Spring Critters

I was sitting out on the deck the other afternoon (when it was at least 50 degrees out, as opposed to today's brisk 30's) and happened to see a Robin fastidiously preening him/herself after a quick dip in our neighbor's pond. Such simple pleasures...

Pine Siskins: It's spring molting season and the American Goldfinch are the most conspicuous of all the birds during their molts. Right now they look a tad dirty, but they'll soon be glowing daffodil yellow as the courtship season begins. I took these photos of the male Cowbird through our kitchen window - not noticing at first the "giant" squirrel eating nearby! And a pair of Chipping Sparrows came to the feeder yesterday for the first time. We have many happy memories of our daughter feeding parent chippers while they sat on their eggs. They had nested in a small arbevita by our back porch and Chris would catch lacewings to feed to whichever parent was on the nest. We took lots of photos, but back then, neither the cameras nor the processing were that great so the photos have lost much over the years. Our memories have not, however! Last but not least, here is one of our resident chipmunks dining under one of the feeders.