The Gardens & Birds of Plymouth Gardens

"Bees See You Face as a strange flower" Poem

2011-10-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

"Bees see your face as a strange flower."

by Naomi Shihab Nye

—LiveScience.com

Nashville warblers see you as a scary-looking tree.

Garden snakes slithering into lilies see you as a storm.

The abandoned house perceives a possible doctor.

You sweep up mouse crumbs, then turn your back.

Children on the other side of the world see you as glittering.

Depressive sees your smile as a threat.

Dude playing top volume rap sees old lady staring back.

The sea, the sky, the air see us as trouble.

They're right of course.

We see each other as the landmarks of a day.

History doesn't see us. It doesn't see us at all.

From this we should draw one ounce of relief.

Keep Your Christmas Cactus Blooming National Home Gardening Club

2010-12-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

Keep Your Christmas Cactus Blooming National Home Gardening Club

Song

2010-03-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Click on Frogs

Poem: Patriotism

2009-08-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

Patriotism

by Ellie Schoenfeld

My country is this dirt
that gathers under my fingernails
when I am in the garden.
The quiet bacteria and fungi,
all the little insects and bugs
are my compatriots. They are
idealistic, always working together
for the common good.
I kneel on the earth
and pledge my allegiance
to all the dirt of the world,
to all of that soil which grows
flowers and food
for the just and unjust alike.
The soil does not care
what we think about or who we love.
It knows our true substance,
of what we are really made.
I stand my ground on this ground,
this ground which will
ultimately
recruit us all
to its side.

"Patriotism" by Ellie Schoenfeld,
from The Dark Honey. © Clover Valley Press, 2009.
Published without permission but with graditude. (buy now)

Mariposa : Classical Baby : Video : The Poetry Foundation

2009-06-19T13:03:00.001-07:00

Mariposa : Classical Baby : Video : The Poetry Foundation

Shared via AddThis

The Animals are Leaving - Poem

2009-02-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

The Animals are Leaving

One by one, like guests at a late party
They shake our hands and step into the dark:
Arabian ostrich; Long-eared kit fox; Mysterious starling.

One by one, like sheep counted to close our eyes,
They leap the fence and disappear into the woods:
Atlas bear; Passenger pigeon; North Island laughing owl;
Great auk; Dodo; Eastern wapiti; Badlands bighorn sheep.

One by one, like grade school friends,
They move away and fade out of memory:
Portuguese ibex; Blue buck; Auroch; Oregon bison;
Spanish imperial eagle; Japanese wolf; Hawksbill
Sea turtle; Cape lion; Heath hen; Raiatea thrush.

One by one, like children at a fire drill, they march outside,
And keep marching, though teachers cry, "Come back!"
Waved albatross; White-bearded spider monkey;
Pygmy chimpanzee; Australian night parrot;
Turquoise parakeet; Indian cheetah; Korean tiger;
Eastern harbor seal; Ceylon elephant; Great Indian rhinoceros.

One by one, like actors in a play that ran for years
And wowed the world, they link their hands and bow
Before the curtain falls.

By: Charles Harper Webb

Happy Groundhog Day

2009-02-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

On Gobbler's Knob this glorious Groundhog Day,

February 2nd, 2009

Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators
Said:

"A bright sky above me

Showed my shadow beside me.

So 6 more weeks of winter it will be"

*There was a tradition in many European countries of watching animals — especially badgers — to see how they acted on this day. If they returned to their dens, it meant that there was still a long winter ahead.German immigrants in Pennsylvania found that there weren't a lot of badgers in America, but there were a lot of groundhogs, so the holiday evolved into Groundhog Day. The first reference to Groundhog Day is from 1841, in the diary of a storekeeper in Morgantown, Pennsylvania. He wrote: "Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks' nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate."

Quail Gardens

2008-12-03T15:11:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite botanical gardens is Quail Gardens in the San Diego area. These are pictures from my last visit there in June.

They have a great children's area that they are working on making larger and even better. Here is a great horse.

Cheech or Chong (Pot Man)

If you enlarge this picture you can see the Wren that has made his nest in the bird house.
Bewick's wren singing away.

Building structure in the Native Plants, Native People exhibit

Lots of flowers. Check them out....

The frog pond is a great place to just sit and watch.

The lily pads in the frog pond

Lots of great pots

Water fall

Cork tree. Wine anyone?

While we were there they were having lots of kid's programs. Here Jessy is potting up a succulent plant to take home.

A great place to visit. Not real formal, just relaxed with lots of different areas. Check out the website for now and when you are in the area make sure you check out the garden.

Quial Botanical Gardens
http://www.qbgardens.org/

230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas CA

Poem: Winter and the Nuthatch

2008-11-27T06:50:00.000-08:00

Winter and the Nuthatch
by Mary Oliver

Once or twice and maybe again, who knows,
the timid nuthatch will come to me
if I stand still, with something good to eat in my hand.
The first time he did it
he landed smack on his belly, as though
the legs wouldn't cooperate. The next time
he was bolder. Then he became absolutely
wild about those walnuts.
But there was a morning I came late and, guess what,
the nuthatch was flying into a stranger's hand.
To speak plainly, I felt betrayed.
I wanted to say: Mister,that nuthatch and I have a relationship.
It took hours of standing in the snow
before he would drop from the tree and trust my fingers.
But I didn't say anything.
Nobody owns the sky or the trees.
Nobody owns the hearts of birds.
Still, being human and partial therefore to my own
successes—
though not resentful of others fashioning theirs—
I'll come tomorrow, I believe, quite early.

"Winter and the Nuthatch" by Mary Oliver, from Red Bird. © Beacon Press, 2008 Reprinted without permission but with much gratitude. (buy now)

Poem: September Song

2008-09-05T09:22:00.001-07:00

September fattens on vines. Roses
flake from the wall. The smoke
of harmless fires drifts to my eyes.

This is plenty. This is more than enough.

From the poem:
September Song by Geoffrey Hill

Poem: Turtle by Kay Ryan

2008-08-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Turtle
by Kay Ryan

Who would be a turtle who could help it?

A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,

she can ill afford the chances she must take

in rowing toward the grasses that she eats.

Her track is graceless, like dragging

a packing-case places, and almost any slope

defeats her modest hopes. Even being practical,

she's often stuck up to the axle on her way

to something edible. With everything optimal,

she skirts the ditch which would convert

her shell into a serving dish. She lives

below luck-level, never imagining some lottery

will change her load of pottery to wings.

Her only levity is patience,

the sport of truly chastened things.

"Turtle" by Kay Ryan, from Flamingo Watching. © Copper Beech Press, 2006. Reprinted without permission but with gratitude. (buy now)

Thanksgiving Point Gardens Lehi, Utah

2008-07-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

"Enjoy the sweeping vistas of the Grand Allee, cross the Monet Bridge and watch the flower-bordered creek ripple by, or walk to the amphitheater and marvel at the largest man-made waterfall in the Western Hemisphere
Designed to be a peaceful place where the gifts of nature could be appreciated, Thanksgiving Garden covers 55 acres. Utah landscape architect Leonard Grassli designed a series of gardens motivated by themes: The Creek Garden, the Monet Garden, the Rose Garden, the Fragrance Garden, the Secret Garden, the Italian Garden, the Butterfly Garden, the Parterre Garden, the Vista Garden, and the Waterfall Garden. We also added our Children’s Discovery Garden, which has been a wonderful delight for visiting families."

That is what the web site for Thanksgiving Point says about their gardens. For Jared's wedding in Draper we stayed in Thanksgiving Point. We had seen the area when we drove past but never stopped. I know I had heard the kids talk about the gardens before but I never thought too much about them. On Friday we found ourselves with a couple of hours of free time so we decided to head over to the gardens and give it a look see. We didn't have time to go to the Children's Garden but I'm sure we will make time the next time we go there.
Considering this is desert in Utah this garden was lush!! I'm not sure where they get their water from but they must be using a lot!! (My guess is the draw from the Jordon River that runs through or next to the area.) The grounds were massive and breathtaking. Thanksgiving Point wasn't even started until 1996. I don't remember when they started the gardens but what they have done in that time is amazing. Give it another 20 years for the trees to grow up and fill in and it will be something else.

Most of the flowers seem to annuals here. The work to plant new one each year would make my head spin!! There are thousands and thousands of plants.

We were there the first part of July which would be near the beginning of the growing season. My guess, and this is only a guess, is that they would start planting around the beginning of May. I know this year was a late spring with snow coming in May a little further north and south. I don't know if they are any different there or not.

I really liked the carousel with the topiary horses planted with succulents and annuals.

Close up of one of the horses.

Monet Bridge.
Every turn of the garden seemed like a place for a photo op!! While we were there on a Friday afternoon we must have seen 4 to 5 brides all dressed in their wedding dresses getting their Bridal Pictures done. That is something I had not heard of before but guess it is common in Utah if not other places. The brides get dressed sometime before the wedding and go out and have pictures taken of just themselves. It makes sense in a lot of ways. They get the pictures they want but it doesn't hold up the wedding itself.
There doesn't seem to be a bad place to take pictures in the garden and the surrounding areas around Thanksgiving Point itself has lot of places also. Jared and Willie came down here for their engagement pictures. I don't think Willie did her Bridals down there but I might be wrong about that.
This is the main visitor center at the beginning of the gardens. This is looking back from the middle of the garden.

Paul enjoying the views.

Maggie doing the same.

More pretties.

In the background you can see what the area looks like without added water.

Grand Staircase. Really I don't remember what it is called but it was large, long and pretty. If I remember there was water coming down the middle.

I don't know if you can see the mountains in the background or not. Click on the picture to enlarge it and maybe you can see them better. What really surprised us was that it was hot, in the 90's and there is still snow on the mountains!!

What did the ad say, the largest man made waterfalls in the west?

If you are in the area I would suggest a visit here. For a new man made area it is great. Now I will have to say I like our "wild" garden here in town a little better but for a formal garden it is great.

(P.S. Just don't plan on stopping on Sunday!! They close up everything in the whole area!! The museum gardens and restaurants!! Remember you are in Utah!!)

I wonder what it would be like

2008-07-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

July 4th
On this day in 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into his cabin on Walden Pond. It was 10 feet wide by 15 feet long, had an attic and a closet, two windows, and a fireplace. It cost twenty-eight dollars and twelve cents to build. The single biggest expenditure was three dollars and ninety cents for nails. Thoreau boasted that he was a good builder, but when the cabin was excavated a hundred years later, the investigators found hundreds of bent nails in the cellar hole. He had two knives and forks, three plates, one cup and one spoon. He had a huge garden, seven miles of bean rows altogether, and he spent a lot of time weeding them and chasing away the woodchucks.

Taken from today's "The Writer's Almanac" by Garrison Keillor

Poem: Naming the Animals by Anthony Hecht

2008-06-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

Naming the Animals

by Anthony Hecht

*
Having commanded Adam to bestow

Names upon all the creatures, God withdrew

To empyrean palaces of blue

That warm and windless morning long ago,

And seemed to take no notice of the vexed

Look on the young man's face as he took thought

Of all the miracles the Lord had wrought

Now to be labeled, dubbed, yclept, indexed.

Before an addled mind and puddle brow,

The feathered nation and the finny prey

Passed by; there went biped and quadruped.

Adam looked forth with bottomless dismay

Into the tragic eyes of his first cow,

And shyly ventured, "Thou shalt be called 'Fred.'"

"Naming the Animals" by Anthony Hecht, from Collected Later Poems. © Alfred A Knopf, 2003. Reprinted without permission but with gratitude. (buy now)

Waxwings and More

2008-04-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

Out of anything bad there is usually a "good". How often have we heard this and still it is true. We have ivy on the side of the house. Now ivy is a "bad plant", nonnative and invasive. Invasive, did I say invasive? Well that is sure true. We got it off the trees last year and now after the rains it is half way up the trunks again. It makes a wonderful hiding place for all those little four footed lifeforms that we don't like to talk about. What could be wonderful about this plant? I will show you some pictures of what can be wonderful about ivy.

The last week we have had flocks of Cedar Waxwings enjoying the ivy berries!!! I have pyricantha planted for them to eat but they would rather have the ivy berries. For anyone that loves these beautiful birds I would say Ivy is a Great plant!!! Two years ago we had a flock of Western and Cassin's Kingbirds, at least 40, eating the ivy. We also have Starlings coming though dining on our specials.

The pictures aren't all that great but I haven't had the camera out when I have been sitting closer to them. They are in the trees next to the house and then they come down and line up for the fountain on the pine or this tree.

They come down, sometimes 15 at a time and take a drink and then go back up into the ivy for more lunch. I must admit the fountains are getting pretty messy with ivy seeds that are running through these wonderful birds!

I was sitting out on the back patio yesterday morning eating breakfast when
the whole flock came down into the trees and fountain. I was only 5 feet away. Of course I had my coffee and not my camera so you will just have to picture it in your head!! It was a quite a sight.

Here are two of them. Click on the pictures to see a little better.

The yard has been very busy the past couple of weeks. Here is a lady goldfinch waiting her turn at one of the feeders.

Mr Goldfinch looking as handsome as he can. There have been lots of babies in the yard. Mainly House Sparrows so far but a few House Finch and one set of Lesser Goldfinch that I have seen. I think the funniest sight is the parents bringing the babies to the feeders and the babies will be sitting in the feeder right in all the food and they are begging to be fed. They catch on pretty fast though.

***

Other birds that have been here over the past two weeks:

Spotted Towhee
California Towhee

Brown headed Cowbirds
Brewer Blackbirds

Western Kingbird

Cooper's Hawk

House Sparrow
House Finch

Lesser Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

Bushtits

Hooded Oriole

Downy Woodpecker

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Oak Titmouse

American Crow

Scrub Jay

Anna's Hummingbird

Allen Hummingbird

Blackchinned Hummingbird

Blackheaded Grosbeak

Mourning Dove

Ringed Turtle Dove

European Starlings

Mockingbirds
Turkey Vulture flying over the house.

Redtail Hawk flying over

Mallard Ducks flying over

Think that is all but I might be missing something.

The flowers are bursting out with all the wonderfully warm weather. I replanted the rose garden last fall and it is showing off some beautiful flowers. I was going to make sure I wrote down all the names before the plants grew too much to get to the tags but guess what I didn't do. You will have to do with the pictures without the names!!! Maybe next year.....

This is a minature rose

Jerusalem Sage looking good.

Martha Washington Geranuim flowering and a few more pots of stuff.

Thanks to the Crows we also have some "fun" thing in the fountains. I had to clean one of them the other week as there was something dead in it. I couldn't tell what it was as they had just brought a part of the fur down to eat. I might have been part of skunk that they found. Something like that. Disgusting anyway. They like to bring all their found treasures down to a water source and get it wet before they eat it. If I didn't like the crows so much I would be very, very unhappy!!! I guess it is one more of those good things with the bad. Here is what is normally in the birdbath. Some kind of chicken bone.

I do try and get out in the morning to check out what they have left because if I don't guess who likes to get out there to get something to eat!!! Luckily he can't get into this birdbath but if they drop in on the ground when they are done it can be a problem. They say chicken bones are bad for the dog and I don't want any more Vet bills!!! He hasn't been stung by a bee or anymore foxtails in his eye yet this year so that is good!!

Taft Gardens

2008-04-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

(click on pictures to enlarge so you can really see them)

****

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Taft Gardens in Ojai. The Organic Garden and Herb Society had planned a field trip with the help of one of their past speakers, Mike Tardif of Plant Picasso. He is friends with the owner, John Taft so was able to let us into the grounds.
I had heard about Taft Gardens several months ago from someone who had been there in the past. She sang it's praises so highly I wanted to go so I checked on the Internet for information about it. I was very sad to read that the gardens had been closed to the public. When I got the email telling about the field trip I was So Excited!!!
Well, now that I have been there I will have to tell you it was way better than I even thought it would be. Tuesday was one of those very special days. The weather was perfect, the company was great and the garden was out of this world.

I don't know a lot of the names of these flowers but I will put the up here for the enjoyment of all.

Large patches of these were breathtaking.

When John Taft started these gardens he put in two different types of plants. One from South Africa and one from Australia . There are also California natives. We were told it has one of the largest collections of proteas from South Africa.

This gives a feeling of how peaceful the area is.

The Organic Garden and Herb Society.

Our host and guide, Mike is in the front kneeling down. He had a wealth of information and willingly shared it with us.

This is one of the pavilion facilities that are in the garden. When Mr. Taft started the gardens they went under the name "International Center for Earth Concerns". Mr.Taft said that, for a time, many groups used the land for educational purposes, including Boy Scouts, school groups and organizations such as the Sierra Club. "It was extremely popular with teachers," said Taft. "Over 15,000 kids came from all over the county."

The colors were beautiful.

Art work on the outside of one of the buildings.

If anyone wants to know what I want for Xmas look no further!! What's not to love about this chair!!! I'm sure I could find room for it at Plymouth Gardens!Outside stage area. A little music, a play, some poetry or even that old standby a Wedding! Oh yes, this is nice.

Along a lot of the paths were these dry stone walls.

On the outside of the garden is all the beauty of Southern California hills. That is a Red Tail Hawk flying high.

Statues everywhere, adding grace and charm.

Of course I loved the etched Cranes in the door.

Cactus Garden.

Lizard carved from a large rock. (That could be another Xmas gift!!)

Groomed paths between the flower beds.

John Taft giving us a history of the gardens. I was surprised that most of the plants were started from seed brought over from Africa or Australia. I think he said they did most of the planting starting in 1982. Just over 20 years and it seems like it was there forever. He took time out of his busy schedule to make us comfortable and knowledgeable. You could tell how much he loved the area. He called it "John's Folly" but I don't think it is a folly at all.

He had to close the place because of problems with the neighbors. They didn't want all the people coming up into the area. It didn't help that they had to come across the neighbor's land to get to the gardens!! There were court hearings and so many problems that he had to shut down the gardens. Sometimes it just gets to be too much to deal with.

Leave it to the Garden Club to find the Veggie Garden and get Mr. Taft's kind permission to pick some of the veggies there. Huge cabbages, snap peas, several different kinds lettuce and onions.

Herb Garden

Makes you want to walk forever!!

A little pond with lots of tadpoles.

A perfect day!!

Poem

2008-03-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

"Shelter"
by Kim Addonizio

It's noisy here. The kids run around, screaming, their mothers slap them and
they cry. I have the bottom bunk, I hang a blanket from the bed above me for
privacy. In the middle of the night it's finally quiet. I lie awake and think
about goals. Sheryl, the worker, says I need some. She says What do you want
Rita? and I say peace and quiet, maybe someplace sunnier than here. I say I'd
like to have a dog. A big one, a retriever or shepherd with long soft fur. What
else? she says. I remember my dad's garden, how I used to like sitting
with him while he weeded, putting my toes in the dirt. He grew tomatoes, corn, peas.
There was a rosebush, too, once he let me pick a big rose and there was a spider
in it, I got scared and shook it and the petals went all over me and he laughed.
He showed me how to put my thumb over the hoze nozzle so it sprayed. Sheryl
says I could garden. I think about the coleus Jimmy and I had, how I would take
cuttings, put them in water and they'd grow more flowers. But then they all
died. At night I listen to everybody sleep around me, some people snoring,
some
starting to say something and then stopping. It's pitch-dark behind the
blanket. I try to see it sunny, a yard with a dog lying down under a tree. I
try to smell warm tomatoes. Curl my toes in the sheets. Try to sleep.

Shelter" by Kim Addonizio, from Jimmy & Rita. © BOA Editions, Ltd., 1997. Reprinted without permission but with graditude. (buy now)

Cooper's Visit

2007-12-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of Hawk activity around the yard the past week. Don't know if it is more than normal or if I have just been seeing more than I do normally. The other day I watched a Sharp Shin sitting in the tree watching for dinner for several minutes. I didn't see him get anything that time. The Red Tail is around every morning.

Today at lunch time I saw the Cooper's fly onto the patio and grab a finch from the feeder and take off with it. Later that day there was either the same Cooper's or another one in the yard for at least an hour. He was out on the rail fence by the roses watching and trying to catch a White Crowned. I wonder if he has injured it before I saw him as the Sparrow was staying on the ground trying to hide in the roses. Cooper finally gave up on him after 20 minutes or so and flew over to the maple tree area.

I thought he would be gone by the time I came out into the other room but there he was just sitting on a old chair that it by the feeder. He just sat there looking around. I thought, Okay, he is there now but by the time I get the camera, change the lense and put the card I had out back in he will be gone. When I finished all that he was still there. I took several shots though the door and then he was still there and so I figured I might as well open the door. I opened the door and Beardsley went out and still that bird sat. I walked out onto the patio and he still sat.

The light was very low so I didn't get really great pictures but it was fun talking to him while he just sat and looked at me.

Cooper's Hawk in back yard.

For everyone in Snow country.

2007-12-07T07:48:00.000-08:00

Snow

Snow,

blessed snow,

comes out of the sky

like bleached flies.

The ground is no longer naked.

The ground has on its clothes.

The trees poke out of sheets

and each branch wears the sock of God.

There is hope.

There is hope everywhere.

I bite it.

Someone once said:

Don't bite till you know

if it's bread or stone.

What I bite is all bread,

rising, yeasty as a cloud.

There is hope.

There is hope everywhere.

Today God gives milk

and I have the pail.

by Anne Sexton, from The Awful Rowing Toward God. © Houghton Mifflin, 1975.

Just a different way of looking at snow then I have!!!

Vistor hanging out lately

2007-11-29T19:58:00.000-08:00

We have had a Red Tail hanging out around the neighborhood the past week or two. The other morning he was sitting on the telephone pole for at least a hour. Just sitting checking me out when I was walking under him and not bothered at all. Quite often I notice him when I hear the crows making more noice than normal. They are cawing away trying to get him out of their neighborhood! Pretty bird and nice to have him around so close.

I was standing under him looking up the telephone pole so it isn't a great picture but does show his markings on his chest.

Poem "Beside the Point"

2007-11-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

Beside the Point

***

The sky has never won a prize.

The clouds have no careers.

The rainbow doesn't say my work,thank goodness.

The rock in the creek's not so productive.

The mud on the bank's not too pragmatic.

There's nothing useful in the noise

the wind makes in the leaves.

Buck up now, my fellow superfluity,

and let's both be of that worthless ilk,

self-indulgent as shooting stars,

self-absorbed as sunsets.

Who cares if we're inconsequential?

At least we can revel,

two good-for-nothings,

in our irrelevance; at least come and make

no difference with me.

****

By Stephen Cushman

Morning Coffee

2007-09-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

I had planned to sleep in this morning but the thought of cool outside weather drove me from the bed magnets. Unfortunately the weather didn't feel the same way and it was already 79 at 7:30am. I know for Arizona that would be normal but we are so spoiled here!!

Oh well, I was already up so I might as well sit outside for awhile. I was really feeling fresh air deprived from the last few hot, hot days. I don't like having to spend so much time inside!

As I was sitting reading the paper all the birds scattered. Now quite often that just means that maybe a dove or a scrub jay flew in fast and scared everyone but once in awhile it means Hawk. Most of the time I will look around in the trees to see if someone came in to check out the feeders.
This morning it was a Cooper's Hawk in the ash trees on the side of the yard. He sat there for 10 minutes waiting for the birds to come back to the feeders. He just sat and watched and watched and finally they did start to come back to the trees around the feeders. I got up and went in to get the camera and came back out and walked almost right up under him before he finally got tired of me messing up his breakfast and took off. I had the short lens on, of course, but here is a cropped picture of him sitting in the tree waiting for branch service.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Earl - A Poem

2007-08-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Earl

In Sitka, because they are fond of them,

People have named the seals. Every seal

is named Earl because they are killed one

after another by the orca, the killer

whale; seal bodies tossed left and right

into the air. "At least he didn't get

Earl," someone says. And sure enough,

after a time, that same friendly,

bewhiskered face bobs to the surface.

It's Earl again. Well, how else are you

to live except by denial, by some

palatable fiction, some little song to

sing while the inevitable, the black and

white blindsiding fact, comes hurtling

toward you out of the deep?

"Earl" by Louis Jenkins, from North of the Cities. © Will o' the Wisp Books, 2007. (buy now)

Naked Sunflowers

2007-08-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

As I was laying in bed one morning I was watching the Lesser Goldfinches in the yard. There have been more Goldfinches this year then we have ever had. There will be 30 of them on or around one feeder at a time!! We have three thistle feeders, you do the math! Now this morning they would be on the feeder and then they would move off onto the two Sunflowers that were growing in one of the flower beds. Jessy and I had planted this bed with Coneflowers and Daises the beginning of summer. Sometime along the way the birds decided that they wanted a couple of sunflowers in there also and they went ahead and planted them. I figured why not and left them to grow. They were getting pretty big with their normal huge leaves and beginning of a flower starting.

As you can see from this picture of a sunflower that I took a couple of years ago the leaves are nice and large and there are lots of them.
Well, that morning as I watched the Goldfinches something happened to those poor old sunflowers. At first I thought they were just eating the ants off the plants. There are always lots of ants everywhere and I know the birds do eat them so I thought good, the birds get something to eat and I'll get the ant population reduced for a couple of days. The more I watched the weirder it became. This is how the sunflower ended up:

In flocks of thirty or so the Goldfinches ate every leaf off those two sunflowers!! I had never seen behavior like this although I'm sure it is quite common. Steve said that he noticed the same thing happening in his yard. That is one of the advantages of having a backyard habitat, you get to see things you wouldn't notice in the wild.

The good news is that this picture was taken a couple of weeks after they ate the leaves off and you can see it didn't stop the sunflower from growing and blooming.

Vacuuming Spiders - A Poem

2007-07-31T08:35:00.000-07:00

Vacuuming Spiders

...

I admire their geometrical patience,

the tidy way they wrap up leftovers,

their willingness to be the earth's

most diligent consumers of small bitternesses.

Sometimes at night I hear them

casting silk threads, clicking their spinnerets,

plucking their webs like blind Irish harpists.

I can almost taste the fruit of the fly

like sucking the pulp from a grape.

But when their webs on the ceiling

begin to converge, and the floor

glitters with shards of insect wings

I drag out the vacuum

and poke its terrible snout under the sofa,

behind the radio—everywhere,

for this is the home of a human being

and I must act like one

or the whole picture goes haywire.

...

"Vacuuming Spiders" by Charles Goodrich,

from Insects of South Corvallis.

New Title for Blog

2007-07-16T00:36:00.001-07:00

As you can see from the new title of this blog I am going to start adding pictures and stories about our backyard. The new plants, the old plants and the dieing plants! I will also be adding pictures from our trips out to different Botanic Gardens.
I am now a member of the Conejo Valley Garden Club so I guess I should work on the yard a little more!! The other day while looking at the dead plants inside the house & the mess in the backyard I figured my being a member of the Garden Club is almost as silly as me joining a cooking club. Okay, not anywhere near as silly as putting my name and Cooking in the same sentence but you know what I mean!! I am hoping to learn lots and lots about what I should be doing and what I am doing that I should stop doing!!

Click picture to enlarge

Blogger seems very slow tonight or else I have no patience either way I will leave you with just one picture. It is the Lady Banks Rose taken in February. It only blooms once a year but it is so beautiful I love it anyway.

"Close to Home" Comic

2007-07-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

Should be fun!!

Poem "The Calf-Path" by Sam Walter Foss

2007-06-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

The Calf-Path

One day through the primeval wood

A calf walked home as good calves should;

But made a trail all bent askew,

A crooked trail as all calves do.

Since then three hundred years have fled,

And I infer the calf is dead.

But still he left behind his trail,

And thereby hangs my moral tale.

The trail was taken up next day

By a lone dog that passed that way;

And then a wise bell–wether sheep

Pursued the trail o'er vale and steep,

And drew the flock behind him, too,

As good bell–wethers always do.

And from that day, o'er hill and glade,

Through those old woods a path was made.

And many men wound in and out,

And dodged and turned and bent about,

And uttered words of righteous wrath

Because 'twas such a crooked path;

But still they followed – do not laugh -

The first migrations of that calf,

And though this winding wood-way stalked

Because he wobbled when he walked.

This forest path became a lane

That bent and turned and turned again;

This crooked lane became a road,

Where many a poor horse with his load

Toiled on beneath the burning sun,

and traveled some three miles in one.

And thus a century and a half

They trod the footsteps of that calf.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet,

The road became a village street;

And this, before men were aware,

A city's crowded thoroughfare.

And soon the central street was this

Of a renowned metropolis;

And men two centuries and a half

Trod in the footsteps of that calf.

Each day a hundred thousand rout

Followed this zigzag calf about

And o'er his crooked journey went

The traffic of a continent.

A hundred thousand men were led

By one calf near three centuries dead.

They followed still his crooked way.

And lost one hundred years a day,

For thus such reverence is lent

To well-established precedent.

A moral lesson this might teach

Were I ordained and called to preach;

For men are prone to go it blind

Along the calf-paths of the mind,

And work away from sun to sun

To do what other men have done.

They follow in the beaten track,

And out and in, and forth and back,

And still their devious course pursue,

To keep the path that others do.

They keep the path a sacred groove,

Along which all their lives they move;

But how the wise old wood-gods laugh,

Who saw the first primeval calf.

Ah, many things this tale might teach —

But I am not ordained to preach.

Monty The Comic

2007-05-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

(Click to enlarge)

Why we didn't get a Teacup Dog!!!

2007-04-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

No pictures with this post, I didn't have my camera in my hand. Even if I did there would have been no way for me to react fast enough!

I sent Beardsley out to chase squirrels the other day and I stood at the patio door watching him. As he got into the middle of the yard he was buzzed by the Cooper's Hawk!! The hawk came within a foot of him and then went up into the tree and sat for a minute before taking off again. I guess the hawk thought that Mr. B was interfering with "his" hunting grounds! Beardsley looked around and tried to figure out what had just happened, gave up and went back to digging grass up and eating it. I have NO fear any hawk could ever lift that dog off the ground!! Heavens, I have a hard time lifting him up!!

Nuttall's Drumming

2007-04-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

Spring has been in the air for a month or so around here. We have had baby House Sparrows starting in Mid March, the female Hooded Orioles have arrived, and the spring migration for the hummingbirds has started. Another way we can tell is the Drumming of the Nuttall's Woodpeckers on anything that makes noise! There are several Nuttall's that come into the yard all the time so we have been listening to lots and lots of drumming. I thought the males would be the only ones doing the drumming, calling in females and marking territory but reading the Sibley guide book both the males and females do the drumming in the spring. There is one in our yard that has found the bat house that is near our bedroom door. This morning we woke up to him going around the bat house and drumming on all the different areas of the bat house. Of course every different area made a different sound. It was nice to wake up to the new work of the composer Mr. Woodpecker of the Wood Symphony.

The Nuttall's are regular visitors to the seed feeders and even more regular visitors to the nectar feeders. As I am writing this I am watching a female eating bugs off the Maple Tree in the backyard. It looks like she has a hole where there was a branch cut off. It looks like she is eating something out of the hole. I guess I will have to go out tomorrow and check out what is in there!!

When I am in the front bedroom at the computer I can look and see this sight. They hang on to the rail upside down at first and then work themselves upright.

Look at his nails and you can see how they can walk up and down trees and poles with ease. Those are sharp and strong claws!! You can't see his tail in this picture but they use the tail to brace himself as he clings to the tree.
The drumming of the Nuttall's Woodpecker, such a wonderful part of spring!!

Watching out the window

2007-04-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

( Click to enlarge picture)

Yardbirds March & April

2007-04-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

It has been a year since I did anything in this blog. I don't know what happened to the last 12 months but they sure flew!! Speaking of flying I thought I would list the birds that have been in the yard over the last couple of weeks.

Rufous Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird

Blackchinned Hummingbird

Allen's Hummingbird

BlackHeaded Grosbeak

Lesser Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow

House Finch

California Towhee

Bushtit

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Cedar Waxwing

Lots of Duck flying over

Cooper's Hawk

Sharpshin Hawk

Redshoulder Hawk flying over

Redtailed Hawk flying over

American Mockingbirds

White crowned Sparrows

Golden crowned Sparrow

Blackeyed Junco

Black Phoebe

American Crow

As I am writing this I am watching the hummingbird feeder in the front yard. There has been anywhere from 7 to 15 hummers flying around it for the last hour! It is now around 7:30 pm so they are filling up before they head off to bed. It is getting dark so they should be heading off to bed soon. Sounds good to me!!

We have has several Cedar Waxwings come into the yard the last few weeks. The thing with Cedar Wings is that they come and go so quickly. If you aren't looking outside at the right time you never know they have been there. The pictures I took are through the bedroom patio door so you really can't see them but I'm going to post them anyway.

They are such beautiful bird. The feathers are so smooth they don't seem like feathers at all. They have a black mask on their face and yellow on the bottom of their tails and red on the wings. The the most fun thing is the top knot on their heads! It sticks out the back like an old fashion Ducktail hairdo.
They come into the yard to eat the Pyracantha berries. There will be a whole flock that come in at one time anywhere from 5 to a couple dozen. They will eat for awhile and then all of a sudden they take off and they are gone. As I said, if you hadn't been looking at the right time they would be gone and there would be no way to know they had been there.

Yesterday (I have taken at least two weeks to get this blog written so I think this part was written around the first of April) I saw the first Male Blackhead Grosbeak in the yard for this year. I noticed I had written last year that in a couple of weeks I had several pairs in the yard so hopefully they are just coming in and there will be lots more.

Blackhead Grosbeak

They like the Black Oil Sunflower seeds that I put out on the platform feeder. This one is right by my bedroom door so I can see them first thing in the morning. I think you can guess how they got their names!

I have seen several Rufous Hummingbirds the past couple of days. I also saw one Blackchinned Hummingbird this morning. I guess the migration crowded is heading in now. The next month should be very very busy. I will be buying lots and lots of sugar from Costco!!

Rufous Hummingbird

The male Hooded Orioles are back now. I haven't seen any females yet but they should be here in another week or so. The males always come in first to stake out the best areas. I don't know how many are around yet but there doesn't seem as many as there has been in the years past. Hopefully I just not seeing them!! April 15th: Saw our first females yesterday!! About two weeks later than the males.

Hooded Oriole
Here he is hiding the bushes by the Oriole feeder on the back fence.

The White crowned Sparrows are still around in great number. I think I saw a Golden crowned this morning but I didn't have my glasses by my bed so I could tell for sure. April 15Th: The white crowns are still here but their number is getting less and less all the time.

The Goldfinches are eating me out of house and home! There are so many of them. I only have the one thistle feeder up right now so they are all on it. Most are the Lesser Goldfinches but I have had several American Goldfinches. I keep looking for a Lawrence but no luck yet!!!! I can keep my fingers crossed on that one. I know they are across Janss Road so they aren't far from here.

I am going to go ahead and post this and then finish the post tomorrow or next week. I have a couple more things to write but right now I just want to take my shower and climb into bed!!!

Before and After

2007-04-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

A rather sad post but one that wasn't unexpected. The past couple of weeks we have had a white dove hanging out in the yard. It is one of those that they let go at weddings etc. I could tell she was used to people as she would land within a couple of feet of me. She wouldn't let me get right next to her but she wouldn't panic either.

One of the problems when semi-tame birds get loose is they aren't used to taking care of themselves in the wild. She was lucky that she found an easy food source at the feeders in the yard but then again she wasn't lucky to find such a easy food source. I'm sure you can guess what happened this afternoon. I looked out the window and this is what I saw.

One of the several hawks that come around everyday found a very easy meal. I'm sure she didn't put up much of a fight. How would she know that she was in danger? I can't be mad at the hawks as they need to eat but I sure to miss that dove!!

The Trees by Philip Larkin

2007-04-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

"The Trees"

by Philip Larkin,

The trees are coming into leaf

Like something almost being said;

The recent buds relax and spread,

Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again

And we grow old? No, they die too.

Their yearly trick of looking new

Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh

In fullgrown thickness every May.

Last year is dead, they seem to say,

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

"Why I Need the Birds" Poem by Lisel Mueller

2007-03-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

"Why I Need the Birds"

by Lisel Mueller

When I hear them callin the morning,

before I am quite awake,

my bed is already traveling

the daily rainbow,

the arc toward evening;

and the birds, leading

their own discreet lives

of hunger and watchfulness,

are with me all the way,

always a little ahead of me

in the long-practiced manner

of unobtrusive guides.

By the time I arrive at evening,

they have just settled down to rest;

already invisible, they are turning

into the dreamwork of trees;

and all of us together —

myself and the purple finches,

the rusty blackbirds,

the ruby cardinals,

and the white-throated sparrows

with their liquid voices —

ride the dark curve of the earth

toward daylight, which they announce

from their high lookouts

before dawn has quite broken for me.

Everyone has their favorites!

2006-05-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

Yard Birds Spring is in the Air

2006-04-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

New Yard Birds, Returning birds and Nesting birds:

We have at least three male and two female Black-headed Grosbeaks. They showed up about two weeks ago. We have had several for a couple of years now. They haven't stayed around all summer in the past so we will have to see how it goes this year. They are much more active in the yard this year. Whenever we look out at the feeders we can usually see at least one. I put up a new platform feeder in the ivy and I'm putting sunflower seeds on it and they seem to love that. It is very near the trees so they must seem safe there.

Male Black-headed Grosbeak

The Female like a lot of the female birds looks nothing like the male. She is striped without the bright colors that the males have. I think she looks very interesting with the bold markings.

We are getting more Black-chinned Hummingbirds lately. The large hummingbird migration seems to have moved on from the house. The numbers of hummers are about half of what it was last week. It seems that the Allen's are moving on. There are still several here and they might stay all year but at least half of them seem to have moved on. It is good timing as we will be gone for a couple of weeks and this way at least some of the feeders might stay full for part of the time we are gone.

There is at least one Golden-Crown Sparrow hanging around. I don't think we have had one in the yard before. Of course we might have and I just don't remember! If I don't write it down ..... I see him every morning eating seeds under the feeder by the bedroom. He hangs out with the White-crown Sparrows that are still here. Right now I'm sitting in the living room watching the birds in the back yard and I don't see one White-crowned! There are usually several around at this time of evening. Maybe they are finally starting to head north. There were several still around this morning. The Golden-crown should be moving on soon also. *Tuesday: in the five days it has taken me to finish this post both the White-crown and the Golden-crown sparrows have moved on. They have headed up to the north country.

Golden-crown Sparrow
It must be dinner time, the Cooper's Hawk just flew through the yard hunting for his dinner. He flew down to the feeder by the garage and picked out a dove and took off after it. When I lost sight of him he was still chasing the dove. We watched him almost catch a dove a couple of days ago also. He just didn't get a good enough hold on the dove and it got away. He looked hungry tonight and was going to keep chasing until he eats! He seems to be coming around at least once a day. I haven't seen the Sharp-shin Hawk for a week or so but he might still be here and I just haven't been looking outside when he flew by. I heard him hit the back window again a couple of weeks ago. He was fine but it must have hurt!!
We now have a couple of Redwing Blackbirds coming in to eat at the feeders. Paul and I walked over to the Equestrian Center the other day and there are lots of them over there. Maybe they are flying in from there to get something to eat. It isn't that far. The first morning I saw them there was a male and female but since I have only seen the males come in. Maybe the females are staying closer to their nests.

I love how they sound. It seems more like a computer noise then a natural noise to me.

Another bird that we have had before but we are getting more of this year is the American Goldfinch. We mainly have the Lesser Goldfinch but there are at least a dozen of the Americans this year. The males are very bright yellow with no green or black on their backs. They are bigger than the Lessers also.

We have a pair of nesting Northern Mockingbirds on our back fence. They have made their nest in the pyracantha bushes right next to the veggie garden. I might have a problem with that later but as I haven't done much in the garden yet it is okay for now. I'll just have to work around it. When I looked two days ago there were two eggs in the nest. It was fun watching them make the nest. I am looking forward to watching them feed the babies and then the babies learning to fly. They are constantly guarding the nest. When the crows or squirrels get too close they go after them and really get rough. The poor squirrels really get a beating with the mockers hitting them so hard I can hear the hit from across the yard! That is why I say I might have a problem working in the garden, they might try and do the same thing to me! When Paul and I were up in Big Sur one year there was a Mockingbird with a nest in a tree by where we parked. He came down and attacked me when we walked under the tree!

With as many birds as we have in the yard we very seldom have any of them nest here. Maybe it is because we have so many birds in the yard that they go somewhere less crowded to nest.

As I said before it has taken me several days to get this finished. I stopped the other day as blogger wouldn't let me upload pictures. I'm having the same problem now so I'm just going to post this and worry about the pictures some other time. I think I need to work on it during the day when the traffic might be lighter.

Tree Trimming and Cats - Bah Hum Bug!

2006-04-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning when I walked out back there were bird feathers everywhere. While I know it might have been the Cooper's or the Sharpshinned Hawks that have been around a lot lately I think it might have been a cat's fault. This is a hard subject because when I had cats I let them roam everywhere and didn't think anything of it. Now that I am catless and on the "otherside" of the issue I wonder if this is the best thing to do. I just don't know. I do know that when I look out and there is a cat in the yard it bugs me. Early Sunday morning I opened my eyes and what do I see? A mallard duck had landed in the yard and the big fluffy black and white cat is about to pounce! I jumped out of bed and ran outdoors and scared the cat and the duck not to mention Paul who was still sound asleep!! Oh well.
The other thing that happened on Saturday is the neighbors trimmed their large Ash tree and cut down the crow's nest that the crows had just finished making. All week I had been watching the crows bringing back nesting material and with one cut of the chain saw it fell to the ground! :( One good thing is that I don't think they had had time to lay eggs and if they had they wouldn't have had time to hatch yet. The crows just circled around watching the tree trying to figure out what was happening. As of today it looks like they are building a new nest in the large pine tree in back of the Ash. Hopefully that won't be cut down also. They just trimmed up the Ash so in a couple of years it will be ready for new nests. That is good news as we have lost several large Ash trees lately. Two were cut down in back of us the other week. I know these trees are getting way too large for some of these lots and they do need to be cut or at least trimmed but it is so hard to watch happen!! I hate the sound of chainsaws!!!!!!

Rufous Hummingbird

2006-03-29T19:20:00.000-08:00

I got a couple of pictures of the Rufous today. They aren't real good as I took them though the front bedroom window. Such a pretty bird. Click pictures to enlarge. I was reading on a web site (click title to get to web site) that some of the Rufous's backs are green like the Allen's. They would be very hard to tell apart then!!

Yard birds and bathing

2006-03-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

Paul and I spent this past weekend working in the backyard. I had brought home a new fountain from the Mesa Costco and we got that up and running. Well, Paul got that up and running all I did was say where I thought it should go! He had to till up the whole area first as I want to get my native plants in there and wanted it tilled before he put the fountain in. I didn't want to have to work around it. His poor arms are still hurting from it. Thanks Paul!! This will take the place of the pond at least for a couple of years I think. It just seemed like more work than we wanted to do right now. At least we have another running water source in the backyard so that should draw more birds in. As of this morning I have not noticed any birds on it yet but I'm sure they will find it soon. The fountain is straight, I just noticed that my picture is slanted. I meant to crop it but forgot. Oh well, just know that Paul was very careful in getting it level!
We had a several year firsts this weekend also. We got our first American Robin and our first Hooded Orioles. The Robin was eating the ivy berries (more of those later) right over where the fountain was going in. I didn't get a picture of her though. I didn't have the camera out so.....
I haven't got a picture of the Orioles yet either. I just finished sitting in the middle bedroom waiting for one to come back down to the feeder outside the window but he wouldn't come while I was waiting. He had been their twice before I got the camera and I could see him sitting up at the top of Pat's tree in front but he didn't come back down. I will never be a good nature photographer. I have no patience to sit and wait!!! I have only seen the males so far as they come in a couple of weeks earlier than the females do. They stake out their territories first.

Another bird we had in GREAT number this weekend was the European Starling. We have a great crop of the Ivy berries this year and they love those. I know most people dislike these birds as they do go in large flocks and eat everyone out of house and home but it is hard to dislike something that looks so neat and can't sing any better than I do!! Okay, they do sing some better than me but they don't have a beautiful song like some of the song birds do.
They were in flocks of 30 - 40 and they would land in the ivy between Patty's and our house and just have a grand time with the berries. (The Mockingbirds like the berries also.) Then they would all take off together and fly around for awhile and then end up back in the ivy.

Hummingbirds.

The best thing for the weekend was a new yard bird as well as a new life bird!! We now have Rufous Hummingbirds in the yard. This is the first year that I have ever seen them here. They look a lot like Allen's but their backs are all the rufous or orange/rust color. I am sooooo excited!! There are at least two in the yard as I saw two on one feeder this morning. When Jim was over this afternoon he saw one on the feeder by the kitchen window. I am going to have to update my yard list to see how many different birds I have had over the years.

It is crazy the number of hummers we have this early in the season. We have at least thirty in the yard now. We have lots of Anna's, lots of Allen's (the most we have ever had) the Rufous and this weekend I saw our first Black-chinned of the year.

It seemed like this weekend was bath day for everyone. Everytime I looked at the fountain in the front there was someone taking a bath!! This black-chinned really got into the fountain more than most of the birds do. Most of them use the top to bath but he really flew right into the bottom to get wet.

Then the Goldfinches got into it for awhile. JayJay was taking one in the small birdbath in the front in the morning. It is funny some birds like one bird bath and others like another. The jays like the one in the front and the crows like one of the ones in the back. Some like the small fountain by my bedroom door but most everyone likes the large fountain in front.
This little Allen's just sat on the edge of the fountain and waited for the water to shower over him. He wasn't getting a lot of water but he was making the most of what he did get.

I have never seen any bird get as much pleasure from a bath as this little hummer did. She was sitting there taking a bath for a least 3 - 4 minutes! Now that might not seem like much for a preteen or teenager but it is a long time for a bird! As you can see from the set of pictures she really sat right down into the fountain. She would splash around for awhile then she would lay her head right down on the fountain and rub it around. I have never seen anyone doing that before. It was great fun watching her!

Well, all in all a great weekend!!

Salton Sea Birding Trip 2/3-4/06

2006-03-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

(Don't forget to click on the picture to enlarge them.)

On February 3& 4th Paul & I met Steve down at Salton Sea for a day and half of birding. The first day Steve had arranged a guide to show us around. We met Bob Miller at his house in Brawley at 6:15am. The one problem with birding is the early starts that you need to get!! Something about getting up before dawn to start a vacation day ... well, you know what I mean! http://www.southwestbirders.com/ What a help having a guide was!! Bob took us places that I would never had gone. Some of the "roads" he took us on I would have thought were just a path through a field that would be private property. Hopefully when we go back there again we can find all the places that we went.

Here are the three guys, Steve, Bob Miller & Paul checking all the birds.

We started out in Cattle Call Park. This was Paul's favorite place on the whole trip. It is where they have the rodeo every year. Paul & I got a life bird right off! A male Vermillion Flycatcher.

After that we took off though fields and over to the Sea where we saw lots and lots of gulls and other birds.
At lunch we went up to the town of Niland to pick up some sandwiches for lunch. Bob told us all about Slab City where lots of snowbirds come down and spend the winter. http://www.polarinertia.com/march03/slab01.htm It was Patton's training ground during World War II and when they left they took everything but the concrete slabs that the buildings were on. I guess it is getting run down and more people are living there year round so it isn't the draw for the Snowbirds that it once was. Another place he told us about but we didn't get back to was Salvation Mountain. http://www.bearclover.net/hwy101/salvation-mtn.html Check out the web site for information on that. Looks like something everyone should see once in their life!!
After lunch we headed back to the Sea and lots and lots more birds. By the time the day was over we were compleletly worn out but very, very pleased with the day!!

Here's Steve the Birder with his scope.

One of the areas we hit with Bob had hundreds of great-tail grackles sitting in the bushes. He put the number between 2,000 to 3,000 birds. He said it was the largest amount of grackles he had ever seen in one place before. He couldn't figure out why they would have been there then and not before. It was a pretty amazing sight.

A Peregrin Falcon sitting on a telephone wire looking for breakfast. This is the first one that Paul and I have seen in the wild. We saw a tame one in New Mexico that his trainer brought in. Steve took this picture out the car window.

The next morning we started at dawn again and the three of us headed out to Finney Lake to see what we could find on our own. I didn't know how we would do but we ended up doing very well thank you. There is something about a lake in the early morning with the light hitting the water and reeds just right to put a smile on my face.

As you can see from the picture there was a haze/smog over everything in the distance. LA was real bad that Thursday when we drove through and you could see it just sitting over in the distance all weekend. Not a pretty sight. :(
The birding was a pretty sight though. There were several things that I really liked. One is the Great Blue Herons on their nests. The pictures really don't show it very well but there were a lot of them sitting around on snags in trees in the middle of the lake sitting on these great big nests.

Then there were the Great Egrets sitting around in the tops of the trees. Some of the trees had several of them just sitting up at the top.

One of the common birds you see at the Salton Sea are Burrowing Owls. If I remember correctly Bob said to look for pototoes with legs sitting on the side of the road. There was one stretch of road that he showed us that had about 14 owls along a 1/4 mile of road. They are so cute!!! They move their heads round to the back and it is weird!!

Another Life Bird for Paul & I was thanks to a great spot from Steve. Great Horned Owl. We would never had seen it sitting in the middle of the trees. Steve was able to get this picture of it before it headed off. That was exciting!!

Another nice bird; the American White Pelican

Another Lifer: White-faced Ibis. Look at the bill on that bird!!

One of the birds that I wanted to see was a Yellow-headed Black bird. I had seen them before but I really like that bird so I asked Bob on Friday if there were any around. He told us about the cattle feed lot where there would be some so we headed over there just before we stopped on Saturday. I thought there might be a dozen or so and about double that of Red-winged Black Birds. Boy, was I wrong!! We got there and there must have been several thousand birds all together. Most of them were the Red-wings but there were a lot of the Yellow-headed. What a sight. Thousands of birds flying around the cattle, eating the cattle's food and the bugs that went along with the cattle. The noise from them singing and fighting was loud!!

I don't think the pictures really shows how many there were there. I had one of the Yellow-headed but Blogger doesn't seem to want to post it tonight. I will try and edit this some other time and see if it will go through.

That is some of the story of the Salton Sea Birding Trip of February 2006. I am hoping there will be another story to tell of the 2007 trip if not sooner. I wouldn't mind going down to see the Wood Storks in the summer but the sound of 115degrees and messes of flies might keep Paul away!!
This is the list of the birds we saw on both days.
Peid-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret*
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
White-faced Ibis*
Snow Goose
Ross' Goose
Green-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Redhead
Ruddy Duck
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon*
Prairie Falcon
Ring-neck Pheasant
Gambel's Quail
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Mountain Plover*
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greather Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Spottoted Sandpiper
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwi
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper*
Ruff*
Long-billed Dowitcher
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Yellow-footed Gull*
Caspian Tern
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Grownd-Dove*
Greater Roadrunner
Great Horned Owl*
Burrowing Owl
Black-cinned Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird
Gila Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Gray Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Vermillion Flycatcher*
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Common Raven
American Crow
Verdin
Cactus Wren
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren*
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
American Pipit
Phainopepla
Loggerhead Shrike
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Abert's Towhee
Sage Sparrow*
Savannah Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-wing Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Wester Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tail Grackle
House Finch
House Sparrow
At my count 104 with 11 life birds. Not bad for a day and half!! Steve, feel free to correct me on any of this!
Thanks Steve and Paul I had a great time!!

Goldfield Mine & Lost Dutchman State Park

2006-01-24T16:25:00.000-08:00

While in Mesa one day while everyone else was at work or school I took a couple hours off and drove up to the Supertition Mountains for some birding and picture taking. I ended up at Goldfield Ghost Town (http://www.goldfieldghosttown.com/) as they have several feeder stations for the birds so there are always birds around. Kind of like cheating but I wanted to take some pictures and I'm lazy!! After I spent a couple hours there I went up the road a half a mile to the Lost Dutchman State Park. (http://www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/parkhtml/dutchman). They have a little cactus garden in the front and they have a couple feeders set up there also. It was a good day weather wise and most of the time the sun was out. By the time I was leaving around 1pm it was getting very overcast and a bit cool so I was glad to be leaving!!
Birds I saw:

Goldfield:

Curved billed Thrasher
White Crowned Sparrow
House Finch
House Sparrow
Inca Dove
Mourning Dove
Rock Dove
Cactus Wren
Great Tail Grackle
Abert's Towhee
Roadrunner
Gamble's Quail
Turkey Vulture
Starling
Northern Cardinal

Lost Dutchman added:

Phainopela
Black Throated Sparrow*
Canyon Towhee

Curved-Billed Thrasher Easy to see how they got there names!!

Cactus Wrens are very vocal birds. This one was sitting here singing away.

Northern Cardinal Such a bright red. This is a male,the female is more orange and brown.

Cactus Wrens playing King of the Post

Black-Throated Sparrow This is a new life bird for me!!!

A couple more Cactus Wrens

A House Finch sitting on the cactus

Gilbert Water Ranch

2006-01-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

I found a new and great birding place very near Darcy's house!! I was checking the local Audubon web page and was led to this very wonderful place. There was a bird walk listed for Saturday so I dragged everyone up and we got over there at 8 am! It was cold in the mid 30's!! The Wearings only lasted for a short while with Kody etc but I spent the morning there. I'm sure they will be going back when it isn't so cold and they can walk at their own speed.
When we first got there they had some birds from a bird rehab. I didn't get to look at them very well as the bird walk was starting and I didn't want to miss out on it and they were gone when I got back. Darcy was saying the Golden Eagle had been hit by a car or a truck I don't remember which and broken both wings so it will never fly again. I didn't hear about any of the others. I only got pictures of the Redtail and Kestral.

The site is fairly new but is gaining a good rep with birders. It is next to the water treatment plant and they have 10 ponds that they use to drain the water back into the water table. This makes for lots of areas for lots of birds.

The list for the day and I'm sure I didn't put down everything:

American Coot
RedWing Blackbird
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Staring
Anna Hummingbird
Costa Hummingbird
Curved Billed Trasher
Verdin
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Gila Woodpecker
Abert's Towhee
Northern Mockingbird
Killdear
Pied-billed grebe
Northern Shoveler Duck
Northern Pintail Duck
Cinnamon Teal Duck
Green-winged Teal Duck
Ring-Necked Duck
Black Headed Phoebe
Northern Roughwing Swallow
Orange Crowned Sparrow
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Grey Blue Gnatcatcher
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Black-Necked Stilt
Great-tailed Grackle
Mallard Duck
Peach Face Lovebird
Mourning Dove
White Crowned Sparrow
House Finch
House Sparrow
Burrowing Owl

That is all I have written down but I know there were a couple more....
They have made nesting areas for the Burrowing Owls out of sewer pipes and the population is growing. The one I saw just sat next to the path next to his nest. He didn't seem at all afraid of me or the people walking by.
The Peach Face Lovebirds have several flocks in the Mesa area. Most likely they are escaped birds that have just done real well and started breeding. Jessy and I were in North Mesa on Thursday and we saw a flock of at least 20 fly over the car. Sure suprised us!!
This was great fun and one of the best things is that it is only about 15 minutes away from the house!!

Northern Pintail Duck

Peach Face Lovebird

Verdin

Great-Tail Grackle

Burrowing Owl

Birding at 80 MPH

2006-01-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Birding while driving isn't the easiest thing to do but once you start birding I think it is hard to put it aside even though you shouldn't be doing it!!

Birds I saw from the car on my trip home from Mesa:

Great-tail Grackles
Red-wing Blackbirds
Brewers Blackbirds
Mourning Doves
House Finch
House Sparrow
Roadrunner (running across the road in front of me!)
Red Tail Hawks (there was one section about of about 2 miles where I saw 4 Redtails sitting on fence posts)
Northern Harrier Hawk?
Kestral
Turkey Vulture
Starling
Rock Dove (Pigeon)
Not bad for 80 mph!!

In the Mesa Backyard

2006-01-20T11:47:00.000-08:00

I'm out in Mesa checking out the birds in Darcy's backyard. Every morning there comes a rat-tat-tat on the wall by the living room. At first I thought someone was knocking on the door but then I figured out it was a Gila Woodpecker knocking on the house. I looked and looked but couldn't figure out where he was pecking as I don't see any holes. I put out a suet cake for him and the other birds and he came and started to eat from it yesterday afternoon.

This picture shows his red head.

Another type of bird that comes to the yard a lot are Grackles. They come in flocks of a dozen or so. They make a lot of noise, kind of like crows not the same sound, just the amount of noise. The males are all black and the females that are in this picture brownish.

So far the birds I have seen in the yard are:
Great-Tail Grackle
Inca Dove
Mourning Dove
White Winged Dove
Rock Dove (Pigeon!)
Cactus Wren
House Finch
House Sparrow
Canyon Towhee
Gila Woodpecker
Anna Hummingbird
Darcy and family have seen Gambel's Quails but I haven't seen them yet.
That is all I can think of right now but there might be more.
They have a huge Pigeon "problem" in the Phoenix area. I don't know how you can have feeding stations in the yard with so many pigeons around. They would quickly take over the yard!! I will have to do some research on it. I did put out the suet as I don't think they will bother that. We will have to wait and see.

Rhubarb - I knew you would want to know!

2006-01-11T07:44:00.000-08:00

On this date in 1770, Benjamin Franklin introduced rhubarb to America. He was representing the American colonies as an ambassador in London, and sent a crate of rhubarb to his friend John Bartram. The plant, native to central Asia, had been introduced in Europe by traders; the rhubarb which Franklin (books by this author) sent to America had come to London from Siberia. Rhubarb first appeared in American seed catalogues in 1829, and soon became a popular ingredient in pies. John Bartram was also responsible for introducing kohlrabi and poinsettias to America.

Last Thursday's Hike

2005-11-08T15:53:00.000-08:00

Once again I got out to Sierra Vista to do a little hiking while I was feeling okay. When I started out I thought I should have gone over to the gardens as I haven't been there in awhile. After awhile I was glad I had taken this hike at this time.
I had the closest encounter with coyotes that I have ever had other then in a car.
While I was walking along the ridge just up from the Chumash Center I looked over and there were two coyotes walking along hunting for ground squirrels. They noticed me there but really didn't care at all! I got to stand there and watch them for at least 20 minutes. It was neat. The female was a little more nervous about me but the male didn't seem to care at all!! He just went along looking into all the holes in the ground. The pictures didn't turn out real good but they will serve to remind me of a very nice hike.

This is the first sight I had of them. At this point I was sure they would take off the second they saw me. How wrong I was.

This is the two of them together. The female came over to see what he was checking out but it was too close to me so she wandered off again the whole time giving me dirty looks!

This is the male checking out the squirrels holes. Compared to the coyotes we see at Death Valley these two were very, very well fed!!

Hike to Sierra Vista

2005-10-31T13:35:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we headed out to Sierra Vista to take the camera out for a hike. It was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect. After a couple of weeks of cloudy and cool days it was good to have the sun back!

We had headed out there as we wanted to see if the White-tailed Kites (hawks) were still there. When we had been out there on October 10th they were massing in a couple of the trees there. There were about 20-30 on that day. I had read on the message board that someone had seen them in the past few days so we were hopefully. When we were there we could only see about 8 so don't know if they have moved on or if we just didn't find the right area. It was midmorning by the time we got there so they might have been out hunting further into the park. As you can tell the oak tree they were sitting in was a ways away so the picture isn't very good. Think you can see three or four of the 8 that were sitting there. They spent the whole time preening so was hard to get a picture with their heads up!

The highlight of the hike was a Red-Shouldered Hawk. (Thank you Steve for getting the correct ID!! I knew I liked having smart kids!!) She was sitting on a post right next to the road with people walking and riding bikes right next to her!! We couldn't believe that nothing was bothering her! Paul was able to get several great shots of her. The first picture is to show how close she was to the road. Lots of people were going by her. A couple of people were asking Paul what kind of bird it was as they were right next to her. Didn't bother her at all. She finally flew off when Paul got a little too close to her while he was taking pictures. Either that or she just figured with him there she wouldn't find anything to eat!!

Short list of birds but we didn't stay out long and we were working with the camera most of the time.

Blackheaded Phoebe (lots and lots of these)
Roadrunner
Crows
California Towhee
Mourning Dove
House Finch
House Sparrow
White Crowned Sparrow
Western Kingbird
Scrub Jays
Becwick's Wren
Yellow-rumbed Warber (lots)
Northern Mockingbird
American Coot
Bushtit
Anna's Hummingbird
Cooper's Hawk
Redtail Hawks
White-tailed Kite
Nuttall's Woodpecker
I think I saw a couple Common Yellowthroats but they were backlite so couldn't be sure.

The Nuttall's Woodpecker was busy catching bugs in the tree. I was surprised how great a picture Paul got of him.

All the pictures are Paul's with our new Canon EOS20D with the 70 - 300 lens.

Couple more birds from the back yard

2005-10-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

The hummers are still around in force. Most of them like the front yard but there are still several that use the backyard feeders. This was taken from the yard looking up to the oriole feeder on the hill. Both of the pictures today were taken with the 70-300 zoom lens. Think I'm going to like this lens.

This is a male House Finch that was very helpful in staying still and showing me all his different poses.

New Camera

2005-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

We just got a new camera and guess what I went out and took pictures of. You guessed it, The Jays!! They are so easy to take pictures of as they are always begging for more peanuts. These are the picture of one of them when he found the swarming flying ants. He just sat there and had a feast!
Hopefully we will get out this weekend for more pictures. That is if the weather clears up a little.

They are back!

2005-10-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

For two days there were no scrub jays around! Now everyone that has been here lately knows that they are always around begging for peanuts. My question is where do 7 scrub jays go for two days? Think there was a Jay convention that they all went off to? What is everyone else's guess?

Guess the important thing is that they are back!!

Snapple fact #11 & 48 & 126

2005-10-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

#11: Flamingos turn pink from eating shrimp.
What color would you be?

#48: Cats can hear ultrasound.
Ever have a Cat Scan?

#126: A piegon's feathers are heavier than its bones.

First White Crowned Sparrow

2005-09-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

I saw the first White Crowned Sparrow in the yard this morning. Fall has arrived!

There were still a lot of them in Alaska when we were up there. I wonder how long it would take them to fly down from there?

This picture was taken last winter at Sierra Vista here in Thousand Oaks.

Big Bird Kills Famous Dancer

2005-09-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

It was on this day in 1927 that dancer Isadora Duncan died. She went riding in a convertible on the French Riviera. She was wearing a six-foot, fringed, scarlet shawl, embroidered with Chinese asters and a great yellow bird, and the shawl got caught in one of the car's tires, and it broke her neck.

Could this be?

Alaska Birds

2005-09-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Grey Jays
(not my picture.... I couldn't get one of them. Boo Hoo!)

Trip to Matanuska Glacier

(* = Life bird) It is great being a beginning birder, you can get so many lifers!!!

Golden Eagles (several along the way)
Grey Jays *
I saw these in the parking lot of the rest area. I didn't bring Paul over to see them as I thought they would be there when we were done with the picnic. Of course when we went to leave there were none to been seen!! Luckily we saw more the next day!
Bald Eagles (several flying together)
Common Loon
Juncos (many)
Yellow Warbler
Common Raven ( there are loads of these very large birds everywhere we went)

Wasilla Lake and Lake Lucille: http://litsite.alaska.edu/uaa/akwrites/gallery11/jessicacard.html

Boreal Chickadee *
Horned Grebe *
Rednecked Grebe *
Pacific Loon
Lots of dead salmon floating in Wasilla Lake. Don't know what that was all about!!

Eagle River Nature Center http://www.ernc.org/

Mallards
Black-Capped Chickadees *(lots in the trees on the nature walk)
Black-Billed Magpie *(one of my favorites along with the Grey Jay)

Eagle River - pull over stop

We walked down to the river at one trailhead (don't remember the name of it) and there were a group of
Grey Jays in the trees. While we were watching a Sharp- Shinned Hawk started to harass the Jays! He kept dive bombing them and moving them from tree to tree. I don't think he was trying to catch them, just move them on.
Downy Woodpecker I would like to say it was a Hairy Woodpecker but I don't really think so.... But it might have been.... but I don't think so.....
Several Mystery Hawks flying. Who knows, I don't! One did look like a Red Tail Hawk so will count that one too.

Road into Denali National Park & at the Lodge

Juncos
Magpies *
Northern Harrier ( saw several of these hunting on our way out of the park)
Orange Crowned Warbler *
White Crowned Sparrows

Rock Ptarmigen * see pictures ---------------->

That was about all we saw while we were up there. Next time we go up I think we will try and get up there a few weeks earlier as a lot of the birds had already started their flights south. Also I think we will get a birding guide for at least one day. That really would add to the list!

I almost forgot, when we were landing in L.A. there was a Kestral flying next to the runway. I know it really wasn't in Alaska but I thought I would add it as it was so weird to see it so close to where we were landing. I think it was looking for the mice or ground squirrels that would be in the dirt area.

8 Life birds.

Thoughts on Returning Home

2005-09-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

I will do a post on the Alaska birds but first I thought I would put down some thoughts on our yard and all the birds there.

We got home Saturday evening after dark so it wasn't until morning that I could see how the yard made out.

Sunday morning when I woke up I could hear bunches of Goldfinches at the sock feeder by the bedroom door. I looked out and the sock was completely full of them. There were the "houses" pecking around on the ground and a Titmouse making lots of noise in the tree tobacco. I then got up and started the coffee and then walked out back while waiting for it to brew.

First thing I saw was all the empty feeders that I needed to fill! Then I heard a bunch of noise and looked up at the oriole feeder in the back corner of the yard and there were three young orioles fighting over the feeder. That one still had nectar in it. The ash trees on the side of the yard were filled with the normal birds, house sparrows and house finches. Then I looked up at the maple tree and there was a Wilson's Warbler hopping around eating ants. Next I could hear hummingbirds and looked up and there were two fighting over the one hummingbird feeder that still had food in it. I had been standing there under 5 minutes not making any noise, just looking at everything when JayJay came swooping in for peanuts! I got a peanut out of the can that I have on the back porch and he jumped up on my hand took the peanut and then stayed there for a minute "talking" to me! Guess he was either welcoming me back or most likely scolding me for leaving in the first place! He took off and Mrs came down next. I fed them peanuts for awhile and then went back in the house with a big smile on my face and got my coffee.

I love to travel and see new things but when we have a yard like this it is really nice to get back to see all our "old friends"!

Snapple fact #416

2005-08-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Many Butterflies and moths are able to taste with their feet.

Migration Directions?

2005-08-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

(Click on comic to read.)

The Orioles are Moving On

2005-08-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

I can tell that fall is getting close with the changes in the birds around the area. Even if the weather doesn't seem like it the birds sure know what the season is. Most of the adult Hooded Orioles have moved on. I don't think I have seen an adult male for over a week now. Harder to tell about the females as they look a lot like the youngsters. We still have quite a few of the young guys left though. They always hang out longer than the adults. Hey, talk about empty nesters wanting to Party!!!! Kids are out on their own and it is time for fun stuff! They don't even need to buy a RV!
They will head back up to our area around February of next year, raise a bunch of kids and then head back down for vacation. There are sometimes one or two that will stay in the area all year but I don't always see them every year. Most of them take off for warmer lands. I always look forward to seeing the first one of the season. They are such pretty birds. When they come back it is the breeding age males that come in first to stake out their territories so they are ready when the females make it in. They like to nest in the palm trees which we have several in the neighborhood.
In the small picture (click on it so you can see better) the female is on the top and male is down on the feeder. The larger picture is of a male. As in most all birds the female is fairly plain while the male gets lots of bright colors.

Grampa Pickles and the Hummers

2005-08-17T02:41:00.000-07:00

Lucky we haven't had the problem with the bees this year! (Click on comic to read. You can also click on the title to go to the comics. )

Chumash Interpertive Center Hike

2005-08-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday we took a late morning hike over at the Chumash Center. It was the first time we had been there to hike. I was over the a couple of years ago with Jessy when we took a very short hike and I remembered that there were a lot of Oak trees. I figured it was so late by the time I got ready that would be nice and shady and not as hot as hiking at Sierra Vista.
Kind of a quiet day as far as birds. We "saw" several up in the tree tops that we couldn't ID and heard several that we couldn't spot. We did get one life bird so it was a good day anyway. It is really nice over there. It opens up into the Lang Ranch Open Area. It is amazing how much open space we have around us here. There are so many places for us to go within a few miles of us.

Scrub jay
Black headed Phoebe
White-breasted Nuthatch (lots of these around)
Anna Hummingbird.
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Bushtits
Nuttall's Woodpecker (I thought we would see Acorns there but didn't. Heard alot more Woodpeckers then we saw though so they might have been there)
Cactus Wren
Titmouse (lots)
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher (new to us) Cute tiny bird there was a whole flock of them in one tree on the upper trail.
Cooper Hawk
Mule Deer Okay, not a bird but.... Lots of ground squirrels too.

The Chumash Center wasn't open so couldn't go in there. I have never been in so I don't know what it is like. Doesn't look like it is used much but not sure about that. They do have a couple of outside areas with huts (don't remember what they call them) and some pow wow gathering areas. Interesting place.

Equestrian Center Birding 8/11/05

2005-08-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

Paul and I took a quick walk over to the Equestrian Center across Janss Road on Thursday evening:

Say's Phoebe
Black Headed Phoebe
Mourning Doves
Crows Lots and Lots
House Finches
House Sparrows
Mockingbird
Scrub Jays
Western SeaGull
Juvenile Western Bluebirds (lots)
Kestral

They are everywhere!!

2005-08-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

News of the Weird

2005-08-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

While I was out in the sunroom talking on the phone to Ron this morning I was feeding peanuts to 7 Scrubjays! That would be all of the family if I am correct in how I am figuring who is who.
We have the parents; JayJay and Mrs. Then we have the "Youngsters" ; the three offspring from the first nest this year. Then we have the two "Babies" from the last nest. Yes, I found out there are two not just the one I thought there was. In another month I won't be able to tell anyone apart! They were all taking peanuts off the ground in front of me and a couple took them from my hand. I think more would but there was so much going on it was a little stressfull!
A couple of them came up and sat on the back of the futon and "talked" to me for awhile. It was like they were "telling" on the other ones. I know, don't read human behavior into their actions! (I forget, what is that called?)

One of the youngsters took a peanut opened it up and ate part of it. Then he took half of the peanut that was left and brought it over to the sunroom and jumped on my foot that I had over the arm of the futon. He then "hid" the peanut under my shoelace!!!!! He then went off and got another peanut, guess he thought that was a great hiding place!
They have taken to "knocking" on the peanut containers to get our attention so we will open the containers and feed them! They aren't shy with us at all!!!

Later this afternoon I was back out in the sunroom reading when I heard some bird on the futon in back of me. I was in the middle of a sentence so wasn't really paying much attention but thought it was one of the jays. When I finished what I was reading I looked around to say Hi to the Jay and to get him a peanut but there was a baby Titmouse chirping at me!! He was about a foot from my face "begging" for food!! The parent was up in the lattice in back of me going crazy!! The parent finally got his attention away from me and he went up and started begging from her. Talk about surprised!! The Titmouse is normally pretty shy around me but this baby sure didn't know that! They are a tiny bird with a cute little tuff on their head. They take a sunflower seed from the feeder one at a time and then they go and eat it in the bushes. When they are done they come back for more. One at a time each time.

All in all a great day at Plymouth Gardens!

Birds seen in or from yard 8/9/2005

2005-08-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the list of all the birds that I saw in the yard on Tuesday.

House Sparrow (many, many)
House Finch (again, too many to count)
Hooded Orioles
Black Headed Grosebeaks
Black Headed Phoebe
Crows
Cowbirds
Starlings
California Towhees
Spotted Towhee
Morning Doves
Lesser Goldfinches
White Breasted Nuthatch (one or maybe two)
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird
Allen's Hummingbird
Scrub Jays
Mockingbirds
Western Seagulls (seen flying over)
Turkey Vulture (seen flying over)
Another Hawk (most likely Redtail but didn't come close enough to tell)
Rock Dove (a flock of pigeons let out to fly from someones cage flying off by Windsor Drive)

Not bad for not leaving the house all day!

Brown-Headed Cowbird

2005-08-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

If a vote were taken tomorrow to find the most popular bird in the country, it's doubtful that the cowbird would win. That's because the cowbird has the nasty habit of laying its eggs in other birds' nests.
It all started back in the days when American Bison ruled the Great Plains. At that time a rather nondescript grayish or black bird followed the herds around, feeding on seeds in the abundant supply of buffalo excrement. Settlers on the plains came to calling these animals buffalo birds. But since the birds depended on wandering herds for food, they needed to wander as well if they wanted to survive. The problem, of course, is that wandering birds can't tend their nests. So the buffalo birds decided to leave their young in the care of other birds, an arrangement that seemed to work, at least from the buffalo birds' perspective. Then, during the 1800s, the prairies and buffalo disappeared, replaced by pasture and cattle. But the birds remained and started keeping company with cows instead of buffalo, eating insects in the grass, ticks on the livestock, and seeds and grain. The buffalo bird eventually became known as the cowbird.
A female brown-headed cowbird will watch potential host birds, such as song sparrows, chipping sparrows, phoebes, yellow and chest-sided warblers, and cardinals, as they build nests and begin laying their eggs. In the middle of the host's egg laying period, the female cowbird will sneak into the nest late in the afternoon, remove a host's egg, and then replace it with one of her own at dawn the following morning. Some hosts are hit more than once by cowbirds removing eggs and replacing eggs of their own.
The host birds, apparently unaware that one or more of their youngsters is an alien cowbird chick, will continue the rearing process. Sometimes, the cowbird chick grows faster than the host's own youngsters, and the larger chick may push the smaller chicks out of the nest. In the end, the host parents feed the baby cowbirds as if they were their own, and will protect them against predators until they are large enough to be on their own. From Enature.com

We get these birds around the house quite often. I can always tell they are around before I see them as they have a very high whistle that is very noticeableble. They hang out in in groups in parking lots like Costco with the Brewer's Blackbirds. I have never seen a baby cowbird getting fed by any other of the birds so I guess they don't bring them to the feeders before they are fully weaned or maybe I just haven't been looking at the right time.

Migration

2005-08-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

There are several Black -Headed Grosbeaks in the yard now. There is often one or two off and on during the year but now there are at least 6 of them. I have seen three males but I haven't got a good picture of those yet. They are more colorful with the head being completely black and bright rust orange on their breast and body. (Halloween birds) The rest are either young males or females. I like their voice, to me it seems real "sweet" and soft. They have very large and strong beaks. (Grosbeaks!) Click on the picture and it will enlarge so you can see how heavy the beak is.
They are on their way down to winter in Mexico. I was reading that near Mexico City they eat a lot of Monarch Butterflies. They will eat for several days and then stop for a week or so. Experts think that it is because of the poison in the Monarchs. The birds have to stop so they don't build up too much in their systems.
I wonder what else we will be getting during the migration period. Hard to believe it getting on to fall already!

New Kid on the Block

2005-08-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

A new Jay has shown up the last few days. I thought for awhile it was one of the last set of babies acting a little "needy" by begging for food again. I got a good look at him this morning and it is a new baby. There is only one new one so most likely only one egg survived this time. With what it is costing me in peanuts maybe it is a good thing!! I could tell this one is young as it still has some of the pink on his beak. I guess they have the bright coloring so the parents can find their mouths easier! It isn't afraid of me as he was begging and checking out the peanuts out back right next to me while I was reading the paper this morning. He won't come up to my hand yet but he was "talking to me". No one seems to be feeding him so his parents must think he is old enough to go on his own. In fact Mrs. was half heartily chasing him away. She would make a dive bomb run at him when she came down but then left him alone. He did find a few bugs on his own and finally figured out how to crack open a peanut. I shelled a couple and threw them down and next time he came back he went for those first. I know, I know, spoiling him already!

JayJay waiting for peanuts

2005-08-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

Yard birds and off site too

2005-08-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

I am starting to write about the all the birds in the yard and also the ones we see on our birding outings.
The most noteable activity is the increase in Hummingbirds. Just this week it seems that the numbers have doubled! We are getting several Blackchinned Hummers along with the normal Anna's and Allens. I now have 14 necter feeders! Four of these are Oriole feeders that the hummers can use also.
The Hooded Orioles are out in force this year also. I have no idea how many are around but I have seen as many as 6 at the back feeder and 4 at the feeder at the side. Mostly young with half a dozen adults. The young males have their black chins already. It took them along time to come to the fountain in the front of the house but they are now coming in the morning for their baths. They seem to like to come in groups.