Thursday, October 24, 2013

The blue robbin

I stepped out on the front porch to await my son's arrival and was astonished to see what looked incredibly like a blue robin. It flew from our stair railing to that of our neighbors', as I admired its bright colors and marveled at how much it looked like a robin.

As the school bus growled to a stop on the corner, a half-dozen of the birds flew across our yards and up into the trees. My friend joined them.

I greeted Sam with the news of the "blue robin." Upon consulting the bird book, I read about the sialia sialis or Eastern bluebird. Sharing openly my naiveté at "birding," it was my first sighting.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Latest resident

Ever since we had seven skunks living under our shed four summers ago, I always like to know who moved in during the winter before I start frequenting our backyard. I wasn't ready for this surprise. The fox was sunning himself on the deck before I disrupted his reverie with my photo-taking. He's kind of cute, though I'm glad we don't keep chickens.