Colorful Sunrise

The bluebirds are back!  Even though I have bluebird houses up, I hadn't seen one in a couple of years.  When they did use my houses, they would raise a brood and disappear for the rest of the summer only to reappear briefly in the fall before going south for the winter.  Thought I'd seen some flitting around the house last week but couldn't verify.  Today the bluebirds and some downy woodpeckers were checking out the suet and platform feeders.   Whip and I took a late walk - the sun was just dropping below the horizon.  Could see more ducks in the pond as I crested the hill.    I hate to bother them but isn't much of a walk if we don't go that way.  Either these are the same group of ducks I've seen from other walks and they are getting used to seeing us, they were tired, or it was getting too late in the day to go looking for other digs for the night but they didn't fly off as they usually do.  These just quietly paddeled past us to the opposite side of the pond as we went by.   Nice to see these birds even if my place is just a motel on their travels.