Mystery Bird

July 31 2017 
I have my guess of what this is, but still have doubts. Comments invited.

Didn't I do this last year for the same bird?

Maybe I should call it the deja-vu bird instead!

Bigger than Goldfinch.

 Seems to have come for the suet, which was empty.

August 2: Scale.

A ruler in the exact same spot puts head-to-tail at 5-1/4 inches minimum. 

It was angled a bit (top of ruler closer to us) but I doubt as much as the bird.

 For comparison, similar dimension for a House Finch is closer to 5 inches. Different twig, but ruler photographed at same place as bird. Yes, I shopped the ruler again for contrast.

Bottom line: 

I first thought young or female Scarlet Tanager, but now think Summer Tanager.

2017 Summer

July 2 
The spectacular Red-headed Woodpecker. It's been a banner year for us with these guys such that I started hoping we'd eventually see kids (*below).

House Wren, for the record. Mostly they stay on the west side where their house is.
July 22 update: after Bluebird clutch #2 fledged, the wrens are persistently trying to move in. I made a little video of their work with sticks, soon to be posted perhaps.

One of the local bunnies. I am wondering if they eat poison ivy. That would redeem them from (suspicion of) eating my baby milkweed!

July 4. Great-crested Flycatcher? Overexposed, sorry.
 Our book has 3 similar that it says are best identified on the basis of song/call.
 

Downy and Bee Balm.  

Tiny Toad in Gravel Pile.

July 22 - I must have walked right by this little runaway on my way to the mailbox. On return I spotted it and immediately went for the camera. It had remained in the same spot keeping quite still. I snapped some photos then wondered if it was hungry. Went for some worms, still there but quite unresponsive, even when I touched its beak with a worm. Maybe a minute later it decided I was bad news and ran off cheeping.

 Just about that time I became aware of this unit, acting parental and confirming ID: Brown Thrasher. And no, it's not missing a leg, I just caught it mid-step!

What nicely folded wings!

*As I'd hoped, a young Red-headed Woodpecker appears.
A short video sequence of it talking.

(July 29) Comparing wing feathers to those of the adult (July 22):

Wet male Towhee with some kind of feather disarray?

More wet disarray. This may be one I was observing that struck me as being young. 
It seemed lacking in that brash Blue Jay attitude.

July 28: Purple Finch and American Goldfinch, both males.

Wildflower City

 2017-06-21 First day of summer the calendar says, I thought I'd photograph an interesting flower I'd seen during previous lunchtime walks.
Then I decided I might as well document all the wildflowers I saw. 

There were more than I expected.
This is without leaving sidewalk or parking lot (but I still managed to pick up a tick).
It was hard to tell if my phone camera was focusing or not, being so bright out.
Consequently I've omitted maybe two that were too blurry.
I think I can ID some of them, need help with the rest, any takers?

 

This is the one that inspired the project.

Some kind of Daisy I assume?

Chickory

Must be Orange Hawkweed.

 Clover

Thistle

Teazel (not blooming yet but I couldn't pass it by)

Milkweed

Bluebirds 2017, Chapter 2

I think the Bluebirds came back June 1. Himself, just outside our kitchen window. Had he been any closer I wouldn't have been able to focus. 

June 7, clutch #2. 

One egg is less than a day old and the other less than 2. 

This morning was the first time I ever saw a Bluebird eating suet, and a Catbird taking dried worms.

June 11

Somewhere I have video of an egg hatching. Find/upload/link it!

June 27 

July 2, Bluebird Zen: The Sound Of One Wing Flapping
I used to think of it as a male thing, some kind of semaphore, but lately I'm seeing herself do it as well.


July 2, slowed down half-speed. Where did it go?!

High-tech (GoPro equipped) Gilbertson Bluebird house. A temporary rig, that's a battery-pack on the side for all-day video. Maybe next year a web-cam!

July 4

Incoming.

 
July 11 (pm) update: I came home to find an empty nest, I believe they fledged today. Ma and Pa appear to have sequestered the family somewhere to the north. High in a tree I suspect. Hoping we get to see them sometime.

July 16: Mr Bluebird still drops by to get worms which he takes to wherever they have the kids stashed.
Today, having more pupae than worms, I wanted to see that he'd take them too. I think sometime in the past I noticed a preference for the worms and pupae being left. 
Most of the worms in this picture are dried BTW, but he's certainly going for the live pupae now. The next stage of the meal worm life-cycle is a beetle BTW. The white stuff is powdered calcium, having read that meal worms while nutritious are calcium-depleting. There's a big foil canopy above the tray, as well as the ribbon you see here which I positioned in hopes of discouraging the Blue Jays. Catbird doesn't seem to mind it, I've noticed.

July 17: First fledgling, hurrah!

July 22: Today I saw 3 of the kids. Here are two.