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Goldfinches
They’re like falling stars in the back yard — bright fluffs of yellow with dramatic black accents.
The volunteer sunflower patch that grew beneath our bird feeder looks pretty rag tag, but this is when it gets most interesting to the goldfinches.
The females are much more discreet, but equally fond of sunflower seeds. We have several feeders with them, but the finches prefer to harvest their own.
Sometimes, polite requests to share are met with stony refusal.
Their chatter always makes me smile. They’re later nesters, and this time of year they are especially evident. They’re one of the treasures around here.
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Bean there, done that
This little rabbit loves to hide out in our beans. They are a perfect cover, and the fence that we erected to keep him and his kin out is in all probability a nice protection against the neighborhood foxes and cats.
As far as I can tell he’s not actually eating beans or bean plants, but rather weeds. We saw him on Sunday for the first time, and I suggested that my daughter catch him in her butterfly net.
We let him go outside the fence, and he hid in a hole in the wall. But he may already be outgrowing that mode of escape.
I need to get some finer mesh fencing for that half of the garden — like what’s around the lower half to keep out the woodchuck I observed lifting cucumber vines in both paws and chomping down with relish. But meantime, this is a cute little garden ornament, and as far as I can tell he’s not doing much if any harm. At least, not yet.
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Back Yard
I love having an active back yard. Our dining room table sits beside a 12-foot window, and without fail a glance out back reveals creaturely activity of some kind: birds, foxes, woodchucks, rabbits, deer. Squirrels power-lounging on bark or stone. Showdowns between red and gray squirrels beneath the bird feeders. Fledglings begging their parents for food.
Last week I brushed the dog, and placed the pile of black and white hair it yielded out at the edge of the back bank. After the chickadees fledged in our nest box, we removed the nest and discovered its top layer was a cozy cushion of dog hair. It’s late for most nesting, but I put the hair out just in case.
10 minutes later I glanced out and saw two crows scolding harshly around the same area. I looked for a hawk, but after watching for awhile it became clear that the crows were scolding the pile of dog hair. They bent their heads and descended ever closer to it for another ten minutes, crying out in their most explosive, grating voices. They must have thought it was a skunk!
Last night I noticed a cardinal trying unsuccessfully to snatch a small moth. It caught and lost it several times before giving up. As the beleaguered moth fluttered away, a phoebe swooped down and nabbed it in one graceful flutter. “Leave it to the professionals,” it seemed to say to the watching cardinal.
This morning as we ate breakfast, my husband and I got a kick out of this rabbit peering over the stone wall between our garden and our neighbor’s driveway.
The funny part was that it appeared to be meditating on the lettuce.
As far as I’m concerned it can have the lettuce. It never tastes good to me, much though I like the idea of it. Maybe the rabbit likes it better.
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Four-legged feeder visitor
I saw this gray fox one evening out by our bird feeder and it ran away. I figured it was hunting for an unwary ground-feeding bird. But the next morning it reappeared, and it was eating the bird seed on the ground.
I’ve never heard of a fox doing this. Live and learn!
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Gray Day Grosbeak
Such a handsome bird.
We have two grosbeaks out back. Maybe it’s a territorial thing, but one of them seems to be singing nonstop. He sang all day Saturday. He sang all afternoon yesterday. He started just before 4:00 this morning, singing again.
Unlike some of the warblers and other birds who throw their heads back and open their beaks wide when they sing, he doesn’t open his beak very far. But his throat puffs out, and he turns his head from side to side.
For the first time, I really get it — the description of a grosbeak’s song as being “like a robin who’s had voice lessons.” It certainly cheers me to hear him in this run of overcast days.
I’m trying to think of suitable words for his song. Occasionally, when the robin sings just before it starts to rain, I can hear in its song,
Betterget
IN-side —
Hurryup!
Hurryup!
I’m not sure what I hear in the grosbeak’s song, though.
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Spring feeder visitors
I was beginning to worry that something had happened to our male rose-breasted grosbeak. We’ve never NOT had a grosbeak — at least one — in the 13 years we’ve lived here. But though I’d seen the female, I hadn’t seen the male — till yesterday, when he appeared in his usual station, eating and chirping as usual.
This morning he was back with Mrs. Grosbeak, who looks very different.
The ruby-throated hummingbird is back as well, bringing the yearly challenge of trying to get a good picture. Maybe by the end of the season! For now, this will have to do.
We had a flock of pine siskins yesterday as well. They make a racket of busy sounds as they raid the feeder and resemble more muted, streaky goldfinches in their coloration. When I went out with my camera, they made a tremendous “Zheeee!!” warning call from several treetops.
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Pontius Pileated Comes to Call
This fellow is a little bigger than our usual feeder visitors!
Too big to get a good grip, as it turns out. Makes me want to rig up a different suet cage and see if he’ll come back… What a fun sight to see as we were eating lunch!
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First day of spring
Someone told me recently that when the maple buds swell, maple syrup season is over. It’s definitely colder this year than it was on the first day of spring last year. I recorded the sights from this date last year at my other blog. Things were definitely further along then!
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Wandering Whitetails
There hasn’t been much going on here at Discovering Nature. We’ve been kept inside by sickness and weather. But occasionally the outdoors comes to us, especially in the form of deer — seen here across the street, peering back at me. I’m hoping the increased deer traffic means spring is around the corner — though I have no scientific justification that I know of!
Despite our dog’s bout with lyme disease last year, I like deer. This has been a colder winter, and it’s probably “put a hurtin'” on the fleas and ticks. Last winter was so warm that the ticks were swarming even in early spring.
Another couple of weeks and we’ll be seeing crocuses and robins. Can’t wait!
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7 A.M. and .9 Degrees
