They come and then they go. Some of my backyard birds, that is. Catbirds, for example. They sneak into my feeders around April, build their nests, have their babies, feed up and then leave. Interestingly, I saw a catbird just last week – a late traveler. Perhaps he wanted to see what the rain was going go do and where it would go, but he’s gone now. And the hummingbirds. Typically, my backyard … [Read more...]

About once a year, I’ll see an albino or a leucistic bird in my yard. Last week, I saw a white sparrow. At least I’m pretty sure he was a sparrow because he was flying with a small flock of other sparrows. The flock of 7 or 8 flew to the fence at my garden, then something spooked them, and they flew off to the back hedge. I thought that maybe since they had found food and water, they’d stay a … [Read more...]

No. Not that kind of “grass”. Real grass, like comes on a lawn – or did before last summer’s smoking hot heat and lack of rainfall. Grass on almost every lawn now has brown patches and scads wire grass, which doesn’t mind drought conditions or intense heat. Driving through our neighborhood, lawns look like war zones – except for lawns that have zoysia grass. They look just fine because zoysia … [Read more...]

We had two families of bluebirds to visit our yard, bird houses, and feeders this year – one in the front yard and one in the back yard. Early on, they settled squatters rights with spirited battles. I don’t know how many babies were actually produced between the two sets of parents, but I think a lot. I am now seeing juvenile birds at all the feeders and in the bird baths. While I fed them … [Read more...]

  All birds molt, meaning they grow new feathers, sort of like we are always growing new skin. Some birds lose a few feathers at a time, and you hardly notice. Then, there are the cardinals that lose big chunks of feathers around their heads and look like something out of a Spielberg movie. But recently, I noticed that my small group of crows, usually three, also have feather … [Read more...]

I gave Nancy a Solar Fountain for the front yard birdbath for Christmas as a small gift for Christmas last year, but since it was winter, we put it away – and forgot about it. A couple weeks ago, Nancy found it, we assembled it and put it in the birdbath. It’s great – keeps the water fresh and stirred up and mosquitos at arm’s length. Plus, the birds love it. It’s like taking an outdoor shower … [Read more...]

Recently, during a rare downpour, I saw “Wren-field” pecking away on the window ledge. He had found a juicy spider. Wren-field is the name I have given to my resident Carolina Wren. He, or one of his ancestors, has called our yard home every year we’ve been living at 214 Brentwood Road. While we’ve only lived in one house for the last 50 years or so, Wren-field has had many houses – sometimes … [Read more...]

My backyard bluebirds had nested twice. I know that at least 2 chicks survived the first ordeal and one bird made it after the second nest. They had replaced themselves, plus one. That’s good. Let it go. But I heard that distinctive chirping from the male, meaning, “Hey babe, let’s get it on again.” And they did. The hen is now warming up 3 or 4 more eggs, though they chose a different house … [Read more...]