Did I really not mention my bird house on here in the past few weeks?  If so, sorry for the duplication.

I had Carolina Chickadees in the bird house out back.  My first indication was seeing the parents come and go - at first I thought they were building the nest, but they had snuck in there and already had babies by the time I noticed them.  I watched them coming and going very methodically with little green inchworm looking things in their mouths.  Each time they would land on the fence and look around a bit before going into the house.

I had noticed earlier this week that I wasn't spotting them coming and going, so I stepped closer and didn't hear babies, but I didn't want to disrupt the house just yet.  Yesterday I saw a bluebird (!) checking out the box.  He popped his head in a few times.  This told me it was definitely time to clean up after the previous tenant and get it ready to rent back out.  So last night I popped it open and cleaned out the mossy built nesting inside.

Our robin nest under the deck has three babies that are getting big.  The mom isn't too thrilled with us hanging out under the deck most every nice day, but she's getting used to us enough that she is still coming and going in our presence.

Being outside has me really noticing the birds and critters - which I have always loved, but never indulged in watching much.  I know I have binoculars somewhere, where are they?!  I did pull out my camera and all this does is make me wish I had a better lens with more zoom again.

This also makes me want to hunt through birding sites to try and find one that helps you figure out what you're seeing and track what you've spotted.  We have lots of cardinals and blue jays, there are finches with red on them (house finch?) and yellow birds.  I want to get to know them more!