Wild Bird Wednesday

This is supposed to happen on Wednesday of course, hence the title..hahahha....but.... I'm late.  Worse than the Mad Hatter I am.

Today I have a few photos of another bird that has a bit of red colour on its head and breast area.  Well, of course, only the males have the blush of pink on the breast ...

It is called a Common Red Poll, although, like some others with that word 'Common' in their names ... not really common at all... certainly not to me.  In reality, they are quite cute and really quite beautiful in colouration.

Very tiny compared to a sparrow...even compared to a chickadee.....more the size of a little Nuthatch.

I love them.  We haven't seen them around before..  and, now ...we've seen about 5 or 6 hanging about in the past few days.  My neighbour was trying to explain them to me as she had them at her feeder... and I thought she was talking about the House Finches when she mentioned some reds in the colouring...but she did say they had the streakings of a Pine Siskin... so was very happy they showed up here as well and I got to identify and also to get some lovely photos of them.

Click on the photo to see them even closer....




Look at the pretty colours....this shows off the "blush of pink" they speak of on the breasts of the males.

This little one was clearly showing me the Poll or cap on his head... either that or he was busy napping or thinking intently.... or maybe he spied a seed or something....

They definitely like the black oil sunflower seeds....

Check out Stewart's blog for more birds ...
Just click on the Wild Bird Wednesday pic to be transported directly there....

Special friends

Among my friends, I'm lucky to count a "speshol brown bear" and a "litol gween dwagon pwincess".....  That's right.  I have unusual friends.   And how I love it.

When I was down for the count just before Christmas; sick and coughing and aching all over and just downright miserable.....     I received a card from the two of them and it made my day.  They had drawn and coloured and written special messages just for me.  How cool is that?

I set it on a table with some other cards and looked at it several times during my wandering about trying to find somewhere comfortable to sit or lie... nowhere was any good.... so I kept on walking til I fell on the bed.

The next day I noticed that a late bud on the Christmas cactus had grown larger ... remember the plant?  It bloomed way back around the first of November.  There were a few extra little teeny buds on it that didn't amount to anything and fell off.  But, this bud stayed....

It got much bigger the next day and Dilly had her eye on it... the third day it opened slightly and the next day..it was in full bloom!  Oh, that did it...she moved her card right up close to it.  She loves pink and declared that it was the perfect colour and actually the very same colour ..as her "pwetty pink dwess" .. and, that she must sit right beside it.  She admired it for days ....

I had to take a few pics of them together ....

Of course, Bob T. Bear (esq.) ...  not to be outdone..... found a couple friends to hang out with as well.  Some sheepies and a mini Santa....

They kept it up for several days .....I never knew where to look for the card; some days it was on the sheep table..some days it was next to the cactus flower.  Seeing as Dilly found the flower first.... she got the most "me" time... well, that and she does have a very insistent way about her......

Thanks so much Bob and Dilly for my great card (and, the nose hugs!! )  You guys are the best!

Wild Bird Wednesday

I haven't been very regular in postings for Wild Bird Wednesdays ... but, on occasion I get a pretty capture and want to share it with somebody...anybody....so here it is for today.

If you want to check out beautiful or unusual birds ... please go to Stewart's blog ...

Please meet Mister and Missus Chirpy ....  aka House Finches.  They have a lovely warbly sing song which is why we call them Chirpies.....they seem to hang around during our winters... but, we don't see them all the time.

Click on any photo to get a closer look at them ...

Right now they are coming to the seed feeder along with sparrows, chickadees, nuthatches and a lone Pine Siskin.  There was a horrible accident one day with my damn kitchen window and a lovely little lady White Winged Crossbill.  She flew full tilt into it and killed herself immediately.  I did go right out to retrieve her and bought into the house in a shoebox to see if she could revive.  Many hours later she had not moved at all..    I cried.  She was so pretty and so dead.  My only good thought was that it must have been instantaneous and that she didn't suffer unnecessarily.  Mister BV had to dispose of her...I couldn't do it.  Poor little thing.

Anyway ... on to another photo of Mister Chirpy ...

Here is a nice clear one of himself ... him I can identify immediately...but, unless I am looking through my camera lens..I am not always sure if the Missus is a sparrow or if she is a Chirpy.  They are smaller than our sparrows but unless you see them side by side..it's hard to tell.  And, she is mostly browns....

Here is Mister Chirpy and a sparrow having a chat .... you can see the size difference ..  and Missus Chirpy is even more elegant, somewhat leaner, and a bit smaller overall than her mister.

Here is the link to Wild Bird Wednesday if you would like to join in with a photo of your own .. or just have a peek at other birdies.....