The wildlife rescues just keep coming. Strange how I'm out in the garden about 5 minutes every day lately but there's time enough to find animals in distress. This rescue did not involve downspouts or disassembly or even a creature in apparent distress. In fact it was only chance that I happened upon it.
Yesterday's cardinal nest in the bamboo was actually the second cardinal nest in a somewhat exposed spot that I've seen recently.
I often feel like early morning in the garden is the absolute best time to be out there. Even after pulling bamboo rhizomes for 30 minutes, boots caked with mud, the cool air no relief when wearing too many layers, something happens that makes the time special.
I was spending some time yesterday on what I call the "prairie" beds: weeding, planting. At one point toward the top of the hill I looked to my right and saw the turtle:
No, not the Final Frontier kind, although that's infinitely interesting too.
For the past few weeks it's pretty much been bird time in my garden. Although some of the species start nesting quite early (like the grackles and house finches), others start a bit later. Even others raise more than one brood a year, and if you add into the equation the different development times (some birds take longer to mature) you end up with a period of at least a couple of months where the sounds of begging nestlings or twittering fledgelings are almost constant.
I have a rare treat today. It's a post about a disappointment in the garden, with the best of intentions not producing the results that were hoped for. Plans that seemed so solid and promised great returns a month ago now reveal a major flaw -- through unexpected circumstances.
Oh, hello there! Can't really stop to chat right now, as I'm actually quite busy you see.
The other morning I looked through the bedroom window and noticed this russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) moving:
The house finch nest which has been a regular feature on my front porch for the last three years (or is it four?) has been productive this year again, with the second of the two broods almost ready to fledge.
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you're probably familiar with the finch nest. It's been a regular feature of my front porch for three years now, two broods a year. I posted about this the first year, then last year too, and then earlier this spring in the infamous bird rescue board post.
Where do you keep your bird rescue board? What do you mean "I don't have a bird rescue board?" How then do you jack up your porch roof when you need to free a frantic and frightened fowl? Maybe I should back up a little bit...
A while back I mentioned the nest that the house finches were building under my porch roof, but I haven't talked about it again since then. I always forget how quickly baby birds grow up, and if you don't watch almost every day you're going to miss something.
Last spring a pair of house finches made a nest at the top of the post on my front porch and raised a family. I was too slow removing the nest after they fledged, and they raised a second brood in the same nest. I suppose it could have been an entirely different pair of house finches, but that seems unlikely. After the second set of chicks left the nest, I waited to see if they'd raise a third family, but it seems like two is the limit. I then left the nest up for the rest of the summer and fall for no reason other than pure laziness.
Do you remember the finch nest on my front porch? It was built in April, used to raise some chicks, then used again in May to rear a second brood. By the time that last chick took flight, the nest was looking pretty sad -- it had quite a bit of bird "droppings" on it and around it. Once the last chick left I waited a while to see if the nest would be used again, but it wasn't, so I could have cleaned it up at that time.
With everything that's been going on here with wildlife (early mantis hatchings, kitten antics) plus all of the regular garden work, I've neglected to keep you up-to-date on the finch nest that is on our front porch.
If you remember, there is a house finch nest on our front porch. Here's one of the original images:
I've written before about the wrens that were building a nest in my garage and under my deck, and hung a birdhouse. I have not yet talked about this:
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