Rainy day romance

First of all, many, many thanks to everyone who left comments, hearts and stars on yesterday's milestone blip.  Initially, I regretted that I hadn't taken time to work on some sort of really special shot...but then after reading some of your comments, I realized that it was actually just the right image for the day.  The birds who call my garden "home" are such a big part of my photography after all...and having bluebirds nesting in the garden is such a special treat for me.

On to today's image...  The day broke wet and very chilly, so I put on a turtleneck, jeans and a fleece, set up the hide on the patio, and hunkered down with my camera and tea.  Most of you know that I love taking photos in the rain.  I don't have to worry overly about blown highlights, and the colors of the birds tends to be very saturated which I like.  So, I was a happy, if slightly chilly, blipper.

The female House Finch (she's the plain one) landed on a branch not 7 feet from where I was "hiding".  I had the camera focused on her, ready to snap a few shots, when her mate landed and started feeding her.  My lucky day!  I've photographed finches pair-feeding before, but never from such a close distance.  Seeing birds engage in this very intimate behavior always touches me deeply.  There is something so inherently sweet about it.  So, easy choice for today's blip.  My second choice, also from the hide, was a female Hairy Woodpecker which can be seen HERE on Flickr.

A bit of a sad update about Missus Mouse.  When I checked on her a couple of days ago I found that she'd moved her nest from one side of the grill to the other and although she was staying right in the nest, there did not appear to be any live young in it.  Late yesterday, I carefully pulled back the grill cover again to find that she'd left.  One dried young mouse was in the nest - I suspect that it was just too hot under that grill cover during the day for those tiny, naked babies.  Still, a sad ending.  We are going to leave the grill cover off to discourage her from attempting to nest there again.  And the grill has been fully cleaned and is now ready for its intended use - grilling as opposed to a mouse nest!

Happy Saturday
Debbi