I was mowing the grass last week so my wife would let me play golf the next day and I saw a honeybee. A real, live honeybee. Not a bumblebee or another pretender, but a honeybee. Last year, I didn’t see a single one in my yard. Honeybees, as most are aware, have been having a hard time of it in recent years. No one knows for sure, but their decline in numbers has been blames on … [Read more...]

It’s always exciting to see a new bird at your feeder. Not that the old faithful’s aren’t worthy visitors, but to see an unfamiliar bird is special. About two weeks ago, I saw such a bird. It was a cloudy day and early in the morning, so the light wasn’t good, but I did not recognize the bird on the sunflower heart feeder. I had a hunch and looked it up and it was, as I thought, a female … [Read more...]

They were there one day, about 15 beautiful goldfinches in my backyard, flitting from thistle feeder to thistle feeder and jockeying for position. And the next day, they were gone, not a golden feather in sight. A big rainstorm had passed through and I suppose it was more than my little yellow friends could handle. They skipped town, heading for wherever goldfinches go when three inches of rain … [Read more...]

My backyard nest of bluebirds has fledged – four beautiful gray and blue chicks. They are all healthy and flying well, but have become worse beggars than the fellows who hold up cardboard signs along Rt. 29 North, saying something like this: “I once knew a fellow who was veteran. Personally, I am on drugs, but if you give me a few bucks, I promise I will buy fresh spinach.” My bluebirds don’t … [Read more...]

“Come look at this woodpecker at the feeder,” my wife Nancy called to me last week. “What about it,” I replied, fully expecting it to be a red-bellied or maybe a pileated woodpecker. But when I glanced out the window, I was stunned. It was a genuine Red-headed woodpecker, the first I can ever recall seeing in our yard. There are many types of woodpeckers and most have red or at least some … [Read more...]

When I was 12 years old and a full-fledged paperboy, one of the highlights of my morning route was to try to sneak up on the chipmunks at Nancy Young’s house. The Young’s had a rock wall as a landscape border and it was full of “munks”, the skitziest critters I have ever seen. They’d spot me coming and zip beneath the rocks in a flash. I have always found chipmunks to be interesting creatures … [Read more...]

My resident pair of blue birds laid claim to the birdhouse on my back fence back in December. Each day, they have come by to check on their property. There were a few scuffles with squirrels and chickadees along the way, but the nest is now built and I believe all the eggs are in place. Now it’s time for Mrs. Blue to do her thing, to keep the eggs warm for a couple weeks until the 4 or 5 chicks … [Read more...]

From Jill Smith, Fluvanna County   Says Jill: I always enjoy reading C’ville Buzz.  Thank you for taking the time to write all those articles weekly. I’m sure some of that is quite a chore! You do a great job covering many areas of interest to many people. I read your article about finding a thistle feeder and, having tried those, I wanted to show you one that I think is the best … [Read more...]