07-04-03

I looked out the window behind my desk here where I work to see a baby tuftie. That's a Tufted Titmouse (bird) and I couldn't get the camera out and on and ready before it flew away.

How do I know it was a baby? The young don't have the dark grey tuft on the top of the head like the adults do. It's the same shade of grey as their neck and face. They are full grown before they start appearing at the seed table here. They sure love the sunflower seeds. It did remind  me that my window needs cleaning. The outside gets splattered and makes for blurred photos and a waste of time and effort. That makes it well worth the time to at least clean part of the window. My window coverings are disposable to make it easy to put up clean new coverings. Since the new cat moved in, he tends to patrol what he considers his side of the house. (As opposed to Max's side of the house.) When Max is loose, Min the kitten is on top of the house or up in a tree top.

I looked out the kitchen window yesterday to see a blue jay cruising up to the yard. He was at the big water pan by the time I looked from my desk. They rarely come up for seeds and this appears to be a good year for finding seeds in the wild. The plumes get heavy with seed and fall over to the ground. I am just surprised to see the jays here all summer long. They stay in the deep woods most of the time but would probably come up for water if there were a spot not so close to the house.