They were incredibly cute! The other day we had dinner on the porch and got to watch a silly wren begin building a nest in a planter. It’s like a Disney thing at mealtimes around here!
Look at it with its head up like a cobra, bein’ all, “Oooh, I’m a scary serpent!”
Adorbs.
Yep! He was teeny tiny, acting all tough. Kudos to our dogs who are trained to ignore snakes. They were soo good and were treated accordingly
In Shoreham today, walking the Adur estuary, we saw a great white egret - first time for us in the UK. Now, having said that, at distance and without binocs/field glasses, the only real discernible difference between a great white egret and a little egret (very common hereabouts) is size, which is a bit of an issue for ID (y’know, small vs far away). But:
(1) This guy was huge; and
(2) We’ve seen them before in Normandy, many times, so we know pretty well what we’re looking at; and
(3) A quick check on the interwebs reveals several recent sightings in the area - mostly recounted in a slightly bored tone, as in, Yeah, another one.
Anyway, as I said, a first for us in the UK - so that’s nice.
j
That is entirely the bird’s fault for failing to give you a proper perspective. Polite egrets stand next to each other 
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That is one hell of a photo (again) @Tamerlane.
j
Yesterday:
Nice double!
Unreal.
Thanks! It’s one of the only full rainbows I’ve ever seen.
The deer run this town.
I saw a skunk on my way home from work tonight!
It had a particularly wide stripe on its back - it was white practically all the way from side to side. Utterly ignored me, of course, and toddled slowly on its way into the underbrush.
Babies! (Very tiny eggs)
Which nest is that … ?
Finch sized eggs. I’ll be checking again later. Nest is low in a shrub.
Walking through the forest park on Saturday, I saw a magnificient pileated woodpecker. Alas, it flew away before I could take a photo.
My consolation prize was this:
Eastern chipmunk who was enjoying the spills from the bird feeder. Birds are messy eaters.
We have bluebird babies in the bluebird house. You can hear them chittering away when mom or dad bring food.
I’ve put up a few bluebird houses, but never had a bluebird use one yet. On the other hand, we are responsible for the huge number of wrens in our area.
My favorite birdhouses are the acorns we have hanging all over the place. A local artist is obsessed with acorns. We buy the small birdhouses. They are expensive, but so cute. The artist had a huge acorn lawn ornament on display at a gallery, someone recently purchased it!
Wrens don’t need anything but a pot on your porch to nest in (ask me how I know this, lol). The bluebirds are at least a little more picky. They’re also pretty territorial - they don’t want any other birds nesting too close. Our bluebird houses are a standard wood design. Our local Audubon chapter sells them as does our credit union (of all places).
I never get tired of these guys.
Waiting for a deer to use the crosswalk;
