Thanks Patricia for that link.

for Shirley

The little hawk in the tree out front could be a young Cooper's Hawk or maybe a chicken hawk, awful small for a Cooper's but with zoom in it has the markings. Sure not the head shape of a chicken hawk. The shot was thru a double pane Andersen window with dark tinted storm window over.



 I did get out today & gave my neighbor's hen bread, Henny Penny? we haven't named her... she ate her bites of bread & found a bite of meat the crows left behind & worked that over like a bug.  I love to watch her come running all across the back yard to come to the pool gate.

SHIRLEY, I think you have "The Little Red Hen"!  Love both pics!

Shirley, it could be a male Cooper's hawk as they are smaller than the female.
Love the Red Hen!

for Shirley

This photo is my tiger lilies popping out of the ground this day, 1/28/22.  They can take a lot of cold but Feb is usually our coldest month so we'll see if they survive.

SPRING

I sure hope they survive!

Shirley, enjoyed your photos.  Your camera has a nice zoom.

Shirley, very nice zoomed photos! We have a fair number of hawks and used to see them and owls regularly. However, as the city's grown, we rarely see one. At the refuge, you see them, but I haven't been back since 2016. I loved seeing your photos!

Hummmmmmmm, did something wrong. Had a much too long post ready & in my usual process of doing things I deleted it. No recovery so will just say thanks for the nice comments about the photos but for sure, Bubble made them look better than what I sent her!

My brain is tired & still need to trim my hair a little before taking a shower & laying out what to wear to church in the morning. I came to see what the temp would be at that time & got side tracked. Sure didn't get as much done today as I hoped, the little red hen came to visit a couple times so I went out to talk to her. One of the leghorns came but she is bashful yet, won't eat out of my hand. I sure can waste time.

when you delete something by error, try to do straight away a Ctrl+Z  This saved me many times.

Thanks, Bubble, I'll try that next time, I will copy & paste to the wordpad I keep minimized but never bother to use. 

I have plenty of migrating birds perching on the tree in front of my window.

I tried to emulate Shirley, but she is the pro for catching birds.

Here are my poor tries. I could not identify that couple.

Love it, Bubble.... and such a different type of tree/bush texture. What is that?  It is not ME that has anything to do with the bird photos, pure & simple camera smarts. I just keep them on auto and know the camera is smarter than I am so it will focus & set all options. That was such a thrill to me when the digitals came out because my eyes were going & the last of my 35 mm camera pictures were not good at all. I wasn't wearing glasses at that time for distance so the camera was focused to make clear for my eyes & not a sharp photo in the batch.

The tree is an araucaria, also called Monkey puzzle tree.

The common name of 'monkey puzzle' was coined during the mid-1800s when Charles Austin, a noted barrister, on seeing the tree for the first time commented that climbing the spiny, spiraling branches would be a puzzle even for a monkey.

I planted it in the garden when Illy was born, then transplanted it 10 years later when we moved location. Now it is VERY tall.

Is THAT the tree you planted?  I'm impressed, you changed your world!  I have a tall sycamore tree down by the river that I rolled down the hill in a large pot I transplanted it into after it starting in our yard/flower bed. I'll take a pic to send you. I Googled the name, such an interesting tree, probably would not survive our climate but I'd love to try!

We have 6" or 7" of snow on the ground & naturally, with our wind it can be nearly bare in spots & 2' high in others. The chill index is well below zero so to get out must wrap like a mummy & cover the mouth so the lungs don't get frost bite! I will get out after while to feed birds, they cleaned up everything since yesterday. Later this afternoon I will see about getting out to clear off the driveway, just because I should <grin>. On the other hand, I don't always do what I should.

If you look careful, the trunk starts on the very right corner. From my first floor window, I see the tree so bended that it would seem ready to fall. It suffered a lot from the sea high winds.

Good photo of that tree, Bubble.  It is bent but looks healthy.  That building looks like it is undergoing repairs.  is that tiny person at the bottom of the tree you Bubble?

We had major renovation to the building since June but now, finally it is over ( including with noise and dust) and we have a new building. Not me there, I was inside, behind the shades on the 1st floor. My car is the white one partly seen.

I can certainly understand your relief at it being over, Bubble. Are any of the renovations an improvement? I'm still out on mine.

Definitely yes. Before, the building was deemed dangerous by the municipality engineers because of eroded pillars -  caused by the proximity of the sea to a 50y old building.

I received a gorgeous plant for "Family Day". I never saw these bulbs before. In Hebrew they are called 'rain bells', the scientific name is 'muscari' or Grape Hyacinth.

Bubble, that is beautiful!! Will you plant that outside later  as they come up each year.

No Amy, I won't because if I do I will not be able to see them from my window - they are tiny. Now I have them on my desk in front of the window: much better for them and for me. It is easier for watering them as well LOL

Gorgeous, Bubble! I have some that grow along the edge of the berm but the last couple years the Bermuda grass has grown into them & only a few bloomed. Bad me, I failed pulling weeds 101. I will try to salvage some of the plants, mine never looked so "loved". I honestly didn't know they were bulbs, they were here when we bought the house.

Bubble, check it out and you may be able to get them to rebloom. They do need a dormant stage ,maybe putting them in a dark area??

Shirley, they were also here when we bought this house. Popping up all over ,I have tried to transplant them in one area.

I have a few volunteers growing "wild" at the bottom of my yard.

I wondered if we might have them here but unfortunately I only found this from a Fairbanks gardening club, "In general, Scilla tends to winter over well in Fairbanks and sometimes grape hyacinth does as well. Snowdrops are also hardy. But Scilla, grape hyacinths, and snowdrops are too diminutive to satisfy my need for color after a long, white winter. And if the winter is particularly brutal with minimal snow cover, then only the hardiest will survive."

for Shirley

I did my griping about neighbors wearing out my snow.... TWICE......so looked out while ago & shocked to see the group of at least 2 families  playing on my hill again!  They waved & yelled to me when I opened the door to take a pic, almost dark, & one of the little girls yelled, "Hi, Miss Shirley"  (better than Miss Daisy).... so I waved & they asked if I wanted to join them, "we love the hill".   Not even mean ole me could chase them off after such a nice "howdy".  The grown ups were having more fun than the kids, and do believe those 40+ year olds will have a few sore muscles tonight!   So I won't gripe anymore, they don't mean to spoil MY fun. 

Bubble, the Grape Hyacinth plant is so pretty!

Shirley, you have such a nice view out your back door!  Lovely photo.

Shirley, even the pooch is enjoying "your" hill. I bet if you went over ,they would let you slide down with them...do they have a toboggan or just saucers?