Summer Meadow Pics by Vincent

I've been meaning to get these pics up for a while now. This is a collection of meadow pics taken by David's brother Vincent toward the end of June. A very wet summer brought forth an explosion of wildflowers, mushrooms, lichens and moss ~ it's a beautiful thing. Especially after 3 years of hot dry summers. We're seeing wild flowers and mushrooms we haven't seen before...

Pixie or Faerie cups

soft lush mossy ground

This is called Old Man's Whiskers or Prairie Smoke. The pic above is one Vince took in late June and the photo below is a pic I took a few weeks later at it's full blown stage. Such a pretty flower ~ for a name like Old Man's Whiskers : )

Meadow Arnica

Mushrooms of infinite variety. and more loveliness

Thanks for these great meadow pics Vince!

Fledglings, feeding and feathers

Busy birds one and all. Here are a few photos of our dear, delightful barn swallows. They are voracious eaters of mosquitoes which is only one reason we love them.

And not forgetting our four legged friends. Seen here taking a stroll across very wet hay meadows.

The little guys. Barn swallow babies. It is truly amazing how fast they grow.

A female Rufous Hummingbird

~ Mist on the meadow ~

One of our much loved Evening Grosbeaks

Flight school for swallows ~ in the pouring rain

A Red Winged Blackbird and his fledgling enjoying some easy pickin's from the feeder.

Almost everywhere we look right now the feeding of young 'uns is underway!

A pair of sweet Tree Swallows captured on camera by David the other morning.

And in closing I leave you with a Chinese Proverb: A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak on the Meadow

Some excitement on the meadow this morning. Our first ever sighting of this lovely bird! The Rose Breasted Grosbeak is not native to our area. The mapping at 'All About Birds" shows that they summer slightly out of range to the east so he likely just veered off course on one of our summer storms. This may be the only time we see him but we're hoping that he brought his mate and that they'll decide they like it here. We really do love our Grosbeaks! Our Evening Grosbeaks brought their first batch of little ones to the feeder about a week ago. They are so sweet and almost as big as their parents. Another great birding resource is Boreal Birds where they say of the rose-breasted grosbeak that an estimated 39% of the species' North American population breeds within the Boreal Forest. Our meadow is on the edge of the Boreal Forest. Boreal Birds is a great website with a mission of "Conserving the Boreal Forest for our Songbirds". Thanks for visiting. Till next time.

Birds, bees and blossoms of early summer

This Evening Grosbeak wears the most unusual crown. We have not seen another male grosbeak with a full crown (and the small jewel) like this handsome fellow displays. His female partner (below) was also slightly more regal looking than our regular grosbeaks. Our kingly grosbeak again, from behind... And a gathering of Grosbeaks ... aka a Charm of Finches I also want to share some photos taken by Vincent (David's younger brother) who has been with us here on the meadow off and on for three and a half years. We've encouraged him to start a blog of his own as he takes really beautiful photos and more often than not his photos are very close up, showing a different view of the meadow than many of the pics David and I take... And a few more 'David and Nick pics' featuring our feathered friends... a pretty Lazuli Bunting, A Western Tanager and a female Western Tanager on another day.Summer is in full swing now with wonderful sightings every day of some lovely critter or bird. The hay on the meadow is getting taller by the minute with the long rainy season we've had. My lilacs are blooming for the first time in three years!! Life is good.