran to find the caches I looked for critters. I spotted this curious Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel.

Sometimes people call them striped gophers but they aren’t a gopher.  They're also called Federation Squirrels because the spots and stripes resemble the stars and stripes of the American flag.

Enjoying the Journey

We shot a wedding while we were in Missouri. It was a small, outdoor wedding and it rained like crazy right before, but we got lucky and the clouds cleared away just in time. Then in typical Missouri fashion it was hot and muggy. Above you see the father of the bride and the bride’s daughter.

After shooting Sara and Michael’s wedding (you can see more photos here) we enjoyed the drive back to my parents’. It was a good two hour drive but very scenic.

We found these miniature-people-house birdhouses in a Monett park. Trivia - My son Gage was born in Monett with the help of a midwife but when he was little he liked to tell people he was born in “the airplane park”, this is the same park.

If I were a bird I would want to live in this one. Although all of them have great details.

Stay away from these guys, they hurt bunches! I remember, as a child I scooped a wasp out of my swimming pool not knowing they could even sting when they’re dead. Ow!

We saw a lot of daisies but we also saw a bunch of these tiny versions. The blooms are about the size of a dime, maybe smaller.

We didn’t do much hiking because, well see that path towards the right side of the photo? Uh, yeah, I actually found a weed taller than me! These daisy mixes were about hip high.

But we did take some time to smell some flowers.

We kept seeing purple flowers along the ditches and at first we thought they were water irises but once we got close we saw they were Spiderwort. I just love the whimsy ways of that plant.

One place we stopped I kept hearing splashing in the water and finally got the courage to look. Apparently, even the cows thought it was a hot day.

Serenade me some more

My parents have many birdhouses in their trees and often I get dad a new one for different holidays. So while we were visiting I had to check them out. They had at least one bluebird pair nesting.

Mom was surprised they even used the house that the “slumlord” (mom’s word) hadn’t repaired yet. You see they also have many squirrels and the squirrels do a lot of damage to the houses each year.

Do you recognize this curious little lady? While I had three males in my yard, I never saw a female. But here you have an Indigo Bunting.

And her lovely mate. Don’t you wish he would leave some of his lovely blue feathers behind so you could work them into some craft project?

Mom called a couple of weeks after we left to tell me that the pair had made a happy home in a nearby birdhouse. I wish I could go capture the babies - in photos of course.  She called yesterday just to tell me that she had been sitting on her patio watching the 2 bunting babies feed at her feeder now.  She says they are both blue like their daddy, so I guess they are boys too.  Now I really want to drive back down to snap those babies!

Haden found a nest in an evergreen tree and we peeked (of course), mama flew out and we weren’t sure what she was. But the next day, we found her again.

Haden and I searched and searched for the bird that kept singing crazily (which happened to be the one from the nest the evening before). As Haden described it, this one bird seemed to make all the birds’ sounds. We were pretty puzzled by it.

She looked at me and I looked at her. I promised her a fat juicy worm if she would stay a little longer.

She serenaded me with her sweet lilting voice while I serenaded her with my clicks and my whirs (camera noises not alien ones). I had to refer to my bird book to figure out what kind of bird we had seen. And when I read, “. . .have the largest repertoire of songs of all the North American birds and are able to vocalize 3000 distinct songs.” I knew it was the correct one. The bird that kept me so enamored, as some of you probably already know, was the Brown Thrasher.

According to Whatbird.com, “Some brown thrashers are very good mimics and even sing songs of other species of birds as part of their own songs.” And while their range brings them into Wisconsin, I had to go to Missouri to find one.

hanging out in mom's yard

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

 

My mom has her own colorful flying crayons and she is always blessed with many hummingbirds.

This female brown-headed cowbird stayed perched high on this post.

She called to her feller.

And looked so happy when he showed up.

Out for an evening stroll, this sparrows wittle feet just cracked me. He looks like a wind-up toy.

Maybe he was being forced to walk the plank.

I think they have their eyes on me. I better stand real still for a few minutes.

I guess I’m doing a good job of blending in.

I thought about taking this one home with me. I never have hummingbirds in my yard.

Home is where the heart is

It’s always great to go home. Seeing my parents and grandparents and the time we get to just “hang out” never seems long enough. My parents have a nice huge yard with lots of gardens and wildlife.

Home is not where you live but where they understand you. ~ Christian Morgenstern

The family is a haven in a heartless world. ~ Christopher Lasch

Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts. It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule. ~Frederick W. Robertson

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~ Joyce Brothers

Sometimes our hearts get tangled
And our souls a little off-kilter
Friends and family can set us right
And help guide us back to the light.
~Sera Christann

I found the quotes sprinkled within this post at The Quote Garden.