springtime

this is a bit belated, but i want to remember one of our most enjoyable springtime activities during our copious amounts of backyard time while the pleasant weather lasted: baby bird rearing. a cardinal nest was built in one of our nandina bushes (see liam peering up at the empty nest) and one baby was cared for by a trio of one mama and 2 males. they parented in flurry of activity--constantly flapping from here to there, noisily chirping--either directed to the baby or to distract predators from the nest. once the baby started moving around a bit, i would suddenly hear all this chirping and know they were back in the yard--it was fun to figure out where the baby was this time. in contrast, the mourning dove would spend long periods of time just sitting quietly next to her fluffy, soft-feathered baby on the maple tree or telephone wire.

other fun activities: picking the many kinds of flowers and observing insects. liam played with this green bug for such a long time.