Count me, too!

Firstly, thank you for the lovely comments about my announcement yesterday! Mother and son are doing well (and the titmice are just fine, too, and grateful for their prominent position in the spotlight!) We will be looking forward to our next trip to Alabama when we get to meet our newest grand nephew.

Today started out beautiful with bright sunshine and a huge flock of cedar waxwings in the trees next to the house. By noon, the winds had picked up and it was starting to rain - yuck. Not ideal conditions for taking pictures with Big Daddy. And when a couple of unusual birds (purple finch and hermit thrush) showed up unexpectedly in the yard, I was inside, it was dark and foul outside, and I was reduced to quickly grabbed photos through the window. Not my finest work. Ditto when about 30 waxwings showed up at the bird bath under the cherry tree... Drat and damn.

However, when I sorted through some of the pics I took early this morning (when we still had sun), I realized that I actually rather liked this one of one of the goldfinches doing a fly-by of the feeders. It's cropped and lightened a bit.

Six other shots from today starting HERE (more goldfinches, leaves, a sparrow and waxwings in the morning light).

This weekend is the start of Project Feederwatch in North America (US and Canada) and marks the third year that I've participated as a "citizen scientist." (Impressive sounding, isn't it?) Basically, I count the birds that show up in my yard (feeders and water) on two consecutive days each week between now and April. My data, along with that of many thousands of other "feeder-watchers" will help the ornithologists at Cornell and Audubon in their studies of birds. For anyone in North America, it's not too late to get involved.

Hubs and I are going out for an early dinner tonight and early to bed to get a fresh start on the week.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

xoxo,
Debbi