Back Yard
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Playing It Cool on a Hot Day
While eating lunch today, I spotted a reddish lump in the leafy heights of the back yard. Sure enough, it was a red squirrel.
Eventually it adjusted for more comfortable power-lounging — or, to use the technical term, splooting:
I know just how he feels. What a perfect way to experience a hot day!
Meanwhile, in the grass, a gray squirrel we’ve dubbed Stefan Spendidtail was in full sploot as well:
I’m not sure what they call a robin that’s tipsy from the heat, but this one seemed to be savoring the mere idea of the bird bath. It perched with this quizzical expression for several minutes before taking the plunge.
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Red-Headed Woodpecker
Never in my life have I seen a red-headed woodpecker — till one day recently when this one showed up at our bird feeder and spent a day or two in the brush beyond our back yard. It was taking seeds and storing the in the bark of trees, so we hoped it might find this a hospitable place to stay for the summer. But it apparently moved on.
My father has spoken before of seeing one when he was 6-years old. It raised young in a dead tree in front of his house. The city cut down the tree the following year, and there were no more woodpeckers.
All About Birds lists them as in steep decline. I guess they are more common farther to the south, but I suspect this is a once-in-a-lifetime sighting. I felt very blessed.
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Last Glimpses of Summer
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Out the Window
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What do they put in this stuff?
Along with the bluebirds, pileated woodpeckers have shown an interest in the suet this year. We had one come once or twice years ago, but this one — part of a family of the majestic birds that frequent the dead ash trees out back — seems quite interested.
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Bluebirds?
We’ve seen bluebirds very rarely in the 24 years we’ve lived here. For some reason, this year we’ve had 3 or 4 pairs take up residence over the last several weeks, eating at the bird feeder. I thought you needed mealworms to attract these lovely creatures, but it seems peanut flavored suet is enough.
The bluebird is New York’s state bird. I so enjoy these small, fluffy bursts of color in an otherwise drab setting.
My daughter took the picture above, as well as this next one:
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Backyard Drama
What a story I witnessed this week as I rose from working at the kitchen table and glanced out the window.
A Cooper’s hawk was wrestling a starling to the death. By the time I looked out, the starling was motionless as the hawk pressed down with its talons, patiently squeezing out its life. Eventually it started plucking out beaksfull of feathers in preparation for its meal.
But as I turned away, I heard the starling start screeching. Looking out, I was astonished to see it fighting back against the startled hawk. This is an unfocused picture, but it gives the general sense of it:
Even more shockingly, after a few moments, the Cooper actually gave up and flew into a tree. The starling flew into a different tree. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a mound of reddish fur in the back corner of the yard: a fox, watching curiously. It came out across the lawn and investigated the scene of struggle.
It probably saved the starling’s life, attracted by the uproar and appearing at just that moment. I’m not sure whether the bird will survive whatever wounds it sustained, but the sight of such a remarkable string of events was an amazing gift.
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Sunflowers
Just when they look their ugliest to me, they are most attractive to the wildlife.
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Bluebirds
They’re our state bird, but we don’t see much of them.
They pass through this time of year, traveling in a small flock, and stay for a few days before moving on.
Somehow it’s often on a drab day that we look out and see them searching for insects or puffed out for warmth.
Lovely little spots of color among the branches, and part of the changing pattern of this place.
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Garden Sightings
Great Spangled Fritillary 
