Bird Watching

Hope everyone had a good day yesterday. We celebrated Mother's Day with donuts for breakfast and pizza for supper here. Not fancy, but it works for me!
I finished sewing a blouse that my mother started for herself back when she still had a sewing machine and the space to use it. When she gave up her house, she gave me the half finished project and said maybe I could finish it. It finally made it to the top of the pile last week, so I was able to pass it off as a Mother's Day present. It had been a long time since I have tried to set in sleeves and make buttonholes! Guess it took me too long to get to it....Mom didn't remember giving it to me. (I used to get out of mending my kids' clothes by just waiting until they had outgrown them.) Anyway, she was glad to get the blouse, and I was glad to get an old project out of the sewing room.
I've been doing some bird watching via the internet....
There is a pair of falcons that have successfully raised families for several years running in a box on a tower in Rochester, NY. Some of the offspring have been sighted raising there own families in other areas lately. This year Mariah, the mother falcon, has hatched out five babies-a large group yet again. You can watch them in all their fluffy white glory here. The photo updates every few minutes. Falcons are a good solution to pigeon over-population, but I do hate the bird-eat-bird aspect of it all.
I've also been watching baby barn owls in Texas again this spring here. They are just about to fly out of the box, though, so it will be a sad empty nest soon. This nest has a video camera on duty, so we can watch all of the action. Some nights it is just incredible how many mice and rats the mom and dad owls bring in for their family. What a good way to control the rodents!
Closer to home...yesterday just before sunset, we saw Ruby-throated humming birds enjoying the flowers on our chestnut tree. They seem to pass through here in the spring and the fall...although I have been told that if I'd put out feeders, I'd have them for the whole summer. Here is a photo my husband took of one of them. I guess it would take a pretty speedy shutter setting to get their wings to not look blurred.