In other news, the backyard birdwatching continues. I got a couple shots of what I have tentatively identified as a red-shouldered hawk last week. The flight photo isn't good, but there is enough information to lead me to believe my ID is correct. If anyone can tell me for sure what this hawk is, please do. He was a good sized bird, not as big as a red-tail, but big enough.Our Canada geese pair returned yesterday morning. This pair has been doing their courtship thang here in the yard for several years now. Once they mate and are ready to sit on eggs, they'll mosey off to a nesting location and we'll lose track of them until next Spring.
The brown-headed cowbirds are also here, as of a week ago. No photos yet, but I'm working on it.
There has been a single wild turkey coming through the yard about once a week. Last year we had somewhere between 16-24 of them coming through together, but so far this year, I've only seen this one bird. Weird.
What I think was a Cooper's Hawk was out back this morning, flying from low tree branches to the ground and back to the branches. It was too big to be a Sharp-shinned Hawk, but not big enough to threaten the chickens. A certain Wasabi Pea will be happy about that.
PopPop says two pair (maybe more) of the bluebirds are nesting in their boxes. Baby bluebirds in a few weeks!
That leaves us waiting for the hummingbirds and the Baltimore Orioles.
You have such a nice situation there on King Street. Did you imply that you guys are raising chickens? That's fantastic if it's so. And the great summer garden, the barns for your projects, the expanse of space in your yard, the ponds and marshes behind. Beautiful! It's great how you're living "in town" but that the wild things still feel at home there with you. Gobble-gobble -- there's one now.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, well, no, we aren't raising chickens. The four that remain are pets of the younger Pea. Three hens and a rooster. And for older girls, they are producing a lot of eggs. They have a coop behind the barn (just the one barn).
ReplyDeleteThe summer garden is a mere shadow of what it once was. We ate beans from the first garden for 3-4 years; we way overplanted. Now it's squash, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and cucumbers and that's about it.
It is a good yard for critters. The deer are around regularly, and we know there are fox about, though I haven't seen one for a couple years. Haven't heard any coyotes lately. There was another dead flying squirrel in the front yard last week, and there are plenty of gray squirrels, raccoons, skunks and a few possums, but far fewer rabbits than I'm used to having around. I guess bunnies are a favorite food for the various predators in the neighborhood. The bats are out of hibernation now, I see them at dusk. And of course, there are the birds.
It's always wonderful to read up on the northern yards. So very different down here! Wanna here about the different fish hangin' out? All kidding aside.. we are sooooo starving for our Mockingbirds. It's been two years since they sang everyday in our neighborhood. Hopefully everything will grow back and the fruit/berries/seeds they enjoyed so much will be plentiful again. Our doves are nesting and the crows seem to have moved on to northern pastures. Lots of little cuban sparrows about again, as are all the regulars! Gecko's and lizards/anoles are plentiful and easy pickin'. The iguana population has been taken care of, we only see a rare one on the seawall these days. Funny thing is we haven't seen that very RARE, EXTINCT SPECIES the silver rice rat. THANK YOU to my fellow Cudjoe folks that have been realistic and killing them!
ReplyDeleteThe moon has been so enjoyable this week with the great evening weather. We now have in our sites the northern cross with our beloved southern cross. Great up on the deck sleeping. I'll get new batteries for my camera and post some pic's on my bathroom project this week. I started my sunflower seeds for the summer and my morning glories for fill in with the bourganvilla. It's so darn dry here. I have two tomatoes and they may be the last of my plant. The blueberry bush didn't give berries yet.. hmmmm. Have to find out why, but it may be a month away. I have several meyer lemons, and my oranges will be plentiful. OH,,, and my Frangipani's are in bloom.. so sweet and beautiful. Bottle brush, in full bloom and the hummingbirds that left about a month ago would have loved it.
Sorry for my typing/talking... no time to proof! nighty nite! LOL
OH,,,, Almost forgot... I have a bet with wabbit.... I just know she'll get an owl pic very soon!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait.. that was a handsome hawk!
You oughta get odds if you specify the type of owl. I'll put a fiver with even odds on the Barn Owl. Screech Owl two to one. Saw-whet Owl three to one. Barred Owl four to one. Eight to one against the Great Horned Owl though.
ReplyDeleteI knew a lady some time back, a close friend of my mother, who lived in an apartment in Kew Gardens, Queens. She enjoyed the birds who frequented the big maple trees outside her window. One spring she rescued a baby robin that had fallen out of its nest. She nursed it until it was able to fly, but the robin still frequently returned to her window and would even fly back inside the apartment, just visiting. When winter came the bird left and didn't reappear until the following spring. The lady recognized her robin when it arrived. She saw it sitting outside her window and looking in. It returned often even after it had mated and had a nest full of little ones. And when the little ones began to fly he had them circling outside her window. The lady reported that the robin returned for the next two springs and paid his respects. But afterward she was never sure if it was her robin that she thought she saw about the neighborhood or not. That's what she told me.
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible story. I loved it and thank you for sharing. There is always something special when it comes to robins.
ReplyDeleteThe last owl I saw in Hanover was a snowy. It was very cold so must have been fall/winter/springtime but not summer. Ground was crunchy and trees barren, it sat up in a pine tree at night. Why was I out at night you ask? Moonlit walk I'm guessing with the kids or Nan? I do remember seeing it and saying ... WOW that is one big owl! We frightened it and it flew away without a sound. Other than that I have no idea what she will come up with!!! LOL I'm thinking even on Screech. Anyone else?
I had a baby robin the year Peter and I sold the small house on Rock Ridge Road. once I had taught him how to get his own worms, he was more or less on his own, but he hung around for the summer. He'd fly behind me while I mowed the lawn and he flew from tree to tree to follow us on our evening walks. Sometimes he'd land on my shoulder. I had to warn the young couple that bought the house about him, and in fact, the first time I started telling them about him, there he was. He buzzed us as a group, then flew back and landed on me. I suppose he stopped coming around once we were gone.
ReplyDeleteRobins are pretty cool.
I'm leaning toward a Screech owl myself. We do have Great Horned owls in the area, though. I've probably got a couple more weeks before the leaves are out, which will make owl spotting more difficult.
ReplyDeleteI remember when you first told that robin story. I was amazed then, the way that you have of drawing love out of the fur and feather folks. That still remains beautiful to hear. It's nice to imagine that things went well for little Mr. Robin after all that.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking barn owl first in likelihood with the barn next door to the house, but is there anywhere for a little bird to get in and find a cloistered perch?
ReplyDeleteThat's just it, there isn't much in the way of nesting spots in the immediate area for a barn owl, at least none that leap to mind. I know there are Great Horned owls, we hear them. There might be Barred owls, those I haven't heard one yet. Along with Screech owls, there may be Saw-whet owls. I'll hear them before I see them.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of your finding owl birds in the tree outside your kitchen windows. The Great Horned and the Barred Owls I took to be the most reclusive and the least likely to alight near the house. The smaller ones travel farther afield, I surmised, crossing open spaces, and might decide to plank it on one of the branches while flitting from here to there. If the Horned Owl appears he'd more likely show up down near the pond, dontcha think?
ReplyDeleteI'm putting my money on the Barred Owl now. It's most likely what I saw that night if it was especially light in color. I'll keep thinking it was a snowy in my mind.
ReplyDeleteWith so many moles, mice & salamanders out back and attic bats! I'd be looking for Bat eaters! A barred owl will be easier to spot and you might catch one around dusk looking for your attic pets!
The pond isn't far from the yard, it's probably not more than 150 yards from where I'm sitting right now, so a GHO in a tree along the back edge of the yard seems like a distinct possibility.
ReplyDeleteI heard a screech owl last night!
Key Dear suggested that she had seen an arctic owl in Hanover some years ago? That's very rare. When I was in junior high and lived far from town on an old 120-acre farm in upstate New York, an arctic owl visited and perched on a fencepost about 60-70 yards from our house near the barn. Amazing animal: all bright white with huge yellow eyes that impressed even at a distance. He remained there, except for brief forays in search of snacks, for three days before taking his leave. Noone back then believed us. But it was pretty remote there. We has bobcats in the woods and black bear that we saw regularly; once we all saw a lynx there - the neighbors too.
ReplyDeleteDid you have trappers in your area? It must have been wonderful to be able to see them, but worrisome as well. I have friends that say you can smell a panther a mile away (Mexico, Costa Rica, etc.) Panther Pi** is supposedly the worst. They certainly mark out a territory!
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