It's a JUNGLE out there!

10 years ago

I'm very much a nature and wildlife lover, so I've been really interested in the population of animals ( of the 4, 6, and 8-legged persuasion) on my own property. Here are some recent observations:

Birds galore. Fledglings constantly harassing their parents for food, whining and begging.
Cowbirds have parasitized finch and sparrow nests resulting in those big, gawky cowbird babies badgering their tiny 'moms' 24/7.
Baby rabbits, chipmunks, and squirrels in high population. But probably not for long because....
I've seen a big healthy coyote trotting across our backyard with a squirrel in its mouth and one trotting down the middle of the street. Both sightings in daylight hours.
Spotted a gorgeous red fox in the backyard......hope he finds a chipmunk or five.
I belong to a neighborhood website and there have also been several bobcat sightings, with pictures! Excited about that!
We have an armadillo living under our shed (we think). It digs little, ankle breaking holes everywhere.
It's been a bad season for black widow spiders. Well, good for them but bad for us. It requires routine inspection of outdoor spaces and furniture. BWs are nocturnal hunters.....not especially comforting to know that when relaxing outside of an evening.
Lightning bugs are going crazy! I've had the joy of teaching the little girls next door how to collect them in a clear jar for a little blinking lantern. We set them free after an hour.
Aphids are going to town on my big vegetable garden. Other than water sprays and squishing, I may have to get the insecticidal soap out.
There have been numerous postings in that neighborhood website about missing cats. Some cat owners just don't understand that their outdoor cats are lunch for coyotes, bobcats, and fox.
There's a mockingbird that sings ALL NIGHT LONG in a neighbor's tree. Crazy.
There is a large jumping spider that is the boss of our front porch. I love it...fearless, busy, active all day long. It actually comes out to enforce the rules whenever anyone approaches the front door.

Featured Answer

socks

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

How cool, you have a doorman! I enjoyed hearing about all your critters. Be careful of the spiders. At least don't reach your hand into outdoor places where you can't see.

It's 5 AM, and I am listening to our local peacock calling out. It's not a lovely sound.

Flock of parrots, but they sleep in.

We have many lizards, most with no tails.

Squirrels, many.

Coyotes, skunks, opossums, raccoons.

Insects mostly not a a problem except for the ants

I've seen a couple of monarch butterflies and saw the first caterpillar this week. It bothers me that I do not see their chrysalises, just the caterpillars.

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Comments (23)

User
10 years ago
We think we saw another small alligator in a neighborhood pond last night and a lot of turtles and bull frogs to hang around with or be eaten by it. I saw a coyote at dusk a couple of weeks ago. We see lots of herons, cranes, ducks, hawks, doves, and grackles here. I think I have some fledgling mockingbirds in my front flowerbed. I have at least one or two butterflies in my yard at almost all times. I bring Monarch caterpillars inside to raise when I can. I currently have ten chrysalises and two caterpillars ready to turn into chrysalises today. We see lots of rabbits hanging around when we go for our walks. The sidewalks are covered with lots of toads eating the huge mosquitoes and other bugs.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked User
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The cleaning & sorting are finally done, so these are the results. This will cover everything except cowpeas, yardlongs, and soybeans, so my apologies for the length. After germinating normally, all beans, and most cowpeas, went through an extended period of stunting for most of June & part of July. The degree of stunting, and its duration, varied substantially between varieties; many were over a month behind. Because of this, I considered DTMs this year to be aberrations from the norm, and did not record them. Common beans: * Bird Egg #3 - pole shelly. Initial planting with 2007 seed had poor germination. I culled the sub-standard 2010 seed (over 75% was discarded) and replanted the gaps, with good results. Plant spacing was 2 @ 12" this year, to judge the effect on yield & seed size. Seed size was notably smaller. The plants recovered from stunting & really took off in late Summer. 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Somewhat rangy bushes, recovered fairly late from stunting, but still produced a fair crop. The white seeds are long & nearly cylindrical, about 3X as long as wide, many with blunt ends. The shape is so distinctive that I could probably mix them with Great Northern, and still separate them fairly easily. Since this was a seed increase, I only ate a few shellies; but those were sweet, and of good quality. * Czechoslovakian - pole purple snap. This was the least affected by the stunting, and growth was exceptionally vigorous in the heat. Flowering & pod set were heavy, and the pods showed no stunting whatsoever. I had previously grown this one in pots, and like Bosnian Pole before it, the increase in vigor when grown in fertile ground was striking. So was the seed increase; with over 5 pounds, it tied BE#3 for highest yield... but in only 16 feet of row, as compared to 72 for BE#3. I only ate one meal, wish I had tried freezing them. * Dolloff - pole shelly/dry. This was quick to recover from stunting, had a heavy pod set, and was the first pole bean to produce dry seed. I would estimate its DTM at about 90 days. While the seed quality was very good, the pods had poor seed count, probably due to the heat. This means the yield potential is most likely higher than what I observed... which would make it quite high. The seed is pink as a shelly, drying down orange -> tan w/brown spots. 12 feet of row yielded 4# 3 oz. * Fortex - pole green snap. This was severely impacted by the stunting; it was over a month late. I was picking yardlongs for several weeks before these even started (!!!) which is a reversal of what would happen in a normal year. They came on strong in September, so I was able to freeze a lot... still, the performance this year was disappointing. The row dedicated for dry seed produced 2 pounds, but more than half of the pods were still unripe when cut down by frost. * Isla - pole shelly/dry. In habit, pod, and seed, this resembles a slightly smaller, more purplish version of True Red Cranberry... I suspect they are closely related. It has a very late DTM, and being forced to recover from a severe hail storm this year certainly didn't help. There were no dry pods before the freeze, so I picked all of the pods that day & dried the ripest ones indoors. The seed appears to be mostly OK, about a pound or so. The flavor is really good, I wish this had a shorter DTM. * Light Brown Zebra - bush dry. This never really recovered from the stunting, and was far less vigorous than it was when I last grew it. The small seeds are beige with black stripes, held in pods which shrink down tightly around the seed as they dry & offer outstanding protection against rain. Collected a pound of seed, it should have been at least twice that. * Poletschka - pole, uncertain use. Started as transplants. I only grew a few plants in pots, and since I was trying for maximum seed increase, I only snacked on one pod raw. Can't remember my impressions of the taste, and apparently didn't write them down. :-( Green pods that shrink down tightly as they dry, with oblong, glossy, purple-black seeds that look almost metallic. The DTM was fairly late. With 3 ounces of seed, I hope to do a larger growout next year for seed increase & evaluation. * Portugal - pole shelly. Failed. This is a shelly similar to BE#3. The vines appeared to be diseased, so no seed was saved, and the plants were destroyed. * Schwarze Witwe - pole wax. I'm told that the name translates as "the veil of old widows", which is a reference to the seed coloration. This was stunted in June, then severely damaged by hail in early July just as it was beginning to climb. However, the plants sprouted new runners & made an impressive recovery. Small 4-5" yellow pods, curved, completely stringless in all stages. The seed is small, very glossy, with fine buff spotting over a deep purple/black background... almost the same purple/black color as Poletschka. Nearly all seed dried before frost, so under less difficult conditions, this should do well here. * Soissons Vert - pole shelly/dry. Finally got a large planting to mature!!! Seeds are lime green as shellies, pea green when dry. These were inexplicably trying to vine on the ground (one other pole bean did this), only beginning to climb in late July with considerable assistance on my part... after which they grew normally. They just made it before frost, but produced a heavy crop. Froze a lot of shellies (somewhere around 20 pints, I lost count) and collected over 4 pounds of dry seed. * Uzice - semi-bush shelly/dry. As discussed on a previous thread, I had to rename this. It was originally sent to me with no name, so I called it Serbian pole, after its place of origin... only to find out that name was already being used in Canada & the U.K. for a different bean (which I hope to grow in the future). Another seed saver in Canada had obtained the same seed from my source & named it Uzice, so I have followed suit. This cultivar was severely stunted, and while it never fully recovered, it still produced an OK crop. Allegedly this is a bush variety, but grown without support, I found the 4-5 foot runners to be unruly; I will probably grow it again on a trellis. The seeds are large, and resemble a slightly smaller version of Porcelain in coloration, mostly white seeds with a patch of tan with maroon specks around the hilum. That resemblance to Porcelain does not extend to the flavor; the shellies are sweet, firm, and of excellent quality. This was a fairly large planting (39 feet of row) but because of the severe yield reduction due to stunting, I didn't freeze any. Collected 3 pounds of dry seed, though, and had a couple meals of shellies just before frost. * Uzice Speckled Wax - pole wax. From the same GW source as Uzice above. These were started early as transplants. Like Soissons Vert, the plants were severely stunted early, and reverted to almost a bush habit until mid-July... at which time they sent out numerous creeping runners. Once trained to the trellis, these began climbing normally, and I would judge the vines as having fully recovered. Flat, curling, yellow, 6" Romano-type snaps of fine flavor. Good shellies, but had enough of other varieties that I didn't eat any. Was able to save 2.5 pounds of seed. * Woods Mountain Crazy Bean - bush snap. Glad I tried this in a hot year! Seeds were started as transplants. While they were stunted in early June, the plants were very quick to recover, and IMO were only minimally affected. Incredibly lush foliage, forming a dense canopy over the beans; planted on 12" centers, the canopies overlapped to completely obscure the ground. The branching was very heavy, like what I would expect of a pole bean or bush lima. The root system was the most extensive I have seen from a bush bean, which probably accounts for its heat tolerance. I was actually late finding the beans, since they were not visible until I tipped a plant over to examine it! The snaps are round, creaseback, 6" long, and borne in large numbers. The flavor was exceptional (comparing favorably with Fortex) with a moderately firm texture. My only complaint would be WMCB's late DTM, which made it a challenge to get dry seed... but then, I suspect this is a bean well adapted to the South, and poorly adapted here. The heavy canopy protected most of the pods from the first few frosts, so I was able to get 8 ounces of dry seed... but over half of the pods were lost to the hard freeze. While WMCB is too late for it to be practical here as snaps, it is a great bean for those in hot climates, and I will continue to grow it for preservation. Limas * Cave Dweller, Black Seed Coat - bush. A black-seeded variety from SSE's collection. Started from 2007 seed as transplants (peat strips with starter mix) and had poor germination. The seeds had been planted vertically (eye down) and seemed to have trouble breaking free. Replanted in pots filled to within 3/4" from the top with packed starter mix, laid seed on its side, and covered with screened play sand. This method resulted in about 90% germination, so it will be my default method for starting limas in the future. (Makes sense when you think about it, since flat seeds in nature would naturally fall on their sides.) These were transplanted into two locations; one of poor fertility, and one of better fertility. The best location was nearly flattened by hail, but the plants resprouted vigorously, and still surpassed those in the less fertile soil that had escaped the hail! Heavily branched bushes, densely covered by flowers. The flower spikes were longer than many pole limas I've grown, flowered over a very long period, and attracted large numbers of bees & skipper butterflies. This was followed by a heavy pod set. The seeds are deep purplish black, and slightly wider & flatter than Sieva, although their seed weight was comparable (at around 60/ounce). As shellies, they had stronger flavor than Sieva, though not as strong as some (such as the Hopi limas). Nearly all ripened (even with the setback due to hail) and there was almost no shattering. From 35 plants, had several meals of butterbeans, and harvested 3.5 pounds of dry seed. * Sieva, Mottled - pole. Started as transplants by same methods, and with same results, as above. Vigorous, heavily-branched vines; I experimented with both 24" and 30" spacing, and 24" seemed to be optimal. Fusion had suggested that I grow 75 feet of white Sieva two years ago, which failed due to weather... but I tried the same length of row this year with Mottled Sieva. With all of the extra heat, and with frequent deep irrigation, the vines were healthy & produced a good crop. While the mottling on the dry seeds was similar, there appeared to be two races; one with black mottling, and one with light maroon or lavender. The seeds are a little smaller than the white-seeded Sieva, (at 69/oz. vs. 60/oz.), and the yield did not appear to be as heavy; but about 80-90% of the pods had ripened before the killing frost. We ate a few meals, gave a lot of shellies away, and harvested just under 22 pounds of dry seed. You have no idea how much seed that is, shelled entirely by hand; by my math, I would estimate around 10,000 pods. (:-o My hats off to DW, who was absolutely tireless in that endeavor... a legumaniac after my own heart. Runner Beans * Bianco de Spagna - white seeded. Failed. Severe stunting, mostly fatal; they never really recovered. The few plants that just barely hung on (I didn't have the heart to pull them out) didn't even flower until very late August / September. The pods harvested just before the killing freeze were usable as shellies, but there was nothing mature enough to save for seed. The curse continues, this seems to be the only runner I can't get seed from. * Gigandes - white seeded. These were slow to start, but were less affected by the the stunting, and were the first beans in that plot to begin climbing. Unfortunately, the vines were stripped by hail in early July. The plants responded by sending out new runners, and made a remarkably rapid recovery... but they were set back by at least several weeks. Dry seed only began ripening about 10 days before the killing freeze. Was able to harvest a lot of shellies, and 11 ounces of dry seed... which will be used for a larger seed increase next year, hopefully under better conditions. Over all, despite a few setbacks, it turned out to be a really good year for seed saving. Of 106 seed crops I planted for preservation, 94 were successful. 59 of those were legumes, including 80 pounds of various beans, and 40 pounds of soybeans. Much of my older stock has been replenished (such as BE#3 & Soissons Vert), and I found a few new varieties that proved to be keepers. I will continue with the results for peas & miscellaneous legumes later in this thread; my final observations for cowpeas & soybeans will follow on other threads.
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It's a jungle out there
Q
Comments (10)
SOOOOO fabulous!! Do you ever allow people to tour your garden? I am not traveling much because of gas these days but normally my hubby and I take road trips every weekend. If gas ever becomes reasonable again I would love to see your jungle. My priority next year is to find some truly hardy bananas for this area - the bananas I have now probably are not. I am new to tropicals. Just today I moved some more EEs and cannas and am preparing some areas to winter over bananas(successfully I hope). I think I have found my gardening 'home'. To me there is nothing more energizing and relaxing at the same time than a lush tropical garden.
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PLF (Middle TN, Zone 7a)
10 years ago
I have enjoyed watching two rabbits every morning and evening hopping along the back part of our yard. In the morning they are usually in my neighbors yard munching on their clover for breakfast. Tuesday of this week I stopped seeing them at all! I wonder if something got them :(
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked PLF (Middle TN, Zone 7a)
chisue
10 years ago
I think our coyotes have returned. I haven't heard any yet, but we *were* overrun with rabbits. Now, not so much. There's a deer path along a creek at the side of our yard, so we see lots of 'critters'. One morning DH almost backed the car out of the garage over a platter-size snapping turtle. We called the city, and they sent two guys out to 'relocate' it to the side of the creek -- carefully.

We're hearing what I think is some kind of wren. What bird has an enormous repertoire of songs? It sings on and on and on without repeating.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked chisue
Elmer J Fudd
10 years ago
I'm not big on creatures or insects of any kind, probably because of my urban (LA) childhood. My hillside neighborhood does have some mammalian wildlife like skunks, raccoons, deer and the very occasional coyote.

You creature lovers could do both of us a favor by making sure that all these fauna that you share your homes and yards with are very happy and want to stay with you, so that they won't want to come visit me.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked Elmer J Fudd
eld6161
10 years ago
WE have deer, rabbits, coyotes, turkeys, and once I saw a red fox!
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anoriginal
10 years ago
For being in burbs (less than half an hour from Philly), it's a bit of a jungle here in NJ, too. Five minute walk up the street and there's a nice park/playground area. You have to be VERY careful t dawn and dusk... deer. Most times none, but other could be 10-12 or more just grazin' in the grass by the tennis courts and seesaws.

I "think" sound I've heard at night is either a fox or possibly coyote. Have seen foxes and have been told there are coyotes in immediate area.

LOTS of wild turkeys! Either really cocky or really DUMB! They walk right out in front of you, almost daring you to hit them. Would be easy enough to do coming around a curve. One township over it's ILLEGAL to feed them! Seems the turkeys started shaking down walkers/joggers at local school tracks looking for food!

Groundhogs have taken up residence under about every shed in neighborhood. Often see a BIG one in my back yard that's gotta weigh 15 pounds or more!

Has been a while but know I won't ever forget actually SEEING a red-tail hawk snatch an unsuspecting squirrel right off my lawn! I cheered a little bit!

No black bears in immediate area YET! Sure hope I have my phone handy to take pics when it eventually happens.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked anoriginal
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
Original Author
10 years ago
Chisue, your bird is probably the infamous songster, a Mockingbird. "And now, the musical stylings of Mr. Mockingbird, performing for hours on end for your personal enjoyment."
morz8 - Washington Coast
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
I think I'd have to describe here as more forest, or farm like than jungle like ;) Nothing too exotic. An occasional raccoon, and chipmunks that haven't caused any real problems other than they plant sunflowers for me in unlikely spots. And I've seen very few chipmunks this year, do not know why other than we've had an owl visiting....? A pair of eagles we see overhead often but they aren't nesting close by that I know of. People who walk the new road they put in here on the hilltop to our hospital have reported a bobcat but I haven't seen it. Lots of birds (many hummingbirds who barely let us share their space), I had a newt on the patio last week. A rabbit every so often but not yet this season. Rarely does anyone's cat or dog roam in this neighborhood.

I have seen one squirrel here in this coastal town in my lifetime, just last year. A red squirrel in my cherry tree. I heard it across the street the next day but haven't seen it again.

There are deer almost daily. None have brought this years fawns into the yard yet but it should be soon. It's a love hate relationship, I enjoy watching them but they've changed my whole approach to gardening and caused some major disappointments for me with things I've tried to grow.

We had bear last year when I'd never seen any inside city limits. Several, and one in our yard on a Sunday afternoon. It came consecutive nights in a row and climbed the apple trees at the neighbor below us - we stood outside with flashlights and watched it from our yard above. Unusual enough that DH called his sister one night to see it too, they came down in their pajamas to view...
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mojomom
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Sorry for the quality of the pics, but visiting our building lot this week we saw a bear:

And the day our current vacation home went under contract -- hopefully clearing our way to to build on the lot, we drove by and saw a western bluebird perched on our lot sign.

Then the next morning, our son-in-law saw this outside the current house:

We also saw several coyotes and fox in the neighborhood this week. All within the city limits.
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Alisande
10 years ago
I haven't seen even one deer on our property this spring, and that's very unusual. Normally we are host to a slew of them, along with fawns. As when I took this picture few years ago.

We've always had a flock of turkeys--up to 16--who patrol the property, looking for ticks (I hope!). But this year I've seen three together and a couple of singletons.

When we first came to Pennsylvania around 1970 I hand-tamed the wild birds, which at the time included Evening Grosbeaks in addition to the usual songbirds. I remember a migrating flock of redpolls landing all over me because they saw the grosbeaks doing it. A few years later, at my present house, we added towhees, thrashers, bluebirds and others to the list. One year a flock of waxwings came by and cleaned the berries off the Autumn Olives. But for the past couple of decades all these have been absent. I heard a couple of orioles this year, but didn't see them.

I have a large jumping spider living in the well below my Caprice's windshield. I don't know what he's finding to eat down there, and I worry about turning on the wipers, but every so often he makes an appearance.

Oh, and apparently the tent caterpillars are alive and well, as I've been picking them off my climbing rose. And the slugs are thriving.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked Alisande
maire_cate
10 years ago
We just returned from a 4 day trip to our place in NE PA - not too far from Alisande. We had planed on staying longer but had to come back to NJ because our contractor unexpectedly announced he's showing up tomorrow.

But this was an unusual week for wildlife in the woods of PA. We saw a pair of scarlet tanagers - they landed on the deck railing and sat for several minutes. In the 20 years we've been going there we've only seen the male a handful of times - and we've never seen the female because she's green and blends into the trees. DH went to turn on the outside hose bib and nearly stepped on a 36" long rattlesnake, last year it was copperheads. But we also spied a sharp shinned hawk, a box turtle and lots of little toads along the driveway, a pair of turkeys, 3 or 4 deer, and this is the first time we saw a dove and a pair of catbirds.

The winter was mild with only one major snow and the ground is littered with acorns- we've never seen so many chipmunks and squirrels - our barred owls should be nice and fat this year!
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Alisande
10 years ago
Well, Maire_Cate, now I know where my wildlife is going! Although I must say I've never seen a rattlesnake or copperhead here, only harmless snakes. I'm not complaining!
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked Alisande
caflowerluver
10 years ago
For the first time in 30 years we have had to put up with a flock (murder) of crows. Very loud! Lots of larger than normal lizards, 8-12". A large barn owl has been roosting in the trees. Haven't see one in over 10 years here. A lot of baby deer. I have been noticing several birds I have never seen before at the bird feeder. Don't know what kind.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked caflowerluver
socks
10 years ago
Mojo, you probably know the bluebird is the symbol of happiness, so that sign is perfect. I'd have that picture framed!
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked socks
mojomom
10 years ago
Thanks socks and yes, we took it as a good omen. I just wish the pic was better. DH is a bird lover and I'm sure once we get settled the birds will know where we live because because he always keeps bird seed out. There are also hummingbirds out there, but we can't use a hummingbird feeder right out the window as we do in the sout because they are bear magnets.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked mojomom
gyr_falcon
10 years ago
socks, I know what you mean about those caterpillars. They can really travel! I have found the chrysalis 35' away from any milkweed.

mojomom, I think that is a mountain bluebird. They are a really beautiful blue! Great photos of the bear and moose. And yours of the deer, Allsande. Our deer, relatively few in number, stay in the wilderness areas and away from the yards.

---------------------

We have been seeing a lot of opossums, the red squirrels, and lots of resident birds and the stragglers of the migrating birds. The days are beginning to get hot, so nothing too exciting here.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked gyr_falcon
Annie Deighnaugh
10 years ago
We regularly see deer, turkey, coyote, geese, ducks, muskrat, turtles, snakes, and chipmunks with the occasional mink or weasel. Lots of birds, many of whom wake me up at 4:45 a.m. now.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked Annie Deighnaugh
bob_cville
10 years ago
I just posted a thread about a recent new visitor to our yard, a black bear. It it I have pictures of other animals spotted in our yard. The total list of positively identified animals would be:

Mammals: Black bear, red fox, gray fox, skunk, opossum, raccoon, cottontail, groundhog, white tailed deer, stray beagles, stray hunting hound, stray domestic cats, stray cow.

Reptiles: Box turtle, Snapping turtle, Eastern fence lizard, American five-lined skink, Eastern Rat Snake (aka Mr. Bitey), Eastern gartersnake, Common ribbonsnake, Mole Kingsnake

Frogs, Toads, tadpoles

WIld turkey, Turkey vulture, Black vulture, Red-tailed hawk, Screech owl, Pileated woodpecker plus many smaller birds.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked bob_cville
moonie_57 (8 NC)
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
What a cool thread, rhizo! I've been wanting to post to it since the weekend but had my BIL here visiting. Retirement has opened up a whole new world to me in my backyard. Back in the winter many of you helped me when I started feeding the birds again and now I know many of my frequent visitors quite well. And I've been having the time of my life! Who needs vacation?

I've been feeding the hummers for years and they stay my number 1 in terms of enjoyment. Not long ago I posted on another thread that I feared my little dark-headed boy was gone. Fortunately, it seems I was just missing him during all the storms we were having. This is his 3rd year at my feeders and he has always furiously defended them. Lately he has been allowing free passage to the Mother Hummer and her two juveniles. I wonder if the two of them are ready to mate again. I have noticed the Mother Hummer has been trying to run off the two young ones. I love them all so much!

The mourning doves. Boy, someone was right when she referred to them as little piggies but I am so glad that I decided they were worth the extra seed it takes to keep them full and satisfied. I have 2 pairs and then a single male. He is called The Lonesome Dove. :) I do think he is lonesome and it makes me so sad. He sits on top of the shed roof, where I toss the seed, and coo's and coo's. Many times I've told him if he didn't act like such a jerk to other passing doves, he just might be able to find a mate that would put up with him! lol Now this might sound a little crazy, but I have made drawings of all the doves markings. Crazy, maybe, but I can now easily identify each one of them. I think the Lonesome Dove could be the young from last year of another pair that he did hang out with over winter. Now he has nothing to do with them and runs them off from feeding. Luckily they are able to get their share.

The Waxwing Cedars.... I first discovered how fun these birds are back in the winter when they were on my privet bushes. After they cleaned out those berries and moved on I really did miss them. But, right on the edge of the woods I have a huge mulberry tree so they were back recently until the berries were gone. Wow, they can be very loud! They would come in small flocks and sometimes I bet there were a hundred at a time. Now that they're gone it seems too quiet.

Yesterday, I don't know what I was seeing with the titmice but it was very interesting. They were making such a racket that I went to investigate. At first I thought babies were leaving the nest. I saw adults going for seed and then back to the baby. It appeared they were feeding it. Then I noticed that what I thought was a baby could have been an adult ruffling his feathers and flapping his wings in a mating ritual??? I don't know but wish I did. The reason I thought it was a baby was because it looked fuzzy/fluffy. But it looked like 3 or 4 others were feeding it. It was puzzling but interesting! A strange thing about the titmice is that they didn't seem to like my seed much until I threw out some parakeet seed to help stretch the last of the songbird seed I had. Now I'm throwing out a little parakeet seed every day and they keep coming back. They are also some noisy but fun birds.

With bird feeding, the biggest surprise to me has been the realization that it's the same birds that frequent your feeders. I guess I never gave it much thought or maybe thought that birds just flit from neighborhood to neighborhood. It's just so interesting to watch a strange cardinal fly in only to be run off by the resident cardinal. But that same cardinal doesn't mind that the wrens, blue jays and doves eat there.

Oh, I could go on and on but I won't. It should be obvious that I am thoroughly enjoying the birds! My entire backyard is closed in with a privacy fence so I don't see rabbits and deer, but I did have a run-in with a snake and it's fun to watch the squirrels in the trees.

Please excuse the length but I did enjoy putting to text some of my expeditions into the world of backyard birding. :)

I wish some of you would come back and give more detail about your skunks, mountain lions and bears!
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked moonie_57 (8 NC)
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
Original Author
10 years ago
Moonie, your observations sound like me....I love to watch the birds and love their very unique personalities. Hours of enjoyment. Thanks for posting!
linda_6
10 years ago
DH feeds our birds every Sunday and the crows know this. Sunday morning there is one crow hanging around waiting. I think he must be the spotter. We also have blue jays, cardinals, mourning doves, a few woodpeckers, and other birds that I don't know what kind. A few years ago we did see the blue bird of happiness. What a beauty he was. We also have squirrels, turkeys, chipmunks, deer, groundhogs, raccoons and I even seen an opposum. Chippy the chipmunk lives in my flower bed, so DH puts a little food there for him, but the birds usually get it before Chippy. LOL
moonie_57 (8 NC)
10 years ago
That's sweet that your DH feeds Chippy, linda! They are so cute but I thought most people hate them? I hope he doesn't start misbehaving and have to be told to get out! :)

You reminded me that I had forgotten my woodpecker story! This will be quick, I promise all of you! lol

So, I was sitting outside talking to my sister on the phone when, lo and behold, a pileated woodpecker landed on my fence! DH was in the house so when I finally got to tell him we had pileated visitor, he was skeptical and had to know all the sizing and shape details. The next day, there he was again! I couldn't believe he was back and DH got to see him, too. The next day.... rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat. We caught him red-peckered drilling holes in the fence! Now we've been running him off.

It's a JUNGLE out there!

socks

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