A Happy Sky

I love how birds migrate through Tennessee. I have even learned to recognize the intense rumbling noise when a huge flock of them have arrived. I was out walking one very dreary day last week...and I heard it. I literally ran home to get my camera because I have yet to capture these birds. Sadly, and as usual, most of the flock had already vanished by the time I had a camera to capture them. However, I did capture a few fun shots and gave the sky some much needed life. One of these days I am going to have my camera at the exact time I walk into a clouds of black....literally, because there are so many! I may get pooped on-ha! (that would not be unlikely with a huge mass of birds around)...but it will be worth it!

To the Clouds

It is an incredibly dreary day today, so I wanted to post some of these bright and wonderful skies to brighten things up a bit. I also read this verse in my devotions this morning, and it couldn't be more fitting. 

"For Your loving kindness is great to the heavens 

and Your truth to the clouds.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God; 

Let Your glory by above all the earth."

Psalm. 57:10

Here is an update on the robins, which we have nicknamed Ginger and Gilligan. The eggs must have hatched without our knowing it because one day we noticed a little bird's head peaking out of the nest. Too bad we missed that..if we were only a few feet higher, we probably could have seen them breaking out of their shells! But we are now witnessing their unbelievably fast growth into little birds. It's really a fun process to witness so closely the whole thing from the very beginning.

They made it through the storm this weekend, even with a tornadoe threat in the forcast. We  found an empty nest strewn on the ground near our house, showing that some other babies were not so fortunate. For Ginger and Giligan though, the abnormal downpour has at least provided an ongoing feast of worms for their little ones. For the past few days, I've seen the robins doing nothing other than searching for worms, feeding them to their four babies and repeating the cycle all day long. Here are some pictures.

 

Oh how I love Spring!

Ahhh, glorious spring, how I love thee!!! I have been overwhelmed with joy over all the blooms here in Nashville this spring. For a week I felt submerged in this strange land with strikingly white fluffly trees everywhere. It felt like I was in a winter wonderland because they resembled snow so much. But it wasn't cold and so much new greeness accompanied the white trees' debut. I suppose this is what it would be like to have warm snow if there was such a thing. Anyways, these new signs of life juxtaposed with the white snowy-looking trees made for a strange yet glorious display!

I also have the most lovely drive to work everyday and it has become more and more lovely as the days progress. New trees are always budding and I have been blessed by their arrival. I get to witness their transformation each day as they reach their height of outstanding beauty. They come near falling over due to the weight of so many colorful blossoms. It is almost ethereal driving along the rolling hills dotted by beautiful mansions and grand estates dressed up by the wondrous lawns, forest woods and lots and lots of trees...and therefore dreamlike amounts of beautiful spring flowers everywhere.

Not only does my drive invigorate and inspire me, but there is plenty to take in at our house and everywhere else it seems. We even came home to a little surprise the other day. Amidst all the beauty of the spring flowers and green life, this was like the icing on the cake for me and my husband....a robin decided to start making a nest in the tree right next to our living room window! We are so excited to see little baby birds peeping their heads out of the nest soon declaring their arrival and new life in the world. Sigh. Such a fun time in the year-so much renewal, life and lush beauty to behold!

 

I am fortuate to have my camera back just in time...thank goodness! I have already captured some beautiful images and am working on some of my favorite overlays yet! I'm so excited to share them soon!

A Flutter of Wings

So Caleb and I have been on an extended bird watch over the past few days in hopes to photograph all our little visitors. Snowy weather has made it easy to stay inside and watch them. We also picked up some new bird food and there has been a hay day on our porch ever since we put it out. Thanks to Caleb, we know what they are and can recognize each of their calls. So here are a few pictures of what we've gotten so far. They are fascinating little creature and so fun to get to know! I can't help being a little envious of them...getting to fly around all the time, hanging out with all their buddies and having a feast!

So far we have identified the: Cardinal(Male and Female), Downy Woodpecker, Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee and Carolina Wren (my personal favorite!), Dark-Eyed Junco, and Titmouse.

We also received an unexpected surprise when we discovered a huge family of wild turkeys living in the forest next to our apartment complex. I walked out of the house the other day to about 30 of them pecking on the ground only 10 feet from me. I looked up, and 4 more were perched up on the top of the complex looking down at me, and more were swooping in right over my head to with such large wings, it was a little unnerving. Then the other night, Caleb took our dog out at night and was startled by them again...or maybe it was the other way around. All he heard was loud swooshing of huge wings...enough to freak anyone out in the dark!

Needless to say, we are loving all this wildlife!