Birds of a Feather

I went along for the ride on Randy's excursion to the Stafford golf course Saturday evening. It was too wet to move our last group of cows and calves. We'd been watching the Kentucky Derby coverage for hours, and it was still a hour away. So I set the DVR and decided I could watch it on tape.

Little did I know that everyone would be watching the tape. Over and over and over again. (Maximum Security, who crossed the line first, was ultimately disqualified and Country House became the declared winner.)

It was a beautiful evening at the golf course. Not too hot, not too cold, not too windy. I could hear the windmill in the pasture to the south creaking its usual song, accompanied by bird calls.

Randy pointed out a bluebird as we drove from one hole to the next, but I missed it. He has eagle eyes - pun intended.

A lot of golfers were also enjoying the Stafford course Saturday night. As we waited for Randy's turn to tee off at another hole, he saw another bluebird. And this one stayed posed while I surreptitiously grabbed my camera and got him in my sights.

When mother nature made the bluebird she wished to propitiate both the sky and the earth, so she gave him the color of the one on his back and the hue of the other on his breast.

John Burroughs

Naturalist and essayist

(I'm on a John Burroughs quote kick. I also used his words for my May basket and nest post.)

 

This was an Eastern bluebird. As Randy says, we've both seen more bluebirds this year than we have in our entire lifetimes. In February, a group of Mountain Bluebirds made a stop in the pasture to the south of our house.

The bluebird carries the sky on his back.

Henry David Thoreau

The bluebird wasn't our only bird encounter this weekend. Randy also found an injured baby hawk in one of our farm sheds.

 Randy thinks one of its wings was battered and broken.

This was the same shed where we'd had the nest of robin's eggs a couple of springs ago.

The big old trees that surround our house provide plenty of real estate for birds, but I'm usually not lucky enough to capture them with my camera. So I just enjoy the serenade. These close encounters were a bonus!

Another bonus: We were finally able to move the final group of cattle to the Rattlesnake Pasture on Monday. More on that later, but - spoiler alert - mission accomplished!

Birds of a Feather

Fancy water parks attract lots of visitors as the thermometer tops 100-plus for yet another summer day. We may not have a wave pool or slipper slide, but our backyard water hose attracted a visitor last weekend.

It's so hot and dry that the hawk continued his backyard bath with only a glance over his shoulder as I came out the door to take his photo. I might not be threatening, but the screech and dive-bombing of sparrows had him retreat to the electric line.

It didn't make much sense to me that the big old hawk was scared of some tiny little sparrows. Randy says they were probably protecting their nests and thought the hawk was a threat. So they teamed up to harass the interloper.

But even annoying sparrows couldn't keep him from returning for more enjoyment at the County Line Water Park.

Our yard has been a thoroughfare for a family of turkeys, too. They, however, didn't want to pause for a photo op and scurried away as I returned from a morning walk.

I like the backyard visitors and all. But they can't beat these two for guests at the County Line.

Jill and Kinley - July 22, 2012