“Show and Tail”… Game Birds

It’s "Tuesday’s Show & Tail"  time again! Angela, over at West Virginia Treasures, has been hosting this special time for several months, and it is always a lot of fun to see all the interesting posts of the people who join in! This is the 46th week that she has done this. Angela hosts this meme to share about past or present pets, animal friends we’ve known, or interesting stories about animals. If you’d like to join, here is the link to the Guidelines. 

Since we are so far out in the “boonies,” we have a lot of “game birds” that take refuge from the hunters, such as it is.

We have had hunters shoot at our cars and shoot out the truck mirrors, and one time, a couple even shot at Mike! They hit the tree beside him and the ground in front of him! He was NOT a happy camper, and of course, the police didn’t get all the way out here until they were long gone!

Right now, we have a lot of quail and dove that are in our yard and pastures. Yesterday, I went out to feed the horses, and at least 20-30 dove flew up out of the backyard and the trees back there. I hadn’t seen that many before, but when I mentioned it to Robert, he said that he’s seen a LOT of them back there lately. Maybe next week, I’ll have been able to get some pictures of them.

Robert WAS able, though, to get several pictures of the quail that were outside of the front yard the other day. BG was intently watching them, as you can see.

Several years ago, we even had a white quail, probably an albino, that was around for about a year. I sure wish I’d been able to get some pictures of him!!!  Isn't this male, California Quail a beauty!

Tuesday’s Show and Tail… Hummers

It’s "Tuesday’s Show & Tail" time again, and this time, I get to join in! Angela, over at West Virginia Treasures, has been hosting this special time for several months, and it is always a lot of fun to see all the interesting posts of the people who join in!  This meme let's us share about past or present pets, animal friends we’ve known, or interesting stories about animals.  If you’d like to join, here is the link to the Guidelines.

We have a hummingbird feeder near our front door and get quite a few little hummers that come by to eat. Lots of times, you can see them out there fighting for their territory. Robert was able to get these pictures today, for me to share.

And this short, 15 second video...

"Tuesday’s Show & Tail" More Birds of Spring

Hurray! I’m finally getting the chance to share another "Tuesday’s Show & Tail."  This meme is hosted every week by Angela over at West Virginia Treasures, and it is always a lot of fun to see all the interesting posts of the people who join in! This is the 32nd one that Angela has hosted and she’s sharing butterflies on hers this week! It is a meme to share about past or present pets or furry friends we’ve known. If you’d like to join, here is the link to the Guidelines. 

I love the spring time when all of the different kinds of birds return to our area. The air is filled with birdsong all day during this time of year. We have a lot of Bullock’s Orioles in this area. This one is a male.

Their hanging nests are all over in our trees. They use the horse’s shed hair and there is a lot of bright orange, yellow, or blue baling twine woven in.

The females aren’t as colorful, having just a small amount of color on their chests. 

We have a lot of doves around all year round. I love to hear them cooing in the trees… I always hate it when it is dove or quail season, and hope that they will come onto our property where they won’t be shot at!

Here is a picture of a weird bird that showed up. It was green with red on it’s chest and looked sort of like a parrot. I guess one could have escaped from somewhere because they aren’t native to this area.

And there are more and more hummingbirds coming back to this area. I LOVE my new camera that can catch this little guy clear up in the topmost branch of one of the trees in our front yard…

And then I can zoom in to where you can see him pretty clearly.

Birds of Spring… "Tuesday’s Show & Tail"

  I love sharing in this meme that Angela over at West Virginia Treasures hosts each week.  I’ve made several new friends, and gotten to read about some interesting animal stories and pets they’ve seen or lived with!  Angela’s idea is to allow people to share about past or present pets or furry friends we’ve known or just pics of animals with stories to tell.  If you’d like to join, here is the link to the Guidelines. 

Well, Spring has definitely come to our area of the world. The birds have all returned from their Winter homes and are singing in the trees and bushes, flashing their beautiful colors, building nests and raising babies!

We have some of the prettiest bushes on our property near the ditch in the side pasture, that bloom all over with beautiful yellow flowers when we get a lot of rain, and we’ve had plenty of that this year, Praise God!

These are called Chaparral or Creosote bushes. Robert was able, the other day, to get some good pics with my new camera of a hummingbird feeding on one.

Here is another, closer shot from a different angle…

We have another place in our enclosed back patio where some birds had built a nest. Robert took a picture a few weeks back of it with this egg in it.

Baby birds hatched out and grew and this week, they spent several days sitting on some of the wiring near the roof.

Their parents would go out and hunt for food and then bring it back it to them.

Here is a picture of Mom sitting with them on the wire. They drive the dogs crazy because they can’t reach them!    :)