Walking through the living room this week I noticed two hairy woodpeckers on the feeder. That’s unusual. We don’t get hairy woodpecers often, and when we do it’s always a single bird chowing down.
Adult male hairy woodpeckers (similar but bigger than downy woodpeckers) have a red spot on the back of their heads.
I stopped to watch, from across the room so as not to startle the. Sure enough, one of them was a youngster, eating away happily while dad was on the other side of the feeder…
The young one enjoys a succulant oiler as dad eats on the other side of the feeder.
…but happily accepting a special morsal from dad when he offeres it.
This time of year seeing parents cater to their teenage, soon to be adult, children is pretty common. They don’t seem to notice that their kids are eating just fine and on their own when they’re not being waited on.
Can you see the love in dad’s eyes as he feeds his youngster?
I’m glad I happened to wander past their special time together when I did.
That was a good seed, wasn’t it!
Note: I’m not sure if the kid is a boy or a girl. There’s no red spot on the back of it’s head which leads me to think it’s a girl…but there IS a spot just above the beak and I don’t know what that means. If you know, please comment below!
You know there are three boy dogs in my neighborhood that walk by my driveway almost every day. Personally I think they do that just to catch a glimpse of beautiful me.
These are a couple of my neighborhood boyfriends.
And I have had a couple playdates with Lance, a very handsome sheltie-boy who is about six months older than me. I think he likes me too.
I’m kinda sweet on my boyfriend, Lance, too.
And just this week mom arranged for me to meet Levi, a four year old sheltie who lives about an hour away from me.
This is my boyfriend Levi! Isn’t he a handsome boy?
Levi and I met at a fenced in dog playground in his neighborhood. The moms picked the coolest day of the week because, as you know, shelties are always wearing a heavy coat.
It’s so much fun to run free!
At first Levi and I weren’t sure about each other. He wasn’t sure he wanted me in his territory, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be there either. He’s a lot bigger than me!
He can’t catch me! Well, he wasn’t really trying to catch me…
In fact mom said this is the first time I looked small!
Something smells good under here. Plus there’s shade.
But eventually, when mom broke out the frissbee we started to have some fun. Levi just loved my frissbee and I chased him while he chased it.
Levi has a beautiful coat!
After a little bit of running around we settled in a corner where there was some shade. Even at 68 degrees it was pretty hot. While the moms were talking I’d sort of peek around from behind mom’s legs and get Levi’s attention.
Time for some shade and a drink!
Then I’d race off and hide behind the slide and just dare him to chase me. Yep, I pretended I didn’t want to play and then I’d egg him on. I’m very skilled at being a tease.
Ha ha, got you to run Levi!
We didn’t run around too much, because of the heat, but we’re going to get together again when it’s cooler outside.
Running is just the best fun!
When we meet again we’ll be more comfortable, cause we’ll already know each other. Levi’s mom says he went home and took a nap. I went home and bugged my parents for the rest of the day.
Catch me if you can, Levi!
I guess I got a little wound up.
Thanks, Levi, for inviting me to play at your park!
Talk later, your most alluring sheltie-girl, ruler of all boy dogs…
We had some really hot weather up here in Michigan and it seemed to last forever. Of course it didn’t last forever, but for my two nights of camping at a local state park the heat hung heavily in the air even late into the night.
Even though it was hot I enjoyed a fire each evening.
I hadn’t camped at this park for a few years, not since Katie and I camped there and struggled with noisy kids partying all night just a few sites away.
This site is surrouned by woods.
This time it was much more quiet. I was in my favorite site at this campground, full shade, with lots of privacy. I went there specifically to watch the birds that hang out in the trees surrounding the site, many of which I don’t see at home around my feeders.
My app Merlin says this is a wood thrush. I don’t think we have wood thrushes in Michigan.
And I went to give Penny an opportunity to see a campground for the very first time. Her dad brought her over in the evenings and we sat around and talked.
“I’m a little anxious, mom. And it’s hot out here!”
She sat around and observed. Everything.
“What’s that over there, mom?”
I didn’t ask her to get into the tent for a number of reasons, one it was too hot inside the tent, and two she isn’t really happy in the tent yet.
“Mom, do you have any treats over there?”
But she did get to watch people and dogs and kids walk by and begin to realize she didn’t have to bark at everyone.
“You’re still here, right dad?”
It wasn’t easy for her. Watching dogs walk by, listening to noisy trucks as they hauled trailers past our site was hard.
“Dad? Those kids on bikes need to be herded!”
But little kids on bikes? Now that deserves a big bark, mom!
“So, this is your favorite site mom?”
We still have a lot of work to do, it was all new to her. But I can see potential.
“OK mom, that was interesting, I’m going back to my air conditioning now!”
There are, of course, a lot of memories at my favorite site, memories of camping with my Katie-girl. And I think she was there with me last week.
My girl used to use this leash to wander the site when we camped together so long ago.
I miss her so much, even while little Miss Penny is bouncing around distracting me. Penny says that’s OK and I appreciate her giving me some grace.
Hey Katie-girl, I know you were there.
On my last day at site 16, just before I started packing up and while I was feeling sad and missing Katie, a female cardinal arrived. She hopped around, up on the picnic table, underneath it, across the parking pad, always keeping an eye on me.
“Hey Lady! Don’t feel sad, she’s right there in your heart!”
I kind of think Katie sent her. She made me smile, just like Penny does, who, I’m sure, was also sent by Katie.
I don’t know what this bird is, but it’s pretty!
There’s lots of summer left. I hope I get to take Penny to another campground before the end of the season.
“Just remember lady, you’re never alone!”
And I figure by next summer she just might be ready for a real adventure, even if it’s camping in our own backyard.
I’ve been hanging around our my house a lot. I’m sort of bored, so I bug mom and dad by poking them in the knee. If mom’s on her stupid phone I jump up next to her and knock it out of her hand. That’s her cue to take me to a park.
It usually works.
Yep, here we are at another park.
But this past week while we were at a park I asked mom if we could please do something more fun. Like with friends and stuff. Because, not to be rude, but walking around in the trees with my mom all the time gets sort of…well…repetitive.
Can’t we do something different, mom?
And you know what she did? She took me with her to visit my dog mom, Vivian, and her bestie, Oliva!
Olivia has the ball and Vivian is just full of joy to be running!
And even better we got to play in their yard, all three of us together! At first I wasn’t sure about the rules and I hung back on the deck observing the craziness below.
Olivia seems to be the owner of the ball.
But then I figured it out. The rules are that there ARE NO RULES! So game on!
Wait for me you guys!
It was a warm day so we didn’t run too long, but while we were running, we were running hard!
The infamous two headed sheltie.
And let me tell you, three excited shelties chasing a ball on a beautiful late spring day sure make a lot of noise! Mom was hoping the neighbors were all at work.
Let me at that ball!
We went back inside after a few races around the yard, to cool off and settle down.
This is my mom, Vivian. Isn’t she beautiful?
Well…maybe just to cool off. Three shelties don’t settle down all at once you know.
This is Olivia, the keeper of the ball. She’s beautiful too.
Then after our cooling break we went out one more time to have some more fun. I was an active participant from the start, cause I knew just what this game was about.
It’s all about that ball.
I had so much fun running free without being tethered to one of my folks. Not that I don’t love my walks with them…but seriously, I doubt they’d be able to keep up.
I can fly!
We were just flying around that yard!
I got close to the ball a few times, but I never did get it away from Olivia. I figure that’s OK, it was her yard, her rules, you know?
You’re a really good ball keeper, Olivia!
I’m just glad I got to play in a big backyard with a tree where we could rest in the shade in between bouts of running.
We posed together like good girls…cause mom had treats!
But mostly we just played and played and played.
My hind end wanted to fly away a lot that afternoon.
It was nonstop mayhem!
Hey, maybe we can cut her off at the pass, Vivian!
In the end I didn’t really need the ball, I was just loving the chase. Vivian and Olivia were real nice hosts and let me play with them until it got too warm and we all decided to go inside again.
Hey mom, can you open this door for us?
And then it was time to say goodbye. I had a wonderful time, and I’m so glad I get to stay in contact with my dog mom, Vivian and her bestie Olivia and of course my Mama S.
We need a goodbye treat, ok mom?A girl can only run so farin one day.
I’m a lucky girl.
And I know it too.
There were a lot of sheltie smiles that afternoon!
Signing off, all these pictures of us running have tired me out. Time for a little nap.
This morning I got to play music with some of the members of the Clarkston Community Band at our local Farmers’ Market. It was opening day at the market and the weather was perfect. Sunny and in the 70s with, at the beginning, no breeze to blow music around.
Ready to begin the next piece.
OK, so we were sight reading most of the music. And OK, we didn’t have all the instruments of a full band. And yes, we did dissolve into giggles in the middle of one piece of music we had optimistically thought we could pull off when it became obvious we weren’t going to make it to the end even remotely together.
Taking a break.
But hey, people stopped to listen, the Disney songs were a big hit with the little kids, and we got to spend a few more hours playing together at the end of our season.
You just can’t beat live music outside in the sunshine. I’d say it was a win for us and a win for people shopping the market on a beautiful Saturday morning.
As I was leaving Kensington, having been run out of town on the trails by the little birds, and on the boardwalk by a marauding swan and a big group of kids, I stopped at a little picnic area, off the beaten path.
“Are you SURE you don’t have anything to eat? Can you check your pockets again?“
I thought maybe the birds there would be more forgiving, since they don’t get many visitors. I turned on my Merlin app and let it record the birds singing as it identified who was nearby.
“We didn’t want her food anyway. It’s not good for growing cygnets.“
A vireo, a common yellow throat, a warbler, a bluebird, a flicker, a red winged blackbird. And of course a robin.
“I’ll just stay still, she’s not interested in me anyway.“
I could hear the vireo and the common yellow throat coming from down near the marsh, so I crept that way. I spent a long time standing still staring up at a cottonwood tree that I’m pretty sure hid the yellow throat. But I never saw anything move.
No birds, but this daisy was nice.
I’d already been out at the park for hours and I was hungry, having forgotten to bring myself anything to eat either. So I headed back toward the car, past the picnic pavilion where I saw this little guy.
“If I stand real still you won’t notice me, right lady?”
Well, it’s not a photogenic location, but heck, it’s a bluebird. Right?
He flew up into a tree and then over to the outhouse building. Still not a photogenic location, but the sun was pretty on him there.
“From this perch I can see what’s going on all over this picnic area.”
He bounced around there, from the corner of the building down to the ground up into a tree and back to the building again. Then I lost track of him, couldn’t find him anywhere.
“I’m a velcro bird! I can hang out anywhere!”
I decided it was time to go home, and I turned around to head to the car and, little stinker, there he was on the path right next to me!
“Hey lady! Pay attention, you’re gonna step on me here!”
It was as if he was laughing at me as I took my third, not photogenic, photo of him just because he was beautiful.
And then he flew up into a branch and stayed there, posing until I got the shot.
“Thanks for playing lady, I had fun too.”
Well thank you kindly, Mr. Bluebird, for playing along. You sure made me smile that afternoon! And I’m still smiling today!
So let’s see….I was a miserable failure according to the little birds over on the nature trails, so I decided to go out to the boardwalk to see what if anything was going on at the heron rookery.
The sky was clouding over when I got out to the boardwalk.
Every year I try to get out there frequently in the spring to watch the littles grow up. But I never get there enough, and this year I missed all of it.
Perhaps an adult resting after lunch duty.
Cause the littles weren’t so little anymore!
Are the nests empty?
It was about mid-day and most of the feeding activity had apparently already happened. There wasn’t much in the way of adults flying around.
Nope, not empty. They’re just deep and still hold hungry little ones.
But there was still enough activity to initiate a few anxious moments as the teenagers determined if the adult flying in was their adult.
Guess that wasn’t our order, guys.
Disappointment ran rampant.
This nest held four hopeful teenagers. They were keeping an eye out for mom or dad.
I enjoyed watching this mama (or daddy?) heron working on their nest.
Cleaning up the household.
After she got it the way she wanted it she rested a moment, shook her feathers and then sat back down.
Newborns are just so much work!
I think it’s a little late for eggs to still be there but maybe she has some late arrival babies in there.
I hope my partner shows up soon to spell me for awhile.
Mostly the adults just seemed tired of all the noise and chaos.
I swear, these kids need to grow up and take some responsibility for getting their own meals.
I wasn’t getting anything all that exciting when a group of kids showed up and I figured it was time to go.
Everybody’s having a good time, but they were noisier than the birds.
But then I took a few more pictures of stuff…
Hey! Where is everybody?
and as I was doing that I saw this swan flying toward me.
Incoming…
Directly at me, actually,
Really…..INCOMING!!
Until he (or she) was right there in front of me and then overhead. It was amazing and resulted in my favorite shots of the day.
Duck!!!
Things like being in the flight path of a swan make me want to go out there every day. I was definitely smiling as I headed for the car.
Not duck!!! SWAN!!!! (You see what I did there…)
And I smiled some more when I stopped at a little picnic area on my way out of the park. But that will have to wait.
Earlier this week I felt the need to be in the woods, so I grabbed my camera and my new lens and went out early to see what I could see.
Near the park entrance it seemed obvious that Mrs. Osprey didn’t want her picture taken as she sat low in her nest so I moved along.
Gotta respect a mother’s wishes.
“I haven’t showered in days and it’s early in the morning. Give me a break!“
As I walked toward the nature center and the beginning of the trails I realized I hadn’t thought to bring the birds anything to eat.
Well, I thought, they’d have to get over it.
Darn, I’m being attacked! Run for it!
I hadn’t taken into account I was the first car in the parking lot and that it had been raining for two days so people hadn’t visited these hungry birds in awhile. I was instantly attacked by an angry mob of red winged blackbirds as I rounded the corner. I heard their wings first and then felt one bounce off my head. Then another. They were everywhere.
I thought I was in a movie, and not in a good way.
“Look lady, hand over the seed and nobody gets hurt.“
I swatted some of them away and moved faster down the trail, blackbirds following closely.
I had managed to get out into the marsh, with only a few blackbirds circling my head, when I heard a Baltimore oriole singing his heart out.
Hiding behind a couple of leaves.
He seemed to be celebrating the sun as he sang in the morning light.
Then he moved out into the sunshine to show off.
As he sat there singing he began to preen, as if he was singing in the shower.
“Just need to get that little bit of leftover gnat out of my armpit…”
He was fun to watch and the blackbirds got bored and headed back up the trail to wait for their next victim. They could only hope that person wasn’t such an airhead.
Though the blackbirds had given up, other birds had not. A little titmouse quietly asked if it was true, that there was no food.
“Seriously? There’s no food?”
I felt bad, but I had to tell him the truth. I had forgotten his breakfast. I was amazed at how quickly he abandoned me, once he realized I was a waste of time.
I wandered off to look for other pretty things to photograph. I figured it probably wouldn’t be a bird kind of day given I was a bird feeder failure.
I had to stop and enjoy the view.
I felt lucky that the iris was in bloom and so very beautiful.
Golden iris in the morning light.
But while I was focused on the iris, my eyes glued to the viewfinder trying to get just the right composition, I heard wings again. And again I felt something largish bounce off the top of my head.
“Hey lady!! What’s for breakfast?”
The male red-bellied woodpecker was miffed that I wasn’t offering anything to eat. And he wasn’t afraid to tell me off either.
“Seriously???”
I told him I was sorry, but I didn’t bring anything. And I went back to photographing the iris.
There were the obvious yellow iris, but also these delicate, smaller, purple blooms as well.
Off to the right of me I heard a big uproar. Turns out Mrs. Red-bellied wasn’t happy either.
“Hey Mr! Get to work and bring home some bacon or this relationship is over!”
I wasn’t sure if she was mad at me for forgetting or him for being a bad provider. Either way she wasn’t getting anything to eat. He jumped to and got to work finding her something…anything!
“Now where did I store that fat ant from last fall?”
He looked everywhere.
How about some nice lichen, sweetie?
“This might be a nice change of pace from the stuff the lady usually brings.”
In between his forages for something natural to feed his demanding wife (who kept on complaining. Loudly.) he’d come back and dive bomb me for being such a disappointment. I kept looking for pretty things to photograph.
My artsy image from this walk.
He followed me almost all the way around a big loop, complaining and doing flybys. Eventually I moved out of his range and settled into a more peaceful walk.
What?? No food???!”
Of course most of the other inhabitants of the woods were equally stressed by my lack of responsibility. I promised them I would never ever forget to bring their snacks again.
“Inconceivable!”
I probably should just pack a snack bag for them and leave it in my car to be more prepared in the future.
“I would think you’d be more thoughtful, Lady!”
Feeling remorseful I headed over to the heron rookery to see what was new. I figured the herons wouldn’t be mad at me given I never feed them.
“And don’t come back here without lunch!”
But I’ll tell you all about that in the next post. I have to say a couple of my favorite images happened over there!
Penny here. Geeze people, here I am having all sorts of adventures and mom and my aunt take off camping for a couple days and get to post about it for years. Ok. For days.
This is my studious look. I think it works.
But my point is, do I get to post? No I do not. I have not been given access. Until now, when mom finally gave into my pressure. I told her I won’t sleep in her stinking tent until she posts about all the fun stuff I’ve already done this month!
We went to Katie’s park for our annual photo shoot.
I know my friends have been wondering what I’ve been up to and let me tell you I’ve been really busy! And most of what I’ve been into isn’t going to get me into trouble either! Win-win!
Mom likes a good head tilt, and I try to oblige.
First off, as most of you know, my sister Angel Katie always had a spring yellow flower photo shoot with mom. Well, she told me all about it and I demanded equal yellow flower opportunity. I’m pretty sure it’s in my contract with my folks. So mom took me over to Katie’s park one day early this month.
Mom says I did really good. I thought it took way too long.
Are we almost done, mom?
Then when my Aunt Beth was here we stopped near some other yellow flowers and mom grabbed a few pictures. By then I was an expert at being a model, so it didn’t take long at all.
I think the sun was in my eyes that day.
My Aunt Beth and mom and I also went on quite a few walks in different parks. We all had the best time with beautiful blue skies and hardly any bugs!
Aren’t I cute?
I got to show Aunt Beth several of my own personal parks and especially how well I can sit for the camera. As long as there were treats available, of course.
I look kind of small, don’t I.
She was very impressed.
And THEN, the most exciting thing! I got to go on a walk with my Aunt Beth and my Mama S and my mom and even my doggy mom Vivian and her roommate Oliva!
Mom asked them to walk up this trail to set us up for a photo.
It was amazing! Three shelties all going for a walk together. I tell you what, we caused lots of heads to turn when we all walked by!
It wasn’t easy to get the three of us lined up.
OK, so sometimes I was a little rambunctious, and Mama S had to tell me to straighten up. After all, I’m still a baby…right? Oh…what….no? Not so much?
Sometimes a girl’s just got to leap for joy.
Well, I guess I’ll start acting more adult tomorrow, but that day I had so much fun! I got to share one of my favorite parks with my three moms and my aunt!
Yep we had a great time walking together.
I’m so grateful that Mama S brought her girls along on this walk! I promised her we’d do it again soon!
That’s my mom, Vivian next to me (I’m in the center) and her bestie Olivia on the right.
And then, still in the month of May, I got to go on a play day with my friend Lance! I can’t even begin to figure out how mom and dad managed to get this much fun stuffed into one month!
Change Is Hard 