Defcon 4

Yard bird # 21, the utterly adorable Downy Woodpecker.  This little guy was clearly alarmed, finding it necessary to raise all the little red feathers in his cap to Defcon 4 status.  And, as you might see, he's got more than a little suet on his beak, which may be why I thought I heard one of the other birds mutter "suet breath" as he flew by...

You may recall that I set a challenge for myself to try to photograph all (or most) of the different species of birds seen in/from my yard this year. I've tried to catch the more unusual birds as I see them, saving species like the Downy Woodpecker for when it's a slow day, which today was.  We have these cute little woodpeckers year around in our yard, with multiple pairs nesting in our woods each spring.  All as a long way of saying that you'll see them again...and again...and again as the year progresses.  (And, by the way, my yard count sits at 30 species as of last week - I just wasn't quick enough to shoot the other 9)

Had a lovely lunch with a friend today - haven't seen her for several months so it was good to catch up.  And she insisted on buying lunch to celebrate my birthday!

Yesterday's rain and record-breaking high temps did much to melt the snow and we can once again see our lawn...or most of it, anyway.

Today marks what would have been my father-in-law's 89th birthday.  He passed almost 2 years ago. We'll raise a glass of wine to him this evening.  

Be well, people.

Debbi