Greetings!! (It's the Christmas season)
I am so excited (it takes so little), that I can finally enjoy the presence of Carolina Chickadees at my feeders! Their antics are a joy to watch! They seem to be very calculating, checking out the area thoroughly before attempting to eat! Here are a few of my first attempts to capture their "silliness"!
Hello all!
Today was eventful because I got out of the house and went to Lowe's to purchase some plants. These said plants are to be decorations in my ever growing nature preserve environment. However, there was a bit of a situation...
There I was, strolling leisurely through the plant department in Lowe's, perusing the cacti and succulent area. There were various varieties, along with some other ornamental plants, such as Crotons, Dracaena and the like. The isles were tight and of course, there was a lady who HAD TO be in the same small isle I was in. I used to leave an area like that, but lately I just stay there and figure, "she can leave if I'm too slow". She didn't. She followed. As I turned the corner, of which I had no problem, she attempted the same "tricky" maneuver. She failed.
Now, I'm going to stop here and digress.
When you were a child, hopefully your parents taught you what I call "life filters"; ie: don't touch fire, don't eat yellow snow, don't pet a flaming dog, etc. Now if you were me, you either didn't pay attention or just had more pressing matters to deal with when these lessons were spoken.
That is why, today, this happened to me (now back to the story)...
The lady, who obviously failed her cart driving class, hit the wire shelf holding all the plants. It made a rather loud noise. I looked up at her and at the same moment, I saw something out of the corner of my eye, falling off the shelf. Being old does not necessarily slow down some muscle reactions. I reached out and rather easily caught the falling plant. BAD MISTAKE!!! It was a cactus!! As it hit my hand, I said, rather loudly, "SHIT!". The lady immediately apologized. I said, "CACTUS"! She said, "Ouch...and immediately left the area. See picture
So, your lesson for today, boys and girls is, "Don't catch a falling cactus!". Note: This will save you hours of trying to locate microscopic and/or invisible thorns.
You're welcome...
Hi all!
Today was a banner day for birding! However, it didn't start that way!
I did my usual chores this morning and a few new ones, then I decided to see if any birds were allowing me to photograph them? I found not many. The female Northern Cardinal visited, as did a Rose Breasted Grosbeak, but they were sort of regulars.
At this point I knew that I had all the appropriate foods to attract them (black oil sunflower seeds, peanuts, both shelled and unshelled, fruit and mealworms), so that shouldn't be an issue. I thought that they just needed to see the available buffet and the problem would take care of itself.
On my iPhone I have the Audubon App that has the songs of most all the birds in my area. I brought the app up and thought that perhaps if I played it loud enough, they would hear it and come to investigate. I played the first song. Nothing. As the second sound byte started I saw a few birds fly into my pecan tree, directly behind my feeders. I looked through my camera and low and behold; Tufted Titmice!!! Figuring that I was on a roll, I then played the first Carolina wren song. Note: They had not been here (at least visually), for about a month. It was seconds before one landed on my snag, then on the flat feeder, then on the peanut feeder!
Not being a person who normally presses his luck, I thought I'd try and see if there were any Downy Woodpeckers within listening distance? I played their first sound byte. Unbelievably, almost immediately two flew into the pecan tree. Now, they didn't stay long, but they did come back twice and I'm sure they now know that there is food there for them. Time will tell.
As I thought about this amazing series of events, I saw a Brown Thrasher in the woods beyond my property line. Why not, I thought!?! I played their first song. Nothing. I played their second song. Again nothing. My luck had run out, it seems. I stopped playing their songs and went back to the Carolina wren song. As it played I saw a motion almost directly below the window in front of me. Yes, you guessed it, a Brown Thrasher!!!! It stayed for about five minutes, hunting for bugs, before finally catching a leaf hopper and flying away. Amazing!!!
The day was spectacular! Here are a few photographs as proof. Tomorrow will also be interesting, I'm sure!!
Hello Quarantined Followers!
It seems that once again I've fallen into the "forget the blog" mode. However I do have somewhat of an excuse. Note: The previous entry is from two weeks ago. It seems that an update to BlogSpot glitched my publishing of it then, so I published it now.
Now from today...
My Ruby Throated Hummingbirds are still here, though now there are only two. The other four must have started their migration. I will be sorry to see them go.
Note: This blog is not set up nearly as neatly as I would like. The update to BlogSpot has made this difficult.
I'm really not complaining. My Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays and Red Bellied Woodpeckers come everyday for peanuts (they don't stay long), as well as my four Ruby Throated Hummingbirds.
Today I was quite surprised when I checked in on the babies in the nest to find them gone! I guess I miscounted and they fledged this morning. I was thinking that they'd be around for a few more days.
I did get to see them today though. They were checking out the neighborhood from a vantage point that Mom and Dad use regularly. Their siblings were there also, I guess to wish them bon voyage.
With that being said, the first Barn Swallow clutch has left the nest and are now flying around collecting food for their younger siblings (2nd clutch). The babies of the 2nd clutch were born about 6/25/2020 and are now about to fledge on their own (approximately 2-5 days from now). The babies (four), of this clutch were much more vocal than their previous siblings. I noticed that Mom was almost immediately on the nest after the first clutch left. She and Dad cleaned the nest and spruced it up a bit for about 4-5 days. She then laid her eggs and spent most all of the time sitting on them. Here's a photograph of the babies when they were about 2-4 days old.
Changing the subject; the feeders out back are about the way I want them. They continue to evolve in their positioning and content. (See photograph). There are House Finches (female in photo), continually throughout the day. They seem to prefer black oil sunflower seeds and hulled sunflowers over millet and thistle.
