Warm Days

We have had a great week here with lots of sunshine and temps in the 70s. We even reached 80 degrees yesterday and today! The trees are all sprouting now, bulbs and perennials are popping up everywhere and the butterflies are back! I have seen several small purple Spring Azures for the past two weeks and today I saw an orange Question Mark butterfly in the front yard (photo at left). I never could get a good photo of it as it was never still for longer than a couple of seconds. I was glad to see it though. I have spent most days this week working in the garden, cleaning and raking out flower beds, making a new path in the secret garden, putting down fresh mulch, and weeding (yes, the weeds are rampant already!). Here are a few photos taken around the yard over the past week, lots of new flowers blooming every day now.

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Bright yellow Daffodil against a blue sky

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A Robin hopping around in fresh mulch

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Hyacinths in bloom

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Anemone flower

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More Daffodils blooming at edge of woods

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The Forsythia shrubs are so pretty this year. While taking the above photos, I noticed a bright flash of red behind the shrubs. In the third photo, you can see a bright red male Cardinal peeking back at me.

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A closer look at the Cardinal behind the Forsythia shrubs

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Warmer Days

No more snow here, thank goodness. We have had warmer days lately, with temps even up in to the 60s. While so much of the country is buried under deep snow, we have had nothing but rain for the past couple of days. Taking a look around the garden yesterday, I found daffodils and other spring bulbs sprouting, (daffodil sprout in photo at left), a cheerful sight after these past weeks of dreary, cold snowy weather! Bird photos below were taken after the snow in mid-January, other photos taken yesterday, click to enlarge.

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Male Cardinal on Redtip Photinia shrub

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Female Cardinal, Junco, Male Cardinal

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These colorful Heuchera plants, aka Coral Bells, are a welcome sight in the garden this week. Love these plants, they even look good in winter!

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‘Georgia Peach’

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‘Marmalade’

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‘Silver Scrolls’

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Meanwhile, inside the house, I have my shelves and lights set up and am just about ready to start my seeds. I’ll have about ten flats this spring, an assortment of annuals, hopefully ready to set out by sometime in April. I know we have quite a bit of winter left and I have heard that we might even get some more of the white stuff this coming week, but it sure is nice to look through my seed packets and start planning my flower beds now. I think I’m looking forward to spring more this year than I ever have!

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Fledglings

I have seen a lot of baby birds around the yard and feeders lately, including these two cardinals. They are almost as big as the parents, but still seem dependant upon their parents for feeding. In the first photo, the male cardinal feeds one of the fledglings, while the other one looks on. (Photo was taken from a distance without my zoom lens.) I have watched these two big “babies” eating from the feeders on their own, but still they flutter and chirp to be fed by their parents! Click photos to view larger.

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Male cardinal feeding one of the fledglings

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Cardinal fledglings at the feeders

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I have also seen several baby goldfinches this year around my bird feeders. The first one below is on my bird bath, and the others are eating seed from the ground beneath the feeders. Aren’t they cute? (Click here to see a much clearer closeup photo I took a couple of weeks ago of a baby goldfinch.) The parents are often nearby, feeding from the thistle feeder.

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Goldfinch fledgling

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Baby goldfinches and male and female at feeder

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Related posts:
Black and White Warbler
Brown-headed Cowbird
Hummingbirds

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Lots of birds

During the drab gray days of winter I hadn’t had very many opportunities to use my new camera, so I decided to fill the feeders and try and capture some of the many birds here lately. We placed these feeders high on the poles, out of the reach of the cats. It didn’t take long for the birds to begin visiting on and around these feeders. Click on any of the photos to view larger.

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The robins have been here for a couple of weeks now. I’m always happy to see these cheerful signs of spring.

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I love to see these bright little goldfinches. Their yellow color will be much more intense in summer.

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Bright red cardinal on fence near feeder.

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Tufted Titmouse

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Two cardinals, titmouse, junco

      
pine siskin(?), cardinal, junco

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