Woodpeckers!

I couldn't believe my eyes...
I saw this guy across the yard...

I was trying to get a good photo,
when this one came zooming in,
and landed on the peach tree that is about 15 or 20 feet
away from my kitchen window.

The red on its head was different from the other one.
They must be a pair,
and this one must be the female!

Before she flew away she seemed to look directly
at me in the window!

Then this yellow bellied sapsucker came.
They had been very elusive...

...and I had never been able to get a very good photo of them.
I got a few photos in a post two years ago
that you can see by clicking HERE.

And sure enough...
Check out that breast...
It does have a yellowish tinge!

To see my Names of God on Rocks for today,

click HERE!

Thanks for dropping by!

Bird Scouts!

I heard that the birds are already out scouting

for places to raise their babies when spring comes.

If you want residents in your birdhouses,

probably you need to get them in place!

Last year a little wren, a chickadee, and a tufted titmouse

checked out my little birdhouse that is hung

 in the cherry tree that is quite near our house.

The wren started to build a nest, but then changed locations.

Today I was surprised to have a pileated woodpecker
checking it out!

My granddaughter and I laughed as he tried to stick his head inside,

...even turned his head upside down while trying to look inside.

He didn't give up easily...

and finally started pecking the house apart!

For some reason it reminded me of the verse from Proverbs 14:1 that says,

"A wise woman builds her home,

but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands."

I guess the woodpecker thought if he couldn't fit in the little house,

then he'd just tear it up so no one else could use it!

Not a very nice philosophy!

Or maybe he was just looking for bugs to eat...

I've been doing a lot of Bible Study for an "Affinity Class" 

that I'll be teaching in March and April,

called "A Taste of Grace".

Consequently, I haven't painted a ROCK lately for

Names of God on Rocks.

Don't give up on me!

I hope to get a post done later this week!

Wild Birds and Black Walnuts.... Simple things!

Watching wild birds,

and eating black walnuts...

That's part of what we do when we're down on the farm.

I was so surprised to see this phoebe grooming herself
without any sense of fear of my presence.

It looked up at me, and continued its grooming,
fluffing out its feathers.
I found what held its attraction when it darted swiftly after a moth
without paying any attention to me.
The porch light had been left on all night.
Moths and other bugs had accumulated,
and it was living up to its name as a flycatcher!

I'm not sure what this bird is.
If you know, clue me in!
It may be some kind of warbler?

I was thrilled to have a visit from this pileated woodpecker.
I'd been hearing his loud "Kuk-Kuk-Kuk" call,
but hadn't been lucky enough to see him.

He was quite a ways away,
and spooked very easily,
so I just took this photo through the window.
The moment I opened the door to get a closer shot,
he was gone.

This Northern Flicker was intently going after some bugs or seed.
 I couldn't tell for sure what he was eating.
Not nearly so spooky as the pileated woodpecker,
he seemed to like hanging around close to the house.

Then to wrap up our weekend,
we picked up black walnuts.
My husband loves to crack a batch of them,
 then pick them out and eat them
when it's cool enough to sit by a crackling wood fire.

Those are some of the simple pleasures we enjoy when down on the farm.

In the Scriptures I found a couple of interesting proverbs about a simple life.

Proverbs 13:7 says "A pretentious showy life is an empty life;

a plain and simple life is a full life."

Proverbs 15:16 says, "A simple life in the Fear-of-God

is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches"!

Thanks for your visit!

To see my Name for God this week, click on Rock4Today!


And many thanks to Stewart for hosting a birding blog link-up.
Click on his name above to see birds from around the world!