Thursday, October 17, 2013

Around the Yard, Oct 17

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday 
Sharing my skies and a few yardbirds, I hope you will be joining in on the fun.

Can you believe it is October 17 already?  The rain has stopped for now and the sun has come out. The days are getting shorter and the leaves are slowing falling off the trees. It is not a very colorful fall around the yard. I am either seeing green or brown leaves, a few yellows here and there! I was hoping for a colorful tree in my yard. One I can say WOW that is really pretty.  I am not sure why it is not a beautiful year for fall colors, maybe we went without rain for too long?


The Cardinals seem plentiful lately.. Sometimes they can be seen chasing other Cardinals out of the yard.



The birds enjoy the natural food around the yard, like this Cardinal eating the berries on the Devil's Walking Stick.


Dark-eyed Junco.

So here are a few of my sky shots taken sequence on Oct 7, all within seconds of each other.


At first the sky looked a golden color with lots of clouds.

Then the clouds turned so colorful. The sky was a WOW for me.. Hubby and I were surprised at how beautiful the sunset lit up the sky.




 Thanks for visiting my post and  blog and I always appreciate your comments.

  Happy Skywatching everyone!

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

85 comments:

Laura said...

beautiful, beautiful skies Eileen... that dark eyed Junko is so precious!

EG CameraGirl said...

NO, I cannot believe it's October 17th already. But I will say your yard is looking like fall is here. :))

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi There, Ah--a Junco!!!! They don't visit us much unless it is very cold and snowy... BUT--we see them when we go to Mt. Nebo in Arkansas.

Guess what I saw this morning at my feeder? A Grosbeak... They usually come through here in the Fall --but I thought we had missed them this year when we were gone in September. This is a little late for them to visit....

Hugs,
Betsy

Sylvia K said...

Oh, WOW!! indeed! What glorious skies, Eileen! And terrific captures The colors are awesome indeed!! Thanks for sharing the beauty! Have a great weekend! Oh, and I love your birds and they're colorful, too!!

HansHB said...

Lovely colors in Your sky contribution!

George said...

I do hope you get that 'Wow' tree in your yard before all the leaves fall off. Your sky photos are gorgeous.

TexWisGirl said...

neat skies! i like the gorging cardinal. :) and sweet junco.

Jim said...

Great skies

Sue said...

Well, you might not have that "wow" tree, but you certainly have some "wow" skies!
Enjoy the weekend.
:)

Caroline Gill said...

Glorious skies, Eileen ... and beautiful Cardinals. I would so love to see a Cardinal ... one day!

Optimistic Existentialist said...

The Junco is beautiful. As are those skies :)

Karen said...

Sweet birds and stunning sky scapes!

Elizabeth Edwards said...

amazing sunsets. so lovely. ( :

HappyK said...

Beautiful skies!!!
It's been rainy and windy here the last couple of hours and a lot of our leaves have come down.

Photo Cache said...

oh what beautiful skies you captured. i can't believe it's mid october either.

Anonymous said...

Love the bird photos and magnificent sky shots for SWF ~ Happy Weekend to you ~ carol, xx

MitchyLR said...

Hi Eileen!! Lovely shots of the Cardinals and the Junco (a bird I'm not familiar with). Beautiful sky-shots too :-))

Montanagirl said...

LOVE those Cardinals and your sky shots are breathtaking!!

genie said...

What a beautiful series of photos. Love the cardinal and the junk, and the skies absolutely beautiful. genie

DeniseinVA said...

Rich, vibrant photos. I have never heard of the Devil's walking stick before and those are such darling bird shots. Beautiful skies too. Have a great weekend Eileen :)

Stephanie said...

This month seems to be flying by very quickly. Love the sky shots and the bird ones.

Indrani said...

Beautiful skies! From yellow gold to pink gold.

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

Your skies are beautiful, much more so than all of our leaves that you are correct about--They have fallen much too quickly, I have been hoping for a longer fall season because it's one of my favorite times of the year!

Kusum said...

Lovely sky!

Anonymous said...

Hi Eileen, I have not yet seen any Dark-eyed Junco's here - maybe some will show up as "Snow birds". I hope so. Your Cardinals are gorgeous. Nice vivid skies! Have an outstanding day tomorrow!

Gaelyn said...

Gorgeous glow!

Joyful said...

The trees may not be that colourful but the birdlife and skies sure are. Wonderful photos, Eileen. Just wonderful. Have a great weekend.

Jo said...

Hello Eileen it's good to visit your part of the world again. The skies in that sequence of shots, are beautiful. And of course, I love the bird shots as always. What an interesting name for the shrub which yields such luscious looking fruit for the Cardinals! I hope you're having a great day. Greetings. Jo

Anonymous said...

Glorious skies! And lovely shots of the Junco.

Rajesh said...

Very pretty birds in your yard.

Zizi Santos said...

Lindos!
passarinhos maravilhosos como sempre!
e o céu cor de laranja, radiante , incrível!
vocês tem sorte de morar num lugar assim
tenha um bom fim de semana
bj
Zizi

lina@womens perspectives said...

Ah, you don't need going far to enjoy those sky beauties and cute birds.

Spare Parts and Pics said...

Really pretty skies!

Our photos said...

Beautiful sky and birds photos!

Stewart M said...

Some birds do seem rather protective of their own patch of garden. We have a resident magpie for a couple of months of each year - very fierce!

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

orchid0324 said...

Dearest Eileen;
Cardinals and Dark-eyed Junco♡♡♡ I think I am learning birds name GRADUALLY p;)
Yes, what a GORGEOUS sky you captured☆☆☆ I loved the way you wrote "sunset lit up the sky" very much♬♬♬

Sending you lots of love and hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*

Anonymous said...

Sweet Junco! I got most of the feeders clean today, after all the rain. That was a LOT like WORK. Gorgeous skies and cardinals, too.

Ramakrishnan said...

Pretty looking cardinals and cute junko. The sky shots are spectacular.

diane b said...

Love the purple sky. Great series of sunset shots. The cardinal is a cutie.

Seraphinas Phantasie said...

Marvelous photos of the Cardinal and a wonderful Sunset. Gorgeous !
I wish you a nice weekend, Eileen. Best regards, Synnöve

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Hi Eileen Great to see the birds feeding but that sky is to die for. Stunning.

Joop Zand said...

Nice colored skies....i like these pictures Eileen.

Cecilia Artista said...

Beautiful colorful skies!
Like your birds too!

Sonja said...

A fabulous sky!

Gail Dixon said...

The cardinal enjoying the berries is so sweet. Hard to believe there are only 2-1/2 months left of the year. Where does the time go?

Judith @ Lavender Cottage said...

I like your bird feeder set up and it's nice to see the cardinals able to find a natural food source in your yard as well.
The changing sky is awesome.
Judith

Tammy said...

Great photos, Eileen! The young cardinal is adorable! That is a neat looking plant it is enjoying!

Phil Slade said...

Me too Eileen. it's october 18th and like you I can see the days getting shorter and colder. We change the clocks next week - into winter. Super sky shots you took and that junco is just too close to get the tail in. Your birds really don't mind you close to them do they?

Jan K. alias Afanja said...

Wonderful birds and lovely skyshots again.
Thanks for sharing and enjoy your weekend.

thomas said...

Lovely sunset.

rainfield61 said...

The rain is still falling heavily outside.

I see no yellow leaves too.

Pallavi said...

Splendid pictures of the birds and the sunset dear Eileen . Hope u have a lovely weekend :)

DIMI said...

Hallo Eileen!!!!
Great shots and wonderful pictures!!!You always take care your yard birds!!!And those cardinal birds are so cute!!!Your yard is a paradise for them!!!Amazing skies!!!Fantastic colours!!!
Have a lovely weekend!!!Hugs!!!
Dimi...

Our Neck of the Woods said...

Really great shot of the Dark-eyed Junco! I've noticed that the leaves on the trees haven't started changing color yet here, but the leaves on the ground are beautiful shades of red and yellow. Seems strange to me!

Unknown said...

I love the cardinals! We've had a cold and windy day and we got our first snow even if it didn't stay on the ground here in the south. Have a great weekend!

Giga said...

Ja na śliczne kardynały mogę patrzeć wciąż, tak jak i na piękne niebo. Pozdrawiam.
I am the beautiful Cardinals can still see, as well as the beautiful sky. Yours.

LV said...

Stunning, stunning sky sights.

Bob Bushell said...

The skies are beautiful Eileen, they get my vote.

Photos by Stan said...

How wonderful and unusual to see the progressive changes in the colors --- Kudos!

Leovi said...

That most wonderful sky ...! Delicious photos!

Sallie said...

The cardinal in the berries is amazing! Beautiful skies and great birds even without fall color.

magiceye said...

Marvelous captures all!!

Brian King said...

Beautiful sky! I like the cardinal duo in the first photo!

Noushka said...

Hello Eileen,
Too much rain may be the cause for a lack of colors this season, a pity!
Here in France fall is just starting too.
Anyhow, you have so many birds around you that you must be quite busy photographing!
Lovely sightings as usual!
Cheers, enjoy your WE!

Hootin Anni said...

Great bird photos Eileen, as always!!! And I must say you have some really super feeders for them.

And the sky photos?!! Love the dappled pink cloud formations...gorgeous.

Helma said...


Spectacular skies Eileen, but the Cardinal bird I think is the best. If so I may never meet themselves and find it so great when I see it in pictures :-)
Very nice and cozy weekend.

Suzan said...

Beatuiful sky and healthy cardinals!! We've always had a few cardinals -- but now have a noticeble increase of them this summer!!

Debbie said...

it's just wonderful what nature provides for the birds....so they are not completely dependent on us!!

you are getting the most amazing fall sunsets!!

Irene said...

Gorgeous sky shots! So colorful, it's awesome!

Wish you a great Sunday!

Irene :)

Little Wandering Wren said...

Hi Eileen

Who needs a beautiful Fall when you have amazing sunsets and wonderful cardinals to enjoy?! Brilliant photos have really enjoyed them
Wren x

Crafty Green Poet said...

beautiful sunsets and handsome birds! Our autumn is late this year, lots of the leaves haven't started turning yet,

Mersad said...

Beautiful skies and landscape shots!

Elaine said...

Gorgeous sky shots, Eileen and a sweet little Junco! We won't see any here until spring comes around.

Maria said...

Always with those awesome skies!

Minoru Saito said...

Hi! Nice cardinal shots. They are very cute. Your sky shots are very beautiful too. Thanks for sharing.

Linda said...

Love those cardinals! And of course the skies are gorgeous.

Icy BC said...

Beautiful shots, Eileen! Love your bird shots of the cardinal, they are such pretty birds.

yonca said...

They all are beautiful shots! The cardinal looks pretty in berries:)
Have a great Monday!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

It's beautiful even if the color is a little less than you'd hoped for and I love the junco and all your birds. -- I see a lot of Eastern bloggers saying the fall hasn't been real spectacular this year; nobody seems to know why. Wesure didn't see much fall color after So. Dakota on this roadtrip -- it has seemed like summer just about ever since we left that state.

MastHoliday said...

Cute birds and stunning sky shots!!

Ajay Kumar said...

Great variety of the sky!! Love the shots..

Betty Manousos said...

wow, these are the most beautiful skies i've ever seen!

mesmerizing shots as usual, eileen!

big hugs~

SquirrelQueen said...

It is hard to believe it's October already but it does feel like it. Our leaves are gorgeous this year so I guess the rain amount does make a difference.

I love your sky shots. I think they are pretty WOW too.

Liz said...

That's a wonderful sky!!

Carver said...

Gorgeous sky shots and I always love your bird shots.

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a ha ppy new week! Thank you to all Veterans who serve, for protecting our country and our freedoms.  "...