They grow up too fast

Today was a big day. Our owls left their tree. It was neat watching the mom call to them and them call back as they worked up the courage to take their first flight. First short hops/flights to nearby trees and then across a fairly large greenspace to the tree mom was in. I didn't catch it on tape, I didn't think they would leave so soon....for shame! Makes me a little sad but I am sure we will continue to see them around as they perfect their other super-awesome owl skills.
In other related news, birding here has been great this year! To name a few our yard has seen Robins, dark-eyed juncos, western meadowlarks, hermit thrush, nuthatches, chickadees, flickers, willets, killdeer, blue-winged teals, northern pintail (decapitated head under the owl tree--does that still count?), white crowned sparrows, house sparrows, myrtle/yellow-rumped warblers, brown-headed cowbirds, common snipes, ring-necked pheasants, Hairy and downy woodpeckers, and what a delight today to see a few goldfinches at our feeders this afternoon...lovely little lemondrops. I love spring migration.

The boys are also getting a pretty good egg collection going. They keep finding little bird eggs all around our yard...just left behind on the ground--it's like easter all over again.
In other, other related news, I was impressed with how their own pair of work gloves turned these two boys into good little worker men.
They grow up too fast!!!!