birds — Page 61

Zinnias, Goldfinches and a Question or Two

August 5, 2012 at 9:23 am by Claudia

My first zinnia has bloomed. Yes, I know it’s a bit late but I seem to forget to put the seeds in the ground until late in the spring. I also planted some sunflower seeds. However, the plants that are coming up look suspiciously like the purple hyacinth bean vine that I planted in pots by the entrance to the dog corral.

I seem to have a problem with sunflowers.

Last year, a blogging friend sent me some giant sunflower seeds, which I excitedly planted. Whatever it was that came up was scrawny and I never saw a giant sunflower. Okay. So this year, I bought my own seeds and planted them. Something is coming up that bears no resemblance to the photo on the seed packet. In fact, yesterday I pulled out the seed packet (which I had saved in a drawer) to make sure that I had actually planted the seeds. I did. So what gives?

On another note: I caught a glimpse of this little goldfinch, who turned out to have a mate, flitting among the weeds on the edge of the property. I shot this through the mesh of the kitchen window screen, so it’s a bit fuzzy. He’d jump from flower to flower, sometimes hanging upside down. It was like watching a gymnastics competition.

Which brings me to a question I have about birds. In the last week or so, I no longer see birds at the birdbath. There was so much activity earlier in the summer and now….none. All of the rain and bird activity had dirtied up the birdbath, so I cleaned it out thoroughly, thinking that might be keeping them away. Still no birds. It’s so hot right now, I would think they’d be using the birdbath more than ever. And though I’m indoors a lot these humid days, I don’t even see them flying around. Where are they?

What gives? Does anyone out there have any information?

I miss them. That’s why I was so happy to see the goldfinches yesterday.

Other business: A few of you asked about the cabinets and plate rack I bought for the dollhouse kitchen. They are made by JBM Miniatures. I first discovered them on this site, but they no longer have them in 1″scale. They do still carry them in 1/2″scale. On checking the JBM site, I see they are also sold out. (This is why I decided to bite the bullet and purchase them the other day.) I found Grandma Holly’s House online and they had 2 left in stock. I just checked and there is still one available.

It’s a little more money than I would usually spend, but the units are so well made and are very high quality. The drawers open and are beautifully finished. To me, they were worth the investment. If you’re interested, I would click on that link as soon as possible. Good luck!

Happy Sunday.

What was I Thinking?

July 30, 2012 at 8:22 am by Claudia

It’s been awfully stormy around here lately. We’ve had quite a bit of rain and, unfortunately, lots of humidity. I noticed yesterday that the large brown patches of grass that I’ve been seeing everywhere have disappeared. It’s good for the garden, the grass and our well. But I know many of you are facing endless days of of hot, dry weather and my heart goes out to you with the wish that rain will come to you soon.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I love birds. I watch them, worry about them, give them water to drink and generally delight in their presence.

Recently, I had just finished mowing the lawn, which means I was pretty tired, and was in the process of putting the mower back into the shed. I often clear out the grass that has collected under the mower before I put it away. This time there was a lot of wet grass underneath that I pulled out in chunks.

The shed has two windows and two window boxes. After I had put the mower away, I noticed a lot of dry grass in the corner of one of the window boxes. Since I had grass on my brain, I grabbed the pile of grass and put it on the ground, wondering where it had come from.

A week or so later: same scenario, same discovery. I again pulled it out of the window box, wondering if the grass had fallen there somehow. (I know. You’re thinking: Uh, Claudia…just how would that happen?) It wasn’t until later that day that I realized it might be a nest. It was so loosely thrown together, with no real defined shape, that I thought it was simply a clump of grass.

I retrieved it from the ground, looked closely at it and saw a little scooped-out area. Oh. Definitely a bird nest. But no eggs. It clearly had been recently constructed.

I put it back. Here’s a photo of it, but believe me, when I first discovered it, I didn’t see anything other than grass.

I felt like an idiot.

For some reason, I googled ‘nests of mourning doves” and read that they are very loosely constructed. Oh no. What if my beloved mourning doves were trying to build a nest and I had messed with it?

The nest has been back in the window box for a week now. No activity. Do you think I should take it out of the box and hope they try again? Or do you think they’ve given up on me and have built another one elsewhere? I also read that they will abandon a nest rather quickly if they feel threatened in any way.

What was I thinking?

A Mourning Dove takes a Dip

July 21, 2012 at 6:21 am by Claudia

When I was a kid, one of my favorite sounds was the call of the Mourning Dove. I didn’t have any idea what kind of bird made that sound and I probably didn’t care; I just loved the sound. It’s a haunting, beautiful, mournful sound. I was drawn to it for the same reason that I like music in a minor key. It touches my heart.

When Don and I lived in San Diego, we made a bird feeder out of a wooden tray placed on an old iron sewing machine base. It sat in the center of our backyard and hundreds of Mourning Doves would stop by each day to chow down. I could look out at that bird feeder from my office and see 20 or 30 mourning doves standing on the tray, sharing a communal meal.

Since we’ve moved East, mourning doves haven’t been on the property. Until this year. A pair of doves has taken up residence and I see them quite often. And I hear their beautiful call.

The other day, I spotted one of them in the birdbath! That’s a first.