What a difference between now and last June. Earlier in the summer, birds were going nuts, chasing away real and imagined enemies, feeding and guarding the chicks and fighting for position at the feeders. Now, it’s quiet and peaceful and many birds have moved on. I heard a robin yesterday, but didn’t see him. They have largely migrated, but they’ll be back with the first extended fall … [Read more...]

  Arizona has more species of hummingbirds than any other state in the United States – probably because of its proximity to Mexico, where most hummingbirds winter. Strangely, a hummingbird called a Violet Crowned Hummingbird, normally found in Arizona, may have found its way to Virginia. I was discussing hummingbirds with my friend, Wayne Ferguson, and admitted that a few weeks back I … [Read more...]

I have a pet skink. He shares my office here at Lights Out in Ruckersville. He, or a member of his clan, has been with me with four years. I see him every summer. He sneaks under a small crack below my front door. He stopped by for a visit last week and scooted across the carpet. He was casing the joint, looking for a mid-afternoon snack, maybe an ant or spider. A cricket would qualify as a … [Read more...]

I have planted my last garden. Unless, there is a cage around and over it. By this fall, that will happen. A backyard gardener faces many obstacles. A deer can level a garden, decimate it. Likewise a single groundhog. I have had both and no longer have that problem, but I do have squirrels and they can be disruptive and extremely destructive to a garden. This summer, they have picked off my … [Read more...]

  This has been a strange year for bluebirds. My bluebirds started very early.  They were on their first nest in late March. They pulled off a successful hatch, though, they had three young ones and all survived. All three have stayed in my yard since then. But almost immediately, the hen was back on the nest, then left. Later, she was back on again, and I saw one bird that fledged, then I … [Read more...]

We’ve lived in our house over 45 years and there has always been one mockingbird that visits. Usually, they have nested in thick bushes in our neighbor’s yard and stop by our place only for a sip of water or when the blueberries and blackberries ripen. I feed all my other birds, but I’ve never been able to draw the local mockingbirds to my feeders, until a few weeks ago. I wrote recently about … [Read more...]

A hummingbird showed up at our feeder a few weeks ago, and it’s the biggest hummer I’ve ever seen. It has an enormous wingspan, maybe five or six inches. Naturally, the hummingbird has staked out our feeder and woe be to any rival that tries to sneak in for a sweet sip of nectar.  Most every hummingbird I have ever seen has been sweet, tiny and delicate. This hummer is a stud. I think he’s been … [Read more...]

  My long-time friend Wayne Ferguson lives in Charlottesville’s Dunlora subdivision and has been plagued by deer since the ink was dry on his real estate contract. Wayne, like me, is an amateur vegetable gardener and loves flowers in his yard, but so do the deer and there are a ton of them in Dunlora. But this year, Wayne decided to stop the thieving whitetails and built a nifty cage … [Read more...]

Among the friendliest birds in my yard, or perhaps I should say the least-spookiest, are my catbirds. I can approach within a few feet and they pay me little mind. For years, I have had a pair, one single pair of catbirds. They have nested behind my house in the hedges, raised their young, then took off around September. This year has been different. For starters, three catbirds showed up this … [Read more...]