You Capture - An Animal

Beth's You Capture challenge this week is 'An Animal' and at first I thought it really would be a challenge.  But that was when I was forgetting that birds are indeed animals.

Of course I couldn't leave out the bluebirds that still visit our feeder and birdbath multiple times every day.

They also sit on the fence while trying to contend with the wind.


And I have to include this cute little black capped chickadee holding his bird feeder treasure between his feet.

And this sparrow who looks annoyed at my intrusion.

But my favorite bird shots today were of this downy woodpecker.  He was enjoying his meal and I was enjoying photographing him enjoying it.

When an intruder decided to partake of the feast right around the corner.

The woodpecker was obviously annoyed and took immediate measures to send him on his way.

Finally his efforts paid off and the intruder 'flew the coop'.

Although the woodpecker's feathers were still ruffled for a time, he eventually settled down to finish his meal.

The last bird I photographed was sitting on an animal-friendly apparatus put in place to help lost animals find new homes.

You know, lost animals like these.  See how well it works?

For more animal shots, visit Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry.  Better yet, why not put up some animal shots of your own.

Bird Feeding and Watching

We had such a difficult winter that I became concerned for our struggling feathered friends and finally bought a bird feeder. Within a couple of days we had a pretty respectable variety of visitors.

See how cute they are? And not only are they fun to look at, they're fun to listen to also.

Life was better despite the cold and snow but then as it began to warm up a little, we had more, less welcome visitors.

One day as I was exercising, I glanced out the window and the bird feeder was hanging sideways. I asked Mr. Right why it looked like that and he said, "oh, because there's a squirrel hanging on it". Sure enough, a squirrel had it tilted sideways so the seed could pour out more easily as he assisted it with his paw - reaching in and dragging out more and more seeds. He had his tail wrapped around the front of the feeder which for some reason added to the offensive sights.

Soon more and more squirrels came. I understand that they have to eat too and I'm really not adverse to feeding them .... except they never get full. It's unbelievable. And they're so bold. I finally started trying to scare them off. But they weren't scared of me. When I came out the door, they just looked at me while munching the birdseed that was filling their cheeks. No I had to go almost right up to them before they'd scamper off just far enough for me to leave and then they'd calmly come back.

You would think I'd have pictures of some of them but the truth is that when I saw them I spent my energies trying to get rid of them and didn't even consider photographing them.

Finally, they were so bold and so annoying that I decided it was time to take action. Tomorrow I'll write about what we decided to do and how that has worked out for us.