Butterfly out back on the lantana. Maybe one of these days I’ll have (make) the time to take some proper shots out in the garden, with a tripod and patience. But for now, I’ll try to be quick on the shutter for these chance encounters.
Lunchtime.
Category: Critters
It’s good to be back.
We had planned to raft up last night, but as it turned out, we didn’t make it to the lake. It ended up raining overnight, so it’s just as well that we weren’t out there. Today we went to the marina to bring home the kayak and close up the boat. It was nice to back on the lake. It’s been a while, for me. The temps were in the 90’s. The water temps are in the high 70’s. Tis the season for B-dockers to hang out on the lake every weekend.
We saw Joe, Mike, Marty, Sue, Jerry and Wally. Sue has her stand-up paddle board in their slip. So, she and I paddled up and down the dock for quite a while. Along the way we saw lots of the neighborhood ducks. The mom and babies in the shot above were not too leary of the kayak – we were able to get pretty close. Though, I’m told that last week, this momma duck had seven babies, not six.
The shot below shows some of the ducks that have become quite accustomed to handouts from B-dock. You can see one of the big carp under the surface of the water on the right side of the frame.
Gimme a kiss.
Keeto is about 8 months old. His flight feathers are in and he has mastered flying. He loves to sit on his perch in the window, which is about 2 feet away from a hummingbird feeder. When the hummingbirds fly up to the feeder, I don’t know who is more freaked out, the hummingbirds or Keeto. He also will fly between Monte and I when we are all sitting down to watch TV. He seems to be pretty house-trained. Good thing. …and he loves to give kisses.
Today is day 2 of an absolutely beautiful weekend. Monte has headed to the lake, and I am working. Ok. Well. I will be as soon as I post this.
We are looking forward to a fun evening at the One World Theatre. For Christmas, I gave monte tickets for 2 for the Diane Schuur concert this evening. I made him humongous paper tickets for the gift. The real tix are actually at will-call. But we’re bringing the home-made tickets with us to see if they’ll let us in with them anyway 🙂
Oh, and Happy Earth Day!
If you build it, they will come.
Exactly 4 months ago today I posted a picture of a birdhouse I had just made. The sides are hinged and open to reveal clear plastic walls inside the birdhouse – a “peek-a-boo” birdhouse.
The birdhouse sat on the table next to the couch for a long time, because Keeto liked to perch on it while we were all sitting in the gameroom. But I finally hung it up outside about 6 weeks ago.
Well, I couldn’t help myself, so I finally peeked inside and saw a nest and an egg! My friend Doray said it could be a bewick wren, when I described the momma bird to her that has been keeping watch in the birdhouse and nearby. I looked it up online and sure enough, i think it is a bewick wren. Just one egg, though. But, I’m so excited to see a birdie in residence.
I was also happy to see mom come back to the birdhouse afterwards. I’ll leave them in peace now and resist the urge to take another look.
Bathtime.
Yes, another gratuitous Keeto pic. We are enjoying our little birdy after having been away for a week and a half.
Keeto @ 6 months (or thereabouts)
I didn’t get a chance to sort through my photos from the trip yet, so, today you get another Keeto shot 🙂
Doray and Tom bird-sat for us while we were out of town. We got home too late to get him last night. So, as soon as my last meeting was over today, i buzzed over there to pick him up. He’s such a sweet bird. Thank you Uncle Tom & Aunt Doray !
We estimate that this week he is about 6 months old. His cere is most definitely blue now. He’s wrapping up his first molt. His flight feathers have grown in enough for him to get some lift. And his eyes are changing a bit… no longer solid black, but have a little ring gray around the outside.
(oh yeah, i almost forgot… Happy Mardi Gras!)
Family in the hood.
My mom, my sister Francine and her kids Aaron and Rebecca are visiting from Seattle this week. My flight back to Austin yesterday arrived an hour before theirs, so I just hung out in the Admiral’s Club for a while and then met them at their gate.
We paid a visit to the goats down the street.
Woody.
I spotted this woodpecker working on one of the trees out back today. The tree is a hackberry and from the sound of his rapping on the branches, it might be a casualty of the drought. But losing a hackberry isn’t a great loss.
I think this is a Ladder-backed woodpecker.
Apologies for the crummy photo quality. He was way up near the top of the tree and I had to use my 12x zoom. He didn’t seem very perturbed though, he paid no attention to me as I walked under the tree trying to get a shot.
Leaning into it.
It is not my intent to post lots of pictures of our bird, but I couldn’t help this one. Keeto likes to walk around my desk, investigating everything. He makes frequent trips to the keyboard to get his head scratched. What a sweet bird 🙂
His cere is still a bit ambiguous – not quite all blue yet. But he’s started vocalizing and mimicking, so my money is on male.
Well groomed.
It is fun to watch Keeto’s emerging bird:human relationship develop. He likes to sit on our shoulders. If he is on my shoulder while I’m typing on the computer keyboard, he will walk down my arm, stand on the keyboard and peck at my fingers to get me to rub his head. He is starting his first molt, so i’m sure the new feathers are very itchy.
As you can see in the shot above, he enjoys grooming monte – he’s got his work cut out for him though 🙂
Keeto at about 10 weeks.
We brought Keeto home a little over one month ago, at which time we estimate he was 6 weeks old. He’s getting comfortable, growing a bit (I think). We are trying to broaden his diet, which is working out ok so far.
He is a very sweet bird. He looks a lot like Petey, but has a very different personality. He’s quite the explorer – likes to run around the game room. His wings are still clipped from when we picked him up, so he hasn’t mastered full flight yet. He is hand trained, which was very easy from the beginning, and likes to have his head scratched.
We’re still not sure if he is a boy or girl. After his first molt, which will be in the next couple months, his cere should change to blue or pink for good. I’ll let you know how that turns out.
A flock once more.
Nearly 11 years ago a little blue parakeet adopted us. Petey lived with us 9 long years. We have waited some time before getting another bird but have started looking over the summer.
Over the weekend we found a gentle little boy (we hope) who has some of Petey’s coloring, but is different enough to be his own little bird.
We brought Keeto home tonight. Here’s to the newest member of our flock!
House guest.
We are bird sitting Mr. Echo while Tom and Doray are off to California for a week of vacation. I’ve tried to get a close-up shot of his unusual eye, but it isn’t working out. This is a cropped version of a longer shot. You get the idea. Mr. Echo is a red-bellied parrot (with orange eyes).
This just in.
A couple weeks back I posted a picture of our two new baby goat neighbors down the street. The owners have taken to putting a note on the fence for passers-by to keep everyone up to date on their progress. Apparently their names are Bucky & Rusty, and they have been absent from the fence for a week or so. Now we know why.
I do enjoy living in our odd little neighborhood…. a little bit of the country in the city.
Sheila365 