Published via Ecency

Hello dear friends,

I am so tempted to say My dearest readers (yes, I've been watching "Bridgerton" 😉)

If it wasn't for @hivebuzz, who knows everything, I would miss my Hive birthday. Seven years ago on this day I began my journey on the blockchain with baby steps. Honestly, I did not know what to expect. What I know now is that I gained friends and learned a bit about the crypto. Now, Hive may not be in the levels that we all want, but such is life. More importantly is to stay and keep on going.

One of the biggest assets for me is the knowledge about birds. Finding like minded Feathered Friends Lovers in this community is the best I could wish for. And here I am, hosting a weekly contest. I know I wasn't very active recently. I have too much on my plate right now and my job requires extra hours that eat from my time I dedicate for Hive. Please accept my apologies for answering your comments with delay.

Speaking about the contest, #SMaP in short, there is still time till the round 172 ends. Here is the link, if you have not seen it yet - Feathered Friends - Show Me A Photo Contest Round 172.

Since I was busy outside Hive, I managed to steal minutes from my lunch break to photograph the birds around my office.

Here are some of my late shots.

At first I thought it is a new bird, but Google lens suggested Northern wheatear. I think a young bird, as the parents weren't far and always at the same place. Here is one of them, perching on a metal parts scattered near the warehouse.

Near the entrance of the factory, I was greeted by the blackbird. But this time, I first heard and then saw two young blackbirds. They were squeaking from the branches. Here is one of them.

Although I was trying to stay away and not to disturb it, the parent was on alert and came very close.

Here is a close-up, see the bug in the beak.

And the last image of the blackbird.

I will leave you with the stork couple, who unfortunately have no babies this year. This shot was made from a distance and it is not very clear, but could be seen that the nest is empty. No small storks. Last year was their first brood and they lost the two fledglings in a storm. This year I don't see them very often staying in the nest. The nest seems not big enough, but I read storks return each year in the same place and continue to upgrade the nest adding more twigs. Let's see how it will be next year.