This week at the feeder..(edited)

female

A goldfinch - FINALLY!  I've been trying different kinds of bird feed to see if I can attract some less common (around my house) birds. 

The "finch sock", as they are called, above has been hanging for over a week, maybe even 10 days and every night when I'd bring it in, I could tell no seed had been eaten.  But I can really tell that they made some progress with it today!

male

We've always had plenty of robins, cardinals, woodpeckers, bluejays and the like, but yellow and orange are colors I've not seen very often around here.  It was shocking to see how much brighter the male was than the female, when they both we at the feeder together.  He is brilliant!  Once I have a chance to research it a little more, I'd like to try to bring in orioles.  Their orange and black plumage is stunning too!

The hummingbirds have been great fun to watch but one of them has grown very territorial over ALL THREE feeders we have outside.  He is of the ruby-throated variety so we've named him 'Red Neck'.  Seemed to fit.  There is a white throated one, we call her Plain Jane, who can't even think about stopping off for a drink without Red Neck chasing her away.  So, hubby and I decided we might just have to stake out about 17 feeding stations around the property, to give the other little ones a fair chance!  If nothing else, ol' Red Neck might just give himself a hernia trying to police all of the stations, all day, every day!

And lastly, it does seem that the pair of Eastern Bluebirds that have been scoping out a bird house down around Lake Dave for weeks have decided to call it Home. 

I'm really glad they did.  Their color is just beautiful but they don't sit still for long, so they're going to be harder to photograph than the hummingbirds and finches.  Here's a quick shot of the male sitting on the windchime stake:

and about to enter the birdhouse:

male with nesting materials, on birdhouse stake

The "Mommy" bird, keeping a watchful eye from above:

Almost finished with Women, Food and God, so no stitching updates from me.  Family from Texas (BIL, SIL and three of my XSDNs*) may come for a visit next week.  I do hope they can work it out for the whole bunch to come.  I love me some niece-y time!

Until next time friends, happy stitching to you!

*XSDN=extra special darling nieces