Tropicabana and bird pics of the day

What is this guy?  He has the same racing stripes as the nuthatch, but he's brown and bigger and rounder.


Parker hasn't built anything in a while because she likes the playroom floor clean for dancing and tumbling, but over break she's built The Tropicabana....a sports resort and Tiki lounge for her stuffed animals.  

I have no idea where she gets the tiki lounge thing from....most likely tv.  I guess she was inspired by the "thatched" baskets?

Finch and nuthatch coexisting

more camera practice

Cooperative Subject



Uncooperative subject

 

more bird pics

More bird pics.  This is crazy mrs cardinal.  She pecks at her reflection in the window constantly through the day.  Parker counted 19 in a row this morning until I shooed her away.



Mr. Cardinal is very patient with her.

 

 The birds seem to show up all at once, all together or no one, like a bird pack.  They consist of a couple different sets of cardinals, a few titmice and chicadees and the nuthatches.

This is a finch, right? Or a finches butt...I was concentrating on getting a nuthatch picture not a finch.  There are a couple of them in my pack, and they really hate the chicadees for some reason.  They'll let the titmice and Juncos eat, but they chase away the chicadees.  I thought finches were supposed to be friendly.

 

Some pics

Notice the blurry Christmas tree lights in the background?  I can do that now. 



I'm loving this "messy bun" phase she's going through with her hair. 

Working hard on new calendar

 

Bird ID

Any idea what these little guys are?  They are SO FAST it's nearly impossible to get an in-focus picture of them. I've been camped out in the kitchen all day trying to get a decent shot.   They spend about 1 second in each place, hopping from branch to branch to get closer to the feeder and then they grab a seed and fly off.  They like to be upside down and sideways a lot too. 

 

 

 

Edit:  It's a red-breasted nuthatch.  John had the nuthatch part first, but had to look up the red-breasted part.
I read that they pair up, and that seems to be true here, there are 2 on occasion, but usually it's just one.

Staying dry - diva style

She won't put her arms through the sleeves because it will knock off her stick on nails.

doing a puzzle with daddy

More pictures from the slightly invasive photographer. 

 

 

 

New lense

I got a new camera lense for Christmas and everyone is enjoying me snapping photos of their every move.  I'm trying to learn my camera settings instead of just shooting everything on "auto" mode, so I have to experiment a lot.

Making popsicles.....

 

Mildly cooperative subjects

 

Snowboarding in Texas. It's happening.

 

Sledding

 

White Christmas!

One more with the background decoration.

She's standing on a stool, just FYI.

Edit:  She refers to Parker.

Making cookies

Ready for travel

Parker wrapped her first gift

This also counts as her first re-gift.  As you can tell, she's feeling much better.  The generic virus she had ( like I suspected) has run its course.  

"I love the doctor's office!

The betting window is open. Your choices are flu, strep, croup or infection. My money is on " we think its a virus. Bummer for you. That'll be $30"

Home sick today

Amusing herself by having me take closeups?

Painting

Playing school and all is well.

Fall pic

Our trees had pretty color this year, but lost their leaves early.

 

family pics done today

Parker had no issue posing for the photographer.

Tattoo stand

Homework- Christmas style

Last piece of pumpkin

"My bow is stuck!"

Footies by the fire