Each spring, we are always surprised to see things growing in our yard and gardens that shouldn’t be there. They are our “squirrel plantings”. One year, a very strange looking plant popped up in Nancy’s flower garden. It didn’t look like a weed, so we let it grow. It grew and grew, blossomed, then died. I finally pulled it up and found a cluster of peanuts. An enterprising squirrel had … [Read more...]

“Come see this bird,” Nancy yelled from the kitchen. The last time I put down my paper and coffee to get up and see an alleged bird, it was a leaf, so I was not hopeful. But dutifully, I went to the window and saw a snow white bird among a big flock of grackles. I went outside to investigate.  When the grackle flock flew, the white bird went along. It was the same size and had the same … [Read more...]

  Nancy has done some amazing work landscaping our yard. About all I do is mow the grass and sit back and enjoy the lovely flowers and plants, so I take no credit. One of my favorite parts of the yard, though, is a little wildflower patch around our bird bath. There was once ivy there, that took over everything,  but Nancy pulled it all up and planted a little patch of perennials that … [Read more...]

Goodbye and good riddance to the flocks of grackles that have invaded my yard and decimated my feeders since late March. Slowly but surely, their numbers have diminished. Now, there are just a few remaining that pound my sunflower heart feeder and they will soon be gone. Grackles are more of a marsh-oriented bird, but they come inland to breed and nest during April, May and June. Their nesting … [Read more...]

  I have a pet robin. Well, I had a pet robin, but now I’m not so sure. It began about a month ago as I was feeding mealworms to my bluebirds in a guarded feeder with a dome on top that allows small birds entry, but not larger birds, like robins. But every time I went to feed the bluebirds, a robin showed up, gobbling any meal worms that may hit the ground. Mr. Softie here felt sorry … [Read more...]

  I find it fascinating that if I have a pair of catbirds in my yard one year, I will have a pair the next year. Like the swallows of Capistrano, they always return. And so it is with my pair of Brown Thrashers. They are among my loveliest backyard visitors. Many confuse Brown Thrashers with Wood Thrush, and refer to a Thrasher as a Thrush. Not so. The Wood Thrush is slightly smaller … [Read more...]

We have a feeder about ten feet from the kitchen window which offers me a great – pardon the pun – bird’s eye view of my backyard visitors. One of the most beautiful birds that graces my yard is the downy woodpecker with a whiter-than-white breast, jet black wings and tail, and a spot of scarlet red on its head. I don’t know where the little fellows nest, but they did successfully and have been … [Read more...]

  Break out the hummingbird feeders. The little fellows have arrived. Perhaps I should at least one has arrived. I saw him in the back yard Monday, snooping around. We have lots of blooms in the yard, but no feeders out  – yet. Hummingbirds are usually late arrivals in our yard, sometimes June or July, so this was pretty early for our area. In and around Orange, hummers fly through … [Read more...]

  They hatched last Saturday afternoon and on Sunday morning. Three, healthy, precious baby blue birds. The adult bluebirds responsible selected the house on our fence last November. Almost daily, they have checked out the box and any bird or squirrel that drew near was dive-bombed - and this was before they built. I don’t think these are the same two that nested here last year, but … [Read more...]