The Swainson's hawks are back. I saw several on Friday and Saturday, soaring as I was driving. During the winter, we have red tailed hawks here in the Rio Grande Valley. In the summer, the red tails go up into the hills, and we have Swainson's hawks in the valley. I drive by a marsh every day on the way to work, and there are usually either red tails or Swainson's there, depending on the season. I picture them greeting each other as they exchange occupancy of the marsh.

We now have several hummingbirds visiting our feeders. I've seen my first snowy and cattle egrets of the season.

This morning there was an Osprey perched on a power pole. They are one of my favorite hawks, and I don't get to see them that often because they don't stay in my area to breed. They breed near some of the lakes in New Mexico.

We planted some trees along the edge of our field. Everything is budding and popping up out of the ground and the plants are beautiful.

I gave my parrots a bath with the spray mister. Most of them really enjoy this, although I have one who doesn't. My Maximilian Pionus in particular loves it. He hangs upside down and flutters and makes cute little noises, and afterwards his feathers just glow. He is not a flashy colored bird, but I think he is beautiful in a subtle way.

We spent yesterday cleaning, and washed the dog bed covers and aired out the inserts, and put clean sheets on the bed, and the house looks and smells fresh and clean.

I got my husband into Angry Birds. When I first got my iPad, he complained because I was playing Angry Birds. Well, now he has an iPad, and yesterday he told me to load the game on his because I ended up spending time with him in his office with nothing to do. (I was supposed to go check owl nests, but it was too windy.) Anyway, last night he was playing the game for at least half an hour. The game always makes me laugh because it's so silly and quirky.
Allison