Red Tailed Hawks

Red Tailed Hawk in my Kitchen? Yes you are seeing right!  Our friend who is a Licensed Raptor Trainer, brought the hawk so hubby could see him.  Of course Hubby is taking the pictures as we did not want to take the chance of his being hurt in any way.  When the immune system is compromised, you learn to be very cautious.  But of course Grandma Kerrie was up for holding the hawk-ha!  He was a juvenile and very well behaved which was a great surprise when we were told he had only been in captivity for a couple of weeks.  (Trainers only capture injured birds or young juveniles that have lost their parents and after caring for them, they are released into the wild again.  They take them out on hunting excursions so they learn to find their own food and they were returning from one of these trips when they stopped to see us.)  Knowing how much we love birds and also my husband had a pet Great Horned Owl when we were dating that he hunted with back in the 1950's. 
    This young hawk in the picture weighed only 2 lbs. and was all feathers.  Birds are very deceiving in stature as their feathers make them look large and ferocious but their bodies are really small, though muscular.
   Here are some of Hubbies pictures of an Egret that was in our little lake at the edge of the yard last week.

He is so beautiful!  I love his head feathers trailing back...

And this is a Mockingbird that I saw on my walk yesterday.  He was most cooperative just sitting there while I snapped several pictures.

I hope you enjoyed our pictures, do come again soon to visit and don't forget to visit my other blogs, the links are in the side bar.

♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...

Another Swan Morning...

The Male Mute Swan came swiftly to the bank this morning and it is as though he senses when I am here.  He came right up to the window looking for a hand-out.  He is posturing here as the female approaches and she is very cautious since he cuffed her and bit her neck a few weeks ago.

But she postures back a little and comes up to his side.  Note the raised wing feathers, so beautiful on both of them.

In this picture it appears she is aggressive but is really just reaching for a morsel of food in the grass.

His feet are so large they look like platters-ha!  At least a Man's size triple E width!

He continues to strut his stuff but the female remained and at least was able to get some of the morsels...

Finally, he returns to the water to drink and she followed after.  Such a thrill to have them up close and personal as always.  I take the pictures through the den window glass as it is too cold to open the window for any length of time.  So the pictures are not as great in quality as I would like but you are able to get an idea of how beautiful their feathers are!

Thank you for visiting and do come again soon!  Hubby is making an intarsia Red-tailed Hawk.  To see its development, please visit our craft site, http://kerrieskrafts3.blogspot.com/ and to see the MERGANSER couple who also visited this morning, see our TWO HAPPY SITE http://beaver-kerrie.blogspot.com/
♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours....

Continuing SC Winter Days...

Good Morning! The drabness of the winter inspires more poetry here-ha!  It seems I have to share what is in my heart and then I feel better about the gray days that linger.  And the Cardinal still graces the old Bradford Pear branches and a Yellow Throated Vireo is visiting the feeder every day!


I was able to get this shot of the female Cardinal yesterday!

Note the buds on the Bradford Pear Tree branches.  The Bradford Pear tree is a beautiful shade tree that flowers in the Spring looking like a huge bouquet of white blossoms.  It then bears tiny pear fruit no larger than a marble.  The birds love them and have something to sustain them through the winter months. They grow for the most part in a globe like shape and require very little maintenance.  Their leaves turn a brilliant red in the fall and retain their color when brought into the house indefinitely.  I keep one on my kitchen window over the sink.  These trees are very popular and are prevalent in the South.

Here is the beautiful Male.

 Another SC Winter Day...
    ©Kerrie O'Hearn Marquart

A rain is falling softly on the lake this winter morn
  And the trees are bare of their usual adorn
Save the jewel-red of a Cardinal among the branches gray
  Popping a bit of color into this gray winter day.

The garden bed is sleeping with Iris toes underground
  And Shamrock is looking frail
         though the leaves stay green year round.
The Pear tree has furry buds just waiting for the Spring
  Bluebirds checking last year's birdhouses again
And the Robin continues the hope of spring...
                         January 25, 2011

Hubby captured the beauty of the Yellow Throated Vireo in our feeder.



Yellow-Throated Vireo



Cardinal in the Rain January 25, 2011

Thank you for coming to visit today, you know you always brighten my day! Come again soon!

♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...  

The Colors of Winter

THE COLORS OF WINTER

     ©Kerrie O'Hearn Marquart

The color of the Mourning Dove

  Matches the gray of the sky above,

Matches the dark earth below,

  And the leaves blowing to and fro.

A Southern winter without any snow

  A drab world, I am feeling kind of low.

The greenless grass, the bare trees above

  But the birds still come and this I love!

Tomorrow, they say the sun will shine

  I hope they are right so I won't pine

For Spring days that are yet far away

  And Sunshine can brighten any day!

Thank you for the dark days, Lord

  So that I appreciate the bright days more.

Thank you for the thorns as well as the Rose

  They exist side by side, heaven knows...

We cannot have one without the other.

         ~January 18, 2011~

My little sketch colored with art pencils...

And then the beautiful Cardinals appear,

such a brilliant color in the the bare branches.



Though elusive and I could not get a clear picture of his beautiful face
He is still the punch of color among the winter branches.



Swan's Night and Morning Doves...

The Swans came last night at dusk.  Only the Male came up into the yard and was scouring for seeds that had dropped from the feeder.  I threw him a few bits of bread.  And then he wandered back to the water and disappeared with his mate off into the darkness.  You can see the street light on the street behind us...

Always the view through my window and too cold to open it up so the reflection from the room is in the glass-ha!

He managed to find some fallen seed from the feeder.

and then he bid a fond farewell and strolled into the darkness...

This morning, we were greeted by the Mourning Doves who frequent our yard.  They, too were scouring the ground under our many feeders looking for seeds.  I love their feathers and the beautiful design.

They always come in pairs and when I went to snap pictures through the window, the squirrel chased one away-ha!  He did not take fly, just waddled swiftly away!

I really do feel for you that have so much snow but I really hate looking at the browns of winter as seen in these pictures.  Snow is serene and beautiful to see...

Color your day a Rainbow !

Have a good day and come back and visit soon!  Check out http://kerrieskrafts3.blogspot.com  to

see my finished tissue box cover!

♥KERRIE♥

My heart to yours...

Today's Walk

I did not walk until late afternoon and the sun was still brilliant.  The reflections on the larger lakes in our community were like a mirror....

The day moon was high in the sky over the long leaf pine trees.  I love seeing the moon in day as well as night time!

I could not believe the reflections on the still lakes today!  They were perfect!

This Great Blue Heron was soooo large, that at first I thought he was a Wood Stork!  I just kept snapping and the quality fo the pictures are not as good as I would like, but it still shows how large he was.  The muscles in his legs were so powerful!

It was so cold out that I had to wear my scarf and my winter jacket but well worth the effort.  There is nothing like sunshine and fresh air to clean up your attitude and get the cobwebs out of your brain-LOL! 

To see my latest Crafts and hubby's layered baskets, visit Kerrie's Krafts 3.  For a Christian message, visit Kerrie's Home Journal.  And if you have time, also visit Two Happy, our original and oldest blog.  Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting.

♥KERRIE♥

My heart to yours...

FRIDAY'S WILDLIFE AND QUICK PHOTO SHOTS

I usually feature the little lake behind our house but with the ice on it, none of the regular visitors have come in a few days.  BUT, I ventured out into the beautiful sunshine today bundled up and armed with my digital camera and visited all the Lakes in the neighborhood.  Here is what I snapped before the batteries died. LOL!

Great White Egret fishing near the bank.

2 Female and 1 Mail Mallard on an island

A beautiful lake near the front of our Community

This little Dock is on one of the largest Lakes and many people put a dock out so that they can sit over the water in the warmer weather.  I would love that but Hubby is not well enough to take on a project like this!  There is something magic about being near water.  My friend, Doris Strum has a beautiful lake that she visits and takes stunning pictures.  Please pop over to see Doris when you can.  She also crochets the most delightful things and has an Etsy shop where she sells them.

There are many little islands in the Lakes in our neighborhood and the Mallards, Egrets and all wading birds find great resting places there.

It was certainly a perfect day for snapping pictures!  I saw the little hooded ducks again that I cannot identify but my camera batteries had died and they quickly swam away from my spying eyes-ha!  They look like a hooded Merganser but their heads are completely black and black and white are the only colors on their bodies.  One day I will get a good picture I am hoping.

Thanks for stopping and do come again soon.  Please visit my other blogs that are linked in my sidebar.  My Christian blog is Kerrie's Home Journal.

♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...

ICE ON THE POND...



Greeted this morning by hungry Blue Jays, freezing temperatures and Ice on the Pond!


It looks warm, but it is not!!  No aquatic bird visits today with the ice on the pond.  I miss the Swans, Egrets, Great Blue Heron, who all hang out at the larger lake in our community where it is not covered with ice because it is deeper. And yet there is beauty in the ice with it's bluish color and stark whiteness...

My little frog figures that my cousin painted for me are a comical contrast to the ice in their skimpy bathing suits-Ha!

I am so wanting our usual, more normal SC temperatures for this time of year to return!  I know that Global warming is a real problem looming over us but it is hard to believe it exists with the whole U.S. having freezing temps and only Florida without snow!  Hmmm!

Thank you for visiting and come back soon.  I miss you when you do not come.  We can have a nice hot cup of coffee, cocoa or tea and chat awhile.  And I can always find something to giggle about, how about you?

♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...    

Yellow Throated Warbler

Yellow Throated Warbler

The Yellow Throated Warbler (s) have been hanging around every day in the feeders and we love watching them! Hubby made this log feeder by drilling out circles in the log and then filling the holes with peanut butter and seed. All the birds love this and come all day long. It was only 23 when we got up this morning and is now only 28 degrees. If it weren't for the beautiful sunshine, it would be a depressing day!

Monday when the snow was falling and dusting the shed roof, the little sparrows came to the shed feeder in groups!  Here they are below with one in mid-air as I snapped the picture through the window.

I am wanting Typical wether to return for SC for this time of the year.  We thought we left this cold winter weather in NYS when we moved here 22 yrs. ago! Ha!  Hope you are staying warm wherever you are today.  The news said Florida is the only State not having snow but it only has temperatures in the 30's!!

Come back soon to visit, thank you for stopping by.

♥KERRIE♥

My heart to yours...

Snowing in SC

Goodness, second year in a row we have had on and off snow flurries in SC! Hmmm! This was yesterday:

Mergansers are back

Here is a pic of this morning:

                                      

And the squirrel has completely taken over the oldest birdhouse, remodeled the doorway to accommodate his size and hangs out there all the day. Today he is in there to get out of the snow! It snowed for at least an hour this morning closing our local schools but no accumulation on our South end of the Grand Strand. Now it is pouring rain and I think I preferred the gentle falling of the snow flakes.

Isn't he just precious?  My daughter feeds him peanuts and he eats them with his head outside or takes them to the ground.  I told her he does not want to mess the house up-ha!
So it continues to be a gloomy day and I still cannot download pictures in the new program unless I leave the blog each time and sign back in.  Are any of you having trouble with down loading your photos??  There are a ton of messages on Blog support but Blogspot is not answering them.  And other bloggers suggestions do not work at all.

Bye for now, come again soon, Hugs to all you nature and wildlife lovers!

♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...

A CARDINAL MORNING

It was a Cardinal Morning when I rose today! First in the top of the bare Bradford Pear tree and then on the shed feeder. All the pictures were taken through the window over my computer with my little Sanyo 4X Digital camera. I love Cardinals so much!

Then some really pretty common sparrows came to visit.
Is anyone else having trouble downloading photos??  The last 2 days I have not been able to download them to my blog unless I get out of the program and the blog and come back again!  I went to help and it said to change back to the "OLD Download" in Settings, that did not work either-Help!

Please comment or e-mail me if you can help!  The others that had problems in help did not get answers either regarding photo upload problems!  Thanks!