Flowers Today in Honor of Mother's Day

My son, Todd, has been having a Mother's Day party for the past nine years for Becky and Danielle's mom, Jane, at his home, so, yesterday, we spent the day at his home outside of Decatur with him and Danielle, our daughter, Michelle, and all five of our

grandkids as well as my daughter in laws parents and a couple from Dallas who are friends of the family who drove in from Dallas to spend the day along with their infant daughter.

Plenty of snacks and drinks were enjoyed along with a late afternoon fajita dinner making for another great Mother's Day for Becky and Jane, so I thought some flowers might be appropriate to post.

First Bird Hatch of the Season

For the past six years, I have had a pair of Eastern Phoebes that have built a nest under the eave of either the back or front porch in early April and raised two sets of hatchlings. The first three years, they built under the back porch on top of a brick column that had a fairly wide ledge where it was easy for them to build their nest. This is a photo of the first group of fledglings that first year that took their first flight from the nest to a Crepe Myrtle bush that was in my backyard.



For some reason, which I suspect was the presence of our dog in the back yard, two years ago, they decided to build under the front porch which has a very narrow ledge that is almost impossible to build on. They worked for about a week bringing materials each day to build their nest only to have it fall to the ground. Besides feeling sorry for them, I got tired of the mess it was creating on the porch, so I finally gave in and got a small piece of plywood about four inches wide and a
C-clamp and attached the plywood to the ledge where they were trying to build. At first they were't quite sure what to do, but the next day, they did begin to build a nest on the plywood, and within three or four days, completed it. Since that time, they have returned each April, and added to the nest and raised their young. This year's first group of young Phoebes hatched about two weeks ago, and will probably fledge sometime within the next couple of days. As usual, there are now four young birds sitting on a nest that is becoming more crowded each day. I took a couple of photos of them this morning to make sure I got them before they fly.





Once they do, they won't return, but their parents will to lay another set of eggs and hatch another group that will fledge the first couple of weeks in June.

Update: Little ones flew from the nest the day after I posted this.

Another Summer Favorite Has Made It Back

Was out this morning getting ready to mow yard and spotted an old summer friend, a Mississippi Kite, perched in a tree next to my barn. Another of my favorite Summer birds which winters down in Argentina.