|Visitors

These animals visited us in one day. This is only the second time we've seen a deer here.

The crane parents come over once in a while, but this is the first time we've seen the kiddos.

This owl perches on this branch at dusk fairly often, but we hadn't seen him for a few days.

Overall, it was the best day of animal watching that we've had here.

Here are bonus pictures of baby bunnies. This was the only day I've seen two of the little ones. We see one little guy fairly often, though we didn't see it on the same day as these other animals above:

Here the bunny is eating morning glory right outside our window.

|Visit by Sandhill Cranes

You know that I like sandhill cranes (one, two, three, four). Well, this afternoon we got our first visitors. First they were between us and the neighbor:

A few minutes later, I opened the blinds in our bedroom, and the couple was just outside at the feeder:

I've heard they sometimes have offspring in this area. I hope to share pictures of said peeps later...

|House Wren Family on the Way

A couple of house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) are building a home just outside our apartment. They keep carrying twigs and other materials into the bushes below this dark purple lilac tree (?).

And here is one of the wrens in the lighter-colored tree that's closer to our window [click to enlarge]. I took this picture from inside the house, sitting on the chesterfield, I mean, the davenport or veranda.

At least I think they're house wrens, and I think those are lilac flowers. I really don't know what I'm talking about. But I do know I like their song.

|White-crowned Sparrow

This white-crowned sparrow was doing all it could to warm up--fluffing its feathers and catching the morning's earliest rays of light (low 30s or high 20s last night):

A few weeks ago, our resident tunnel maker also warmed in the morning light in nearly the same spot:

Both pictures were taken through our living room window.

UPDATE: Here's a picture I just took of a goldfinch outside our bedroom window. The feeder is too far away for my little camera to capture well. The second below is later in the day. A real camera and an open window would make beautiful things possible.

|Local Bird Action

Today we were visited by a number of bird species--tufted tit-mice, black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, cardinals, downy woodpeckers and these colorful friends:

Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)

Bonus

These pictures have not been cropped or altered in any way. This is the best I could do taking pictures through a closed window with my point-and-shoot.

EXTRA BONUS:

|Friday Web Round-up

Humor

• Home Planet (The New Yorker)
• Before Instagram (Punk Kimono Tumblr)
• Infomercial GIFs -- Life is so hard.

Psychology

• Enneagram Values Mind Map (Rob Fitzel)
• Introduction to the Enneagram (The Enneagram Institute)

Health

• Is Organic Better? Ask a Fruit Fly (Tara Parker-Pope, NY Times)
• The Longevity Project: Decades of Data Reveal Paths to Long Life (Veronique Greenwood, The Atlantic)

Natural World

• Yosemite: Range of Light (Three Mystic Apes)
• Watershed (Three Mystic Apes)
• 12 most amazing time-lapse videos of stars, landscapes, and urban scenes (Treehugger)

Environment / Sustainability

• The Curse of Fertilizer (Dan Charles, National Geographic)
• Colorado River is Nation’s #1 Most Endangered River (Amy Souers Kober, The Cleanest Line)
• A Million Comments Against Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline (The Cleanest Line)
• TNF: Operation Sustainability
• Bringing it Home (Three Mystic Apes)
• MMM Challenge: Anti-Automobile April (Mr. Money Mustache)

Featured Blog: three cameras, three perspectives, learning across the miles…

|Friday Web Round-up

Adventure

• 10 bike-friendly cities around the globe (Mother Nature Network) 
• Ocean Adventure Rowing and Education  
• Walk on Water (NRS)
• InnerViews: Christian Beamish

Nature

• Keystone Species: How Predators Create Abundance and Stability (Douglas H. Chadwick, Mother Earth News) 

Photography

• The 50 Most Perfectly Timed Photos Ever (Twisted Sifter) 
• (Keith) Ladzinske Photo 

Psychology 

• Why money can't buy you happiness (Tom Stafford, BBC)  

|Contemplative Photography

I had the privilege to write about contemplative photography for the Nicholas Jensen Photography blog. These thoughts were based on Howard Zehr's well-named Little Book of Contemplative Photography.

#2 Jimmy Chin on Assignment

On Assignment from Camp 4 Collective on Vimeo.