Almost every day, my resident male bluebird flies over to one of last year’s birdhouses and peeks through the hole. He sits there for about a minute, then goes inside and pokes around. He does this every day, as if something might have changed. Bluebirds, it seems, are always shopping around for next year’s nest. I haven’t taken the old nests out of the houses yet. There’s some controversy … [Read more...]

I had read that hummingbirds generally departed our area around October 10, and I remember it being early to mid-October when our resident hummers have left in the past. This year, they skipped town early, at the tail end of September. They left our yard the day before we had all the rain. I think their instincts somehow told them that all that rain would bring on extra stress, and they needed … [Read more...]

For several years, Nancy planted impatiens as a border along our sidewalks and edges. The colorful flowers were genuine beauties, but required lots of watering, TLC and not too much sun. As our tree guy trimmed back the limbs on our senior citizen maple trees, the impatiens complained mightily about all that extra sunshine. Nancy decided to nix them and went with Vincas instead, and they are doing … [Read more...]

Sitting on the back patio last week, I saw four dragonflies buzzing across the lawn. Since then, I have noticed dragon flies seemingly everywhere. Maybe they’ve been there all along and I didn’t notice them, or maybe it’s just been a really good year for dragonflies. Whatever the reason, they are interesting creatures. I watched one dragonfly intently. He hovered like a tiny black drone, then … [Read more...]

The hummingbirds in our yard are fattening up, so to speak, as they prepare for their fall flights to Mexico. By fattening up, I mean gaining maybe a half ounce as they visit our sugar feeders throughout the day. They are also resting comfortably, swinging actually, right beside our feeders. Last spring, Nancy bought several hummingbird swings and positioned them around the yard, including two on … [Read more...]

If you don’t have any house finches or gold finches in your yard, it’s because they are all over at my house. I mean all of them. I have vast colonies of finches, and sparrows, and they swarm to my feeders every day, throughout the day – and they have been eating me out of house and home. I enjoy feeding the birds, but I also enjoy feeding my family. Feeding all these finches (plus the other … [Read more...]

Things are back to normal in our backyard. The hummingbirds are at war. Talk about not sharing, if one hummingbird stakes out a feeder, he or she spends every waking hour making sure that one of its comrades does not sneak in for a quick sip of sugar water. So, we put two feeders in the back yard and separated them, plus two additional feeders in the front yard.  Play nice, little … [Read more...]

I love to order Bloomin’ Onions when I go to Outback. Their Bloomin’ Fried Chicken is pretty good, too. Currently, we have a little “Bloomin’ of our own happening in our yard. Nancy’s hastas are in full bloom. Hostas are popular, easy-to-grow perennial plants prized for their lush, decorative leaves in shades of green, blue, gold, and variegated patterns. They thrive best in … [Read more...]

Do you have and flying squirrels in your yard? No, you say? Well, you very well might and not know it. A few years ago, I looked out our bedroom window and saw a strange little creature with huge black eyes. It looked like something from outer space. Upon closer observation, it was a flying squirrel. I saw the little fellow the next day peering from a tree cavity, but never again. In … [Read more...]

I went out to the shed last evening – where I usually scatter some seeds– and the birds had all left, except for a small band of house sparrows. They were scratching away, happy to find a few seeds that the other birds ignored. I watched as they filled their little craws with millet and then flew away. I love my sparrows – the “blue collar” birds of my back yard. Sparrows are the Rodney … [Read more...]