birds — Page 26

Day Eighty-Five

June 6, 2020 at 9:31 am by Claudia

Wild Roses – their scent is everywhere this morning.

Nature stories, all of which happened this morning:

• The other day I noticed that one of the ‘entrances’ that Henry used to go under the shed no longer had leaves blocking the opening. Some little creature had been cleaning up. I showed it to Don and said ‘Let’s keep an eye out.’ When one groundhog vacates his home, another often moves in. This morning, Don opened the door to make his trek up to the back forty to see the sun rise and there, on the ramp of the shed was a groundhog. Both of them were startled and the groundhog ran under the shed. When I got up Don told me about his encounter, saying it was a big, fat groundhog. Later, as I was sipping coffee, Don called out to me to look out the window and there was the groundhog, eating the grass. At one point he got on his hind legs to munch on some plants (thankfully, by the shed instead of in my garden, but it’s clearly time to keep a vigilant eye out for mischief.) He was last seen on the lilac side of the lawn. We’re pretty sure this isn’t Henry as he seemed a bit too spry. We’re not saying that definitively, but I think Henry would have made an appearance before now. This guy might be our new tenant. I also saw a deer running through the woods beyond the shed.

• Don went for a walk and after I finished what I was reading, I went out to the front porch to sit for a bit on the glider. I heard a loud whirring noise, couldn’t figure out what it was, looked up, and there was a hummingbird dining on my hanging plant.

• I got up, walked over to the garden and a big fat bumblebee was dining on the catmint. One of the biggest I’ve ever seen.

• Don came back. I made our second cup of coffee. We sat on the sofa in the living room. Don said that he saw something running up on the back forty. Maybe it was a cat? A fox? I got up to look, and saw a flash of something running – maybe a dog? If so, it was just a bit bigger than Scoutie had been. I went outside to the Secret Garden to get a peek, thinking if it was dog, it might need rescuing. I saw a large deer standing there placidly, staring at me. That was when I realized that the little animal running was a very young fawn. The fawn was running back and forth, very fast, just like a puppy does. We’d see it tear around a corner, disappear, then switch directions. Don used the word ‘gamboling.’ It was extraordinary. I’ve seen lots of young deer around here, but I’ve never seen one that young playing like that, gleefully running back and forth while Mom waited nearby. Oh my heavens, it just made my day. I’ll treasure that image for a long time.

I am always appreciative of where we live but never more so than on a morning like this. It’s going to be hot and humid later today, but this morning has been a gift.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Day Sixty-Six

May 18, 2020 at 9:54 am by Claudia

These wildflowers are everywhere right now. We have scads of them on the property. They’re so delicate and pretty.

We’ve been doing a lot of work on the property; so much so, that by about mid-afternoon, we’re exhausted! There’s always something to do here and since Don is really taking notice of things, he’s finding more and more little and big projects to do. He just carved out a path from our back forty through a bit of our woods that emerges on our neighbor’s back field, which is open and beautiful. I tried to do it a few years ago when Don was away, but I left it too late in the spring so it was very overgrown. We have so many wild roses/brambles on the property and they grow like wildfire. If we let them go, it’s already too late. As I’ve said before, we’re on ‘the edge of wild.’ Anyway, the path is meandering and lovely and the view at the other end is gorgeous.

I did a lot of weeding in the big garden bed and the beds by the shed. I’m going to sow my seeds today, about three weeks later than usual. We have some more debris to load on tarps. There’s also mowing to do but that can wait until tomorrow.

This morning, we were out of the house by 6:30 to fill my car with gas. The starter in Don’s car is acting funny so we thought my car should have a full tank of gas in case we need to rely on it exclusively. We also got gas for the lawnmower. And then we went to our local supermarket to see if they had any disinfectant wipes. We were the first ones in the door, but no wipes – one of the clerks said she hasn’t seen them on the shelves in weeks. No disinfectant spray, either. Darn. But somehow, we managed to buy another load of groceries while we were there. We go out so little that we want to take advantage of empty aisles and a relatively empty grocery store when we can. We were back home by 7:30, disinfected everything, and had our second cup of coffee together.

This is the robin’s nest that is nestled in the branches of the climbing hydrangea. It’s been there for a few years. There was no activity there last year, but this year some robins took it over and added to it. I saw the parents flying back and forth with worms, so they had some babies and they must have fledged a couple of weeks ago. I hope they lay a second round of eggs later this season. I see one of the robins flying in and out of there every once in a while, I suppose he or she is making sure no squatters have taken over the nest.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day Eighty-Five

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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