Sixth Blogversary, and Lots of Firsts~

~Six years of blogging from Tingsgrove and beyond~

A few fun statistics that can go along with this entry would be that as of today, this is my 1,093 published post, since the birth of the blog.  There have been 167,784  page views and since tracking visitors began the second year, I have had 32,328 visitors to share my blog with. To date there are 10,067 published comments, which always are so very much appreciated and they continue to encourage me.  Many blogs get way more traffic and comments, and yet, I feel enormously blessed to have the visitors that I have. Many of you have become such great friends and that means so much to me.  Thank you for the generosity of your time in writing your thoughts about my entries.

Above is this season's nest for the Red-Shouldered Hawks of Tingsgrove and Beyond.  Once again this season, the hawks used the nest tree across the lane from me.  Two wonderful neighbors Wilma and Nikki have allowed me access to their land and I am forever grateful to them and their kindness.

The first "first" happened this year, at least as for as my witnessing nests and the rearing of these beautiful eyas.  Always in the past the adults take food to nest and tear it in pieces for a couple of weeks, before allowing the young to do it.  This year because of a branch that broke into the nest, the adults had a difficult time, even brooding the eggs.  When it came time to feeding them by a couple of weeks of age, the food would just be dropped into the nest and then the young would have a go at it, taking turns, and sometimes one got nothing.  There were 3 eyas this season.  All thrived and have fledged as of a week ago~

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slide show presentation after you have read the narratives~

I will be linking up with Judith for:

www.lavendercottagegardening.com

Mosaic Monday

&

Stewart for:

   http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

Above, the female has just been brought in a meal by her mate on the right...this particular meal was frog legs.  By the time one can see the little ones, they are by then a couple of weeks old and down covered~

The lovely white down is lost and beautiful feathers rapidly appear, and they mature so quickly, it is just amazing.  The transformation is so incredible to watch every season~

One of the fledglings was in a low tree just across the creek from the nest tree.  I did not see it until I was right in front of it.  This was the third eyas to leave security of the nest~

This beauty was the first one to fly, just less than 2 weeks ago~

This was the second eyas to leave the nest, all big and brave ;)  It was trying to get past that little branch sticking up and made it's way finally...

All 3 are quite lovely~

It will not be long and they will not spend time together.  Yesterday afternoon, one of the adults brought in a meal and all 3 went to grab it at the same time.  They are very respectful of one another and will never try and take a meal once it has been snagged~

Not their parents, but beautiful adult Red-Shouldered Hawks~

Our loss of Bill's Dad, my father-in-law on March 25, still seems surreal today.  He was such a huge part of our lives.  
My husband, Dad and our five grands~

Another wonderful first.  I have known Theresa Dettmer for a few years and yet with her living in Iowa and we in KY, we had never met one another, until last September.  Our paths crossed, as she is a breeder of Long Coat German Shepherds.  What a sweetness it brought to us when my husband, our 2 dogs and I got to meet her and her husband Rick, finally at last.  Our Silveit was getting to see her "Momma T" and Rick for the first time in 2 years.  What gracious, wonderful people~

Icelandic Horse, Coopers Hawk and Red-Shouldered Hawk~

Just me and my beautiful dogs Meaka on the left and Silveit on the right in single snaps~

And my first time at seeing a live Great Gray Owl.  Homer lives in a rehab facility, and he is so handsome.  What a thrill that day was~

Another first, was that we went to Canada for the first time, what a gorgeous place.
We saw Grizzly bears for the first time alongside Black Bears and Western Red-tailed Hawks, which we had seen before~

I was so blessed in being able to visit a Bald Eagles nest along the Ohio River for the past 6 months and to keep up with their 2 eaglets.  WOW, it still just seems unbelievable, such beauty and majesty~

The 2 eaglets fledged two weeks ago~

An American Kestrel stilling over a field near the Bald Eagle nest site~

This was the first Merlin, that I had ever seen.  It was at Cox's Park in Eastern Jefferson County, KY, when on it's return from migrating South~

My dear friend Sandy alerted me to a Great Horned Owls nest back in early March and I was so happy to be able to observe the 2 owlets and adults for a couple of months~

Some of the songbirds that visit Tingsgrove will be scattered throughout this posting~

One day when picking up my twin grandsons from their school, I noticed the charm of this old grocery store in Skylight, KY~

Some of you may remember that we had nearly 20 American Cardinals in the same part of the yard one Winter's day~

Some of my favorite Summer and Spring images that were shared~

Autumn seems to be a favorite season of many of my family members and friends~

The migrating Sandhill Cranes were once again high in numbers near Radcliff, KY last Winter and I got to view them twice during their time there~

The famed Hermitage Horse Farm in my county where Queen Elizabeth has visited a couple of times~

Last February ending and early March, I got to fly down to visit my youngest daughter and her husby in Florida.  I saw a lot of great tropical birds~

I saw the beautiful Anhingas for the first time while visiting Ashleigh and Matty.  

What a wonderful looking bird~

Many of these birds were my first as well~

Our neighbors have a Groundhog den on the same location as the Red-Shouldered Hawks.  Henrietta is what they named her and she had 4 cubs. To make sure they did not become hawk fodder, I fed them extra food for a couple of weeks~

I get the Bird KY alerts and saw back in May that a pair of Mississippi Kites were beginning to nest in Cherokee Park in Eastern Jefferson County KY.  I was fortunate enough to locate the male 2 weeks ago. What a handsome bird~

I have gotten to observe several raptor nests this year and this one is of a Red-Tailed Hawk pair located in Cave Hill Cemetery in Eastern Jefferson County, KY. They also had 2 young ones~

That is all in the sharing for now, but I wanted to say once again, thank you all so very much for inspiring me to keep on sharing.  You make my heart smile~