Long Week and Bird Watching

As the title suggests, it has been a long week. I have been very busy with KV activities this week. Saturday we had a picnic and the beginning of the week we had several messages to pass on to wives. I have been on the phone alot lately. We had our regular meeting on Thursday and thankfully it went better than the last. I didn't leave as a ball of tense nerves like last meeting. The leader kept the chatty women quiet for the meeting part and dealt with everyone's concerns by the end. I was very thankful for that.

Daniel was able to email a couple of times early in the week to let me know how he is doing. He is healthy, busy, and ready to return home. I cannot share many details over the blog, as well as he was not able to share many details of his job over the email. There is a clear line of operation security measures that we have to abide by in order to keep everyone safe.

This week I also had the pleasure of being able to spend a day with Amanda and precious baby Rhiannon. They are back from their long visit with family in Texas. I had missed chatting with Amanda. We spent Thursday together for lunch and then doing some baby shopping for their new baby due this spring. I enjoy shopping for baby stuff. It gives me ideas for gifts for all the wonderful expecting mothers I call my friends. Such an exciting spring!

On Tuesday I did some shopping at Kmart and I finally bought a bird feeder, food, and native bird book. I kept telling myself I wanted to watch the birds here more often, so I finally broke down and did it. I have loved watching and listening to them munch away at the food as well as chirp at each other. I have cardinals, sparrows, finches, doves and pigeons crowding my backyard to get a good seat for the feeder. Please forgive my beginning photography. I am getting used to the zoom and outdoor settings.

This is the Red-crested cardinal and they are numerous on the island. I have about 5 that frequent my feeder daily.

This is the Northern Cardinal (male) that seems to hang around alot with one particular female.

Those adorable birds in the foreground are Java Sparrows. They have become one of my favorites because of their little masked faces. They have bright pink bills and they always chatter at each other when they are pecking at the feeder and ground. I love how they interact with each other.

Here are the doves that are so numerous. The larger doves are the Spotted Doves (on chain link fence and a bad shot...sorry) and the smaller are the Zebra Doves. The zebra doves are very vocal and so small compared to the spotted doves. They coo the entire time they are feeding.

And here is the beautiful Feral Pigeon that showed up today and scattered the small birds when ever it dove at the feeder:


I have enjoyed watching them while I read about them and the other island birds. There are so many exotic birds on this island. I hope to see many more than just the birds in my backyard and the few I see when driving. I should get out and hike more often.

Tomorrow I am going to a progressive dinner. Our church is sponsoring it as a Valentine's Day activity. Amaya and I are going together. I guarantee there will be pictures. We meet at one house for salad/bread then move to another house for the main entree, and yet another for the dessert. Each house we go to will be with a different group so we get to meet and chat with several people through the night. I am looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend!