yard | Change Is Hard

September 21, 2026
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Late bloomer

A couple evenings ago I was watching birds come and go as we were eating dinner. I noticed a flurry of activity, wings fluttering, branches of the crab apple tree bouncing around. It was happening right at the lower left corner of my view out the window.

I wasn’t sure what was happening. So I kept an eye on that spot and soon a male cardinal shot out of the tree. But the bouncing around continued.

It was a baby! I quickly googled whether cardinals had babies this late in the year. Guess what? It said they had between 3 and 4 broods a year, sometimes into mid-September.

Daddy was over at the flat feeder munching on a bunch of sunflower oil seeds. Pretty soon he zoomed back over to the crab apple tree and the youngster who had waited for his return. The flapping of wings resumed.

Daddy fed junior something (I’m guessing chewed up seed) and sat for a moment and then went back to the flat feeder for more.

Eventually daddy cardinal sat on a branch a bit away from the baby. He looked exhausted. He’s molting and he’s tired and it has been raining for days.

I hope mama cardinal is around somewhere to help so that daddy isn’t trying to do all the work alone. Of course for all I know mama is sitting somewhere else with junior #2, feeding and flying and resting and feeding….

I bet mom and dad are glad this is the last bunch of little ones to bring up! They’re probably just like human parents, glad when it’s time for the kids to get on the school bus.

September 20, 2026
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Last days?

It’s cooler here now, today for example, it’s 60 F and raining. It’s been cooler for several days. Most of the migrating birds have left. But I still have some hummingbirds.

They’ve been fun to watch as they battle over ‘their’ feeder. I thought all summer that I had one pair, a male and a female. How many hummers do you see in this image?

That’s the most I’ve ever seen near our feeder at one time. I hid in the corner of the living room and shot through the window. It’s hard to tell for sure how many you have when they’re flying at each other. This time, they were hungry enough to let each other eat.

They will be gone any day now. This morning I’m pretty sure there are only two. Soon I’ll be putting the feeder away, but I always leave it up for a week or so after I don’t see them anymore. You never know when a straggler will come through town, and they have such a long way to go.

I hope they have safe travels and a warm winter. And that they come back to me next spring.

September 13, 2026
by dawnkinster 30 Comments

Ms. Hummingbird – a study

Last week I was sitting on the deck in early evening. I heard a hummingbird chirping in the beech tree.

There she was, sitting on a branch in between beautifully lit pinkish leaves. She was backlit too.

It seemed as if she had just finished dinner and was sitting, fat and content, in the evening sun.

She spent a lot of time itching her head…

…and staring around, up and down and over there.

She fluffed her feathers and left them wide open in the warming sun.

Her tongue came and went. I wasn’t sure if she was catching insects…

…or just practicing tongue aerobics.

She peed four times while she was there. I guess that sugar water goes right through a girl.

And after perhaps 20 minutes of sitting and enjoying the evening light she took off.

I enjoyed watching her, and took over 300 images. She’s still flitting around the feeder but I expect she’ll be gone soon. I hope I get to visit with her once more before she goes.

September 7, 2026
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

Name this bird

As you know I have a lot of birds in my backyard. Mostly because I feed them. They are not unlike Penny in their affection for me based on their feeder fullness quotient analysis.

This week this rather cheeky yet uncertain little guy showed up.

He hopped along the deck railing, back and forth, seeming unfazed by the bird traffic all around him.

He picked at the husks of seeds left behind by previous diners.

He stared at me.

And then, eventually, he flew off.

I’m thinking he’s a juvenile red breasted grosbeak. Maybe male, given the yellowish breast? I’m using the logic that red headed woodpeckers have brown heads when they’re juveniles.

But it could be a female too, they have a yellowish cast to their chest feathers.

What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday

September 2, 2026 by dawnkinster 26 Comments

August 27, 2026
by dawnkinster 28 Comments

Magic of watercolor

I’m working on watercolor cards for the Truck Safety Coalition’s annual Gala silent auction. They’ll be getting 3 sets of 5 cards. I’m almost finished with them, but I wanted the last card to be a watercolor of a fall oak leaf. I didn’t find anything online that I liked particularly, though I did find a great tutorial about how to paint an oak leaf.

I watched the tutorial but I wasn’t sure about freehand drawing something similar. Three oak leaves plus acorns. Maybe I could do it but it sure would be easier if I could trace around a real oak leaf. I looked out at the oak tree in my back yard. The limbs were way too high for me to grab a leaf.

I decided to think on it a bit and went to collect the garbage can from the curb since the truck had emptied it and moved on down the road. And there, beside the empty can was a bit of oak tree branch….complete with the top part of an acorn.

Like it was waiting for me. I smiled and gathered it up, rolled the garbage can behind me as I pondered how things work out.

After I took the picture of my prize I went back out to the front yard to see what other treasures might have blown off my neighbor’s oak. I found several leaves to show me colors…

…and another bunch of leaves attached to their twig, to show me how the stick part might look.

Oh…and this ginkgo leaf apparently traveled inside on the bottom of my shoe.

So I got to work. I copied a few of the leaves…

…and traced that onto a page of my practice book.

Then I got to painting.

So fun….

Now, if I can just do it again on the actual card.

August 26, 2026
by dawnkinster 27 Comments

Wordless Wednesday

August 24, 2026
by dawnkinster 10 Comments

Taking the tent down

I haven’t gone on any camping trips this summer, but I’ve had the tent up in the backyard a few times. Today I took it down for perhaps the last time this season. It had been up for a couple weeks and last night when I slept out there I was freezing! It seems silly to sleep in the backyard and be cold when I have a perfectly fine bed in a heated home.

Right?

*My tent, tucked into a corner of the backyard with the rain fly already off.*

Still, I feel sad to put it away.

I’m also sad because I didn’t get Penny comfortable with the tent this summer, though we tried several times. Out of all our attempts to sleep out there together, she made it through an entire night only once.

I have great hope for next summer though.

Today as I disassembled the tent I found the usual daddy long-leg spiders hanging out. I always find a few of those, no matter if I’m in my backyard or at a campground. I don’t know what attracts them to the tent. I always move them gently to a shrub nearby.

Today, here in my own backyard, I found a couple more insects hiding out. I don’t know what either of these is.

The dark one looked kind of scary, and when I went to move it off the tent it leaped off on it’s own. I only jumped a little.

But the most surprising thing I found under the rain fly, but still on the outside of the tent, were four, yes four, tiny tree frogs.

They are adorable and about the size of a dime, maybe a little bigger.

I’ve never found tree frogs on my tent before. I wonder about these guys and what caused them to climb up the tent and hide in the folds and under straps.

I hope I found them all.

Next season maybe I’ll put the tent up in a spot further away from the woods.

*Next summer I’ll be older and more mature, mom.*

Until then I’ll dream of listening to the frogs and bugs and coyotes sing all night while I’m snug in my real bed nice and warm.

August 14, 2026
by dawnkinster 21 Comments

While I wasn’t looking

I’ve been gone for a week, and when I came back I was surprised to see how well the zinnias were doing. Along with other stuff. But mostly the zinnias.

Last evening I took the dog out after her supper. The garden was mostly in shadow. But there was one beautiful monarch zipping among the blossoms.

*Notice the tongue slurping up the nectar.*

We went back inside for the camera. Poor Penny had to wait to do her business while I stood there, foot on her leash and shot over 200 images.

She’s a good girl. Patient about her mom taking pictures of stuff not her. I promised her I’d take her to the park soon.

July 28, 2026
by dawnkinster 30 Comments

Happening on my deck this week

This juvenile male oriole learned all about bathing this week. When I first noticed him he was standing on the edge while a little brown bird splashed around. He stared at the brown bird. I went to get my camera. By the time I got back he was in the bath too.