Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
As the temperatures have dropped, I’ve had to keep the water thawed and available for the birds, and the hummingbird feeders, as well. Today they appreciated it as dozens of birds, visited throughout the day. Starting with Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Golden-crowned Kinglets. Townsends’ Warblers,… Continue Reading “More Birds in the Winter Garden in all Sizes”
I love birds of all sizes, especially the tiny ones in my yard. These black-capped chickadees were perfectly camouflaged in the tree while I watched them through my office window. Chickadees were my gateway birds, the first I learned to identify by their sound… Continue Reading “My Tiny Backyard Birds”
“It’s a woodpecker!” Bob saw him in the backyard and called me to come quickly with my camera. (He knows me well.) And not any woodpecker, a Pileated Woodpecker, the largest in North America, a flaming, red-topped beauty. I didn’t want to miss the… Continue Reading “Pileated Woodpecker – a Visitation”
I rarely see a Goldfinch in my yard; I guess the accommodations and food supply are not to their liking. So, I was happy to see our state bird recently in Westport on our way to Long Beach. Happier still that this handsome male… Continue Reading “American Goldfinch”
I’ve told you about the snag we have in our front yard, saved from the axe a few years ago, per the recommendation of an arborist. I’ve watched the Flickers do their renovation work and seen them nesting in it year after year. But… Continue Reading “Chickadees at Home in the Snag”
Some years ago, my husband noticed one of our trees out front was dying, perhaps already dead. He brought out an arborist to take it down, who instead, convinced us to leave it standing as a snag. He topped it and removed most of… Continue Reading “Northern Flickers Making Home in the Snag”
We’ve had four days in a row of pure sunshine and temperatures reaching the 70’s; the sun-starved natives of the Pacific Northwest are rejoicing! The chickadees are happy too and busy excavating nests in the snag we left standing for this purpose. I hope… Continue Reading “Busy as a Chickadee on a Spring Day”
That’s what a group of hummingbirds is called. I rarely see them in groups, though I occasionally see a couple sparring for rights over the feeder. So last month during our record deep-freeze, 14 degrees overnight, I added an extra one to a new… Continue Reading “A Charm of Hummingbirds!”