Southern Living Yankee

A Red-Bellied Woodpecker was hanging on my little window feeder this morning! Photo by Roy W. Knight, on Wikipedia  

We often see a house finch. To me he looks like a sparrow tinted with a washed out red. Photo by Kevin Cole on Wikipedia

A little gray bird landed in the crepe myrtle tree right outside my kitchen window. I'd never noticed a bird like this one before. It's so tiny! The bird book picture looks like this one from Wikipedia,  and says it's a Blue-gray gnatcatcher. Well, have at it, little bird. Stay here and eat all the bugs you can! Shortly after spotting the gnatcatcher  I heard the humming, and then I saw the flash of that ruby throat. Make that TWO flashes! At about 5:00 this afternoon TWO male hummingbirds buzzed the feeder that's been waiting for them. YAY! They're baaaack. 

In February I bought this bird feeder, two of them. The squirrels knocked down the first one and it broke. (I bought it on clearance at WalMart, 75 cents, no big deal). I put the next one up where I thought they couldn't get it. But, no.... they got it all right. Dragged it off to the woods and did unspeakable things to it. Elmer enjoys the flying food show. He could see the bird feeder hanging in the tree (before the squirrels got it, darn squirrels). And now he watches the birds in the window feeder and lets me know when the squirrels are close by getting really agitated. That's my boy, Elmer! Fang 'em!  I'm so proud of this picture! My camera's focus is automatic and it shot this one perfectly. These are chipping sparrows. I never realized there were so many different kinds of sparrows. They all looked alike to me, but now I'm beginning to tell them apart. These are probably the easiest to recognize with their auburn cap and the black line through t...

We have a lot of these--The Tufted Titmouse. They are the cutest little things. Dark-eyed Junco. I don't know why I think this one belongs up North. I wonder if it will migrate soon. Carolina Chickadee I started feeding birds in February and have been meaning to log the different ones I've identified---not that I've seen any unusual birds---but rather because down here in South Carolina everything's still unusual to me. Plus, this will help me remember their names. Of course everyone knows what a Cardinal looks like. Today I saw three in one tree, two males and one female. The males are trying to outdo each other with their singing.  This little cutie is the Chipping Sparrow I've seen others, too, but I'll post them later. I'll have to do this with butterflies too. I can't believe they're out already. Today I saw the state butterfly of South Carolina---do all states have a state butterfly? Its news to me! How about loo...

Another one for my collection of cat videos! I picture Elmer as Henri 2--this French film is his expose'. (Thanks, Steve!)