Here we go again...

After last weekend's BlueJay attack on the finch nest, I thought our porch nest saga was over.  But I could be wrong...

It appears that a pair of doves have decided that one of our petunia hanging baskets would be a good spot, and we spotted them this morning busily crafting a nest.

Not sure what will come of it yet, so we'll see.

AMW

Mother Nature Sucks!

They're gone.  All of the finch eggs are gone.

Saturday, while having our yard sale, we watched nearly helplessly as a BlueJay flew up to the nest.  We knew it wasn't good.  We managed to scare him off once, but he knew where the nest was, and went back.

He ate/destroyed all of the eggs.  

The momma and daddy finch haven't returned since they checked and saw the nest was empty but for a few broken shells.

Will they return and try again?  I have no idea....

But it sucks to watch mother nature in action.  

AMW

Amazing!

Well - our little purple finch momma has done it again!   She's laid another egg, for a grand total of 6!  SIX!  I'm tellin' ya, I have no idea where they're coming from.  She's such a tiny gal....

6 eggs on the porch!

The fern on the top right is her space!

Hope they all are viable!  That'd be pretty fun to watch....

AMW

Whew!

Lot's of action going on around the porch this weekend.  Between the finches, the cardinals, the psycho squirrel, it seemed line it went on and on.  Probably just seemed like a lot...

The finches have laid a total of five eggs in four days.  And this little momma girl is small!  I don't know where they were coming from...  We've pulled the nest down to give the poor fern a drink of water, and the eggs kept multiplying.  I've managed to get some pics along the way, but know that soon I won't be pulling it down anymore.  (I'll have to get a step-stool to take a quick peek and picture.)  Momma is not thrilled about us using our porch for ourselves, and will sit in a nearby tree and watch us while we sit in our chairs looking out.  She won't really come around while we're out there.  I hope that changes, though.  Luckily, she's got the weekdays to make up for it, and enjoy it all to herself.

The cardinals were also riled up by mr. psycho squirrel.  Daddy cardinal was keeping an eye on him, and when he ran up a utility pole that was right nest to the nest bush, daddy cardinal was very vocal about how unhappy he was.  Mr. psycho squirrel ran up the utility pole, then right back down and jumped into the bush where the nest is.  It's not a big bush, so we were expecting the worst.  Although I was pretty sure squirrels don't eat baby birds, this one is a tad on the psycho side, so who knows.    We tried to see in the nest, to make sure the babies were ok, but it looked empty.  With sinking stomachs, we were about to just retreat to the porch, when D spotted a baby cardinal right by my foot.  I snapped a couple pics, then we quickly headed to the porch to watch how things unfolded.  The momma and daddy cardinal came right in, and corralled the baby into the bush.  We could see it flapping it's wings and jumping up a couple branches.  Not sure if it made it back into the nest, but it appears to be ok for now.  (pics below!)

Also near the cardinal nest bush are some pointy yucca bushes (man, those things hurt!).  We've seen a hummingbird flitting around them, be he never seems to go to the feeder.  We've seen a downy woodpecker at the hummingbird feeder, but no hummingbirds.   We've seen this one hummingbird a few times, so there should be more, right?

We decided to go out, get a pole hook and a real bird feeder.  Got seed, and we were all set.  Put the feeder up, and put a hummingbird feeder on one of the hooks.   The hummingbird flew right past the feeder.  Sheesh!  Don't these birds know we're trying to help???

Anyhoo - here are some more pics for your viewing pleasure...

Here are the nest pics from the porch.

Here is the baby cardinal after being

flushed out by Mr. Psycho Squirrel!

Here is the Downy Woodpecker that is

 drinking from the hummingbird feeder.

This is definitely become quite a hub of activity!  It sure is bringing entertainment...

AMW

Some sights

It has rained all week long.  For 6 days now.  It has completely filled the rain barrel several times over, and I'm glad I hooked up the overflow hose and routed it down the drain pipe.  Although, I wonder what I could be doing with all the water that's flowing down there......

It's spring, and things are growing and blooming and thriving.  I've found 4 birds nests around the yard.  The finches are back on the front porch in one of the ferns.  I've got pics of the nest and one egg so far.  We've got a cardinal's nest in a bush not far from the porch, too.  They have already hatched, and I can hear them chirping away when momma appears with food.  We've got two robin's nests in the back yard.

We've put out humming bird feeders to attract these fun little birds, but as of yet, we've not seen any.  Yesterday, however, I saw a woodpecker drinking from the one in the front yard.  I'm not sure what kind of woodpecker, but I'm sure that's what it is.  I saw him again this morning as I drove down the driveway heading to work.  Didn't have the camera, though!

During yesterday's rain showers, the sun was still shining, so we went looking for a rainbow.  We found it!  Right across the street, so it was visible from the porch...

Here are some pics from around the porch and yard:

Above is the fern with the nest.

Below is the nest on the first day.

The nest the second day.  With an egg!

If you look real close - you can see the finch on the

chain on the plant next to where the nest is.

Again, if you look real close, you can see the 

mom and dad finch in this tree.  They flew

directly there from the porch, so I know it's them!

This little guy finally has some new growth!

Can you see it??  This is another picture

of THIS plant.

And finally - some pics of the rainbow

from the front porch!

Going Green(ish)

I really want to learn how to be greener.   I think we try to do our part here by recycling regularly.  That's partly because our city makes it so easy.  They provide us with a large wheeled receptacle specifically for recycling, and then pick it up on the regularly scheduled trash day, every other week.  

We try to replace burned out light bulbs with the high efficiency ones.  (Although we still have two halogen lights that we're using....  need to ditch those!)

We only do laundry with full loads.  (But we still use the dryer.  Never did care for line-dried clothes....)

We only run the dishwasher when it's full, and usually only once a week.  

We installed a Rain Barrel which is hooked up , and collecting copious amounts of rain water which we use to water all of the plants on the front porch, as well as the few veggies we have on the back patio.

We cut the heat back this year several degrees (which also helped to lower the oil bill!).

We fired the wood stove more this winter to keep the electric heat from kicking on downstairs. 

This spring when we had a rather warm spell, we sucked it up, and just ran fans instead of resorting to turning on the air conditioners already.

We've got the tote bags that we take to the stores now, so we don't use as many plastic bags, and the plastic bags that we do get, we use multiple times.

So, all in all, we don't do half bad. And I know there are more things we can do.  And I'd like to try to figure out what they are....  Anyone have suggestions??

One thing I'd like learn more about is composting.  It's a really cool way of reducing waste and another form of recycling.  Apparently, the former owners of the house somewhat had a composting pile in the back of the yard.  I never noticed it as a formal compost pile, but D recently said that it was set up with cinder block separators.  I'm thinking more along the lines  of a commercial bin.   We'll see!

We should probably buy more local foods.  This is a catch 22, though, as local is more expensive in a time when everyone is watching their budgets.  I enjoy going to the local farmers markets, and getting fresh produce, tho.

Maybe next year, I'll find a spot to actually plant a veggie garden somewhere in the yard.  And use the compost as fertilizer for some terrific homegrown yums!

So, please, if you have some additional suggestions, post 'em!  I'd love to hear some ideas....

AMW