Surprise!

I was in my hide on the patio when Hubs went out on the deck to uncover the grill ...and suddenly said, with a note of horror, "Oh no!".  I zipped out of the hide to find him looking at the shelf on the side of the grill...where a small deer mouse had constructed a nest and had five red, naked, blind babies.  She wouldn't leave them, in spite of two giant humanoids staring down at her.  In fact, she was trying hard to cover all the tiny babies with her furry body.  We quietly covered the grill back up.  

I know that mice carry diseases and many folks would have taken the nest with babies and destroyed it...but neither Hubs nor I have the heart for that.  Instead, I'll find out about how long it takes to raise mice and we'll forgo grilling for that period of time.  And then, we'll sterilize all the surfaces on the grill and leave it uncovered so as not to make it an attract nesting spot.  

If you look closely at this photo (assuming you're not skeeved out by mice) you'll see the red, naked baby's butt with it's little tail.  Mom was trying to get it under her.  It's interesting to me that even in the face of potentially deadly predators (as I'm sure we were perceived) her only thought was to protect her babies.  To tell the truth, it really touched me.  

In other news, I saw a two cat birds pair-feeding, something I've never seen this species do before.  Very sweet.  He was feeding her a bit of grape jelly.  A few minutes later, I saw the male cardinal feeding his mate, too.  And a robin was gathering nesting materials at the edge of the woods.  

I've finally finished sorting all my photos from Texas.  At the same time, I finished posting all of my sightings on ebird and discovered that I saw 129 different species of birds while I was there.  Many I've seen before, but there were a handful of firsts for me.  

Three bird shots taken from the hide today are on Flickr, starting HERE - a soggy sparrow, a dazzling grackle, and the pair-feeding catbirds.

MIL is over so we'll enjoy a lazy dinner together later this afternoon.  Then, probably early to bed as I have a fair number of things on my agenda tomorrow.

xo
Debbi