Nature Notes: Birds babbling brook and a butterfly

I get so much entertainment on hot humid days from standing back from my bedroom door or living room window and watching the antics of the birds.

The female cardinals seem to favor the deck baths while the male uses the front ones.

The female cardinal is above and the male cardinal is below.

I don't usually get a shot of the male cardinal when he's in the bath but from my living room window I often catch him as he flies out of the bath and lands in view.

I was surprised to spot the woodpecker in my front yard in the shot below because usually I see them pecking at the trees, not the ground.

The butterfly below moved too fast for me to catch him in the air but I did get shots after he landed.

I thought the brown thrasher below was a handsome fellow.

The catbirds love the berries on my deck vines and often fly from eating right to bathing. Unfortunately that makes keeping the bath clean a nightmare.

The American Robin below amused me because she took a bath in the small bird bath and then moved to take another bath in the larger one.

I guess she could be called a bath hopper.

The female cardinal below is drying off after a bath.

I thought the goose below looked like it was falling in love with his reflection.

The one below looked like he was standing on top of his reflection.

We may not have gushing streams yet, but we did get enough rain for some babbling brooks.

I thought the duck looked like he was giving the goose a dirty look.

The rabbit below was helping me by doing some weeding with his mouth.

At first I thought this pair were house finches but I think they may be juvenile cardinals because they are too big for house finches.

Adult cardinals are so distinctive that I'm thrown by the juveniles but I'm guessing that's what these are.

The part that made me not recognize them was that they don't have crowns like adult cardinals but they are much bigger than house finches. Now that I think of it even adult cardinals crowns are often flattened when wet.

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