For the Birds

A young downy woodpecker tried out his wings in one of our cottonwood trees yesterday afternoon. He could fly, but didn't fly very far. Mostly he sat on a branch and squawked. The pictures aren't very good, but you can make out the orangish patch on his head that will soon be bright red and some of his still fuzzy feathers.

There is a robin's nest in the pine tree just on the other side of our fence. They are still taking turns sitting in the nest, so I don't think those eggs have hatched yet. We really enjoyed watching our baby robins grow up last year. Hopefully we'll get a peek at these babies, too.

The chickadees in our nesting box have hatched. I first heard them chirping for food on Saturday. Mom & Dad Chickadee have been very busy searching for food. We helped them out by putting out some meal worms. They love them and don't seem to mind if I sit close enough for pictures once I put the worms out. I think it will be at least another week before the babies venture out of the box.