Foiled by Chipmunks

Cute, fuzzy, stripey, little b*st**ds darlings.....

We are overrun this summer. Five, six, a dozen, twenty, all boiling around the yard intent on mischief.

Planted squash in a big bin to get it off the ground away from squash mosaic virus, which seems endemic around here. They unplanted it and replaced it with sunflower seeds they stole from the birds...

Which sprouted with great vigor and are all toppling over one another in their race for the sky. I like sunflowers and all, but tiny summer squash sauteed in butter, with a dab of green onion, a touch of garlic and Italian seasoning, with baby green beans thrown in....well, that trumps vagrant sunflowers any dinner of the season.

Weeded the tiny patch of thyme that sows itself here and there every summer. I love to cook with thyme and so does Liz. Some of the tiny, eyelash-thin plants were uprooted in the effort so I potted them in a little strawberry planter we had.

Wouldn't it be cute if they sowed themselves and ran down the sides...and wouldn't it be nice to bring the planter indoors in winter and have fresh thyme all year round.

Evidently tamias striatus didn't think so. They have dug in the top and every hole on the planter every single day since I planted them there. Big steel staples don't deter them one bit. Today I wedged the seedlings down with a big rock. Not so very elegant, but maybe it will work.

I could go on and on. Since I can't figure out how to properly seat a cartridge in my little Crossman CO2 pistol (which doesn't do much more than tick them off, but at least they run away when I go outdoors), and it is currently dead, they thumb their furry noses at me and don't even move when I walk right up to them.

At least none have come in the house....so far.... Ack!

I poked one in the fanny with a cow pole the other day and he just turned around and glared at me and went back to prising sunflower seeds out of the wire feeder in an utter huff.

Somebody help me...

Brave little Bird

That's TUTI on the left

This is TUTI, named with the code letter abbreviation for a Tufted Titmouse, which seemed to fit at the time. TUTI has twisted primary feathers on one wing, perhaps from a window strike or some other injury, perhaps from a genetic error.

TUTI is a toughie. He/she....I always think of her as a she and will write of her as such from here on in....has come to the feeder all winter  for two years. Then in spring she vanishes for a while, only to reappear leading her brood to the feeders.

Passing a seed

She has been coming back to the Jonna feeder...the only one I have out in hopes of fending off grackles...for a few days now after a prolonged absence. 

I worry.

Screechy little ball of fluff begging vociferously

This morning Miss Peggy emerged before her folks were up to urge me to come to the front porch where she announced that there were baby birds.

Too cute to be true

4-years-old and not a feather in sight, but somehow she knew that the strident peeping from the cedars was baby birds and not adults. However, we didn't actually see any of them. I couldn't quite figure out what we were hearing.

Until a few minutes ago when the yard filled with a flurry of the same sounds and a frantic TUTI racing to the feeder, quickly shucking a sunflower seed, and then flitting over to the honey locust to stuff a beak. And another beak. And another beak.

I have never gotten a decent photo of her, but today she was too busy to worry about the camera. I grabbed a few shots and came back inside to give her room to do her job.

The Downy Woodpeckers are bringing the kids in too.
Yesterday they were feeding them.
Today the kids have found the suet for themselves. Soon the parents will be ducking and dodging, trying to leave them behind on their own.

In the Cheap Seats

Admission to the Sitting Porch is a great bargain.

Free, and the show never ends.

Miss Peggy takes advantage now and then when she is bored or her folks are busy doing dangerous stuff.

I have fun with that. I had a bowl of glass thingies used in vases or aquariums. I just like them because they're pretty. She liked to play with them, so everyone was happy.

The other day I bought two more bags at the dollar store and put them in the bowl for her to find. She did and some serious play ensued.

I think she likes them.

Surprise

Brand new House Wren, fresh out of the box

It's fledge week here at Northview. House Wrens emerged in two batches, with some coming out earlier in the week and what I hope were the final ones yesterday. One hung out with me for a while yesterday afternoon, before answering his parents' calls and flying away with them.

Wrens have been joined by baby Downy Woodpeckers, new White-breasted Nuthatches, new House Finches, a plethora of American Robins of all shapes, colors and sizes, and I think maybe some new Black-capped Chickadees.

Immature American Robin

It makes looking up into the Honey Locust in the yard a lot of fun. Along with all these birds and their kids are the resident vireos, flycatchers, and warblers.

To my delight another species showed up yesterday morning. We haven't seen or heard these birds since the 22nd of April.

Singing in the yard, hotly pursued by a batch of brand new fledglings, was a Carolina Wren pair.

I've missed the loud tea kettle, tea kettle, tea kettle, and the outraged rattling all around the yard.

I wonder where they were.

The end

COOL is Cool

Not a beef cow, but certainly a product of the USA

Country of Origin Labeling that is. It's good to know where food is grown and under what set of standards.

I'd rather not buy imported produce if given the choice. Same goes for meat. Our inspection standards are far superior to those in many other countries, and I prefer to give our neighbors the business....and money....if possible.

However, it seems that FSIS is allowing foreign beef to be plainly labeled as a product of the USA.

Ridiculous. 

You can read about it here. Petition for Rulemaking on "Product of USA" Labeling

You can leave your own comment here.

Happy Birthday to my Irish Twin

For the next eight days my younger brother and I will be the same age. Happens every year. When we were kids he reveled in it, catching up with older, and sometimes cooler just because of that, me.

Then our nation's birthday would roll around and for the next twelve months I would be the older sister again.

However, now that we are both technically senior citizens, (although, really, we don't seem quite that old or at least not to me), I get to gloat a little.

So welcome to the nearly-old-fogies club, Michael; hope you have a wonderful day with many happy returns of same.

Love you....your temporarily parallel sister.

Yes

I did in fact inhale one of these tiny insects down at the river the other day. I was delighted that it was only one, as the air was clogged with them in utterly uncountable numbers. 

Wood Duck with babies

Normally the boss sits at one of the pick-a-nick tables enjoying the river while I bird. For some reason, however, he was quick to return to the car and roll up the windows that time.

That's a pretty big bow wave for such little birdies

The various swallows were swooping through the clouds, beaks ajar, certainly not having to aim to fill their bellies. A real Smorgasbug!

Below is an even bigger bow wave. Not too shabby a rooster tail either. In fact as this gigantic vessel came around the corner on the Mohawk today that is the first thing I spotted. I don't think I have ever seen a fancier boat or one traveling faster here on our little river.

Wondering

In the course of our travels we saw these lovely pink bales of chopped hay standing in a field we pass. We wondered what was up with pink bale wrap, as it is almost always white, so as to reflect the suns heat and not burn up the nutrition of the feed inside.

Becky said, "It's got to be for breast cancer awareness."

We scoffed.

However that evening on Facebook I discovered that she was exactly right. A buck a bale goes to research on that dreaded disease.

A Wred Letter Day

Silence at last

The Wrens fledged. 

I just watered ALL the plants on the porch without a peep of complaint. 

Measuring

"Hey, ma, what happened? How did I get here? What do I do now?
Hey, ma."

The week in birds....it was a good one, despite no new birds since May 28th. Finally got a couple photos of the Orchard Orioles, whose nest we found. 

And the other one, who was a bit more in control and flew from a stump to this snag

Then last night as we were coming back from getting a tarp to put over the baler to keep it dry overnights, we spotted two fledgling Red-tailed Hawks in the woods along the road.

"Hey, youse! Get offa my porch! How could you stoop so low!!!"

"If you would kindly walk away from this area I might feed my offspring, thank you."

One was perched on a stump, while the other sat in the weeds looking astonished to find himself in such a strange place, after spending his whole previous life in a nest somewhere nearby.

Here you see one of a pair of Cedar Waxwings that was systematically dismantling a
Baltimore Oriole nest and carting off the nesting material.
Don't know of the BAORs fledged or failed as I never saw them around the nest, which is right in front of the sitting porch, since the nest was built. Of course, I am not allowed to sit on the porch...
see above.

We took the photos from the car and got out of there quickly so as not to disturb them.

Song Sparrow

American Goldfinch

Eastern Wood Pee Wee, who really, really didn't want his picture taken...chased him for days

Despite the way June displays a mighty slowing down of passing new birds, we are still having a lot of fun...or at least I am. The boss is haying, having mowed the 30-acre-lot earlier this week.

Another Cedar Waxwing, in town for the Mulberry Express

First day of Summer

Just as it came from the camera

Skies have been amazing this week, from liquid sunsets poured with smooth peach brandy, hung with a silver slice of moon, and flambes of heart-stopping raspberry, to sunrises that shine with the Lord's pure glory.

And since I can't sleep through the dawn chorus I am awake and usually up for most of them.

JSYK there are an awful lot of mosquitoes out if you clean the dog run and put out fresh water before the sun clears the horizon.

Red-tailed Hawk

Fireflies are out too, and for some reason, even though I officially grew up a long time ago, I never got over them. The one in the bathroom that I thought was a cell phone charger, blinking green in the dark, simply delighted me...... after I got over laughing at myself. Pretty soon fireworks season will begin, and although the noise is problematic for some, I can't resist the light show above with the sporty neon bugs below. It just says summer to me.

Find of the day yesterday, an active, and indeed very busy, Orchard Oriole nest
Parents were in and out constantly, so quick I never got a photo of either one!

Wrens STILL haven't fledged, although at least they have grown enough that their squeaks don't sound like the car anymore. I sat out there for a little while yesterday anyhow, despite the parents' protests. Alas, there a couple of robins snooping around again.....

Some Rodents

....is cuter than others......

Gittin' 'er Done

This big old load of hay was plumb interesting to have to pass on this narrow country road

When you don't have a baler or a pick up truck I guess you have to get creative. We had to go out to talk to a gentleman who has been doing a little work for us yesterday and we met with both these conveyances on the way.

When we saw this situation approaching we were utterly puzzled. What on
earth old-fashioned farm implement could this contraption be? See if you can guess
Answer in the comments

It is not wise to proceed too precipitously on the rural roads around here, as you can see.