New Home - Finally!

I am all moved in to my new house. It seems like forever since I signed the lease- 7 weeks ago. Lots of packing, unpacking, cleaning, moving, rearranging and all the accompanying stress.

Moving the kittycats was full of drama, trauma and a little bloodshed (from trying to get Winston into the cat carrier). But after two days huddled under the beds, the cats have adjusted well. They love exploring the new house - it is bigger than the last one. And with a lot more windowsills. A cat's dream home.

Winston, enjoying a little sun and a cool breeze on the living room windowsill

The birds did not follow me. I hung all my birdfeeders and so far have attracted nothing but a ton of house sparrows. Yuck. We'll see how it goes.

While watching my beloved Philadelphia Eagles in the season opener against Carolina (we won), I made a batch of Zick dough at halftime. I stuffed it in the new suet holders that my dad made. Now I will freeze them to harden the dough and have it ready for hanging when the weather gets colder. Aren't they cool? My dad took up several hobbies when he retired - homemade candles and wood crafts. I have benefited greatly from both.

Goldfinch suet holder (check out the serial killer eyes) and Northern Cardinal suet holder both full of Zick dough.

He and my stepmother spent a week with me after the move and cleaned the new house top to bottom (removing storm windows to clean, scrubbing toilets, hanging pictures and draperies, etc). It would have taken me months to finish without their help. My brother, Russ and his life-partner Jeff also visited to help hook up all the electronics. I am technologically challenged and not afraid to admit when I need help.

Dad and Russ hooking up the new flatscreen to the DVD, the DVR, the wireless router, the cable box and the electricity

Today, I had three of my best girlfriends over to see the house, have bagels and coffee and catch up. They live 50 minutes away and finding "girl-time" is difficult to say the least. So this was precious time. We all sat around the farmhouse table, drinking coffee, noshing and laughing so loud that I think I might get protest letters from the neighbors. When we went to make plans for our next outing, we all pulled out our PDAs, cellphones, iPhones and pagers. How pathetic is our dependency on gadgets?

Now that the move is over and I am settled comfortably, I will blog more regularly. I am taking a group of 10 Boy Scouts birding in 3 weeks, so that should make for one hell of a blog entry. Me and ten 10-year olds in the woods - the situation is ripe for great storytelling.

I leave you with a picture of the housewarming present from my friend Kathy - a punched tin bird that holds a tealight candle in it's belly. Friends know what you like. And they humor you.

Almost Fledging

Here are two of the four baby bluebirds giving my camera the stink-eye as I check their box. How about those white spots on their feathers? Like a fawn is spotted when it is young.

It has been a long and crazy summer. Too much going on in my life to spend quality time birding and hence, the paucity of posts.


But the backyard bluebird couple are successfully raising their brood of four in the little house my father built for my backyard. I will be moving on September first, ten miles north of where I currently live, and am anxious to see the bluebirds fledge so I can take down the house, clean it out and pack it up for the move. I have already cleaned and packed the birdfeeders, so even my backyard birding has quieted down. But I did get my first yard Baltimore Oriole last week. That brings my yard list up to 53. And this morning, drinking coffee on the deck while trying to figure out how to pack up Beverly the Stone Chicken, I saw a flash of white in the trees. Tree swallows? Went inside for the binoculars and was able to id a pair of Eastern Kingbirds playing tag at the edge of the yard. Cool - first kingbirds of the year.

I remember the first time I saw and identified a kingbird. It was perched on the post that holds up my clothesline. Do you remember the first time you see each of your species? Most of them stick with me. Like the Painted Bunting I first saw with my Uncle Jim while the deer flies ate me alive. Or the Prothonotary Warbler on the tree over the creek that I saw from the bridge overpass. Or the Veery I just got in the parking lot of the state park a few weeks ago. How about the Bobolink in the hay field in West Virginia with my peeps, The Flock. Or the red-winged blackbird that swooped in front of my car onto the shoulder of the road while I waited at the top of an exit ramp. Or the Blue-Winged Warbler that I identified by voice and watched for 1/2 an hour while it sang in Peace Valley Park - my usual bird haunt. Or the Gadwall that Pete Dunne showed me in his scope on a Cape May Autumn Weekend. Or the Chestnut-sided Warbler that Paco got me on at the New River Festival (one of my nemesis birds at the time). Or the Gray Catbird that was so close I could touch it, flashing his rufous rump patch in PennyPack Park. I even remember my first starling - I was on my first bird trip with Uncle Jim and asked him what it was. He called it a "trash bird" and I remember thinking "How can such a pretty bird be trash?". Now I know.

So as I prepare for my move and lots of other stuff at work and at home, I push birding to the back burner. But I have Cape May in October and Space Coast in January (staying with my wonderful Aunt Maggie! - Thanks, Mag!).