Christmas Eve Eve

...it will be the next holiday, wait and see!

We took a quick turn around the houses of renown on Sylvan Place; if they are less dazzling than in the past, we are not in a position to complain. I mean, look:

How sweet is that? A homemade, weatherproof diorama. On the lawn. Very old school, very cool.
 

Finch Fight!!

 

It's time for another episode of Real Housefinches of Long Island...

 

Such drama. Now knock it off, there's plenty of room for two.

Chicken Bag Is Watching You

 

 

Does this handbag's steely gaze serve to disarm would-be snatchers? Regardless, it's another adorable handbag-shaped-like-an-animal, second in what is now a series here. (It doesn't take much.)
Let us see if Chicken Bag will be as popular as my most-often-stolen-and-shared photo, Golden Weiner Dog...

And Another One!

For the second day in a row, a bird I'd never seen before came to the feeders; a white-breasted nuthatch:

It was a busy day at the feeders; the woodpecker from yesterday showed up the minute I put out breakfast; this new arrival above showed up, and there are at least four of these little dudes flitting back and forth, grabbing one seed at a time and then retreating to the shrubs to bang it open. So cute:

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow, it's back to work, where the only birds I'm at all likely to see out the window are pigeons, starlings and seagulls.
 

A New Visitor!

Sosixmonthswentbylikethatandthen...
I put out some black sunflower seeds today, and everybody stopped by to check out the feeder. (I guess they were tired of the strictly-safflower-seed diet I had them on. But safflower is the only seed the squirrels will leave alone. And, it's good for them.) So the blue jays and the black-capped chickadees investigated, the mourning doves and juncos joined the party on ground-level, and the finches and sparrows indignantly flew around, chattering about how this was their turf. So funny. Then, this guy showed up:

 

                                                                                          
We've had downy woodpeckers around since I starting using suet a couple years ago, but this is the first red-bellied woodpecker I've noticed. So big and colorful!