Out of the nest and 3rd 25 motif challenge

Today was the day. I checked the baby bird this morning, while out hanging laundry on the line and it looked very alert and had most of it's feathers so I figured it was about ready to leave the nest.

I had to go in to work this afternoon to catch up on some things, but took the time to check on the bird before leaving and was I ever glad that I did.

Take a look at who I found out of the nest. Sitting on a branch just a little ways from the nest.

Here is a closeup. you can see the white eyebrows, wish I knew what kind of bird this is.

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on that tatting side, I have decided to do another 25 Motif Challenge. I started my first one in june 2008. I don't know if you are supposed to count every item that you tat, or only those from different patterns. After finishing that one this spring, (well, if you count everything I tatted I finished it before Thanksgiving).

Then I tatted the items needed for my daughters wedding as well as a few other items. That would have been my 2nd full Challenge.

So I am going to start my 3rd one. I will put the list gadget back on my blog for this Challenge.

Bouquets and baby birds

I survived the hurried trip to Omaha this weekend. While the wedding isn't until November, I wanted to show you how the tatted stars were used in the flower arrangements for the wedding. we used silk flowers and blue accents. The colors are very deep and rich, the photos don't do the colors justice except for the one of the bridesmaids bouquets. There are Hydrangeas, roses, and a bunch of others. We bought out all the deep red from 1 of the Hobby Lobby's in Omaha.

This first photo is of the Mother's corsages, you can see 3 tiny white tatting stars in each. I will be posting the pattern for the small white tatted stars to my pattern blog in the next couple of hours, if you click over and it isn't there yet, check back a bit later.

This second photo is of the Brides Bouquet. There are 11 tiny white tatted stars in it. It is not finished and maybe pulled apart and done over, it is good, but not perfect, since there are 4 mos left until the wedding, there is time to figure out what isn't just right.

This third photo is of the Bridesmaid's bouquets. On the handles you can see the tatted initials and the small red tatted flowers. The pattern for the small red flowers is available on my pattern blog. The Maid of Honor's bouquet is on the right, her small red flower has 6 petals instead of the 5 in the rest, mainly because I goofed and didn't count right, but it also sets hers off from the other gal who has the same initial.

There are small tatted white stars in the grooms boutonniere, but that picture is a bit fuzzy, I didn't realize that I was shaking when I took it.

This 4th photo is of the arrangements for behind the altar in the church. The colors should be as deep and rich as the photo of the bridesmaids above.

And last but not least is an up date on the baby bird. He has gotten much bigger. I have never had a really good look at mama, she is very fast off the nest and the leaves cover it up unless I lift them out of the way to take the baby's picture, but I did get a better glimpse at her yesterday. She is medium to dark grey on the top and creamy on the bottom. her head is darker and she has a white stripe across her eyes. Her beak is sharper and longer then an oriole, so I am thinking maybe a Vireo? but then since I know so little of birds, I can be oh so very wrong.

Time to get moving, I need to get the pattern for the tiny white flowers written up and posted.

Baby Bird Update

This is a picture I took tonight of the bird nest. You can see 1 baby bird and 1 egg.

You may recall in the previous pictures there were 5 eggs, 3 were smaller and white with brown speckles and 2 were larger blue with brown speckles. Sharon said she thought that the larger eggs were cowbird eggs and since I had already suspected as much, it simply confirmed what I was thinking. I did some research and decided that the 2 larger eggs were cowbird eggs. Now I realize that God designed and nature developed birds and animals to fit into specific niches. And in order for cowbirds to follow the large migratory bison and cattle herds to help keep them free of insects, some bird needed to foster the babies as the parents wouldn't be able to get back to the nests to do so.
Unfortunately as a human, I can't leave things alone. Particularly as there are no migratory cattle herds here, all the cattle are in their fences and the parent cowbirds can very well raise their own babies,
If the cowbird babies would co-exist with the host bird babies, I wouldn't have a problem with the situation, but they hatch first, are larger and will deliberately kill the true baby birds. So, Monday, after the 2 eggs blue eggs and 1 white egg had hatched, I could tell that the 2 were much larger and crowding out the smaller baby. the other 2 small eggs weren't hatching either. I removed the 2 larger babies and hoped that the other 2 white eggs would hatch. Tonight there is only 1 white egg left and I doubt it will hatch. Mama bird spent too much time off the nest trying to feed the cowbird babies.
The baby bird in the photo is almost twice the size it was on Monday .

no promises, but maybe next post there will be tatting again.

Oh, I will be on the way to Omaha NE this weekend. I will be meeting my future son-in-law's family and since they will be creating the silk flower bouquets and also my daughters real flower bouquet for the wedding, it will be nice to get together to be sure we are on the same wave length concerning the filler flowers for the bouquets.

Omaha is a 6 hr drive from here and my daughter and her fiance will have to drive an additional 4 hours to get here to pick me up. They live in St Paul MN so there is no direct route to Omaha anyway, either way they go west then south or south then west it takes them about the same amount of time.

bird update

here is a better picture of the bird's nest. you can tell there are definitely 5 eggs, 2 are blue with brown speckles and 3 are more white. and it isn't just the way the camera took the pic. That is how they look. I don't know why they are not all the same. I hope they are all hers. there are birds that go around indiscriminately laying eggs in others nests. and not having to take the time to raise their young.
I know that Orioles like fruit and I do have a couple of oranges so will find a board with a nail in it tomorrow that will sit on the LP tanks behind the tree and put a piece of orange on it for her.
if anyone knows anything about birds, your comments would be appreciated.
Thanks
I won't be taking any more pictures until the babies hatch. I don't want to disturb mama too much.

plenty of tatting, no pics, but look what I found

I have been tatting this weekend for my daughter's wedding.

I don't have any pictures of the tatting ready yet, but thought you would like to see what I found yesterday.

Looking out our bathroom window, this is what I see.
There was a lot of wind yesterday and while the tree branch was waving back and forth, I discovered a bird nest. I wonder if birds get dizzy from the wind driven roller coaster as we had constant winds in excess of 20 miles an hour with gusts up above 30

The nest is situated so that the leaves will act just like an umbrella, which is good considering that we have been having way too much rain.
I am not sure, but since it is a suspended nest, I think it is an Oriole.
this is a side view,

and here is a rear view.

I realize this picture of the nest and eggs is a bit out of focus, looks like there are 5 eggs.

I held the camera a bit too close, but it was hard to hold the leaves and branches out of the way and still get the camera high enough to take a picture into the nest, as the nest is above my head. I didn't want to disturb things too much hoping that mama would come back, and she did.
I didn't go anywhere near it today. I will check on it from the window watching for babies to hatch.
I will keep you posted.