“Made in the shade” was an expression from the 1950’s when the “cool cats” were cruising the drive-ins, combing their ducktails and listening to rock and roll on the juke box. You still hear this phrase from time to time, but usually from those 50 and older. Made in the shade is also a gardening term, but mostly it’s “not made in the shade.” Very little seems to grow in shady areas, … [Read more...]

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can develop a relationship with the birds and animals that live in your yard. Since I’m the one who does the feeding, many come to know me as a friend, in a way. I have such a relationship with one male cardinal. He’s my friend, Red. This cardinal and his mate nested in an azalea bush in my front yard last year and perhaps the year before. But last year, as I … [Read more...]

  Now is not a good time to be a dog or cat outside sunning on the porch. Birds, you see, are quite fond of animal hair as nesting materials and will swoop down, grab a beak-full of fur  from your pet and fly off to build their nests. Chickadees, especially, employ this kamikaze tactic. The next few weeks are the busiest time of the real estate year for birds as they construct nests to … [Read more...]

  When I’m at home, I spend as much time as I can at the kitchen window checking on my birds. It is always a great joy to see special visitors. They were there this morning, a flock of Cedar Waxwings, stopping by for a drink of water from our bird bath. They flew down, then back up into the tree. They did this five or six times. One bird landed on a limb just outside our kitchen window. … [Read more...]

  As a backyard gardener, nothing makes me madder than planting a row or two of beans, only to have squirrels dig up half the beans, then rabbits taking down the survivors.  I have tried squirrel and rabbit keep-out sprays and they work, sort of, until the first rain or until the varmints get really hungry. So….. I have bought myself 20-feet of Garden Tunnel Netting. If the squirrels … [Read more...]

There’s a great t-shirt on the market with a pirate ship in the background and this slogan: “The beatings will stop when morale improves.” In my backyard, the beatings have just begun. The robins are at war. Robins often travel in flocks, seeking productive feeding areas and better climate, but come spring, the only friend a robin has is his mate. Generally, in and around our yard, there … [Read more...]

My younger sister, Johanna, once worshipped a TV show called “My Friend Flicka”. It was about a little girl and her horse, Flicka. It came on Saturday mornings and Johanna never missed an episode. I also have a friend called Flicker. He’s a bird, in the woodpecker family actually, and one of the most beautiful birds of all. His plumage is extraordinary. I saw my friend, Flicker, in the yard … [Read more...]

  During the brief snow storm last week, I distributed an extra-large amount of seeds across over the back yard. Naturally, I had lots of visitors. I counted 20 different varieties of birds during the day, but I had a little unexpected company. Around mid-morning, a pair of beautiful Pileated Woodpeckers flew into the yard, attached themselves to the trunk of an old cherry tree and began … [Read more...]

  I noticed this morning at the feeder, my male goldfinches are already beginning to change colors from their dull winter olives to their brilliant buttercup yellows. This means spring’s a ‘coming. But birds’ feathers don’t really change colors. They simply molt and grown new feathers of different colors. That explains the change. Molting is the process by which birds replace … [Read more...]