Tiny Rescue

Every summer, I find myself rescuing damsels and dragons who've become ensnared in spider webs around the garden.  Yes, I know everyone has to eat and I also know it isn't nice to interfere with nature - but I'd rather the spiders focus on garden pests rather than the odes.  So, when I found this little variable dancer caught in a web, I carefully extricated her.  She perched on my hand for several minutes, working on ridding her wings of the sticky web, before flying off.  

I was torn between blipping this or a tiny blue egg (see Extra)  that marks the first of Brood Two of the bluebirds.  Actually, it was a delightful surprise to find that the bluebirds had sneakily built their nest in the box recently vacated by the chickadees, right next to our front walkway.  I was going around checking all the boxes and was totally shocked when I opened this box and found Madame sitting in the nest - apparently she was laying her first egg.  This is a good location for them - not much bird traffic as it is on the opposite side of the house from the woods/feeders.  And I can keep on the box from our dining room window.  

After a good night of sleep, I felt back to normal today - had tea on the deck this morning and watched the comings and goings.  Was somewhat surprised to see one of the recently fledged brown thrasher kids having a nice preening session in a patch of sun in the trees.  Nice to know they're still around.  Also saw several recently fledged titmice, lots of downy woodpeckers and just a quick glimpse of a red-bellied woodpecker fledgling.  What fun!  Got a few shots of one of the female downies feeding a baby, but wasn't all that happy with any of them, so hopefully I'll get something better in the next few days.

Thank you so much for sending Mama Red-belly to the Pops page - if she wasn't so aggravated at the blue jays, I know she'd be chuffed.  

Cheers,
Debbi