Blue Moons and Blue Birds

and New Birds and Dead Birds

Did you know that there will be a blue moon in October?  A Blue Moon is when there are two full moons in the same month.  I'm not sure which one is blue ...  (Actually, there's a more technical definition that involves 13 moons, but I won't go into that right now.)  I don't know if this always happens, but this morning the moon was still high as the sun was coming up.

Viewed through the bathroom window on October 1 (with a sheet tacked over the window).  The next full moon will be October 31.  It has been so amazingly bright the last few nights that without window coverings it seems like I should be getting up in the middle of the night.  (Of course, I do that anyway, several times a night ... sigh)

The good news is we ordered blinds for the bedroom Thursday, but it could be near Christmas before they will be installed.  The bad news is the painter failed to show last Saturday so we are searching for someone to touch up the white frames where old hardware was removed and to stain the windows in Alex's office.

On to the Birds ...

I have observed a pair of bluebirds on the deck recently but I never have my phone handy at the time to snap a picture.  I am hoping they will stick around and raise a family next year.

We have so many finches and sparrows that I can't identify but special visitors the last few days have been a pair (or family) of rose-breasted grosbeaks.  The male looks just like this picture I snagged from the internet:

I knew what it was the minute I saw his red breast triangle!  But he wouldn't stick around long enough for me to snap a photo.  I did get a shot of this one, though I can't tell if it's the female or a juvenile male as it appears to have a bit of a red breast.  

I think I have seen a for-sure female, though I didn't realize it at the time.  She has the same distinctive white line over the eye, but more striping on the breast instead of the rose triangle.

Lacking blinds, the new windows have been lethal for several birds.  A pretty goldfinch hit the picture window in the bedroom so hard it dropped on the spot.  Another gray bird hit one of the side windows in the bedroom but it bounced back to the crepe myrtle.  I could tell it was struggling to catch its breath and I kept willing it not to panic and to breathe deeply.  It seemed to be doing well until it flipped upside down on the limb and it couldn't hold on.  Would have been funny had it not been so sad.  I checked the ground under the window soon thereafter and it apparently regained its composure as it was nowhere to be seen.

And the deer are rutting.  They chose our back yard while the blind salesman was here -- how embarrassing!