The "Pollywog Creek Bird Sanctuary" and a little video fun...

This was quite a day for the birds on Pollywog Creek. The baby doves I found yesterday were perched on the same limb of that scrub oak in the pasture all day today. I was a little worried about them this morning when I spotted a hawk nearby, but they were still there when Gavin and I went for a late afternoon walk. The hawk and baby doves were not even centerstage when it came to birds today. I can't remember the last time I saw so many different birds on Pollywog Creek in one day as I saw today. There were bluejays, sparrows, crows, cardinals, yellow-rumped warblers, a pilated woodpecker, red-bellied woodpeckers, a great crested flycatcher, a great blue heron and a duck at the pond, a mockingbird who spent much of the day serenading us from atop the japanese honeysuckle and even goldfinches and two green painted buntings that I thought had left for the season. The backyard looked like a bird sanctuary. After our walk through the pasture, Gavin had fun playing in a dirt mound and I couldn't resist taking photos of the result. He isn't crying in the last photo - that is how he poses and says "cheese". That's pretty much how he looked when his daddy took him home. Speaking of Gavin's daddy, Nick celebrated his 10th birthday 6 days before Emily was born 18 years ago. Nick's birthday was actually my due date, and he was hoping she would be born on his birthday, but she obviously wanted a birthday of her own. Because Nick is often at sea, we don't always get to celebrate his birthday on his actually birthday and this year was no exception. We did, however, celebrate Nick's birthday as a family the day before we left on our trip. Because we were in Nashville on Emily's birthday last week, we had our family celebration of Emily's birthday with Nick and his family on Tuesday. All that to explain the following silly videos from our Tuesday night family dinner... Don't ya just love Louis's directing? "Sing!" "Stop!" Let's try that again... Never mind - just blow out the candles, Emily, and let's eat cake!