Squirrel Squatter

I wonder if this squirrel was reading the blog last week and discovered the nifty blue glass bird feeder. The feeder has been hanging here for a year and to our knowledge the squirrels hadn't found it. These pictures show the secret is out and the squirrels have found it. We haven't figured out how the squirrel got to the feeder yet but he gets down by jumping the six feet to the deck below. The second picture is quite cute with the squirrel sticking out of both sides.

Birds Have a Green Thumb

Our birds have a very green thumb. We now have 3 giant Sunflowers standing behind the back deck. This particular one ended up in a pot on the deck. The first picture is from two weeks ago as the flower started to open. The second shows the flower wide open. The birds left Sunflower seeds in this pot, it the tomato bed behind it and even one in a crack between two bricks on the patio. It is amazing how well these plants are doing. I bet if we tried to plant them, we wouldn't have as much luck.

Cardinals at Bird Feeded

Our styling blue glass bird feeder is quite attractive to the neighborhood birds. Recently our camera snapped a couple of pictures of Cardinals at the feeder. But the first picture also shows a smaller bird waiting her turn at the feeder. She is hanging on the wire about a foot above the feeder so she can swoop down when the Cardinal moves on. This feeder is definitely a one at a time feeder so it isn't unusual to see birds waiting their turn.

Wildlife Update

Last year we had two giant turtles laying eggs in the yard. This year we have a regular sized box turtle. Our dog was very interested in this little guy but the turtle just pulled into his shell and was just fine. Once the dog danger was over, he moved back to the woods. The second picture is one of the neighborhood owls with his wings fully deployed. I don't know if he is celebrating, landing or taking off. It is quite a striking pose.

New Honey Locust Trees

An interesting thing happened at the hardware store two years ago, my wife picked up a bunch of Honey Locust seed pods lying under some trees in the parking lot. She planted them and they grew easily in pots. This year we transplanted them into the yard near the Oak Leak Hydrangeas. The trees are hard to see but there are five in this row and another four outside the fence. If they are anything like our Crape Myrtles we planted last year, we'll have a winner. The Crape Myrtles - in the second picture - have grown tremendously in their first year. They have taken over perfectly for the old Peach tree they replaced.

Raspberry Thief

My wife's raspberry plants were doing quite will this year but as soon as they were ripe, the berries disappeared. My wife covered them with netting but still the berries disappeared. I setup the camera to catch the thief and surprise the thief was our old friend, the squirrel. He was able to get under the net and chow down on the berries right when they got ripe.

Oak Leaf Hydrangeas Shine

First our Blue Flower Hydrangea that we purchased a couple of years ago is finally producing some flowers. It has been slow coming back but this years blooms are encouraging. The better show is the Oak Leaf Hydrangeas that the deer ate back to ground level several years ago. We moved these plants from the front yard to the fenced backyard to get away from the deer. Now these plants keep getting better and better year after year.

Small Pond Tadpoles Grow Up

The tadpoles in the small pond appear to be a week behind the large pond. But they are much more visible. Earlier I had the picture of them on the Sweet Flag leaf. These pictures show them congregating on our fake lily leaves. All of these little guys have starting growing their legs so will be tiny toads very soon.