My wildlife visitors are either too far away or too quick on the wing for photos, so you'll have to use imagination instead:). Along the back of the yard stand several black cherry trees, whose fruit has been ripening in stages all month. The primary consumers are robins, with an occasional cardinal or oriole dropping by. I allowed the self-sown catnip along the vegetable garden paths to grow this year, as well as some alongside the deck, and observe the seed stalks being visited by groups of goldfinches. Suddenly I realize why the single plant from 20 years ago is now all over our acre! Red bee balm is planted in a whiskey barrel by the deck and is patronized by the hummingbirds every year. The other day, as I sat under a shade canopy on the deck, a female hummer zipped into view, pausing at a day lily blossom, then flew in between the deck posts and hovered about three feet away from me for 5-6 seconds, before flying off. I was wearing a muumuu made from very vividly colored floral fabric--including life size red hibiscus blossoms--so I surmise she was taking a closer look before deciding they weren't the real thing! The same day, I saw a pair of song sparrows apparently courting--lots of flying around after one another, culminating in some activity partly concealed by maple leaves--"what IS that male doing, just sitting there and--oops!" as the female suddenly flew out from behind the leaves and the male took off after her again. You can draw your own conclusions, LOL. And last but not least, robins nested in the white ash tree by my study window for the second year in a row. That particular tree grows clusters of witches' brooms along its branches, which seem ideal for concealing a nest. The day before the eggs hatched, the male aggressively drove off a squirrel which was thinking about climbing the trunk--after a couple of dive-bombing runs, he thought better of it...

spedigrees: They do look sort of like gigantic bumblebees, there's just something endearing about them (probably the only moth I can say that about). Jane: Does that chipmunk have a short tail or is it just the angle? I've noticed that I have at least two different chippies visiting my deck; one with a short tail and one with a long tail. I'd thought that maybe a predator had bitten off the tip of the short tail, but it could be genetic. The squirrels here come in two types - one type has a regular full tail, the other has a skinny tail (evolving into a rat?) Guthrie has been quiet lately. Possibly he noticed that I've moved all of the defoliated phlox to a new Phlox Protection Zone, fenced to keep him out. There's one phlox blooming there that he missed. Claire (trying out the new GW photo uploading feature. I just edited and rearranged my post and had to re-enter the photo file) Phlox Protection Zone

For some reason bluebirds are intent on forgetting their responsibilities and this is a good reason their attempts to nest end in failure. I'm sure they would have gone extinct if it wasn't for us! Unusual indeed. Last season I had one parent (male I believe it was) feeding the hatch-lings, and the female NEVER went in to feed the babies. That's if my memory is serving me correctly. This is my 6th season, so it's getting hard to remember what exactly happened when. In one case here in Ohio, it was 70 degrees one evening - nice and warm - the babies were ALL gaping like crazy! The blues didn't seem to feed their young AT ALL. I was SO mad! This resulted in the ENTIRE clutch starving to death the next day when it was cold, blustery, cloudy, and only 50 degrees. The mom continued brooding but the young were doomed. I pulled the poor things out of the nest, buried them, and called it a day. Sounds like things are getting better. Unfortunately I suffer set-backs nearly every season. This time the 1st egg of the season disappeared. Could have had a full clutch by now! Sometimes it's just irritating seeing these birds become so careless, but so long as the parents stay alive, everything will be okay. I'm just not fortunate to have many successful attempts each season despite doing so many things right. Good luck from here on out! ~Tim~

I'm sharing this to lift the spirits of those who have tried to help and been met with sad results. I hope this gives hope to anyone who wants to try and save an abandon baby. Rescue centers try to tell that you have to be licensed/certified (and that you can't transport them over state lines...like the bird knows) and that they can't help or give advice and you're breaking the law. We are animal people with a small farm and have raised baby chics from eggs, so I felt confident we could do this and be successful. Not to mention I couldn't let a living thing perish under our very eyes. I had a nest with 2 eggs in a helmet in my garage and an active Mom who trusted us being in and out quite frequently and looking in on her. After hatching (7 days a go) only one hatchling remained and no sign of egg shells or Mom. After almost 24 hours of no Mom, we decided to intervene by feeding and keeping warm. We named her Stimpy the Wren. The hatchling can live for 24+ hours as it absorbs what is left of the egg inside (we learned this hatching chickens). To feed the bird, we soaked and mashed cat food (12 pieces) in sugar water (1tbsp water with a sprinkle os sugar), then added a pinch of mashed egg yolk to the mix. We take a pea size amount and warm it up (for 6-7 seconds in the micro). I made several tsp size batches and froze them for the days ahead. She eats a pea size amount every hour via tweezer from 8am- 10pm. She was eating 1 tsp over 2 days, now she eats 1 tsp a day. A week later her eyes are opening and today she made her first audible peep today to eat! Her feathers are coming in rather quickly, she has doubled in size, eyes are opening and she tries to hop around in circles in her nest. She poops once for every 2-3 feedings or so and we remove it with q-tips to keep her and the nest clean and free of bacteria. We are being careful not to imprint on her and vice versa as we want to return her to the wild. Things we are being mindful of: we don't handle her; she stays in her nest in a box on a heating pad with a small dish of water to create some humidity (**not for drinking, they cannot drink or be given water this young or they will drown...her water comes from the food we've prepared, water can be offered in a shallow dish once they are fledglings and able to dip their own beaks**); it is quiet and dark with little to no voices and we stopped parking in the garage on day one; it remains quiet and there is nothing loud to startle her; we keep all of our dogs/cats out of the space. We will have to give her a bigger area (store bought bird cage from what I've read) so she can begin to hop and flap about and incorporate bugs into her diet. Below is a useful website if anyone encounters an orphaned hatchling/nestling or needs more information: http://www.2ndchance.info/insecteater.htm. FYI: a fledgling is the last phase of growth and by then the bird is well on its way to flying and independence, best to let nature take its course at this point unless it is injured. I am hopeful that all I have read and tried thus far will aid this little one into a happy bird life and I hope to have been helpful to other readers, this process is trial by fire just like having a newborn baby!