Knitting Sandwich

a special visitor

look who i found in my backyard the other morning....

a woodcock!!

i didn't know anything about woodcocks before one showed up in my yard (and i'll admit to sending the picture to my wildlife friend laura for identification help since the woodcock isn't in my minnesota birds book.) but apparently they're wading birds who prefer swampy places so i'm not quite sure what she was doing in my yard.  given that information, i doubt she'll be back, so i'll count this as an extra-special sighting!

the woodcock is also knows as the timberdoodle, which honestly is such an awesome name i would have thought kate would have come up with it.  maybe one of her ancestors had a hand in that one?

-melissa

the tapsalots in summer

with it being summertime the tree in my front yard is obviously covered in leaves.  this is nice for shading my house from the afternoon sun, but it makes it hard to keep tabs on the birds coming to the tree to feed.

the tapsalots are still coming quite reguarly, it's just hard to see them when they do and almost nearly impossible to get a picture of them!  i did manage a few mediocre shots the other day, not my best photographic work, but i was just thrilled to be able to see them again!

i've even caught a glimpse or two of mr. bingley, although i wasn't able to capture him on film.  even though i can't alway see them it is comforting to know that my woodpecker friends are still coming around to visit.

-melissa

twitter tweet tweet - the bird report

i am happy to report that the tapsalots are still hanging around in the front tree.  

here's mr. tapsalot hanging out with what i think i have correctly identified as a male house finch (please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong).

in other birdie news i am working on my crochet skills in an attempt to make one of these adorable birdie decorations (pattern or rav link) by lucy at attic 24.  she has a wonderful tutorial explaining step by step how to make a crochet circle, and last night at my knitting group i sat down to give it a go.

i am pretty proud of myself - i'm making a circle!!!  apparently all i needed to do was to find lucy and her fabulous tutorials!

-melissa

introducing the flapsabouts

friday was an excellent day for birdwatching in my yard.  i was sitting  in the living room, doing whatever it is i do when i sit in my living room, when i look up and see a big black bird that i've never seen before eating at my suet feeder.

aren't they cool with all their little flecks?  they were all over the yard as well...

i looked them up in my bird book and they're european starlings.  they might be a bit of a bully-bird, but it was still exciting to see something new in the yard.  there were also a couple grackles and red-winged blackbirds and the harbinger of spring itself - the robin!

and then.... the moment i have been waiting for for weeks and weeks... the hairy woodpeckers came back!

so without further ado, it is my immense pleasure to introduce to you ms. emiline and the mysterious oscar flapsabout.  (thanks to lindsey for the first names and kate (who has quite the gift for naming woodpeckers) came up with their last name.)

 

don't you just love them?  i do!!

-melissa

the new neighbors

look who's moved into the neighborhood....

it's a female hairy woodpecker!  

"wait, wait," you say, "this looks like just another tapsalot sister/aunt/niece!"  and to that i'd say you're right, but in one way - their size.

see how much larger she is that the ms. tapsalot perched above her?

she's very similar in size to the gentleman caller of ms. dottie nutterbeak (who i've taken to calling mr. bingley).

i can't tell you how excited i was to look up this morning and see new woodpecker friends!!  the female has come back a number of times today but the male was only by once this morning and i wasn't able to get his picture.  but i'm hoping he'll be back because he was a handsome devil and i'm sure you'd like to see him.

i love this last picture, she's totally saying, "i hate waiting."  (i've noticed that woodpeckers are terrible sharers.)

now all we have to do is come up with a name for the new couple.  please leave a comment with your suggestions!!

isn't this just too too exciting?!?!

-melissa

the gentleman caller of ms. dottie nutter-beak.

up to this point dottie has been the only red-breasted woodpecker hanging out in the front yard.  i had figured her for a modern fast-talkin career gal with no interest in making attachments that would only tie her down...

but in the past few days a gentleman suitor has been hanging around.

i don't know much about him yet.  is he a rouge?  i can only hope his intentions are honorable, as i have grown very fond of dottie and i'd hate to see her get her heart broken.

-melissa

it's a tapsalot family reunion

my front yard has become quite busy with woodpecker traffic.  after seeing ms. tapsalot eating four or five times within an hour i started to suspect there may be more than one ms. tapsalot.

i started taking pictures.  here's ms. tapsalot one:

she is clearly different from ms. tapsalot two:

(who is wearing a much thicker john mcenroe-esque headband.)

now here is ms. tapsalot two from the back:

she is clearly different from ms. tapsalot three:

(who, as far as i can tell is different from ms. tapsalot one due to the difference in the width of their john mcenroe headbands.)

i wondered which one was the original ms. tapsalot, so i went back and looked at the original photo, only to find that none of them are the original ms. tapsalot!

also, as far as i can tell all four of the above mentioned ms. tapsalots are different from the one in this picture with ms. nutter-beak!

turns out i'm hosting a tapsalot family reunion!  hooray!!

-melissa

(ps - i know next to nothing about identifying birds, so if i'm missing something obvious please feel free to point out my errors, like the fact that their john mcenroe headbands are probably technically not called john mcenroe headbands...)

i knit you a merry fish-mas (and a happy new year)

still toiling away in the sweatshop.  here's the latest to roll off the knitting-production line and into the need-to-be-wrapped line:

up first, the entire pile of fish scrubbies (rav link).

there will be two per child, paired up with a bar of handmade soap purchased from s.m. fildes' etsy shop.

second, after knitting on them all weekend while with melinda (yes, the sweatshop is mobile) i was able to finish up my mom's mittens (rav link).

the nice thing about my holiday sweatshop?  it's the view.  today my woodpeckers were very busy flitting around, each of them dropped by at least twice!  then, for what i can only assume was an actual woodpecker tea party, both dottie and mrs. tapsalot visited the tree at the very same time!!!

 

aren't they wonderful?

i hope no one is getting tired of the woodpecker updates because i honestly don't see my obsession with them waning any time in the near future... in fact, each time i see them i love them even more!  

-melissa

you are cordially invited to a woodpecker party

at least once a day, sometimes more, i hear a little "chip, chirp-chirp" "chip, chirp-chirp" and i know that my woodpecker bff has arrived for a visit.

here she is hanging out on the shady side of the tree.

i have christened her ms. dottie nutter-beak (thank to rebekah for suggesting dottie).

now those of you in camp tapsalot, fear not.  i too was a fan of kate's awesome suggestion, and when a pair of downy woodpeckers also started frequenting the front tree i knew right away what to call them.

so without any further ado i would like to introduce to you mrs. & mr. tapsalot...

 

you are all welcome to come over and join us for tea anytime!

-melissa

i have a new bird friend!!

a couple weeks ago i noticed a woodpecker repeatedly hanging out in the tree in my front yard, to entice her into repeat visits i hung some suet out there.  

and you know what?  she keeps coming back!

isn't she beautiful?!?  she's a red-bellied woodpecker and i can only assume she wants to be my friend. (why else would she be hanging around my yard?)  i'm thinking she needs a name... any sugestions?  (right now i'm leaning toward ms. nutter-beak, or something equally as beatrix potter sounding, but nothing is official yet, so please leave me your ideas.)

-melissa

ps - it totally snowed here yesterday - woot woot!!