Each fall and spring, the robins hold their Semi-Annual National Robins’ Convention in the Brewer’s backyard – or so it seems. They come in huge numbers and show up at almost exactly the same time. The reason I know they are having a convention is that they wear funny little hats and have name tags on their otherwise “red breasts.” Well, not really, but we had a gang of robins in our yard last … [Read more...]

I know my backyard birds - the regular visitors, the bluebirds, finches, chickadees, cardinals and other year round residents - but I am always excited to see newcomers and visitors. On several occasions, always in the spring, I have had a flock of cedar waxwings clinging to the branches high in the trees in the back yard. I wish they would visit more often. They are spectacular birds, but … [Read more...]

They are pretty little birds with gray suits and dark black eyes and a black face. They are tufted titmice and we have a family in our yard each year. The year-round residents visit our feeders regularly and they absolutely love peanuts. I don’t spread peanuts in my yard as much as I once did because that encourages the squirrels – destructive varmints that they are! The squirrels actually … [Read more...]

I love sitting in my back yard. A lot goes on that I would miss if I wasn’t sitting still, being quiet and paying attention. A good cigar helps in the sitting and watching process, by the way. This past week I lit up a stogie and proceeded to thumb through my latest Golf Digest, hoping to glean enough information to knock a few strokes off my game. Actually, a few wouldn’t make a dent, I need … [Read more...]

My yard is a Mecca for woodpeckers. From the little Downy and Hairy woodpeckers, through the Red-Bellied and the Red-Headed woodpeckers, we have them all. We also have a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers regularly inspecting our tree trunks for juicy insects. Our house is about 50 years old, and many of the white maples in our yard were planted when the house was being built. Those trees are now in … [Read more...]

If it doesn’t frost, I’ll be picking tomatoes on Christmas day. All my gardening friends have been eating and enjoying their tomatoes throughout the summer and many have pulled up their now withering vines. Not me. My tomatoes are just starting to come in. I have cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, Better Boys and grape tomatoes gushing forth. Some, I don’t remember planting, but in the next few … [Read more...]

My son and his family live in Atlanta - about 500 miles from Charlottesville. We think that's a 'fer piece, but a hummingbird would think nothing of making that kind of trip. Hummingbirds, you see, fly some 3,000 miles across the Gulf of Mexico for their winter migration, and they're packing right now, getting ready to leave. The tiniest bird in our backyard, is without a doubt, the most … [Read more...]

By Elaine Callahan Elaine is a “Frog Lady”. She loves to have them in her ponds, to observe and appreciate. She shares this piece on Bullfrogs with CvilleBuzz readers.   “Everything has an awareness.” We learned this from the indigenous people on a recent trip to Alaska, where their ancestors gave thanks to the spirit of the whale or moose they had just hunted, thanking the animal … [Read more...]

We planted a dozen cucumber vines back in the spring, hoping for a crop large enough for my wife Nancy to be able to can some of her special pickles. Unfortunately, a groundhog had other ideas about the potential cucumber crop and single-handedly destroyed all but four vines. But the vines remaining did their best and ultimately delivered us about a half-bushel or so over a six-week span. They … [Read more...]

Why do backyard gardeners even bother? We plant seeds that don’t sprout. When and if they do, the rabbits, deer or groundhogs decimate the young plants. If they don’t, we have a late frost or a hot, dry summer that will. And if somehow the gardener dodges all those bullets, invasive insects put the nail in the coffin. Last week, my wife Nancy went out to check on her pepper plants and three of … [Read more...]