“On February 20, we celebrate National Love Your Pet Day, a day to embrace one special trait that makes us human: our love of our pets!” Source
The Sweetest Furry Faces
“That it will never come again, is what makes life so sweet.” ~ Emily Dickinson
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” – Roger Caras
If you don’t have a pet of your own, perhaps you have a backyard that birds enjoy. While wild birds are not pets, they certainly cost their weight in bird feed. We enjoy the show!
Good thing these female finches were keenly aware of their surroundings!
Only minutes later, this Sharp-Shinned Hawk swooped in onto our patio table for a look-see!
Then he flew over to the bird feeder where the finches had left only moments before…
I’m thrilled to have captured my first Sharp-Shinned Hawk with my lens! I love gawking at the bird photos on the Spokane Birders Facebook page, and added these images to the group page.
Yep, Another Road Trip
“Still, round the corner, there may wait, a new road or a secret gate.” – J. R. R. Tolkien
This week, hubby and I are taking another road trip to Arizona and California to spend time with family and friends. We’ll drive home in late March via the Northern California coast and southern Oregon coast—places I have never visited.
Rather than stress about my weekly Sunday Stills posts, I am getting help from two wonderful bloggers and photographers who will host while I’m away. I’m thrilled to invite Cathy Ryan of Between the Lines and Susanne Swanson from Cats and Trails and Garden Tales to co-host Sunday Stills while we travel during March. Please follow their wonderful blogs!
This information is already published on my Sunday Stills page as well.
🌷 I will continue The Flower Hour each Tuesday as normally scheduled. 🌸
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
Each week, I find additional inspiration from my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I enjoy incorporating these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link to 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.
- I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.
As a challenge host, I always appreciate your comments. If you participate, please leave a comment with your link; they’re always read and appreciated.
If you are participating in the photo challenge, I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme.
I will still post for The Flower Hour, but having them handle Sunday Stills will give me a bit of a break. Here is the schedule, themes, and who is hosting during March.
Mar 1 NO CHALLENGE
Mar 8 Seascapes hosted by Cathy Between the Lines
Mar 15 Monthly Color Challenge: Jade Green, Peridot hosted by Susanne Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Mar 22 Early (Celebrate Equinox: Spring or Autumn), hosted by Susanne
Mar 29 Your Favorite Places, hosted by Cathy
We plan to return home a few days after Easter (April 5th). Sunday Stills resumes April 12 with the Monthly color Challenge “Diamonds and Quartz.”
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Have a fun trip, Terri. Be safe. 💖
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Fantastic about the hawk pictures. They are great. A lovely post, Terri.
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Thank you, Robbie. That little hawk was mere feet from our windows.
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Great photo gallery, Terri. I love the birds. They are not easy to photograph. Well done!
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Thank you, Suzette! They’re not, I’ve looked at my pics and found empty space or the end of a tail feather!
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That’s quite the look Brodie is giving you! Love the hawk photos. What a cool visitor. They must love bird feeders. Have a great trip. Here’s mine this week: https://grahamsisland.com/2026/02/22/chairman-meow/
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Thank you, Graham! I was composing this post when the hawk visited the patio. Google told me it was a Coopers Hawk, but the birders page told me differently. One way to learn! Yep, Brodie loves the snow, which is all but gone now, but the side-eye was just too funny not to share!
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[…] week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Love Your Pet.’ See more responses here. We don’t have pets currently, so here are some archive photos of Chairman Meow, our cat from our […]
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Sweet dogs! And the ones who are gone remain forever in our hearts. 💖 Your backyard is a real bird paradise, Terri. Such great entertainment! Have a wonderful time on your road trip. Looking forward to the photos. 📷
https://thedogladysden.com/love-your-pets-sundaystills-photography/
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Thank you, Debbie, I kept the post short, but couldn’t resist adding the “pet” birds. I’m looking forward to seeing Tucson, and the NorCal/Oregon coasts!
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These were awesome Terri,. Love the hawk. When I was down at my daughters, I spotted a small hawk on the excavator outside and ran to get my camera…it had flown away by the time I got back. I was so bummed.
Have a great trip. I will certainly visit the other gals and hopefully link up. I’m heading to Canada March 6-10 so may miss that one as I decided not to bring my computer. Or, if I’m on top of it maybe I’ll schedule a post and figure out how to share it via my phone…..haha!
https://troyerslovinglife.blogspot.com/2026/02/taking-in-life-around-mesunday-stills.html
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Wonderful images, Terri. I’ve never had a pet, so I’m not sure how to pet them. I hope I can keep a dog sometime in the future.
Have a lovely holiday!
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Thank you, Smitha! We make a lot of accommodations for our dog. But it’s worth it. They’re like children and their unconditional love is worth it all.
I’ll be reading posts and sharing Flower Hour while gone.
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Wonderful images Terri! Dogs are special, giving us their love and owning our hearts. Keep your camera ready and bring a lot of SD cards. The Northern CA and Southern OR coasts are stunning, especially Oregon.
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Thank you, Anne! My mom raised collies for show and breeding when I was a kid and dogs were always a part of our lives. We take road trips to accommodate our sweet Brodie. He loves them. I’m super excited about visiting some new areas. Hopefully the spring weather will cooperate.
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I’ve been reading a lot about the domestication of wolves (or their domestication of us!)–the floppy ears, shorter snouts, look you right in the eye. I see it in all of your dog pictures. Great photos as always, Terri.
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Dogs are very intelligent and always capture our hearts, Jacqui! Thank you!
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Very beautiful dogs! And birds too, Terri, happy Sunday!! ☺️❤️
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Thank you! I’ve been around dogs all my life. 🐾🤎
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