Category Archives: video

Flower Buffet Birds

birds, food, fun, outside, video, weather

Thursday, August 18, 2022, 2:35 pm — After 99° yesterday, today’s 88° … just right for a refreshing butterfly bush buffet for … the bird herd! … a minute earlier, it had been bustling with many more of the tiny mighty mights … Their official name: Bushtit … More photos, Return of the Bird Herd, Dec. 15, 2019 …

Cool Facts … from Cornell …
  • The Bushtit is the only member of its family in the Americas; seven other species are found in Eurasia. All have similar complex hanging nests.
  • A breeding Bushtit pair often has helpers at the nest that aid in raising the nestlings. This already rare behavior is made more unusual by the fact that the helpers are typically adult males.
  • For most breeding birds, only one adult at a time sleeps on the nest, but all Bushtit family members sleep together in their large, hanging nest during the breeding season. Once the young fledge, they all leave the nest and thereafter sleep on branches.

A Bee Day

blogs, outside, video, , , ,

Friday, August 5, 2022, 1:37 pm — Another deck flower perennial … echinacea (coneflower) … ready, willing and able to welcome a busy bee … See video of earlier generations, 4 years ago, Flower Power Deck Bees, July 26, 2018 …

Close-up of the earnest bee … finally found the action setting on the newish Lumix FZ300 … Also posted on my other blog, My Photo a Day Adventure …

Hot Day’s End Butterfly

outside, video, weather, window,

Tuesday, July 26, 2022, 7:16 pm — Cool of the evening … swallowtail butterfly … dining at the butterfly bush … the 100º sun is finally down … beginning a week in the high 90ºs … the first overly hot stretch of a rainier-than-usual Pacific NW summer … See a swallowtail in brighter light, 3 years ago, Up Close Butterfly Cat, July 22, 2019 …

Video below … Swallowtail butterfly … butterfly bush has been late to bloom this year …

Happy Probiotics Cat

art, cats, curiosity, family memorabilia, Finnish, fun, health, video, , , , ,

Tuesday, July 5, 2022, 9:45 pm — Perkins … time for her probiotics … 1 capsule’s powder mixed with 1/4 teaspoon water in Mom’s Tervetuloa Finnish cup …

… Oral syringe … much easier than pills … Doesn’t look like it, but Perky really likes the powder’s aroma … rubs her face against the syringe every time … Only used the towel once or twice at the beginning … Nutramax Proviable Probiotics & Prebiotics – Digestive Health Supplement …

Video below … Perky meows! … talks about how much she likes the probiotics … She’s ready! …

Calico Cat Walkabout

cats, curiosity, other cats, outside, trees, video, window, , ,

Sunday, June 26, 2022, 3:46 pm — Ms / Mr Calico … heading east along edge of trees … Nice to see her, even though she shouldn’t be outside … last visit was in cold January …

Videos below … walk, sit … trot! …

First two visits … Calico Visitor Cat, Oct. 19, 2021 … Calico Cat Revisits, Jan. 27, 2022 (with video of jumping up to roof from deck!)

Two Rabbit Tales

animals, grooming, outside, shadows, trees, video, , , , , , ,

Friday, June 24, 2022, 6:59 am — “Concrete Rabbit” … lives on the north side … not shy about being out in the open … grooming on the driveway … have seen him / her several times, early in the morning … Stay safe! …

Video below … cute, early morning bunny ear cleaning … ragged top of left ear … from kitchen window …

Monday, June 20, 2022, 5:18 pm … “Country Rabbit” … lives on the south side, in the trees … ventures out onto the lawn … eats scattered bird seed by the deck …

Video below … decorated by shadows of tall grass bending in afternoon wind … from deck …

Boys’ Lunch Birds

birds, blogs, food, outside, video, window,

Saturday, June 18, 2022, 4:06 pm — Late afternoon suet lunch for two of the boys … a male Downy Woodpecker … working hard for his food … The red on top of his head is the clue … Females look quite similar, but no red … See a lady Downy suetizing, Oct. 16, 2021 – Delicious … on my blog, My Photo a Day Adventure …

4:18 pm … and a male Western Tanager … glad he’s still around … That suet is certainly messy! …

Videos below … the two boys in action …

Dining Deer Cat

animals, cats, curiosity, food, outside, trees, video, window, , , , ,

Saturday, June 18, 2022, 11:42 am — Teeny Tuxedo … looked out the window … Lunchtime, munchtime for the first customer at the Backwoods Buffet … a deer! … happy to dine on the gorgeous greenery … Teeny’s camouflaged behind the butterfly bush, sprouting up, but no blooms yet …

Chewing a tasty leaf … uh-oh, there’s a patch of missing hair on her side …

How to nibble a leaf …



Video below … Teeny Tuxedo watches the deer who came to munch …

See more dining deer video … 4 years earlier … Sunny A.M. Deer Cat, June 3, 2018

Rain, Rabbit, Rain!

animals, blogs, outside, video, weather, , ,

Friday, June 10, 2022, 7:10 am — Mr / Ms Rabbit is catching a moment of sun between the rain … Look at all those raindrops on the grass! … “It’s not your imagination: Portland is experiencing the wettest April, May and early June of any time in at least the past 81 years.” … “12.23 inches of rain at PDX from April 1 through Sunday mid-morning, June 12, 2022” … We’re north of the Columbia River on the Washington side … (photos from deck) …

Sunlight through translucent ears … More photos, My Photo a Day Adventure …

Video below … Munching in the raindrops …

Pretty in Pink Feet

birds, food, outside, shadows, video, weather, , ,

Saturday, June 4, 2022, 10:55 am — Mourning dove … pretty in pink feet … and exquisite blue eyeliner … Not sure if it’s male or female … both are very similar … females a bit smaller … Males have pink-tinted breast feathers … females have  gray …

Some fancy footwork …

Video below … Mr / Ms Pink Feet Mourning Dove thinks the new bird seed is delish … “Sizzling Variety with Habanero” … “Squirrels detest the pepper oil, but it’s harmless to birds” … Especially like that it has “no milo, no filler” … Songbird Selections, by Audubon Park, Seattle … who “work to help support small farms by purchasing local seed from local farmers as much as possible.”

Tuesday, June 7, 2022, 9:30 am … The next day … full morning sunlight from left … compare to the gentle overcast sky lighting in photos above …

Robin Regimen

birds, food, fun, outside, trees, video, window

Sunday, April 17, 2022, 12:18 pm … Robin gets a firm grip on the worm … caught in grass to left …

Below, video … Look fast! … Robin takes off from driveway in front of garage … to top of tree …

… then flies to edge of 2-storey roof … Starts a series of leg lifts … one, two … one, two … one, two … take a breath … one, two … (24x zoom through kitchen window … a bit blurry) …

… 1:33 pm … an hour later … back for more worms …

Historic April Snow Cat

birds, cats, curiosity, outside, snow, trees, video, weather, window, , ,

Monday, April 11, 2022, 5:30 am — Teeny Tuxedo … Whoa! … Snow! … from sunny, over 70º four days earlier … to four inches of quiet whiteness this morning … “first time in 82 years of record-keeping that measurable snow has fallen at Portland International Airport this late in the year.” – opb.org  … Airport is 18 miles south, across the Columbia River, in Oregon …
tuxedo cat

… 6:50 am … HEAVY snow weighing down shrub … east side of deck …

… 7:41 am … Teeny Tuxedo … two hours later … STILL snowing …
tuxedo cat

… 9:30 am … Gently falling snow flakes … A spot of red at the black oil sunflower seed bird feeder …  either a male purple finch or house finch …

Below, video … Big, fluffy flakes … 7:50 am … first significant snow this late, April 11, in over 80 years … stopped by afternoon … Fluffy, but heavy … listen for “pops” of tree branches breaking, especially at 1 minute …

Not Early Birds Cats

birds, cats, fun, outside, sleep, video, weather, window, , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, December 9, 2021, 9:39 am — Rainy morning … female house sparrow is up and at ’em at the bird feeder …

… 9:45 am … Perkins and Teeny Tuxedo prefer cozy snoozing … rather than the early bird routine …
ginger / red / orange tabby cat, tuxedo cat

… 10:28 am … Batch of lively house sparrows … chowing down at the bird feeder … corner of deck …

Sweeney Todd Office Cat

2010s, cats, fun, songs, tv, video, , ,

Monday, November 16, 2020, 3:15 pm — Teeny Tuxedo … “Andy’s Play … Sweeney Todd” … The Office, s7, ep3, 2010, Netflix … Teeny says, “If this was CATS, I’d be purrfect for a part!” …
tuxedo cat

… Andy and the Scranton Playhouse cast  … doing a “wee bit of viral marketing!” … “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” … Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim …