Welcome to Our Little Wild Kingdom!

Guess who came to visit us today?

Yes, the whole Sand Hill Crane Family, with one day old George and 2 day old Abe!  

They walked them all around the island and across the narrow canal to get over to our side of the pond.

 Remarkably, the young chicks can swim at this age, and they did a great job of working their way over here, with the encouragement and protection of Mom and Dad.

They spent the whole day over here on the shore of our Still Waters Pond, learning to forage for food and also stopping now and then to just take a quick little nap when needed.

Mom and Dad were always right close by and never let the chicks get out of their sight...

Aren't they precious?

I know this is cuteness overload, but they only stay little for short time, so please bear with me!

Mama was actually feeding them little bits of whatever she was finding there in the dirt that was tasty and good...

I'm afraid the Bluebird couple was a bit frustrated today as the Cranes were right there next to their birdhouse all day, and they weren't about to try and drive them away! LOL.

Tea party anyone?

Now, in this picture below it had suddenly started to pour down rain. Mama Crane just dropped right to the ground and the chicks came running up to here immediately to find shelter:

She huddled them under her wings and they stayed that way until the storm passed over:

Daddy Crane stood by and kept watch all through the storm. I don't think he ever moved once.

This was really amazing to watch.

After the storm they picked up where they left off and started foraging for food again along the shore.

In this series of pictures, Mama Crane has actually captured a small water snake and she is literally poking it to death in her strong sharp beak.

You can see the snake below her in this picture below. It kept wiggling even though I am sure it was pretty much already dead.

Apparently it made a tasty meal for herself and her babies as there was no sign of any remains later when I went out to check after they were gone.

Soon the family was growing tired and knew they needed to get back home to their nest before nightfall.

These pictures aren't very clear because there was a kind of mist or fog coming up from the water, but the family is working their way back across the little canal and to the island and back home to their nest.

I can't actually see the chicks in these pictures, but I know they are there somewhere, working their way across with Mom and Dad and a little bit later they were safely back on the little marshy island that is their home/nest.  I know they didn't want to spend the night here on our shore, where there could be too many land predators around.

So meanwhile, some more excitement was happening today.

Earlier, before the Cranes showed up on our shore, I went outside and checked out birdhouse #2, that has been abandoned by the Bluebirds for a while. Remember...they built a nest really early and then nothing ever came of it, so I decided to look inside with my camera to see what was in there, and this is what I saw:

A nest with one lonesome egg.  Because the Bluebirds have not been back to this birdhouse for several weeks I figured it was safe to remove it, and so I did.

Here is what it looks like outside of the birdhouse. I placed it gently in the garden as a little memorial to the little baby bird that would never see daylight or fly away into the treetops.

The other thing I noticed was that the Bottlebrush bush that I planted a few months ago was finally starting to bloom:

Not too many blossoms yet, but there are many more coming along soon.

So I was thinking also that it is about time for the Hummingbirds to be returning for the summer.  I decided I'd better get some hummer food ready for the feeder, which I make by myself.  1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup boiling water.  Make sure it is cool before putting outside in the feeder.  

This evening while all the excitement was going on with the Crane Family, I noticed a male Ruby Throated Hummingbird flying around the Bottlebrush bush

And so I put the feeder out right away, and here's what happened:

Hooray!!  So many fun things to watch these days!!

It's looking like it will be an interesting springtime and summer! I probably won't be getting much done. LOL.

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday!

Hosanna! 

John 12:12-13

12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 

13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

“Hosanna!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

The King of Israel!”

Amen, and Good night!