Budgerigar at my Bird Feeder

Last fall when I moved to the house Im living in I set up a few bird feeders. Well 8 feeders: 2 Hummingbird feeders, 1 Oriole feeder, 1 Tube, 1 Double-sided feeder, 1 platform feeder, and 2 thistle feeders. It took more than a month for any birds to come to the feeders but now its a very different story. I have seen at least 40 species of bird in my backyard (I'll post some pics on a future blog post), some use the feeders and others do not.

Today while I was watching all the baby House Finches, House Sparrows, and a Mockingbird family being fed by their parents, something very colorful came down. It was a Budgerigar!

This bird is commonly sold in any pet store that has birds. In Houston, and many other places, people have a very bad habit of letting their pets go or releasing them into the wild when they are tired of them. I also do know that many birds like this budgerigar, or budgie, are released for religious ceremonies and weddings. This can be harmful to the birds themselves as most will not survive, but also to other species by spreading diseases and out competing native species for food and nest areas.

Anyway, it is a very charming little bird. Hopefully it will come back and maybe it will attract some of the Monk Parakeets I always see flying by...

Spring Cleaning the Blog...

There are quite a few post on this blog that have lost there pictures due to the fact that I have changed email addresses. I have decided to just delete those post instead of trying to fix them (which could take hours and hours). Sorry if you cant find what you are looking for but if you email me I'll be glad to help you out with finding a deleted post. :)

Nepenthes copelandii

Its such an nice spring day today! I have been gardening for most of the day but I wanted to come in and get a drink and share this picture with you. Its my Nepenthes copelandii. I bought this plant from Sarracenia Northwest about 2 years ago and it is doing very nicely on my bathroom window. The pitchers are as long as the plant is tall, which I think really looks cool. Care wise I don't do anything to it but give it water (lately Figi water that I haven't finished drinking) but also distilled water. I love the color of the pitchers... really beautiful.

Versace S/S 2011 Ring

On my recent trip to NYC I stopped by the Versace boutique searching for 3 items, all from the S/S 2011 mens collection: rings, swim shorts, and sandals. Unfortunately they have not gotten any swimwear or sandals yet this season so I ended up only getting a ring. Its one of three they are showing on the website and was worn for the fashion show.

Here are the three rings from the men's Versace S/S 2011 collection. The two on the left are currently available for the US.

Here is my ring - showing the Medusa.

And a view from above to show more of the detail.