Both bluebirds showed up this morning and are acting normally. If any babies didn't survive the cold, Mama and Papa moved on, and are tending to the rest. The behavior changed a little 3 days ago. Instead of the female staying completely inside the nest box, she now sits a lot in the entrance just looking out. One hot day and one cold day, so not due to weather. Still don't see any food going to the nest. If it is, they are very secretive about it, which one would expect.
Out on the deck this morning. Loud squeaky rubber-ducky noise from behind. Brown-headed nuthatch on the railing asking, Where's breakfast? (LINK TO HEAR). These birds are even smaller than the chickadees. I would think such a silly sound from a large bird would be embarrassing. They say to keep the grass mowed when bluebirds fledge. It gives them a runway to take off the first time they hit the ground. Struggled over most of the back yard with this self-propelled mower yesterday. Lit the fire to start thinking seriously about a new mower. I thought I wanted a small (18") push mower with enough power to cut tall thick damp grass. They don't make them anymore. Besides, with the fire ant hills all over the yard, the ants get scattered everywhere. You can't afford to mosey around with a simple push mower.
Started shopping online for a new mower. I hate it when people start a mower and write a raving review the very first day. MOST of them do that! The few reviews that waited a year or more describe similar problems with every self-propelled mower. Maybe there is just too much plastic. At least this Honda has metal wheel gears. Nothing to loose, I tore the plastic speed control handle completely off this mower (again!). Started it without the handle, then adjusted the cable as far as it would go. The thing took off uphill. Control cable dangling. So it does have enough power when the belt is tight. I have trouble understanding how this cable works. There is a heavy duty spring attached to what they call the transmission. The spring pulls to LOOSEN the belt. It seems like it should be designed so the spring keeps tension on the belt? Anyway, it requires a lot of force on that plastic control, to pull the cable against that spring, in order to start the wheels turning. I only see one downside to using it exactly like it is, without the control handle: It will only go at one speed (fast!). Down hill is like a rodeo. If it stops you need to jack up the rear wheels to get it started. I can attach a wooden block to the top of the mower to carry around just for starting purposes. Even if the wheels start slipping in juicy weeds, there is a way to attach mountain bike rubber tread to the ridiculously smooth vinyl tires. I saw it on YouTube. In conclusion, I can live with this mower just like it is for one summer. Dangling and everything. It will be a new learning experience. At least I can hit the ant hills running. So I went around the yard with a shovel flattening all the ant hills. Several looked >8" high. Finished mowing this morning. You just have to go side to side, and avoid up and down hills. It worked like a charm. I love it again. (One learns to settle ) By the way, I would buy the mower below. It would even fit through the basement door. But they don't sell them in the US.
The bluebirds were hanging around the new bird house this morning. The male was trying to squeeze inside, while the female was watching from its roof. Don't they have enough to keep them busy? Watch him get in there and not be able to get out. I may switch places with the old house after they get finished with it. The new house is probably in a better location for summer. Faces morning sun, shaded by some trees in the later afternoon, and away from the azalea bush. The adults rarely stay inside the nest now. Only female perched in the opening. I'd like to think this means there are young birds in there, and they can now regulate their own body temperatures. The adults do go back and forth to the box a lot, but can't see any food. Need a side view. If my calendar is correct, this will last approximately 2 more weeks. Did everyone but me know baby bluebirds are born with built-in disposable diapers? The parents will carry the little white sacks out of the nest and dispose of them. How convenient. I haven't seen any of those go out either.
That's interesting. The article says sparrows can't see as well as some other birds, in general. That probably explains why they act differently from the others. I have a ring or two of (2"x3") fence wire surrounding the bird feeder. It keeps out larger birds (doves & jays). It changes a little every morning because I take the feeder down at night. The sparrows don't seem to be able to catch on to the changes as quickly. The other birds do instantly. The bluebirds are constantly cocking their heads, scanning the sky, and everywhere else, looking for predators. I learned they can see both straight ahead and to the sides, but with different quality vision.
Lately a carpenter bee has been showing up, who buzzes in your face whenever you sit on the deck trying to watch birds. Seems like he is trying to get me to leave. Imagine this thing coming and going about a foot from your nose for a whole hour. My father made a paddle to swat them, while he was working on the cabin. Like a school yard paddle. Just a square piece of plywood with air holes drilled in, and a handle. It was a 2-step process. Swat the bee with the paddle in a downward motion. It lands on the floor temporarily stunned. Then you stomp on it. He even carved a notch in the handle for each bee he took out with it. At least while I was watching. I think it's still out at the cabin, unless someone stole it. (Why would they do that?) . So I wandered around the basement yesterday looking for something else with holes in it. The tennis racquet on the wall in the picture below has had a broken string, and hasn't been used for almost 40 years. Just last week I finally put it on my current throw away pile. It hurts to see it there every time I walk by. 1972 Worked like a charm. Swat/stomp! Got two already. So my old tennis racquet is going to get a second chance. 2022
I never realized until recently how much free entertainment there is in the back yard in town, if you just pay attention. A large possum in the yard about 8 pm Saturday night. Looks like it got its tail caught in something. These are such interesting animals. Their life expectancy is only about 2 years. I don't mind them. They do some good things, unlike squirrels. Unless you like to eat squirrels. It showed up again last night around the same time. Comes from the same direction as the fox did. I have a bottle of injectable Ivermectin on the kitchen shelf (for goats, not Covid). If the fox would have a regular schedule like this possum, I could give it hotdogs laced with Ivermectin.
I hate opossums and not just because they look like big rats. They found my place a few years ago and ate all the eggs that my backyard quail laid and I haven't had quail stay around since. For years I had a mom-and-pop quail-raising chick in my backyard. I even had to quit feeding the birds because those dirty rats would come in sometimes 3 at a time and eat all the spilled food and then do damage to my garden looking for grubs.
That's too bad about the quail eggs, Faye. It's a constant battle to fight nature, isn't it? I think things are attracted here mostly because of the water I put out for the birds. I doubt there is much water available in the neighborhood when the puddles dry up. I try to remove any leftover seeds every night. The only exception is when the squirrels deconstruct a suet block and the crumbles fall on the ground. Are possums the ones that leave water muddy looking? I remember vaguely having trouble before with something messing up the water. I know raccoons wash things in water, but I don't think they leave it muddy afterwards. Anyway the birdbath was like muddy water this morning.
They could be the culprits! I can't imagine any other creature doing it. Maybe that is why last year when crows brought in bread and sandwich pieces from where they were left in a nearby park to dip them in my clean clear birdbaths, I found my birdbath water muddy, and the bread, etc., was gone and it all happened overnight.
No feathers. There must have been a lot of dirty birds bathing very early in the morning, or something else. I remember now where this came up before. I used to leave a dish of water on the front porch for the neighborhood cat, and some mornings it was full of muddy water. Both raccoons and opossums figured out how to get through the cat door. No mud on the porch. How did they do that?
I've been thinking about the house sparrows. Haven't seen any males here yet. The females are so commonly marked, I'm not as sure about them, but don't think so. (Jinx!) Four little Chipping Sparrows come by every day, but they don't hang around. ...... A new bird showed up yesterday. Bigger than a sparrow. Not afraid at all. I spent last night trying to identify it. I think this is it. Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak I've certainly never seen a male. Ever. ..PICTURE ..Makes sense, because they migrate from S. America to the north late in the year, April or May. So it is just passing through.
(4/22/22) Friday Took off for the farm around 3pm. They are still paving the main road. Only 7 miles and they have been at it since the end of February. Always with a flagman and pilot car. First they repaired the worst sections. Then dug out and added about 18" to both sides of the road. That was the time-consuming part. Then paved each lane, twice. Today they were adding aprons to every driveway. I figured they'd miss the road to the cabin, but they didn't. Nice job this time. Not the usual 1 foot things. The road is so smooth now, it's hard to keep your foot off the accelerator. I had 3 jobs planned: (1) mow the lawn, (2) fix the drain in the bathroom sink, and (3) set up the new cheap pc out there and see if I could connect it to the internet using only the mobile phone. When I got there GC had mowed the lawn all the way down to the gate to the cabin, and the highway right-of-way out front to the road. String trimmed around the house and garage, edged the driveway and cleaned all the leaves off the turn around. That took care of job (1). He hasn't asked for a penny yet, and I did offered to pay him, but he said wait. It's strange. His bobcat/trailer and pressure washer were gone. I imagine he is getting very busy now with bigger jobs. Things always pick up in the spring. Started on the sink and realized I forgot to bring the old curved part (P-joint ?) for the drain. Either left it in town or at Lowes. That took care of job (2). I didn't take a keyboard because there was already one out there and I wanted to use the new keyboard in town. The one out there is so old it had 5 prong connectors like radio tubes. Wouldn't fit the new pc, so I couldn't even login. That took care of job (3). I should have jumped in the utility vehicle and taken a look at what they'd done since last time, but all that work made me sleepy. So I came home. .