Young Cardinal Getting Fed, Big Bird and Two Little Butterflies ' ' )

I just saw the cutest thing. A female Cardinal got some food from the feeder, flew to a nearby branch and gave some to the young Cardinal that flew with her and the male Cardinal that followed. How cute, a young Cardinal. It's really a cute sight to see. Before this, I've seen the male Cardinal feeding the same young Cardinal before, but at the time I couldn't tell what was really going on, the relation of the two birds, but soon after I looked up on the 'net that babies have gray-/black-colored bills, then getting the red/orange bills later on apparently. The male Cardinal has before, while feeding the young chick, pecked in the direction of the apparent female mate, but that might be normal dominant behavior with males, I'm not sure. Another sign I could tell it was a baby was the wings kind of fluttered. I did manage to take a video of the scene with my binoculars/camera combo but the video quality is so poor, plus low light, it's not even worth posting. Should have used my Canon. Oh well, next time.

Also, about a week ago, I witnessed a big bird, believed now to be an owl after looking on the 'net at wing color patterns, swoop down in my front yard while a Blue Jay was eating at a covered feeder and it came within 5-10 feet away but the Blue Jay flew off in the opposite direction. It was quite a shock and surprise to see such a large bird near my feeders and in my yard, definitely the biggest one I've seen while birdwatching, other than the more common flyover of large birds that are seen from a distance. After it swooped down, it landed on the large tree in my yard, then another tree in the forest close-by. I happened to be looking out the window at the time and ran out with my camera. I took a crappy pic because it had just started to fly off when I snapped it. I should have taken a video instead. Grr. Here's the cropped pic, tho.


One final note, while walking into work yesterday I saw two butterflies, one chasing the other. I never really see two butterflies together like that. It was a cute and beautiful sight to see.