Amie and I spotted the first Robins of the year on 21 January. One of them was climbing the cranberry bushes underneath our feeders and kept falling off. He looked clumsy, groggy. Our neighbor – who can tell us which bird settled in our gardens in which year, going decades back – told us that …
Category Archives: chickens
Researching Chickens
Friends are saving their egg cartons for us and we’ve been researching what breed and how many chickens we want to get, on the internet, in library books: And in the field, at Drumlin Farm: I was checking out their state-of-the-art chicken coop as much as I was the chickens (the photo shows only part …
More Squirrel Shenanigans – and the OWLS!
To follow up on yesterday’s Outdoor Hour Challenge on Squirrels, here are some of today’s nature pictures. Squirrels, of course. Even though I dug out the snow around the bird feeder, they are still attempting to get up onto the baffle. The prickly bush approach must have been too painful, and it wasn’t working anyway: …
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We Can Have Chickens!!!!!
We can. We will. Now, which, and how many? And where should they stay… Maybe ducks too? Which would you recommend? So happy!
Our First Project: Painting Birds
I’m warm because I’m sitting in the sunlight, but it’s coooold out here: 20 F this morning (there’s no wind). The Red-Bellied Woodpecker that is supposed to be in Florida is still here. Can it really be our bird feeder that keeps him here? The day before yesterday I believe I saw a new bird: …
Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers Together
– I’m growing! That’s what Amie would say if she realized that some months ago she couldn’t tell the difference between a Downy Woodpecker and a Hairy Woodpecker – and that therefore she couldn’t tell which was visiting our bird feeder either – and that now those appellations simply roll off her tongue: – O …
General Malaise Barely Evaded
Why do I even look at the news – my “consumption” of which is out of spiritual necessity minimized to reading the headlines in Google News? 8-year-old boy shoots himself in the head at a firearms expo, 7-year-old boy kidnapped then shot to death, Neo-Nazi plot to assassinate Obama. The places where my jawbone fits …
Hummingbird
This hummingbird had visited us a couple of times. Flying right up to the window to take a peek into the living room. Then DH came home with a hummingbird feeder and some “nectar” and we hung it. Within ten minutes the hummingbird came to feed. I believe it’s a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a female one …
House Finches Courting
Today in the exceptionally clear air I happened to snap this: These are House Finches. The red-headed one is the male and he’s feeding the female. This, I just read, is courting behavior. There were at least two males and two females around, possibly competing while a Hairy Woodpecker and a Nuthatch looked on. (Here’s …
We’re Here, Birdwatching
We’re still unpacking boxes, and not the kind that can go down into the basement without being opened. We’re still considering bids for several major appliance changes, like the new boiler, insulation, and a good wood stove. We’ve taken our first stabs at composting and are battling swarms of small, black flies. We’ve assembled the …