Wordy

This is one of the cadre of male Red-winged black birds who visit our feeders multiple times a day right now.  They are nesting in a wetland area about 1/4 mile from us although the males do very little of the actual nesting work, leaving that to the females.  They are polygamous birds, with a male having up to 15 females nesting in "his" territory.  Not surprisingly, DNA testing on nestlings reveal that a lot of dalliances occur with other males!  Anyway, this male was talking to me, probably hoping I'd move further away from the feeder.  I didn't, and he proceeded to eat his fill while giving me the side eye.  I had hoped for a more interesting photo of this species - when they are displaying, they "inflate" the red and yellow feathers on their shoulders and spread their wings - it's very fun to see.  And if I manage to get a shot of it this year I'll post it.  In the meantime, you get this.

I'm almost done sorting the images from the hunter/jumper horse event.  There is a western riding event this weekend so I'll probably go over one or both days and see what I can score in the way of pictures.  And I've been asked to add two more dog events this summer, which I'm glad to do.  I really do enjoy the dog people a lot and they are getting to know me now which is nice.  

I emptied one or the house wren "dummy" nests - the male had completely filled the box with sticks but no female takers.  And a pair of tree swallows has been checking it out every day so I figured I'd make it available to them.  I usually just leave the dummy nests in the boxes but I'd really like to encourage the swallows to start a brood.  So we'll see how that all works out.  

It's gorgeous out today and I've enjoyed pottering around in the garden with Jax.  I've potted a few plants and pulled some weeds and looked for more errant patches of poison ivy to attack.  Have to come in periodically to relieve my runny eyes and nose!  It's that time of year.

Hubs and I are watching the final season of Bosch: Legacy on Prime - it's entertaining and easy to watch.  Fills the bill rather nicely in that regard. 

Meanwhile, I continue to be appalled by some of the things I see happening in our country.  I fail to see how inviting white South Africans to immigrate here to flee "racism" is anything other than blatantly racist.  Why is it okay for white immigrants to come while black and brown ones are sent to their home countries where atrocities await them?  Or sent to prisons in other countries?  Am I missing something???

xoxo
Debbi