Salmon quiche and patties

As you maybe realized, I added pages to my blog. I figured that I got so deep into the birding and travelling that that my blog title soon doesn't apply any more. :))

One page brings you directly to our earlier travel adventures and the other shows all the bird photos I have taken. Maybe I add other pages later. You will see.
Today I added more of February 2006 (Corpus Christi, TX) and the newest guests at my feeder (house finch, white throated sparrow).

Back to food.

Salmon - J.P. came back with a big package of smoked salmon.

The first two days we had salmon sandwiches for lunch.

Then he said: "I think we have to cook something with salmon. We 

cannot keep it too long in the fridge. 

Get creative!"

So, I got creative.

Yesterday we had salmon quiche and salmon patties. 

Salmon Quiche 

Salmon Patties with remulade

Part 2: And finally ... DRUM ROLL! The Northern Cardinal

Late in the afternoon - THERE HE WAS. For the first time I got the Northern Cardinal close to my house. Yeeehaaa!
I am so excited because we don't have these birds in Europe where I grew up. Just splendid - the colour.

Now I have to wait until he gets more familiar and less shy so that I can get him closer to the camera.
These photos were taken with a 200mm lens, while the bird sat about 100 feet (30 m) away in an apple tree.

Like a Christmas ornament! There he was.

Northern Cardinal, male

Northern Cardinal and Black Capped Chicadee

I guess I have to start a new blog - about my birding. :))

Part 1: RAIN and more birding

I knew it would happen. I shouldn't have done the windows yesterday!

Today it was RAINING cats and dog! Again. UGH!

But before I started on something more sensible, I had to check out the activity at the feeders. I didn't rain that hard yet.

Yep! Some birds were there.

First I sat behind the window (on the right) only to find out that the background was too bright against the grey sky.

For obvious reasons I didn't want to use the flash light. 

This is the result I got within half an hour enduring the cold.A nuthatch, chicadee and sparrows turned out to be the less shy birds around the feeders.

Song Sparrow

Black Capped Chickadee

Red Breasted Nuthatch (rather wet)

In the distance on the lawn a Northern Flicker was about to drill holes.

He seems to think: "UHOH- I am on camera!

After that the rain just got too bad and I had to retract into the house and got back to work. 

I used the rest of the day to sort out some stuff in the storage room. Tomorrow is garbage-pick-up-day. 

To identify the birds i use a page called: all about birds . It also gives you the opportunity to listen into the songs of the bird you are looking at. Once I sat on the porch and 

screen-shot of the page to demonstrate where sound samples can be found

listened to the "mew call" of a catbird on my laptop. Few minutes later one of the real birds was around in the shrubs and answering the call. It probably wondered who and where the intruder was. Funny!

Distracted from cleaning the windows

The day was somewhat sunny when I started domestic work: window cleaning. UGH.
The long winter left the windows covered with a thin film of salt grime from the sea and it showed in the sunshine! No way to get around the task.
I did the living room windows first.

Then I got distracted. :))
An inspiration hit me when I looked at this piece of driftwood I recently gathered on the beach.

It would become a simple DIY bird feeder! A feeder that I could place closer to one of the newly cleaned windows. 

A long nail was placed in the middle of the wool, a parasol pole was banged into the ground - Tadaa!

I had a new feeder.

This encouraged me to make another feeder. A terracotta flower pot saucer, some strings and an discarded basket. Another hanging DIY hanging bird feeder.

While I filled it with some black sunflower seeds the first curious chickadee circled already around.
A minute later I was inside and behind the camera.
There - the first guest was already contemplating the food offerings!

Now I just have to wait and see what other guests will come.

Beetle, Flounder and Texas

The weather was nice and sunny for a change, though the temperatures were not much above 41 F (5 C). I thought I should do some work on my flower beds.

Yours truly enjoying garden work

As always when I am close to the ground things capture my eye.
A water droplet glittering between the leaves of a budding Tulip

Water between Tulip leaves

and, a metallic ground beetle. They are working during the night and eating slugs and similar stuff. I swiftly put some dirt over him. Back to work! I hope he was about to eat the larvae you can see behind him when I disturbed.

some kind of Chlaenius, male

There was no need for me to cook today. My dear husband went to town for groceries and he came back with flounder. Now, he grew up on the shores of the Baltic Sea, so he could do it better than me.
Our dinner today: flounder fried in butter, topped with crisp bacon.

Dessert: strawberries - a taste of summer.

You see, there was not much happening, but there is always something going on.

Otherwise, there is a new chapter out from our travels in 2006. I started to publish February: here. We went from Big Bend National Park, TX all the way to Port Aransas, TX.