it appears we have a hummingbird moth on the kitchen window screen

A visit by the state bird today.

Red headed ashborer in the raspberry bush. One of the floricanes full of buds, blooms and fruit wilted away for no reason. Not sure it came because of the dying wood or caused the cane to die, probably the former.

Came out to check out how the flowers were doing and heard squealing

He doesn't seem to know to go up or down.

Boy that’s a young one! Wonder where mom is?

OMG——he’s soooooo cute!! I assume mom is nearby, maybe up in the tree?

debra

No sign of mom. We were afraid to help it, give it water because one assumes mom is near...never did see mom.

happened too fast for photos. my front yard has a wall of bottlebrush buckeyes at the curb, lots of undergrowth, a huge magnolia tree, etc. lot's of wildlife find refuge there. i have a doe that sometimes deposits her fawns here while she forages during the day & fetches them in the evening. yesterday i had parade come through. around 4 pm a gobbler & 2 hens walked thru followed by my resident hawk at the birdbath. an hour later a young & very scrawny red fox came thru & found some meat scraps i put out for coons. when he moved on 2 does came by to browse & drain my birdbaths. my game camera caught 2 coons & 3 does back after dark. i have a motion activated light and i caught the deer at my bird baths so i figured out why the bird baths were empty in the morning 6 weeks ago. the fox came back tonight. what's odd is that fox are normally nocturnal & he's out & about at 6 pm. his weight has me concerned for his health. i may put out some dog food around 5 pm.

This little guy showed up in my woodpile hiding from the dogs. By an olympian effort I was able to keep the dogs in for a few days. I fed him dog food just to give him some sustenance. Day three he brought this sibling. Day four, THE DAY BEFORE I WAS TO TAKE THEM TO A WILDLIFE PLACE, the dogs got out and chased them up a tree and made some contact. They hung out around the stream at my neighbors but never came back to me. And, I saw three at that point hanging together all the time.I think a fox family on the lot next door, and we would see the little foxes in the driveway run away when we came home at night, must have eaten mom.

Always a pleasure to see these guys stationary in the sky as they ride the currents and occasionally hanging out at the dock.

We had a baby bear in a tree last year, but you can guarantee nobody went out to get a good picture. Where there’s a baby, there’s a mama.

We have a deer overpopulation issue right now. I could actually use some neighborhood bears this summer.

Rober49, you are a kind sweet person with a loving heart…. thank you!! 🙏🏽♥️

debra

A white-lined sphinx moth was drinking away at the nicotianas and didn't seem bothered at all by my presence (unlike hummingbirds). It was too energetic to capture a still photograph so here are the videos. https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/comments/14mrene/white_lined_sphinx_moth_with_n_nicotianas/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/comments/14mrgnh/whitelined_sphinx_moth_front_view/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

having a nesting pair of red shouldered hawks nesting next door & hanging out on a regular basis has given me an opportunity to watch their behavior up close & personal. this morning one decided to use one of my birdbaths to bathe. while it dunked it's head & squatted, flapped it's wings, much like any other bird it's size limited it's access to the water so it actually did several roll overs. getting to watch this by looking out of my kitchen window is a treat. i have 4 birdbaths that are heavily used by birds, coons, deer...i concerned for them that during this drought i'll not be able to refill them for awhile since i'm having back surgery next week.

Young goldfinch figuring out sunflowers instead of seed feeders.

the fall migration of robins arrived. competition at the bird baths has been fierce. seeing them reminded me of an awesome sighting. back in the 70s i was missing a calf. i found a breech in my fence so i crawled thru & headed towards an open field down by the creek. the calf was there but was joined by the largest gathering any bird that i've ever personally witnessed other than the 30 minute flyover of a horde of starlings. this was a 2-3 acre field & every square inch was covered with robins!!! it was one of those once in a lifetime experiences.

Wow, I have never witnessed anything like that. You're very lucky!

were they protecting the babe cow?

a couple of them had little shepherd's hooks & a few had lassos. NOT. they weren't concerned with our presence. the calf was a bucket calf so she was used to being handled & was tame so i didn't have to chase her. i had a call i used when i put grain on the cattle. when i'd call they's run to the fence where i stood. i gave that call as i slowly walked to the calf to put a lead on it & she was walking towards me as well. there was a parting of the waters effect as we approached each other. they backed away & cleared a path but did not fly off.

i pay attention to wildlife but no one could have missed this. i was the carpenter general foreman on the creve couer lake bridge in st louis county, mo. it sits along the missouri river, a major flyway. there was a marshy area at the end of the lake & a lot of water birds hung out. one morning there were 4 whooping cranes. i kept a log & saw over 200 varieties of birds during the 2 years that job ran. ever seen a mob of pelicans fly over. it's a sight. they drift on thermals so there's no military like v pattern. they drift in large circular patterns in a general direction. i've seen it several times since. these were the black & white ones & they are common along the mississippi & illinois rivers.

@rober49 Wow, what exciting things you experienced when seeing these sights you describe. With your wonder and appreciation of the beauty of wildlife you must have eagerly looked forward to going to work each and every day!

i'm retired now but i have seen some interesting things while working. while working on canal place in nawlins'. the job overlooked the river. i just happened to look up & see the space shuttle piggy backed on it's 747 on it's way to the Michoud naval facility. this was when n.o. was preparing the 84 worlds fair. on another day the spanish navies sailing ship was arriving & the midshipman were up in the rigging putting on a show while the

fire boats accompanying it were spouting water. had some adventures capturing bee swarms. one of the best was a.d.m called me to their barge terminal here in st louis, put me on a tow boat, & took me mid river to a barge to catch a swarm.

some swarms & a shot from my tow boat ride

Oh Goodness! I cannot imagine a swarm on a boat!

you never know. i had a call to the bnsf rail yard for a swarm that rode in on a box car from topeka. the varrora mite, the biggest scourge to hit beekeeping here arrived in a swarm on a container ship as did another hive pest the african small hive beetle. i'm on all with the stl. p.d.. 2 years ago a swarm flew in during a marathon run. 4 011 operators called me within 5 minutes. i got a number & called a cop on scene. he told me that they were settling in about 25 ft up in a tree. i was about to tell that they'd not bother anyone at that point when he said i can call the fire dept for a ladder truck. of course i went. i climbed the ladder put my box under them & shook the branch, 5 pounds of bees fell as one into the box & i slammed the lid shut. when they fell there was an audible collective gasp from the crowd. one swarm got me in the newspaper & on the news.

I can just imagine the collective gasp from the crowd watching you rescue the swarm! A bee swarm is an impressive sight. My husband’s dad had several bee hives in their yard in SE Alaska which he started with swarms from a neighbor’s hives. Our honey bees need protecting!

in the right place, again. i heard my resident red shouldered hawks fussing so i walked out of my shop & looked around. they were on the roof of my neighbor's shed and they were mating. this was the first time i got to witness raptors in the act..

the temperatures are up so i'm getting a break from my daily routine of carrying out a bucket of hot water to melt the ice in my bird baths in the morning. they still need refilled some days because the deer drank them dry overnight.

the sparrows are already trying to run my bluebirds out of their houses so i'm declaring war. yesterday i built a repeating sparrow trap. it allows for multiple live captures & native birds can be released unharmed. you can see these in action on you tube. when i first discovered them they were about $250.00 so i opted to build one. i was double checking the design & i discovered that they are now about $70.00. drat.

Summer memories

More girl cardinals this summer

my dog got excited on her window viewing perch so i looked out. there was a doe nestled in behind my bottle brush buckeyes & not for the first time. on several occasionsdoes have deposited their fawns there & collected them at dusk

my favorite bird visitors are carolina wrens. they are very inquisitive & mischievous. they are constantly investigating everything. they get inside of my tractor hood, crawl under things, & if i leave my shop door open they come in & hang out. i have one now that if i'm seated will eat mealworms off of the table next to me. i'm close to being able to hand feed him. i had a mockingbird several years ago that let me hand feed him.

In spite of our big tree being taken down last year, a raccoon family continues to visit us almost every night. They’re drawn to the fountains and outside water bowl for the cats. The other night around 11 pm they showed up, mom and three kits. I got some photos of them as I tried to chase them off. They have no fear!!

debra

debra - I dislike raccoons with a passion along with squirrels & chipmunks. They empty my bird feeders and wreck many of them.

It’s funny they don’t bother my neighbors bird feeders at all. They are waaaay too busy playing in the water bowl and coming onto the porch through the cat door searching for any piece of cat food that got left behind. I don’t hate them, they’re wild animals living in a city so they scavenge for food wherever they can. We do everything to deter them. Cover the fountain, make sure there’s not one piece of food left behind….. guess that’s all we can do. When they don’t find food I assume they will move on….🤞🏽🤞🏽

debra

I've found raccoons are like people. Some are well behaved and just going about their business. Others are destructive, and you don't want them around. But I have had a few raccoons that come around regularly that seem like very pleasant individuals.

Here's a Robin enjoying its dissected worm. It wasn't paying much attention to me close by.

when I have a raccoon come by they leave a pile in my yard if you know what I mean..

Here's the damage a band of marauding racoons did to my fountain a few years ago.

Ann, I do know what you mean…….nothing like a dog or cat pile, if you know what I mean….😉

debra

debra..I found a pile this morning..I figure it’s the price I pay to live in their habitat..🙁

Racoon piles. Yup, we have those on our shed regularly!

Arcy_gw, we had the same problem with racoons going on our small water fountain. They did make it fall over. Huge raccoons on a small fountain just doesn't work well. As of today, they still go on it, but my husband bolted it to our tree! No more tipping over!

I've wondered about that because for all the raccoons that come through my yard nightly, I very rarely find anything left from them. I can't even remember the last time it's been so long. Once in a while a pile from deer, but the worst are the foxes. They must have parasites that cause them to drop it often. When they aren't coming around, it's pretty clean. The raccoons don't bother my vegetable garden, either. And the deer don't eat my hostas. So I have good luck with my wildlife most of the time. Of course, now that I've said that..... ;-)

Adding that the raccoons love the water, so I wonder if they have a dog bowl of water or something else that's easy, they might leave the fountains alone? A longshot, I know, but when I put water near the vegetable garden, the deer are less destructive, not entirely leaving it alone, but they really want the water more than vegetables. Especially, when it's so hot and dry.

My fountain has evolved over the years. The latest has a wire mesh over the large bowl holding up another inverted bowl with water coming out of the top. This seems to have ended our racoon visitors,. If the critters can't fish they appear to not be interested. My first fountain was a bowling ball covered in pennies. I had floating glass bubbles in it. Most mornings I would have to retrieve the bubbles from where the racoons had tossed them about.

a super early & wet spring has evolved into a wetter than average summer. yesterday it rained hard for 6 hours. water was standing everywhere in my yard. local creeks and rivers are out. my rain gauge has 1/2 inch of glass above the 5" mark and was overflowing. i dumped it & it registered another 3". with the wet weather comes an unseen & unwanted critter. CHIGGERS!! unless i'm wading thru tall grass & weeds while hiking or making my way to a creek or lake to fish i usually don't get them. last week i was weeding my fence line beds & ended up covered with bites. had a brain f*rt & decided to enlist the aid of another critter. it's a pain getting peanut butter jars clean enough to recycle. i put them on the concrete on my front porch & the ants have them cleaned up in a day or two.

We had plenty of critters on our property this past year, but our favorite was this little baby turkey that came darting out of the shrubs when my hubs was mowing the lawn. My husband must’ve been the first thing this little sweetheart saw after hatching, because this baby started following him everywhere!

We tried tracking down his mother and siblings, or even another turkey family, but had no luck. We ended up taking him to a rescue south of Lansing. Last we heard, he was doing great.

Here’s a photo of him sleeping in my husband’s hands…very precious!

Did you know right away it was a turkey? So much cuter as babies! Poor little thing but so fortunate that this baby found your husband - or - that your husband found him! Hope it’s living its life out in the rescue.

At first we thought it was a duckling; our property backs to a small river and I had just seen an adult duck up near my house the week prior. But we wondered why it looked ”funny” and a quick google search revealed it was a poult, not a duckling.

I was just so grateful my husband saw him and didn’t accidentally run him over with the lawnmower, omg.

The rescue lady said some eggs hatch a day or two later than the rest and by then, mom and the siblings have moved on. Poor baby! At least at the rescue there was another turkey family he could learn the ways of “turkeying” from. :-)

yesterday i looked out the front window & saw her.

then when i went out later i almost stepped on this little guy snuggled up in my liriope.

because of all the cover does deposit fawns in my front yard while they forage all the time.

A tiny frog nestled into the petsls of Poseidon.

looked out the kitchen window this morning & saw a robin & a grackle fighting over something. put my binoculars on them & saw that it was a baby robin. ran the grackle off but too late. i knew starlings raided nests for eggs & young birds but not grackles. i looked it up & sure enough so do grackles. looks like i have new set of pellet rifle targets.

on a lighter note i had a clutch of 8 eggs in a blue bird house. mom & dad have been regulars at my meal worm/black army fly larva feeder & this morning they brought some fledglings with them. when i try to get a pic they spook but as the i ching says...perseverance furthers. when i succeed i'll post a photo or 2. this feeder uses a glass jar. the hole in the wood is small enough for bluebirds & wrens but keeps sparrows & starlings out. i've seen birds completely inside the jar.

so a herd of starling fledglings & their parents have descended on my feeders like vultures.

vermin with wings. years ago i was on a british airgun forum & members were bemoaning the fact someone had imported american gray squirrels that are more aggressive than their smaller native red squirrels. i replied that that was their karma for bringing house sparrows & starlings to our shores. i was filling my bird bath & got to witness a cooper hawk attack a starling. made my morning. if you blow up the photo you can see that he covered his kill with spread wings. an hour later i stepped out of my workshop & was smacked in the face by an incoming robin headed for the birdbath. luckily my eyes weren't hurt. the robin was fine too.

looks a deer bedded down on my dutch iris patch. smushed em down pretty good.

i've seen this happen a few times. yesterday i watched a robin tugging at a worm. as soon as he freed it from the dirt a cardinal swooped in & stole it & flew off in a single motion. the robin looked perplexed by it all. the fawn i posted about awhile back is now the size of a large german shepherd. a young buck, 2 does, & 3 fawns pass thru on a regular basis. yesterday on a back road a young fawn was on it's own by the roadside. i stopped to look & it just looked back unafraid. i honked my horn before moving on to coax it away from the road.

Rober, good, Cardinals rule!