May 30

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The two babies still in the nest are looking more like robins than like generic baby birds.

They have wing feathers, and rusty breasts.

They spend a lot of time preening.

The above two pics were taken from inside the kitchen.  This one was taken outside.  I know why it's clearer (no dirty windowpanes between me and the birds!), but I don't know why the ones from inside are so much yellower.....

Walking to yoga.

Asiatic lilies.

Sky over West Park.

Baby ducks!  Well, ok, kid ducks.  We saw adults here, in March.  It's not a very big pond, so I was a bit surprised to see that the mama duck decided to nest here.  The young ones can't fly, so they must have begun pretty near this point.

The young ducks were at least half the size of their mama, on the 30th.  I counted seven!  That seems like a lot of survivors, considering that there are racoons everywhere, and lots of off-leash dogs in this park.  The pond isn't large, and is so shallow that a biggish dog could walk through, no problem.

Here is Mama, and one of the other kids is visible as a mottled brown blob, pretty much straight to the right of her head.

I wish them well!



I don't know who this is.  This one was acting like those duck babies were his (hers?) to protect.  He didn't want me to walk on the bridge over the pond.  I looked for his nest and/or babies, but didn't see any other birds that looked like this.

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