Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Visitors and Julie

This morning in the yard, the tree swallows were absolutely swarming by the dozens. They fly in formation, then suddenly split up and gobble mosquitoes. Thank you, winged citizens of my yard.
We have hawks and sparrows and goldfinches and robins and bluebirds and purple finches. I want wrens and cardinals and titmouse and other song birds. I also want straight hair that isn't frizzy, as long as we're wishing.
The good news is, this morning I heard a wren in my yard! I grabbed the camera and learned a lesson.

Wrens are fast. I had my fast lens on, but it was no match for this guy.
Photo is blurry, but I was so thrilled with the sighting, I had to post it!





We have several families of robins. These moms are so busy, constantly bringing worms to a nest full of squawking babies.














everybody in the pool!!





One of the pairs of purple finch that we see.

 The other mama robin.
This is a bad guy. European house sparrow

Well, guess what?? I called Julie, the number you call to have the utilities marked in the yard before you dig. The utilities run right thru where I want my deer bed. So, now what? I have to figure out if I can still plant here, just not put a tree where the lines are. I remember the day they put these lines in. They wanted to go right down the middle of the yard, but the neighbor guy came out and said, you better make them move those to the side, you might want to plant there.
Great. Thanks, neighbor.
But you can see the progress the RoundUp is making. I will not be stopped! I will figure this out!
Photobucket

4 comments:

  1. What wonderful little birds you have visiting there. I wish you well with your new garden space. It was nice of your neighbor to mention to you about moving the waterline over before they got started.

    Thank you for visiting my blog.

    Your refrigerator pickle recipe sounds delicious.

    FlowerLady

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  2. Hi Sissy,
    (I used to live in Illinois, so I am familiar with Julie too) We have had wrens nesting in gourds the last few years, fast they are, but boy, can they sing! Looking forward to seeing the yard transformation...keep up the hard work!

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  3. Oh, Sissy, bummer on the utility lines! You will just have to plant shallow-rooted perennials in that area.

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  4. Great photos of all your feathered friends, Sissy! Your new garden area will bring them in even closer. We have lots of barn swallows, and I love watching them in the morning and evening as they hunt for insects. They look like they're doing flight maneuvers.

    Good thing you called Julie! I had to do that last fall when I started planting some shrubs and dug right into a cable line. Hubby wouldn't have been too happy about that:) Can you move your new bed a foot or two away from the lines to avoid them?

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