Spring - hay and robins

The weather is improving bit by bit - Saturday was just lovely, and during the afternoon my neighbor Ray Churchill mowed two of his hayfields.  Today he raked them.  Click to enlarge, and you'll see that the windrows wrap around the end of the field, and you might glimpse a couple of lovely Jersey cows.

A robin has decided to build her nest under the eaves of the front door overhang.  It took me a little time to figure that out, and then to devise measures to keep her from fleeing the nest.  Now I park the car behind the new stovewood pile (instead of next to it). I put the storm glass back in the front door (can't take photos through the screen - you get pictures of the screen!) , and draped some dark fabric over the lower 3/4 of the door window so she doesn't see all of the light in the house, and doesn't see so much of my moving around.  I put yellow caution tape across the door to remind myself, the letter carriers, and delivery people not to use that door.  I use the porch door for going and coming.  And I get to the back yard by walking all the way around the front.  So far, so good.

I'm trying to take robin pictures.  Here are two.  The first one, taken this morning,  is admittedly fuzzy but more colorful.  The second one was taken well after sunset, but I did some reading about camera settings and it's in better focus.  There's no way I can see into the nest, even on a ladder in the living room - the edge of the overhang is too far away to peer into.  I'm standing on a chair, and what I need is a tripod.  But a tripod 7 feet tall is hard to come by. 

As long as she keeps sitting I'll keep trying to get a little closer.  According to the National Geographic site, robins set 50 minutes out of every hour.  I'm not sure she's that diligent, although she seems to be there most of the night.  Perhaps as hatching time approaches she'll be on the nest more.