Back Yard
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Nighttime Visitor
We had a visitor in our suburban yard the other night. Though we slept through it all, a bear is surely the one who bent our bird feeder pole to the ground, ripped off the suet cage, and feasted on sunflower seeds and suet.
We left it in disarray for the day and the following night, despite the disorientation of the offended birds. It’s back up now and we’ve had no return visits. Hopefully the culprit will be in hibernation before too long!
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Brown Thrasher
I tried numerous times to capture a photo of this thrasher in the springtime, but it was too elusive. Who would have guessed that in the fall — the silent season, when the bird isn’t calling attention to itself — it would pose for me?
Thank you, Friend Thrasher.
Also saw some kinglets…
…an ovenbird…
and, across the street, some suburban deer.
This one begs for a word bubble…
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Another migrant hummer
This tiny visitor was as interested in us as we were in her.
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Dead garden fun
Our garden is still producing beans, broccoli and tomatoes. But they aren’t worth picking anymore. It’s officially past its prime, and I took down the fence a couple of weeks ago to let the critters have at it.
It’s fun to see the birds fluttering around among the ragged sunflowers, eating seeds and bugs. But as it turns out, my daughters managed to have some fun out there too.
This bunny is, I believe, the same one that inspired the fence in the first place. He looks like a gangly adolescent now, and I got a few photos from the kitchen window at dusk the other night of him giving himself fully to the task of raiding the pole beans. I’m glad he’s still around.
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Mrs. Hummer
This female hummingbird has been hanging around for awhile, chasing away other hummers who venture too near. She’s recognizable because she’s on the big side, with a little dark fleck on her breast.
This morning, she was actually on the feeder when we came out to breakfast. We think she spent the night there, in torpor, and was just coming out of it — just sitting there, fluttering her wings occasionally, and then finally taking a drink.
She flew away, and I think it may be the last time we see her.
Fascinating to read here and here about both torpor and migration. Her departure for the south seems a little late, but I wish her a happy journey.
She was quickly replaced by another female today, more skittish and slender — probably a migrant passing through.
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Redstarts
We’ve had what I believe to be a female redstart around our yard this summer. Recently she was traveling up the trees beside the driveway with a whole band of others. I never did see a male, but I assume the birds with her were juvies. They certainly acted like it — including the one who seriously considered landing on my head.
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Give us this day…
…our daily bread.
Our neighbors often throw their stale bread out for the birds, but this time it was snatched up in a huge mouthful by a gray fox. Off to feed young — or just addicted to carbs?
