NHBABS - do you know if RS hawks can leave a nest for 8 hours+ and have the nest be okay? Neither parent has sat on the nest today, thus far. One has stopped near it (not on it) several times, but then they fly off. I'm wondering if, a) they have no food to feed the kids, b) something stole the babies as I see no little white fuzzy head activity at all. Cornell site said if the chicks are old enough and have been able to digest larger portions of food, the parents can stay away for longer periods of time. But this is more than 8 hours...I sound like a nervous mother, I'm sure,...but do you know anything about how long an absence is possible? Thanks

Jane -

they were this big 2 days ago

I can’t like that post, Jane. Eight hours doesn’t sound good at all. With the current temperatures and winds that would be rough on the chicks, with no food and exposed to the elements. I don’t know what would predate a hawk nest as the parents tend to be fairly fierce defenders.

NHBabs...My guess is poisoned food. Zooming in on one picture, I may be seeing a little open lifeless beak. They were very lively the afternoon before the storm and the nest is still intact. I’m not a good enough sleuth or philosopher to figure out why life is the way it is. Feel so bad for the parent.

That is indeed sad, Jane. I feel bad for the parents, as well.

I'm so sorry, Jane.

If there's still only one hawk there, I wonder if the male died defending the nest, maybe from a great horned owl.

I remember a cam of red-tailed hawks nesting and they lost one chick to an owl. Red-shouldered hawks are smaller than red-tails and would have a harder time fighting.

Claire

I wish I knew, Claire. I have one picture of the empty nest that may show a little open beak, but nothing I could swear to. If that is the case, however, then it wasn't predation. The moment I enlarged that photo and saw what I think is dead baby, my heart sank with the realization that they may have frozen to death Saturday night, but I'll never know. A parent was on the nest Saturday sundown, the winds were hellacious, then it snowed around 9PM. There are great horned owls in the neighborhood that had a nest in a tall pine nearby years ago.

After having seen a RS parent 8 feet away from the lifeless nest with inspecting watchfulness Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon I saw two hawks mating across the street. Can't swear if they were RT or RS, but, if birds live strictly by instinct with no human Disney world love, is it possible the parents need to seize the season to procreate despite a failed nest? Dunno. Is it possible they will maintain the habit of reusing their (this) nest, another unknown. Somewhere I THINK I read that eggs can be laid about 16 days after mating - don't hold me to that number. But, if the Sunday mating was the monogamous parents running strictly by their elusive-to-us instinct, just maybe I'll get to photograph the next family. . . but I'm old enough to know don't hang your hat on anything.

Learning detached attachment as we age is still hard.

Jane

I hope that there is a new set of nestlings in one of the nests. Many birds will try again if one nest fails. It is tough living with the indifference of nature to individual beings.

NHBabs said "It is tough living with the indifference of nature to individual beings." That line alone needs more than box of wine, a few puffs of ayahuasca, and all the Wendell Berry and Maslow one can read, lol. If we only came with a manual.

Jane

deanna and SON - well done!

deanna's post was delivered late and I just got the email notification.

That was a very kind and well-thought-out intervention to rescue the terrified red squirrel baby.

Good job!

Claire

There's a male cardinal in my yard with molting issues. His head is essentially bald, but he should recover completely with time. I hope his head wasn't too cold the last few nights without his nice feather cap.

Claire

Poor little chap. Seems early for molting, but maybe there was a parasite problem? I usually notice molting in August. But, he has a wonderful ears!🐦

Vulture cardinal, maybe? Poor kid.

My neighbors had Baltimore Orioles visit their orange treats, so I put out an orange, too. I got Catbirds and chipmunks. However, mine have sparkling personalities, lol. 😂

And, the first I've seen on Yankee Doodle lilac. A fritillary, isn't it? Had a quick Google image look, but didn't see it.

Jane

Maybe the problem is the location of the oranges. I don't see orioles feeding on the ground here - they always stay up relatively high. Catbirds and chipmunks are more flexible.

Claire

I put orange on the hook, and in the suet cage, no takers for 3 days and the catbird wanted it but couldn’t land properly to eat it.. I also don’t have quince in bloom, neighbors do. As soon as I put fresh orange on the ground, the catbirds came within a few minutes. As long as somebody is happy with it, it’s good by me.

I've never had consistent good experience with oranges and orioles. I just give them some jelly/jam in a dish or yogurt cup or suet container in a hanging feeder of some sort. Lately they've been taking concord grape jelly and red raspberry preserves. I recently ran out of jelly and gave them some fig/ginger jam I had in the refrigerator with some raisins mixed in and they were fine with that.

I have a nice oriole feeder but the raccoon pulled it down and broke the wires and I have yet to fix it and figure out how to hang it out of reach.

These are what I'm using now.

I put two suet containers with jam in this feeder but they keep getting knocked out - which isn't a big problem since they land on the ground under the feeder and I just put them back.

Claire

There are times when replacing the permanent station with new feeders that I truly wish sky hooks were available. However, I am maintaining the feeding area that has been in place for the past 12 years since I joined GW. During those 12 years, Buddy showed up every May and this year it was Buddy's daughter ---until today. Buddy, Jr. or Buddy II or III came this morning twice. Seems a rather small male, but sporting a full red gorget, I am assuming more Buddies will be born nearby this year.

Looking at pictures of our yard over the past decades, we'll be here 45 years next week, how much has changed with new gardens, but also how much emphasis has been placed on keeping a mostly native habitat. Outside my window right now, there must be nearly 100 bees doing their job on the red chokeberry blossoms. The sun is fully lighting the shrub and it is as busy as Rockefeller Plaza at Christmas

My Streetside Meadow is self-expanding with milkweed and rose campion that snuck through the border row of stella d'oro lilies, so I will help it expand itself allowing more BBBs (birds, butterflies, bees) to profit from the little meadow's health. Less to mow is fine by me inasmuch as I drive around the clumps of buttercups and ajuga blossoms already. The first toad appeared last week, tiny little fella, so we've met and I instructed him about the danger of the lawn mowing machine, even though I always stop for toads. We named our house based on the wildflowers in the corner of the lawn, so it's only right that approaching a half century later, the wildflowers should have all the freedom they want in the Streetside Meadow and the whole yard.

Last year, June 24

Birds love it

Jane

I've been missing a lot. I didn't start any plants this year but recently picked up an order from my favorite backyard grower. I've hardly been outside. I'm doing some volunteer work with Zoom and have terrible sleep habits. The thistle feeder stayed up longer than it should have so was taken down by a bear. This is the first year we've had a bear get close to the house. A bear or something knocked over two planters on our tiny deck for the front porch. I heard the noise around midnight but it didn't sound serious. Fortunately it was a resin planter than rolled down the stairs. Neither had been planted yet.

Another strange sound one recent late afternoon turned out to be a merlin. We've never seen one before but it had crashed thru a porch screen and couldn't get out. My husband propped the porch door open but in the morning it was still there. Finally it flew out to freedom. A merlin is about the side of a pigeon.

We did have a pair of cardinals for the first time ever but perhaps they were just passing thru. We can hear a pileated. This is the first year I've seen wrens although maybe I'm just paying better attention and looking out the window more often. I was afraid it was a sparrow with its tail feathers missing.

I think we have several varieties of sparrows and one couple have taken over one of the bluebird boxes. We think bluebirds are using one of the two other boxes. Tree swallows missed out this year. We haven't seen deer lately but I think they've probably been disturbed by our wood cutting operation. Our friend was usually cutting after work which was just about the time the deer would be browsing the farmer's hayfield. Also, my parents house kind of across the road has been bought by a younger couple with energy and the skills to bring the property back into shape. They have already put many hours into cutting brush and reclaiming some pasture area. They've cut a lot of gray birch into 4' lengths and told my husband to come get it. That will be next year's kitchen wood stove wood. They're regrading an area for their new barn/workshop and the small pond is now visible from the road. We know wildlife comes and goes across the road.

Squirrels relocated some of my daffodils but those flowers have faded to be replaced by the bright yellow cowslips growing in the seasonal stream. Not sure if I've seen a hummingbird or not. The crab apple trees are blooming!

I forgot a most unusual photo. This is our son and oldest granddaughter in their off road rig and an owl that didn't fly off. I haven't seen them to ask if it flew off or what. They would never harm it. From the looks on his face, I think our son was expecting it to fly off.

Your yard is a haven for wildlife, Jane - good job!

Love the picture of the off road rig and the owl, defrost!

It sounds like you've gained a very good new neighbor. You have lots of interesting wildlife - I've never seen a merlin much less a trapped one.

Claire

He came! (Baltimore Oriole, male) 21 pictures later and the person on phone at the time is used to me click clicking when somebody shows up outside my window. 😊

Absolutely gorgeous bird. Makes me feel lucky to see them again. 😊

Jane

And it's about time, oriole - congratulations, Jane!

Claire

Defrost, that was a beautiful owl! I envy their close encounter. The orioles are stunning. I do not believe they come this far north. My loss.

Jane, your garden as well as your patience are an inspiration. I hope to say I'll be in this house long enough to turn it into a refuge for nature, too.

Love all the photos here. I check in every once in awhile just to see what you are all up to. I rarely have much going on in the backyard with birds. Just the usual sparrows, cardinals, robins and blue jays. Once in awhile I see a hummingbird or some years I see an oriole a few times this time of year. I saw one the other day and then it was gone. Stopped for a drink I guess on it's way to somewhere else. I always wonder how they find my small little birdbath on their way. [g]

I thought of all of you this morning when I saw an article in the Globe about competitive birding. It was pretty humorous and I thought I'd post a link. You probably won't be able to access it without a subscription, but if anyone has a problem and wants to see it I can copy paste it. :-)

Competitive birding turned me into a monster

OK, prairiemoon, the article is hysterical!

Very funny! There are worse things to become addicted to.

Claire

For sure Claire. :-)

So happy to see Violet-the-Bunny's baby just outside my window. Not shown, but she/he has a white blaze just like Mom's. Chomping on cherry tree leaves then takes cover under the deck.😊

Violet-the-Bunny, last year

Jane

I walked around the yard taking flower pictures and there! in front of me...OMG she melts my heart! Violet's baby. 😊❤️

Jane

WAIT A MINUTE! Is THIS what houzz did? Move a blank comment box to the top of the page?

Please let me know if this is correct? For the love of mike!

This is what I see, Jane.

The comment box is in the usual place on my computer screen.

Claire

Ohhh, I feel so special...

I am officially at the Whatever stage of life. Have new shots of a little winter wren...tomorrow when I’m back at the Mac. Thanks, Claire. Glad your houzz world is upright.😊 I’ll adjust as life changes, lol.

Jane: Take a look at the Thank you malfunction thread. I don't really understand all that's being said but NHBabs has some observations on comment boxes and mobile devices.

Claire

Oh, that baby of Violet's is so cute! Just want to give her a big hug! What a cute picture!

Going on all the houzz faith I can currently muster, I'll try posting again inasmuch as houzz support actually answered me. The Comment box for me is now at the top of the page (not under the latest post as it was) on my Mac (OS Catalina), iPhone, Ipad using both Safari and Firefox. I doubt it's just an Apple thing, but I don't expect further explanations from houzz as I can now post. (she thinks)

Points and Benefits:

The winter wren made a point of sunbathing at the edge of the holly bushes, all-the-while searching under the holly leaves for creeping protein -- easy grocery shopping.

After the beak opening, she sprang into the hollies and I could see certain leaves being stabbed at. All the little guys, chickadees, titmouses, wrens, nuthatches have been wonderful at cleaning the hollies, cherry tree, chokeberry, and birch leaves of sawfly, et al. A big benefit to all except those that were swallowed.

The mourning doves have a way of making their point: Clean and open the bigger pool, please. I did for their benefit. It's a large cement font out back where the doves, robins, crows, hawks all feel safer and more comfortable apparently. But, yesterday they crowded into the deck railing bath.

I guess the one wing spread was a yoga stretch. He closed it and shook it all off.

OT: - Some things, IMHO, should not have a point despite their benefit. Artichokes, pineapples, a compass, speeches - normal and expected to have or make a point; but not tomatoes.

Okay, I'm over it. Just thought I'd throw it in.😊

Jane

Great pictures, Jane, as usual!

Summertime and the living is easy - lots of bugs to eat, splashing in the pool, and weird tomatoes.

Claire

WOW! A first for me! Outside my window in the red chokeberry, a chipmunk was hanging off a branch picking early berries and POW! a winter wren attacked chip - feet first in chip's back - then again! in rapid succession and chip fell out of the bush. I can only imagine what chip did to deserve that, but it sure looked like revenge. The wren house is around the corner some 15' away, so the nest was not in peril.

Then, a lesson in not questioning a bird's motive, a winter wren looked as though he/she made a bad landing on the bird feeder. Always my first reaction, "Is it alright?", and she was more than alright - she caught her target:

So let's conclude with musical applause for birds :Springwatch - Vol.3

Jane

Kudos to the wren and to the bird symphony!

Claire

Amazing photography! You're our own David Attenborough!

🤣 deanna, thanks, but not even on a good day! He is a treasure to the world! Lucky to still have people like him bringing nature closer to us.🦋

Now that I've finally gotten my GW links back instead of Houzz I can enjoy the photos. Houzz links have very small photos and it takes TOO LONG to enlarge each one individually. GW photos are already large. I missed many lovely earlier photos. It's is SUCH FUN to see all the events in your yards.

I now have much better hummingbird activity than ever before. I'm wondering if it is all the jewelweed from last year they remember. I did get to see something fascinating, a hummingbird dance. I think it was most likely mating. Quite mesmerizing to see him fly in his arc pattern back and forth. I never saw the female as he was facing me and she was too well hidden.

Swallowtail butterflies have been around. No monarchs, which is good because my Asclepias is only just over 2' high. It emerges very late, but it certainly takes off afterwards. Many birds, and a black-capped chickadee might have built nest outside of our bathroom window in a decorative, but still correctly sized, birdhouse I left up all winter. I'm waiting to see if they started a nest and then decided to move it, or if they are still in there. Don't have the guts to look inside with a flashlight.

Keep the wonderful photos coming! And, corunum, if we are lucky because DA brings nature closer to us, then you are indeed our DA!

Frustration. Noonish today, a friend sitting on our porch could see out the screen door onto the deck where there is a heated birdbath on the railing. Suddenly she stops talking, looks past me and quietly said, "Turn around slowly, there's a bird... ". Naturally, it flew off before I made a slow 180° turn. She said it was nothing she's ever seen before (she's a not big time birder) not a kidder either, so when she seriously described a bright red head, dark green body and blue tail, little smaller than a robin, I thought, Whoa. An escaped parakeet? Got the bird books out, Googled the description, nothing. It visited here and I have nothing. Frustration.

I have a comment block at the end of the posts. Is it fixed or am I just lucky? What wonderful wren photos. The bird bath photos are amazing. Birds seem to be busy lately. Maybe they are all catching bugs for their babies. A few days ago we saw the first wild turkey babies this year. My husband thought he counted 11. Our daughter-in-law and grandkids said they saw a deer and fawn in our back yard when they drove by one morning. At their house the crows are terribly noisy. Our crows only have occasional disputes and arguments. I wonder if the merlin is still around because I saw what I thought was a very long tailed bird but finally figured out it was a bird carrying off a snake. Very early one morning we could hear three owls hooting back and forth. Late one evening a stranger drove into our yard, turned around and then parked past the house. We stepped onto the porch to see what was up so I finally saw this year's fire flies. There are also lots and lots of different frogs croaking.

Hope everyone has enjoyed the recent cool weather. There hasn't been many biting insects and I haven't found ticks in quite some time, maybe the drought is preventing new hatchings?

Have no idea where in this thread this will post now that I have multiple comment box options on the top and bottom of an out of chronological order page...🤦‍♀️... houzz must be using the all-or-nothing approach. Anyway, the honeysuckle at sunrise is now the hummer diner.

And, Violet-the-Bunny's cousins are now here regularly. They have wonderful white cotton tails, but no blaze.

The original Violet (s) have (had) a prominent blaze.

I've read that the white blaze disappears as the rabbit ages and the coloring changes.

Jane

Have you seen any fireflies yet? I haven't spotted any yet. Love them!

I think I saw one, very bright, firefly a few nights ago - back when the nights were getting really warm. Now the nights are having a chilly run in the mid-fifties so no fireflies for a while.

So many bunnies in your yard, Jane! I haven't seen one in years, probably because of the foxes and coyotes.

No turkey babies yet. I love to hear the mother hen clucking as she organizes the babies.

Claire

Skibby - yes, I have been seeing them almost nightly for several weeks. I use no chemicals in the yard, so they have a chance to safely have their 2 year development cycle below the ground. (see link -green Firefly)

FIREFLY

Yes, Claire, lots of bunnies - happily. Having a yard heavily planted with clover created a bunny buffet. I just mowed, but they stay on the sidelines and watch, unlike someone else! I should carry my phone with me when I ride the mower to video record the high noon happenings. Who would believe a stand-off with a chipmunk? With every round trip I made near the bird feeders, his cheek pouches near bursting, he stood straight up, 2 feet away and stared at me. Minimum 6 times - not including dashing in front of the mower in the side yard. Holes everywhere to jump into. I always used to slow down and sometimes had to stop to wait for him to move, but not today! Mad today. In the large planter with mandevilla on an obelisk, outfitted with a pinwheel, moving streamers AND newly spread granulated fox urine, the little (not dickens) got into the pot and started digging - again! He stood on top of the fox urine. $18 for fox pee shot to ....

The gray specks are fox urine. Don't waste your money, anybody. Next year, silk flowers in cement. Spend the $ on G&Ts. 🤬

Jane

Jane, so sorry none of the possible solutions worked with the chippies.

I saw a mama turkey with poults in the back field today. I think I spotted 6 heads, but the grass is long, so they disappear and reappear, making it difficult to count.

Last evening as I was working in the garden, I heard crows mobbing an eagle on the river for almost 15 minutes before s/he must have flown away in disgust because it suddenly got very quiet. I just caught a flash of large wings.

There was a deer in the field at dusk as well.

This thread is getting long and slow to load for some, so I just set up a new one,

Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2020 #3

As always, you are welcome to continue the discussion here, but please post new items on the new thread.

Thanks,

Claire