It's All About the Blue

Whilst weeding and listening to the bluebirds in the trees around me, my eye caught another flash of blue.  There in the weedy daffodil border, on the path to the front porch were these beautiful, bright blue flowers that I remembered seeing in a wildflower guide.  This is called blue-eyed grass and it's a member of the iris family.  I had never seen them in our yard before.  There were about 5 or 6 little bunches - I won't call them clumps yet.  Looking out into the grass next to the path there was another stray one.  So I decided to gather them all so they didn't fall victim to the spin-trimmer and replant them on the other side of the path in with the landscaping because when I read up on them, they are used as perennials and actually can be bought in clumps.  It was a breezy afternoon when I was doing this and though I took quite a few pictures, this was the clearest one.  Can you see the stem and leaves and how they do resemble irises?  The flower is about the size of a dime for reference.  I can't wait to see if they will become clumps in the future.

And of course there would be bluebirds in a post about blue.

Here is Mama Blue taking a break from brooding her second clutch of 6 eggs. 

One of the babies from the first clutch is still begging to be fed.  Mom goes into the worm feeder, but it's up to dad to feed that little beggar.

The day before HWNWNBP saw all four of the first clutch there trying to vie for their parent's attention but this particular time there was only one juvenile.  As I watched this little scene it appeared that the father had a little lesson planned for the youngster.  While he did put worms directly into the baby's mouth he also purposely dropped some worms on the ground and coaxed the baby to go down and get them itself. 

I posted these pictures on our local Facebook nature page and was questioned (politely) why we used live mealworms when the dried ones were less expensive.  We typically use the live worms during the summer when there are babies to be fed and mom needs dad to bring her food while she's brooding.  HWNSNBP puts out a little early in the day and then again at the end of the day - each time when the feeder is mostly in the shade.  We will switch over to the dried worms when they're done with their breeding season.    HWNSNBP orders the mealworms by the 1,000's (there is a video somewhere on this blog showing how he unpacks them when they arrive).  He keeps them in a vented plastic shoebox with oatmeal and a slice of potato as a source of food.  And the box is kept down in our basement.  

Taking care of the birds is an investment in time and money, but if you look at it as a source of entertainment, which we do, it is worth it.