It feels like life has been busy as of late, which I guess is often the case when the holidays roll around. Between a more crowded calendar and fewer hours of daylight, picture taking time has not been as readily available. But this morning, I filled the feeders, pushed the pause button, and stepped outside with my camera and my faithful “compainions.”

Tucker, my 100-plus pound lovable beast, gets super happy when he gets to lay in a sunny spot in the grass…

…while Chaco, the one-eyed wonder, is a huntress who is certain that the fountain is purely for her personal drinking pleasure.

Having the labra-mutts outside with me does deter the bird activity a bit, but they just love being invited to join!

I only had about twenty minutes or so, but I figured I’d take advantage of this Saturday snippet of time and just see which birds happened to show up. There were several lovely guests that obliged me with some photo ops, but I’ll just share two this time around.

First, there was a stunning Pine Warbler, whose colors absolutely popped against a backdrop of autumn blur.

Second was a Brown Creeper, a cool little bird that only hangs out here during the fall and winter months.

You can see in the picture below how well their woodsy color tones blend in with the bark.

I just love watching these guys as they start at the bottom of a tree and climb their way up, winding their way around the trunk as they go.

I’ll have to say, my Saturday snippet of backyard birding was good for my soul!