22
Aug 13

Hummingbirds and Bees Don’t Play Nice

 

hummingbird on feederI really like hummingbirds; they are beautiful and even though they are so small they are fierce little fighters, except when it comes to bees.   I always feel so bad for the little hummers when I see them being chased away from their feeder by bees. It is amazing to me that they are afraid of the much tinier bees buzzing them. But I guess they are no different than us, most of us folks are afraid of bees too. Who wants to get stung, right?

So what can you do to keep the little hummers from being tormented at their juice bar? The best thing to do is start with the right feeder. You can purchase feeders that are bee proof. It is designed so that it is too long of a reach from the top of the feeder to nectar below for the bees to get, but the hummingbirds still can lap it up to their hearts content. They also make bee guard tips, which can be purchased to use on feeders you already have.  I have a bottle type feeder that the bees really like, so I will try the bee guard inserts and see if they work. My dish type feeder works pretty well for keeping the bees away and I like it because it is really easy to clean.

There are a lot of tips on using oils or insecticide to keep bees away, but most hummingbird sites will advise against this, as it is not good for birds or bees. I’m all for communing with nature and figuring out how we can all live comfortably with each other. If the hummingbirds and bees can figure it out, so can we.


07
Aug 13

Planting “Our” Garden and the Killdeer

Killdeer faking itSo I finally put my foot down and moved planting “our” garden to the top of “my” list. (Yes, “our is in parenthesis for a reason…read on.) I knew we would be getting rain for the next few days, at least that was the latest “guess” I had heard the weatherman say. All last week when I thought I might be able to make time to plant, it was just so hot, it was in the 90’s and I thought my plants would die as soon as I planted them.  I wanted to wait for better weather. I believe that cloudy with an extended period of rain expected, it was a perfect time to plant.

The killdeer was the only thing holding me back.

Their nest was right next to one of my highest raised beds. I started in my lowest bed but that made the killdeer get off her nest and complain… loudly; I tried to ignore her.  I planted several rows of lettuce, beets, carrots and tomatoes. Then I had to move up to the next bed. I planted peppers, some jalapeño but mostly sweet. I moved up to my last bed, right next to the nest. Now both Killdeer were complaining, feigning broken wings and making a racket to draw me away. It was pretty hard to ignore at that point, but I was determined to finish before the rains came and I had missed my opportunity.

Then I left to go and get a rake and Dean came outside to meet me at the garage on the other side of the house. It was a little chilly with no sun and Dean told me he was getting worried that I was taking so long. I was so very sore and tired about this time, and I thought how sweet he is worried about me. Awwww! But no he was worried about the killdeer eggs! The mother had been off them a long time and he was worried they were cold. He wasn’t worried about me, my aching back, or my planting “our” garden.

Yes my husband is an animal lover. We had a cat for 17 years that I always said was his mistress. He wanted me to stop so she could go back to her eggs and warm them up. But I was so close to being able to complete my task, so I pushed on through his taunts of being so cold hearted for the killdeer babies. I finished planting “our” garden through the killdeer complaints and the husband complaints. Only then were the killdeer able to go back and sit on their nests. I did not tell the killdeer to make their nest next to ‘Our” garden. Am I a bad person?


01
Aug 13

A Funny Thing Happened: Dog Sees Space Alien

Dog sees AlienI have to tell you about a funny thing that happened one morning.  I had decided that the first thing I was going to do was make tomato sauce for dinner. I always make gallons at a time to can or freeze for those all too frequent days when I haven’t made anything for dinner.

I was chopping a lot of onions that were very strong and making my eyes tear. Suddenly I had a brilliant idea; I went and got my full-face respirator that I use for soap making. This may seem like a funny thing to do, but I was chopping a lot of onions and my eyes were tearing so much I could hardly see.  Plus I am use to wearing it for soap making so it did not seem like a funny thing to me. It was working perfectly, chopping onions and no tears.

Then Chia (the dog ) scratched on the door to go out.  So I stopped chopping and went to the door a few feet away and opened the door for her. But she didn’t go out; she just sat there looking at me in a state of shock with eyes just about popping out of her head. I said “its ok Chia come on, you can go out” She just stared at me looking like I was a space alien (how I wished I had a camera)!

Finally after more coaxing she flew past me out the door. Once safely in the garage she put on the brakes, turned around and looked horrified. As if she couldn’t believe that she was able to escape from the monster that had gotten into her home. Then she turned again and ran out into the yard.  I went back to my chopping, but made sure to take off the respirator before I let the poor dog back in. Once Chia was in the house I put my mask back on to finish up the onions and she gave me a relieved look as if to say” Oh that was you”. It was all pretty comical and I was glad to see she was not traumatized for life. Now the tomato sauce was simmering and I had to get back to work.


31
Jul 13

Animal watcher: Caddy, me and other

Caddy the BraveI am a confessed animal watcher. My husband laughs as I race to the window, again. Years of experience has taught him that nothing is wrong. His wife is just nosey! To the untrained eye there doesn’t seem to be anything going on outside to look at.

This particular day I tell him that Caddy (our grand daughter’s Personal Pony) has spotted something in the woods. All of our other animals in the pasture have already run back to the safety of the barn. I really respect this pony’s spunk. He was standing his ground; all 3 foot of him was protecting the herd “so to speak” (just look at that picture of him and run with me…it’s pretty comical!). He whinnied and turned and ran a few feet just inside the fence of his smaller pasture by the barn. Bravely Caddy turned around again to face the danger. I looked in vain and I didn’t see anything, but I have learned to trust his instincts and I know for sure that this pony saw a perceived threat.

Caddy is also an animal watcher like me. I don’t know why, but I always have been. I love to watch their antics, from ants to zebra; I like to watch them all. I seem to always notice if my animals are watching too. I know that if they are staring at something, or barking as in the case of our dog, there is visitor lurking about. In the woods and occasionally in the pastures, we frequently see many different kinds of songbirds, turkeys, ducks and occasionally deer. There are also rare sightings of fox or coyote, which always seems to get all the barn residents interest. So when all of our animals stand at attention looking in the same direction I know there is some kind of an interesting gathering in the pasture or the woods.

I have to get out my binoculars and have a look too! That is best. I think my husband would stress if I went out with Caddy to look further! But I love the wild nature and beauty of animals! Are you an animal watcher? What have you seen in your neck of the woods?


24
Jul 13

The Nonconformist Killdeer

killdeer chick

Killdeer are certainly nonconformist. Sometimes I think they are just plain silly. I go back and forth between feeling bad for those that have laid their eggs in my territory and thinking that they are the dumbest of all birds. I can’t say they have made their nest, because they just make a little indentation in the stones and lay their eggs right there out in the open among the stones. Not in the trees to keep the babies safe; if not crazy they are certainly nonconformist in nature.

We had what seems like weeks of cold rainy days that added up to 11 inches of rain. This pair of birds took turns sitting on their eggs or trying to lure unwanted gawkers away from their eggs. They looked wet and pitiful and I felt bad for them. Today the sun was out and we noticed one egg was missing. On closer inspection, we see one of the eggs has hatched and the chick was lying lifeless outside the “nest” on the rocks, looking like a somewhat fuzzy rock. The parents had already disposed of the remains of the eggshell he emerged from.  I crept closer and wondered if he was really dead. Then he opened one eye and popped up and wobbled away like a drunken sailor trying to hop up into my raised garden.

I had never thought about it before but there are two kinds of baby birds, “cute” and “ugly”; yes really, I’m not kidding. Baby killdeer are the cute type, technically called Precocial, which means, “ripened beforehand”. They incubate longer and when they hatch they are fluffy and bright eyed, like chickens and ducks. Cute babies are ready to run as soon as their fluff dries out. They feed themselves, following their parents example. Ugly types like robins and blue jays are called Alticial, meaning “wet nurse”.  They are born almost naked and blind and are completely dependent on their parents. Interesting that human babies are both, cute (well not in bird terms) and alticial.

For now, every time I go outside I look closely where I step, afraid I will step on the killdeer chick pretending to be a rock and he is really good at it. Being a bit of a nonconformist myself, I guess I can relate.