Around these parts, one of the most eagerly anticipated portions of the day is late afternoon, when Hydro and Gazelle come to hunt for remnant seeds beneath our feeder. Hydro is so skittish, that until today I wasn’t able to get a good photo. As a side note, you’ll often hear that Seattlites don’t have an accent. Not true. I thought “skittish” was spelled “skiddish”, because that’s how people from the Pacific Northwest pronounce double “t” in the middle of a word. “Seattle” would never be spoken like it looks around here. It comes out “See-addle”. Now you know our secret. Listen for it next time you’re conversing with a Northwesterner. Back to Hydro.

Thankfully, the weather was incredibly warm today and our sliding glass door was open to let in a breeze. Usually the noise of it is what makes Hydro and his momma scurry away. Tonight I managed to noiselessly slide open the screen and get a couple of shots in before the dash from evil me and my clicking lens. Continue reading →

Our baby birdie is all grown up. Hydro flew the nest today for the first time. Just his two little un-hatched sibling eggs remained. Kids these days. They grow up so quickly. One minute they are a tiny egg…then poof, they’re flying in the wild blue yonder. Continue reading →

Happy Monday! A later update than usual because I spent my entire day observing Challenge classes at a local CC community. In a strange twist, one of the classes has an assignment this week to watch birds as part of their Science lesson. More on all that fun in another post. I know you really want the details on our nest happenings. It’s nasty out today and Hydro looks none too pleased about it. Continue reading →

Happy Saturday! Hydro (and the nest) looked a little worse for wear this morning after a mildly blustery night last night. He almost seemed to be shivering, huddled at the back side of the nest. There were bits of nest coming loose everywhere and tufts of his feathers kind of flying around. Continue reading →

Boo-hoo! Hydro is tricky just like his momma. Hiding eggs and making me all excited, then dropping the boom today. No new babies. I’ve officially given up on the other eggs at this point. Hydro was born a week ago. I cannot imagine a scenario where eggs that were incubated at the same time hatch that far apart from each other. Anyone with vast birding knowledge want to correct that thinking for me? Continue reading →

Lots of excitement at the nest today! As usual, it was occupied when I peeked around the corner, but as I glanced at the fence, another Junco appeared from next door and dropped off some grub. As soon as the food was deposited, both birds flew away. Gazelle to a nearby tree, the other up to the fence line where he sat, glaring at me. All that, and I haven’t even arrived at the exciting part.

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Good morning everyone! Hydro is still an only child. I’ve decided either he’s an overachiever from way back, or the other eggs are just not going to hatch. We are learning about odds and probability in CC. 1 out of 3 is pretty lamesauce (lame sauce…yes it is too a word) when you are talking babies. Sheesh. For the first time, I didn’t grimace in horror when I looked at him. Finally! Continue reading →