Backyard Birding

So I'm doing this new thing where my posts are completely random and get done when I have time to do them. Here's another!

I have had some good bird sightings lately. I got a chance to see a flock of bubbly and beautiful Cedar Waxwings come through, a Northern Flicker was set up in our yard for several weeks with a juvenile but seems to have since moved on, and an ever thrashing Brown Thrasher rifles through the shaded parts of the yard. I didn't manage to get photos of of any of them, but I have managed to document two of the cutest bird sightings and I get to share them on the internets.

I first noticed a Downy woodpecker on one of the crab-apple trees on a Saturday a few weeks ago. It was spending a lot of time on a bit of a remaining limb from which a larger limb fell off back in the wintertime. By the end of the day it was still there and now was in one spot and making a hole! I ran inside to Cornell's Ornithology website and looked up the Downy's habits right away. I found this:

Nest Description

Both male and female excavate the nest hole, a job that takes 1 to 3 weeks. Entrance holes are round and 1-1.5 inches across. Cavities are 6-12 inches deep and widen toward the bottom to make room for eggs and the incubating bird. The cavity is lined only with wood chips.

Nest Placement

Cavity

Downy Woodpeckers nest in dead trees or in dead parts of live trees. They typically choose a small stub (averaging around 7 inches in diameter) that leans away from the vertical, and place the entrance hole on the underside. Nest trees are often deciduous and the wood is often infected with a fungus that softens the wood, making excavating easier.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/lifehistory

Now, check out one of the pics I scored:

My junky looking crabapple is perfect! It's cool to see a hole where once there was none. The limb broke off back in winter and at the time, I was wishing I had some sort of lil saw to chop that limb off to make the tree look less junky. Now I am happy that I was ill equipped and I am hoping for a maximum clutch size of eight babies! I have been putting bits of peanut butter below the limb for the hard working male and female. I haven't been able to tell which is which and have tried not to disturb them as I don't want them to find out they have a totally nosy neighbor before they lay down their last woodchip.

My other sighting derived from my attempt to save money and spend more time outside by drying my laundry on a line whenever the weather permits. I was doing so on Sunday morning of last week and in the taller, one might say overgrown, bit of yard behind the line I saw this:

It is just too cute! Sunday mornings are just the best for being outside as there is no traffic noise and the bird calls are clearer and sound more sweet. It sat there as though it had just woken up and it kept being a patient lil cutie the whole time I was out there and after I went back inside and came out again with my camera. It's a juvenile Robin. Seeing things like this is also what gets me carrying wet socks and underwear out to my backyard. 


 

 I joined a friend last weekend for a trip to a local alpaca farmer who has a yarn shop on site. It's called Northwood farms and I've mentioned them previously. The owner is amazingly sweet and easy to talk to; there's coffee on hand for shoppers and a seemingly high variety of classes for all things fiber related. I have a very sad pair of size 4 US DPNs which my Mr. Pickens chomped, so I was on the look out for a new pair and ended up finding some other needles that have been on my list to try.

   
I got a pair of Knitter's Pride Karbonz DPNs because people seem to really dig those.

I have also wanted to try out Kollage's square knitting needles after learning about them, so when I found a pair of Symfonie Cubics from Knitter's Pride, I grabbed a size 7 US. 

I haven't started knitting on them yet, but I am looking to make another French Press Cozy. I am going to just knit a lil rectangle in an interesting stitch and put some buttons at the join. More on that to come.




What I have been knitting on is another baby blanket for a coworker. It is the Pine Forest Baby Blanket. 

It's called a seagull lace stitch and it's easy enough. Surprisingly, I haven't messed up a row yet...it's only a matter of time. I should probably use a lifeline-ehhhh I'll just wing it.










I knit up another Anthro-Inspired Scarflette for a Clemson enthusiast at work. I haven't really taken to the orange and purple kablam of color until knitting this scarf. It looks totally retro and funky to me. Smells a little funky too. Oh nope, that would be that skunk smell again.

Ok, so a real skunk-date! There is no more skunk. No skunks were harmed in the time you first heard about it until now. We don't know exactly what happened to it though. We had a bathroom issue arise and when the contractors came to fix it, it was at the moment when we heard them rustling around under the house that my partner and I realized that they may come face to face with our stinky housemate. We decided it was too far past the point for a fair warning and waited out to see who, if anyone, was going to get sprayed. Because anxiety makes some people evil. 
No one got sprayed. And we haven't had a smelly house since the aforementioned skunk dump.

That's the round up lately, may you be stink free as well in your future. Not skunk free though, cause those lil guys are cutie pies!