walking in sunflowers
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Great #Outdoors Month is Now

According to the National Park Service (NPS), June is Great Outdoors Month. Click the link to discover events and activities that may be available in your area.

“During Great Outdoors Month, I encourage all Americans to explore our Nation’s beautiful outdoor spaces. As we enjoy the great outdoors — from national parks to our own backyards — let us rededicate ourselves to conserving our Nation’s natural spaces for our own well-being, and for the health, safety, prosperity, and fulfillment of generations to come.” ~ US President Joseph Biden

Getting outdoors during June should be easy for us who live in the Northern Hemisphere. However, for my southern hemisphere friends who are enjoying winter, I know you have many ways to enjoy the outdoors this time of year, such as getting away to warm places or, for those who love the cold, skiing, sledding, and snowshoeing. Tell us more, or show us your favorite summer outdoor places.

You know that I am an outdoors person, therefore most of my leisure time is spent outdoors appreciating nature. Since hubby is an adventurous spirit, anything outdoors is our first choice for time together.

Let me illustrate several ways to celebrate Great Outdoors Month.

  • Plant veggies or flowers, or just stop to eat or smell them!
  • Enjoy backyard or Local Birding
  • Visit a local park, state park, or national park
  • Explore a trail
  • Paddle in a local waterway

Join me all month as I check off the rest of this list.

Plant Veggies or Flowers

“Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

Aren’t these new garden shoes adorable? Thanks to Shelley at Quaint Revival for the inspiration!

Sunflower inspired garden shoes
New Garden Shoes

Our rural property has plenty of room to plant just about anything. In addition to flowers…

Spring in the Backyard

… we’ve planted 25 trees so far…

quaking aspens
South View of backyard

…and started a berry garden. We added 2 blueberry plants and two raspberries among volunteer strawberries in the garden bed.

Berry Garden
This Year’s Berry Garden

Local and Backyard Birding

“There is an unreasonable joy to be had from the observation of small birds going about their bright, oblivious business.” ― Grant Hutchison

This spring, we’ve had a front-row seat to nesting Say’s Phoebes (aka Dusky Flycatcher). They discovered our large patio cover and they prefer to nest in sturdy, covered man-made structures. I shared these pics in an earlier post while they were actively nesting at the end of April.

Say's Phoebe (flycatcher) bird
Say’s Phoebe (flycatcher)
female Say's Phoebe
Female Say’s Phoebe
Group of bird eggs
Say’s Phoebe Eggs

The duration from egg to fledging is about 30 days.

** A note about the following images: Most were taken with my cell phone (Samsung S23 Ultra). Some cloudy days made for less-than-sharp images. **

Curious, we stealthily climbed a ladder to peer inside the nest and quickly took cell phone pictures before Dad and Mom returned.

Newly hatched Phoebe birds
Newly hatched and almost embryonic, May 15.

Once they hatch, they are voracious eaters, and both parents actively feed them live insects for hours each day! By May 20th, we could see their open beaks, and I caught these amazing views with my Lumix camera!

Hatchlings ready to eat!
Hatchlings ready to eat!
mama phoebe feeds her nestlings
Feed Us Mama!

In case you’re wondering, I can see the nest from our guest bathroom window.

Say's Phoebe Nestlings
Fuzzy Phoebe Nestlings Calling for Supper, May 24

We’ve also modified that part of the deck by keeping the outside light off and moving the grill and smoker away. This is a mild lifestyle change, while keeping a sharp eye on the day they will tumble out of the nest (an 8-foot drop).

Phoebe Feeding Time
Parent birds feed the babies from dawn til sundown. May 27
Feathered Phoebe Birds
A Crowded Nest with 4 Phoebes, May 29

This photo was taken on May 30th. It seems that they grew twice their size in one night. There are still four active babies. The parents stopped sitting on the nest one week ago.

Say's Phoebes close to fledging
The date of Fledging Looms!

We’re monitoring this process closely to prevent our bird dog Brodie from gobbling them up once they fledge out of the nest. Nature can be harsh, but we will do our best to ensure the babies have a good start in life.

baby birds in the nest
Getting antsy in the nest (last on the card May 31)

Partial inspiration this week from Brian’s Last on the Card, Dawn’s last spring festival, and Johnbo’s ongoing Cellpic Sunday.

At 6:30 a.m. Pacific time, the baby Phoebes fledged out of the nest! Best wishes for a long and happy life—you are always welcome in our backyard!

Phoebe Fledglings
As of this morning (June 2), they fledged!

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post in the comments.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

Celebrate with me the entire month of June as we explore the great outdoors. Upcoming Sunday Stills themes will focus on the outdoors with the subthemes as listed here:

  • June 9 Monthly Color Challenge: Pastels Found in the Great Outdoors
  • June 16 Sunrises and Sunsets
  • June 23 Plant Life in the Great Outdoors
  • June 30 Landscapes
quote meme exploration

I can’t wait to see how you interpret THE GREAT OUTDOORS theme this week! Creativity is always encouraged, so please share your photographs, poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore pastels for the monthly color challenge.

Bitmoji Birding

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108 comments

  6. Remarkable post Terri. I am aware of this fact that this month of June is commemorating “Great Outdoors Month” and I saw this post on another Blogger’s post.

    Anyways, great pictures overall Terri and great suggestions for what to do outdoors such as plant flowers🌷🌱🌻, or go to the park and so forth. Well, I really am an indoors guy unless I have to watch a football match outside but June is also the month of colds and flue so there is that factor that can hinder me from spending time outdoors instead of being indoors sipping tea all day😂☕☕

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  10. Your bird pictures are a lot of fun, Terri. Imagine seeing them up close and so personal. Once when I went to the dentist, there was an owl and her babies in the tree right outside the window. It was a major drawing card. People popped into that office constantly to see what was going on with the babies.

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    • Thank you, Marsha! They are still visiting the yard and flying around. Looks like they can catch their own flies now, but the 4 of them are sticking together. That must have been a sight to see the owls. I’ve NEVER seen any here…yet!

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      • I didn’t get a good look at them. I forget if they were out of the nest or what. But everyone kept coming in to check on them during my entire appointment. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Beth, I admit the birds hijacked the post but it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime event to witness the nesting, fledging and feeding that happens outdoors where we don’t see it unfolding. The 4 babies and their parents are still nearby and we saw them all again this morning perched on our fence. They can fly expertly already but I believe the parents are helping feed them a little longer.

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  16. You are blessed to have so much open space to explore, Terri. It’s the same for me and where we live. There are lots of big open spaces to explore, but the summer months can be busy with tourists, so I tend to stay away then and do most of my exploring during less busy times of the year. Fortunately, the schools here don’t start their long summer break until mid-July, so June is good for exploring without the crowds.

    And how amazing to have witnessed those chicks growing up. Your photos took me back to my schoolboy days when we’d climb trees to peer into nests. Thankfully, the laws in the UK now forbid birds’ eggs to be taken out of nests.

    Here’s an older Wordless Wednesday post where the photo shows the great outdoors.

    http://hughsviewsandnews.com/2023/07/12/lazy-summer-days-wordlesswednesday-photography/

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    • Thank you, Hugh! Many of us really do appreciate our open spaces for communing with nature or simply walking our dogs! Our schools get out next week, which means nothing for any type of crowds close to home, which is good!

      We were lucky to witness nature unfolding with the bird babies. I would never dream of disturbing a nest so we snapped pics quickly and left them alone. I thought the babies fledged away to a nearby field, but this morning, Hans went outside and the four of them were perched near our water hydrant. They fly just fine but still need help feeding.

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  18. Hi Terri, these are great ways of getting outdoors especially as you enter your warmer months over there. The birds are cute and how kind of you to make a few modifications for them! We’re into winter now and as I speak we have a heavy fog and temperature of 5 degrees celcius outside with a top forecast of about 9 (about 48F) so it’s an effort to force myself outside sometime when it’s toasty warm inside – but I do it!

    Enjoy your garden, it’s growing well1

    I’ve shared my post about getting outdoors walking along a sculpture trail deep in the forest https://debs-world.com/2024/06/05/sculptures-deep-in-the-forest-part-2-wwwhimsy/

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    • Thank you, Debbie! The birds fledged and are gone now, as it’s supposed to be. Our summer temps begin Friday hitting 88F here! As I recall you have that sunroom you can enjoy in your winter. Thanks for linking up. I read your post, but I’ll have to comment on my computer.

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  22. I love June here in Pennsylvania, and I will have no problem getting out into the Great Outdoors! Even if it’s just in my backyard. Gardening takes time and is a form of therapy and exercise for me. It’s funny; yesterday, I told Sweet Man I needed garden clogs. My big rubber boots are cute and great when knee-deep in my gardens, but they are getting hot for the summer. Yours are darling!
    I enjoyed seeing your babies! We had baby quail just before we left Arizona. I know how fun it is to watch them grow and leave the nest!
    Happy June dear friend!
    I linked up with you today! Thank you for hosting!

    Tuesday Tidbits #276 Savoring Summer

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    • Thank you, Nancy! June is a wonderful month here when there is no smoke or heat. We have the heater on this morning! By this weekend our temps will hit upper 80s!

      I got those garden shoes online from Western Chief here in Washington. Best I’ve ever worn!

      We felt so blessed to be able to house the nesting Phoebes. I was surprised I felt so sad when they all abruptly left our backyard yesterday. They are always welcome back to nest here again. Enjoy your week and I’ll be right over to read!!

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    • Thank you, Tina! We noticed these cute birds in late March for the first time. Next thing we knew they built the nest. We enjoyed watching the parents coming and going to the nest and feeding the babies. Yesterday they fledged and today they completely disappeared! I miss them so much but so glad they got a good start on life.

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  28. What a lovely post celebrating new life, Terri. My hubby built a birdhouse just for fun. Little did we know it would be useful for our feathered friends. We noticed a lot of action around the bird house and last night baby chicks emerged and were hopping around our balcony. It was a delightful sight to see.

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    • Oh how fun for you, Eugi! Birds seem to love man made birdhouse, why not? Thank you. We were worried last night as it’s pouring rain here until this afternoon. They all disappeared but they are back this morning sitting on our backyard table under the umbrella.

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  31. You are lucky in so many ways Terri. Hans and you are both up for adventure, athletic and enjoy outdoors and nature – what more could you want out of life? You will grow old together while your backyard flourishes with all the trees and plants you have planted. I also had the pleasure of watching a bird in the nest, sitting on the eggs, then nestlings and the fledging – it was a wonderful experience. It was a nest I saw every day a few years ago when I was walking to/from Council Point Park daily. Interestingly, those Robin babies would sit on the edge of their nest and watch me intently and I kept saying “today’s the day they fledge” but nope, I was wrong, then they were suddenly gone. However, I wrote a post about it to the effect of “call me nuts, but those babies, still with their fluff around their ears and speckled breasts, would perch on the roof or the fence and stare at me as I passed by.” I took several photos of them doing that. I believe they recognized me … friend, not foe.

    Here is my post for today’s Challenge:

    Whew! When the weather’s perfect and …

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    • Thank you, Linda, you are so kind to say. I know how you feel about your avian friends on your walks. Especially when you see the beginning of life and the success of growth. The fledglings are silly now, huddled up in the rain, waiting for fly delivery. Ill share some more pics I took today next week. Ironically, I’m indoors taking these pics but they’re outdoors. I’ll be over soon to read yours 😀

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      • I enjoyed those Robins so much and hated to see the family leave. Like your family, they outgrew the nest and it was funny seeing them perched on the side of it ready to go. I’ll look forward to seeing your pictures Terri. I hoped my Mrs. Cardinal would build another nest in my barberry bush this year, but I guess she got tired of me taking her photo, even though I thought I was respectful of her space, but it was outdoors, so she could see me. 🙂

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  33. Terri,

    A few years ago, I had a front row seat to a Robin’s nest outside the window of my “Man Cave” and watched the babies grow. I had a cat at the time and he was so irritable because I wouldn’t let him outside. Brodie would know what it’s like. We have Phoebes here and I can always pick them out by the way they flick their tail feathers upward. This was a fun post. Have a great week! Joe

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    • Thank you, Joe! Yes, Phoebes have that tail flick and the males have pointed heads. They are so cute. They’re all huddled up right now sitting on a garden planter waiting for food from the parents. Oh yeah, Brodie is not happy. I’m glad you got to see this process with robins.

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  37. Wonderful birdy post Terri. As for enjoying Winter not so much but I have a mild winter so I can’t complain as long as someone else can cut and split the firewood for me 😂
    The garden is a treat with protection from the invaders a necessary thing here as well.
    Love the nest photos. Are going to leave the nest there? They may come back next year as well. The window observation is quite handy. Fabulous last photo but I may be biased to the content 😁
    Thanks for joining in 😀

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  38. Terri, I had planned to stop by the beach for a few minutes on my way home from playing tennis this morning, but there were no parking spaces to be found. I guess everyone got the word that is is national outdoors month! National Geographic will be calling you for those little birdie photos. Awesome. Love the new garden shoes!

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    • Thank you so much, Suzanne! I’ve also enjoyed diving into the websites to describe the Phoebes’ behavior. Many of my neighbors have never seen these birds before–our first year seeing them. I’m sure they were attracted to the trees then the patio cover. I suppose they will be back again.

      Eek so sorry your parking lot was full! Knowing you, you already have a Plan B figired out!

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  39. Twenty five trees is fabulous, Teri. They’re going to be big and beautiful before you know it. And I love your gardening shoes!!!! Thanks for showing the bird family hatching their young and scooting them out of the nest. What a treat. It seems like summer in your neck of the woods is in full swing. 🙂

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    • We feel so blessed to have a front row seat. My poor dog is banned from the backyard until they fly away in 2-3 days. The fledglings are so big and quite able to fly well, but still need live insects from the parents. Have a great week!

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  46. Oh, my, I ADORE those garden shoes, they’re perfect for you and adventures in your yard! The little birdies are so cute, how fun to be able to see them from your window. I’m with you in being happy to plant seeds and flowers to see them grow. We seem to wait so long for this season that flies by so quickly – way to embrace it while it’s here! 😍🥰😁

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    • Thank you for the link to the store, Shelley, which I mentioned is here in Western Washington! I also bought a pair of faux Birks too!

      The baby birds fledged this morning, and are staying in our backyard, probably for 2-3 more days while the parents feed them. They actually fly quite well but still need mom to catch flies for them. Now we’re in for rain for the rest of the day and into tomorrow. So much for being outside, LOL!

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      • You’re welcome – you’re shoe-ready for summer!! Yippee!

        Aww, I’m jealous of you being able to see all the stages of the little birds.

        We’re getting heavy t-storms right now. 🙄 I hope my little seedlings survive or I’ll be replanting them before the scoundrels had a chance to munch on them. 🤔😂

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  51. While those of you in the north are enjoying the great outdoors, those of us in the desert southwest have moved indoors. Ah, there’s always a tradeoff. Nothing better than seeing the signs of summer unfolding.

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    • Thank you Susanne! We are outdoorsy ladies for sure! I’m late to getting back to reading my blog because of the fledglings have taken over our yard and I have to take poor Brodie out for walks on the leash in the front. I’ll be by to read your post soon!

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  54. Love your bird pics, Terri. The babies are so cute. I envy the space you have on your property, it must be wonderful (if hard work!)

    I’m not sure if we have an outdoors month over here. I’ll have to check…

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