One of the easiest ways to attract birds to a backyard is to put out a bird bath or even a shallow pan of water. Birds need a supply of fresh water year round for drinking and bathing.
The robins are my favorite to watch at the bird bath. They jump in and get totally soaked, flapping their wings and splashing water everywhere. Then they fly off to a tree or fence and preen. Bathing and preening helps remove dirt and parasites from their feathers. A clean bird is a healthy bird.
Every year the robins bring their youngsters to the bath and show them the water. The bird on the left is the parent. The young robins still have their juvenile feathers with the speckled breast.
To make it easier for them I put a pan of water on the ground. I use a large dish from the bottom of one of my flower pots. It’s a cheap and easy way to create a bird bath. And the squirrels appreciate it too.
This year I added two new water features to my yard. The little bird bath is for the smaller birds but the robins insist on sitting in it and dumping all the water out several times a day.
The pot with the rocks is a miniature bubbling pond that I bought at the Chicago flower and garden show back in March. It’s sitting on my deck and I’m enjoying listening to the bubbling water sounds as well as watching the birds land in it.
I also have a heated bird bath for the winter. It’s important to provide water for them year round and it often stays below freezing in Chicago for days at a time. When I would put the birdbath away for the winter, disappointed birds would stop by looking for it, so I installed the heated bath on my deck railing. The birds seem to appreciate it.
Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Writing Tips
Today’s Armchair BEA topic is to share some tips that will help you move your blog forward or perhaps your own personal goals of writing and making an income from what you love to do.
The blog is a hobby for me, I don’t make any money from it. Sure, I get free books to review, but I don’t derive any income from my writing. I hadn’t even considered it until recently when my day job went away. Would I monetize the blog? Probably not. I like it the way it is; any deadlines or pressure are self-imposed and mine alone. Would I like to move into writing or publishing for a new career? That’s a possibility I would like to explore, and hopefully I can pick up some tips during Armchair BEA.
Beyond the Blog
For those who don’t have writing tips, the topic is to share a fun aspect about your blog or life that may be completely separate from books.
I spend a lot of time with my camera. People who stop by regularly from Alyce’s Saturday Snapshop are probably familiar with my obsession with bird photography, but I also shoot a lot of landscapes, nature, wildlife, and scenery.
My Camera
My camera is a DSLR, Canon Rebel XSi, also called the Canon D450. Most of the time I shoot with a 55-250mm zoom lens. It’s lightweight, easy to carry around and relatively inexpensive. That’s important because if it’s too much trouble to carry the camera, it will stay home.
What’s the trick to taking good photos? Like anything else, practice and patience but here area a few easy-to-do tips:
- Take a lot of photos of the same scene. When you review them later, delete all but the best ones.
- Use photo editing software to crop and sharpen the photo before posting or printing it. It often comes with the camera. I use ACDSee Pro.
- To get a clear shot of a bird or animal outdoors, use manual or single point focus. On auto focus the camera will focus on the tree leaves, not the bird. You can leave the camera on automatic but still change the focus option.
My Garden
I have an ever expanding flower garden which is another one of my hobbies. I’ll end this with few photos of last year’s flowers, no birds today:
Gerbera Daisy
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Joe Pye Weed
Heliopsis
Any questions about my camera or photos, feel free ask and I’ll do my best to answer.
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© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Almost wordless: There were hundreds of dragonflies on the pond but only two of them would pose for a photo, a Skimmer and a Blue Dasher.
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Today is Participant Giveaway Day at Armchair BEA.
June is Audiobook Month and I will be giving away audiobooks all month. They are a wonderful way to multitask and slip in a few extra books. Not sure you would like an audiobook? Here’s a chance to win one and give it a try.
Audiobook Giveaway
A choice of the following Audiobooks CDs (US only). Click on the book cover for a description.
How to Enter
- Contest is open to those with an address in the US only.
- To enter, fill out the form below. You don’t have to be a follower or subscriber to enter, but new followers are always appreciated.
- Armchair BEA participants receive an extra entry.
- The deadline for entry is Saturday, June 9th. I will draw one random winner who will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond with a mailing address and choice of book.
[Contest Has Ended]
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© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Welcome to Armchair BEA
Armchair BEA is an online networking event for bloggers that will not be attending Book Expo America in New York this week.
This year’s Armchair BEA theme is all about community. One of the goals is to encourage bloggers to get to know each other and visit other participating blogs. In previous years there would be an interview day where bloggers would ask another blogger a series of questions. This year, we have been asked to interview ourselves by answering a few questions.
An Introduction
Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?
I’m an eclectic reader and enjoy a wide variety of books. If the subject interests me, I'll give the book a chance. Favorites are science and speculative fiction, contemporary and historical fiction, mysteries, thrillers and narrative non-fiction. I love audiobooks and half of my reading is actually listening.
Until recently I worked as a Tax Consultant in downtown Chicago. The company was sold and now I am looking for a new job. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy the summer and read as much as I can.
What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?
A favorite this year was The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
What is your favorite feature on your blog?
Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.
This brings me to my favorite feature, Weekend Birding, which I post on Saturdays. I showcase my bird photos, feature a specific bird, a book about birds, or anything bird related.
Where do you see your blog in five years?
It’s difficult to predict where the blog will be in five years. I hope to still be writing and involved in the book blogging community. Online media is growing exponentially and changing at a rapid pace. I’m sure it will be quite different than it is today.
If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?
Thanks For Visiting
Are you participating in Armchair BEA? The festivities will be going on all week and there is still plenty of time to join in.
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© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Summer In Discworld
I’ve always wanted to read Discworld. I’ve heard how good these books are. I’ve tried to read the first few books in the series. I’ve failed miserably. I just couldn’t get into them.
While common sense says it’s a good idea to start at the beginning of a series, especially when the series consists of over 40 books, I find out that in with Discworld, the first ones aren’t the best and they don’t need to be read in any order. Hmmmm. Ok.
The Challenge
The Discworld Challenge is hosted by Cheryl at Tales of the Marvelous.
All you have to do to participate is read any book from Pratchett’s sprawling 40-book Discworld series between June 1st and August 31st, and tell us about it.
For those new to Discworld, there are three rules to keep in mind:
1) You don’t have to read the books in order.
2) Don’t start at the beginning (the first few are funny, but weaker than later books).
3) Don’t read them somewhere where it will be awkward to laugh out loud!
Read-a-long
While I won’t have a lot of time to participate in the Discworld Challenge, I am going to join the read-a-long for Going Postal, a stand alone Discworld book which Cheryl promises is one of the better ones. The read-a-long will be held during July.
If you’ve been thinking about reading Discworld, stop by Tales of the Marvelous and join the fun.
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© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
A Rescue
Last weekend my dad called to tell me there was a bird hiding in his garage. He thought it might be a baby hawk. The bird had been roosting on top of the garage when it was spotted by robins. The robins have a nest in the yard and being good parents they identified it as a threat and began attacking it. After a while it panicked and flew into the garage and wouldn’t come out.
Time for a bird rescue. My husband and I were on our way to a Memorial Day picnic, but we would make a detour and help the bird.
When we arrived the terrified bird was hiding under a work bench covered in sawdust and cobwebs. I only took a few photos because this was a very scared, young bird and I didn’t want to traumatize him any further. We got him into a box for a ride to the local wildlife center for a check up to make sure he wasn’t injured from the robin attack. When he recovered they would release him back in the area he was found.
More About Kestrels
Isn’t this a beautiful bird? This is an American Kestrel, a small, colorful falcon. An adult is about the size of a Mourning Dove. This is not a common backyard bird and this was the first time I had seen one; a lifer for me. While they are not endangered, they are declining in some areas such as in New England, parts of the Pacific Coast, and Florida.
American Kestrels range across most of North America and parts of South America. They prefer open country and can be found in meadows, grasslands, deserts, parks, farm fields, cities, and suburbs and can often be seen perching on telephone wires. They eat mostly insects and other invertebrates, as well as small rodents and birds.
Kestrels nest in cavities such as old woodpecker holes or tree hollows and will also use nest boxes.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a link to live streaming video of a Kestrel nest box in Boise, Idaho. The eggs hatched last week and there are five little ones.
Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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