Seeing Red

Kind of hard to resist the two reddest birds in the yard when they get together.  You all recognize the Cardinal, of course, and some of you will also recognize the House Finch on the left.  I think they were both discussing how very cold it is today!  Our temperatures started in the low teens and have now dropped to single digits with strong gusty winds.  That leaves it feeling like about 2 F outside.  A day when everyone should be wearing down.

I did huddle outside on the deck for quite a while today, in between warm-up breaks inside, bundled up with hat, gloves, parka, scarf and earmuffs.  I wanted to get some good pics of some of the backyard birds to submit to the Great Backyard Bird Count contest.  The count is going on this weekend (Fri-Mon) worldwide.  If you don't know about it, check it out HERE - it is a worldwide event now and very easy to submit counts and photos.

Speaking of photos...I got a message last night via email that Cornell Lab of Ornithology had selected this shot of a Worm-eating Warbler in their online bird guide All About Birds.  Mine is one of 4 photos they are using as the primary ID photos - I am SO chuffed!  And, it happens to be a photo that I am quite proud of, too.  

Tomorrow by this time, we'll be landing in Phoenix where the afternoon temps should be about 85 F - which will be a welcome change from the current frigid temps here in NJ.  Can't wait to see my parents and to help Dad celebrate his 83rd birthday this week.  It's actually a big birthday week in our family with Dad, my niece Amanda and her son Nathan all celebrating big days.

I will be blipping from the iPad this week which is always challenging since I can never get photos to upload directly from the iPad, requiring me to email them to my iPhone and upload from there - God only knows why.  Anyway, comments will be sparse - my apologies in advance.  

Happy Blipping Saturday.

PS:  Phoebe was quite irate about all the attention that Charlie got yesterday and insisted that HER tongue is even cuter.  You can be the judge - she is featured in Extra.