More feathered fun

We woke up to rain this morning here in southwestern Vermont, which I figured meant it'd be a day where photo opportunities were few and far between. Nevertheless, I took my camera with me when I went out to run some errands this morning, and was thankful for it when I was at the recycling center and was struck by how these low clouds looked against the mountain:



Just after lunch Mom called to invite me over for dinner with her, my dad, and my brother. Which ended up working out very well for me, photographically speaking, as I could stand by the sliding back door and have it open just enough to take photos while still staying nice and dry. Plus my being inside meant that the wildlife was much less reluctant to get fairly close, enabling me to get some decent shots of both a squirrel and a chipmunk as they scrounged for dropped seeds:





However, the majority of today's action was provided by the various songbirds that showed up to partake of the different feeders placed around the back yard. First up, a female goldfinch that perched for quite a while in one of the rhododendrons beside the back porch:



A pair of male rose-breasted grosbeaks:



A female grosbeak and a woodpecker enjoy having their own eating spaces:



A Baltimore oriole also came by to satisfy its sweet tooth with some grape jelly:





For whatever reason, out of all the blue jay pictures I took this afternoon this one ended up being my second favorite—I guess I just like the effect of seeing the jay through the mesh of the feeder:



However, I imagine it's fairly obvious why this was my absolute favorite of today's blue jay photos:



Finally, as we all know a visit to my parents' house means new Kaylee pictures. Here she's once again on top of the chair, keeping watch through the window:



Later, though, she was much more concerned with making sure Mom didn't need any help in the kitchen—with some invaluable assistance from Greg: