A few pictures from this afternoon.
I get a lot of visitors after I feed but this cardinal was posing.
The beauty of the cardinal
The mulberry thieves
We get excited about the mulberry season.
The grandkids love to pick and eat them I love to make jelly with them.
The mulberry thieves are back this year and every time we get some dark ones they swoop in and eat them all. These are cedar waxwings they are quite unique looking.
Even Daisy hunted the ground for some and could only find red ones and she wanted the black ones she loves to eat them so does Zoee.
Last year we got lucky and they left our tree alone this year they are making up for it.
You never know what the wildlife will do from year to year. I do think these birds are quite pretty.
We have about 10 baby mulberry trees growing we are going to dig up and put in pots for Livingston. They are about 4 ft tall.
Amaryllis blooms
This is an Amaryllis plant my sister gave me last fall she said it was one she had given to my mom.
It has been gorgeous this year. I still have it in the pot but I am thinking about planting it
with some Iris, and paperwhite bulbs at our Livingston house. Then all the bulbs come back to being family members.
These blooms indicate springtime has arrived here in Texas.
A pair of house finches
I was looking out the french doors at the bird feeders and spotted this pair of house finches.
I have never understood the bird world and how male birds get all the bright colors.
A couple of birds just eating some seed on a warm Texas day.
Cici’s Pups x 5
These pups are registered miniature, long-haired dachshunds they are 3 1/2 weeks old.
This is Cici’s litter of 5 and that is a lot for a Dachshunds to take care of. There is a good shade variation in this group.
Shady Acres Leggett is on Facebook for more information on these beautiful puppies. I know there are deposits on a few of them but I have no idea which ones.
I love puppies they are so so sweet.
Crazy Hawks
We have so many hawks this year I guarantee you will see them several times a day.
This grown hawk the darker red one and the juvenile were together in a tree that fell down this week from the storm.
This was a favorite lookout tree on the fence line for the hawks I am glad it will be gone but this part of the tree is still upright the other half the tree was uprooted.
I do like taking pictures of the hawks they photograph pretty well and their colors just blend in with nature.
Capturing wildlife while posing in nature scouting the next meal.
Plants
With our latest cold blast, I lost a lot of plants.
Some will come back and some will not.
What I noticed this time was Azaleas, Crepe Myrtle, Texas Sage, Louisiana Iris,
Paperwhites, Wild Privett Hedge, Fringe, and another hedge I can not remember the name of all survived.
Now the pink showers, purple showers, creeping daisies, succulents especially Aloe Vera and ferns look dead. Some will come back.
The Mexican heather froze but it always comes back so we will see who makes the great come back.
I did put some Aloe Vera indoors just in case.
I love plants so much I collect more than I can protect.
For Livingston, we are ONLY planting freeze-hardy plants because it is always 10 degrees colder there.
Another day another hawk
The hawks are everywhere.
Do not get me wrong I love looking at them but when I go outside after I feed the birds I can spot four different ones in trees.
I am going to try hanging small mirrors to see if that will keep them away.
Does anyone else have any ideas?
As you can see this one was eyeballing the ground from high up in a tree.
Fungi on the forest floor
The forest floor in the piney woods offers the greatest opportunity to photograph some of nature’s wonders.
This time I concentrated my pictures on the Fungi in the damp pine straw under the pine trees.
I have no idea what the names are and whether they are edible or not I just know they photograph quite well.
The piney woods never lets me down there are always a lot of things to photograph.
Mockingbird
This mockingbird literally flew in front of my shot.
I was taking pictures of the blue jays splish-splashing in the birdbath for an early
morning bath.
I guess the mockingbird got jealous and wanted to be the center of attention.
It was underexposed which is why it is darker but the lighting was so beautiful I kept it.
When this bird interrupted my photo session I could not pass up the opportunity to get his picture.
I love my backyard birds they are always ready to show off their beauty.
Sonya Lira Photography 