If you saw last Friday’s post regarding the backyard discovery of the six baby rats, I’m figuring it’s high time four days later to follow up with a status report. Did my efforts to rebuild their home and return the infant rodents to it hopefully entice momma rat to come back and continue raising them? …
Back in December was when I unearthed one of the more unique artifacts (pictured above) that’s now part of the permanent collection of the Will & Susan Campbell Museum of Backyarcheology. It was a mailing label plate for the uniquely surnamed P. Engensperger and I posted about it with the headline “What’s In A Name?” …
Had I my choice of what species of baby backyard wildlife I’d encounter to follow my adventure with the hummingbird chicks, it’s a pretty good bet a nest of baby rodents wouldn’t be at the top of my list, but that’s the way the ball bounces. And the fact is if I hadn’t gone digging …
And just like that, at 1:55 p.m., the nest is empty, or not quite. I went outside to look in hopes the younger of the two chicks had done what it’s older sibling had MOnday in venturing to a nearby branch for some pre-flight stuff. I gave the nest’s immediate vicinity a good look-around and …
Yesterday while out back longing for one last look at the first hummingbird chick that flew the coop late in the afternoon, a tiny flurry of activity near the back of the yard got my attention and sure enough there’s a near foot-long bushtit nest veritably buried and well camoflagued in the boughs of the …
The larger of the two Anna’s hummingbird chicks has taken the big step of leaving its cramped nest to a nearby branch where it’s waiting for the right time to take wing (click to enlarge): And sticking its tongue out a lot. It’s not every day we humans have the privilege of seeing a hummingbird’s …
So it finally dawned on me to set up the laptop and the digicam outside and get some realtime images streaming of the two hummingbird chicks in their nest within the fig tree over our patio. The image below should be the most recent one being served up: [live image removed] If not try refreshing …