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| Sunset over our favorite orchard..unedited |
This weather is not kind to people like me. My paternal grandmother suffered horribly from it, my dad does, and the older I get the worse it gets me.
Thus not much posting.
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| Older doe or nursing big fawns? Or both? She is awfully thin for high summer |
However, we have stolen some time from a broken baler, babysitting, housework, and gardening to
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| Summer snow storm...Cottonwood seeds |
Of course there have been birds involved but this is not exactly the birding festival season. High points in general include atlasing all the nests and fledglings and shrieking babies in the bushes and trying for photos and audio of as many county species as we can get.
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| No comment, other than that she is sure a worker |
So far this season in my primary "patch", which I have named Northview Farm House Yard, we have had successful nests of Cedar Waxwings, Purple and House Finches, American Robins, European Starlings (not much of an accomplishment that) Black-capped Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers, Baltimore Orioles, Common Grackles (another dubious delight), Eastern Phoebes, and Mourning Doves that I can think of offhand.
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| Grey Catbird |
We have counted 85 species in the area that includes the house, driveway, the walk over to the barn, and the yards around the house. This is actually somewhat low, because this year I split observations on the farm into two "yards" to be more accurate for the atlas. Thus the back of the farm birds are on another list.
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| I think this guy may do custom work. We see him and his mules all over |
Last night we took a little ramble and saw interesting things including most of the White-tailed Deer population of the entire county attempting to end it all on the hood of our car. I was actually really glad to get home alive.
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| Lyker's Pond |
Anyhow, here are a few of the things we have seen when out and about.
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| And baby makes three....see him back there following the rake that his mama is pulling? |
Stay cool!
Sorry about the heat . . but so glad it hasn't prevented you from recording and sharing your wonderful existence in your beautiful and enviable environment!
ReplyDelete"We have counted 85 species in the area that includes the house, " WOW!!
The older I get, the more the heat gets me down. Of course, that could also be because the older I get, the fatter I grow, so that's a factor, too. Sigh! Regarding Starlings. In all the years (46) we've been feeding birds in our back yard, we never had more than a rare Starling visitor, but about 6 weeks ago a big group of 6 or more started visiting our back porch where we put out cat food for our neighborhood feral cats. I recognized some of the starlings as juveniles. All day long they were hanging around, pooping all over the back steps and splashing most of the water out of the birdbath at least twice a day. And then, ZERO! Not a one has been around for the past 4 days. Did they rear their brood here and then set off for larger territory (or one that was more cat free)? I doubt that the feral cats could have killed them all off at once, especially since they never were seen stalking the brownish young ones that used to waddle around the bird bath and cat-food dishes all day.
ReplyDeleteCathy, it is really nailing me this year, but I try to get as much done as I can either very early in the day...I was planting radishes at five AM the other day, or else on the cooler days. Feels like a hot humid one coming up today, alas. Thanks for your kind words.
ReplyDeleteJacqueline, same here about the heat. I am sure the fact that I am not a slender little thing surely factors in. lol About the starlings. I wonder if they went off to join one of those large flocks that slowly accumulate as the year wears on. Early in the season we see only singles and pairs, then they begin to group into sixes and sevens. The next thing you know I am counting by tens up into the hundreds. Just guessing though...