Me: You know it was inevitable, right? That I’d duct tape a beat up DV cam to the eyepiece of the spotting scope pointed at the mama-to-be hummingbird and hook it up to a laptop to send images of the nest (with or without the little lady) onto the internut every few seconds. You: Uh, …
I saw a most amazing thing last weekend. I was up in the rear of of our backyard watching a number of bushtits chirping and flitting through the branches of the unknown flowering tree that’s centrally located back there. Suddenly an Anna’s hummingbird dives in and squares off aggressively against one of the bushies only …
Literally the moment I got home from yesterday’s bike ride, I found a thirsty squirrel scoping out the birdbath from the adjacent fence, and managed to get my cam out and capture the squirrel figuring out how to alleviate its dehydration, brought on no doubt by the extended lack of rain around these here parts. …
Read more “Birdbaths: They’re Not Just For The Birds Anymore”
So at about 4 p.m. I look outside from the study and it’s snowing on the front yard ivy. Sunny, 72 degrees, and snowing. Not the frozen stuff. Feathers. The soft downy kind that almost defy gravity. I watch them as they drift and waft down to the ground. It can only mean one thing: …
Since I didn’t have a gift wishlist this season Susan had to improvise so that there’d be something under the tree for me to unwrap Christmas morn. I’m not sure what gave her the idea other than my love of bats, but she totally scored in getting me a ready-made, easy-to-install cedar bat shelter from …
Despite our knowledge of the myriad risks involved and much to the disdain of some of my fellow cat lovers and most animal care organizations, our quintet of cats enjoy the outdoors. We keep them in at night, but during the day they are free to come and go. We understand this is not only …
Our rice paper trees (Tetrapanax papyriferum) along the north side of the house are getting into their version of the holiday spirit with explosions of snowball-like blooms. In short order the bees will find them and after that the birds will devour the subsequent berries. Then in the spring and summer if I’m not careful …