I really missed writing this blog while I was away on vacation last week. We could receive no wireless signal where we were staying so there was no way for me post any thoughts and ideas. I have to tell you that I really did miss communicating with you this way. I’ll leave the details for a future blog. What most interests me was what I returned home to find living on the property. We were aware of one of these summer residents, but the others were a complete surprise.
Recently I mentioned that we found a toad wandering back and forth from the gardens in the front to the ones that make up our backyard. Occasionally, I found the little creature on the pathway that runs alongside the house connecting the front with the back. My little schnoodle also had a close encounter with it. One day when the dog and I were going to check on the pond, the toad was right in the middle of the path. It was an easy thing for me to gently step over the little creature, but my dog was extremely curious about this summer visitor. Not knowing what to make of the creature, she gently padded up to it and gave it a sniff. The toad hunkered down. You could almost see it standing its ground, daring the dog. Its eyes even seemed to be menacing. I was expecting a standoff between the two, but the dog got the message and made her way around the creature.
For days, I would see the little creature all over the landscape. I found it perched on the stones that border the pond, occasionally on the lily pads that cover most of the surface of the pond right now and even in our flower beds. When we returned from vacation, I found the little creature floating on one of the lily pads. But something else caught my eye. I turned to see the cottontail rabbit dart across the lawn and head into the undergrowth beneath the huge branches of my daughter’s magnolia tree. It seems this little creature has found a home and a plentiful food supply on our property. My wife is not amused. She is pleasantly surprised that we have a little furry rabbit on the property but it has made a diet of her flowers and plants. We’ve been noticing foliage that has been nibbled on, and upon our return, my wife noticed that all her morning glory vines had been chewed off. Before we knew it was a bunny, we had noticed a few other fledgling plants had been nipped off. She was growing sunflowers by one fence, and all the heads had disappeared one night. Now we know who the culprit is, but we’re not ready to try to shoo him on his way. We’ve heard that there are a few coyotes in the ravine close to where we live. We’ve never had rabbits living on the property before, so we figure it has found a safe haven away from the danger of living in the wild.
Before we left, my wife noticed a nest in the branches of my daughter’s magnolia tree. The nest was made in the branches that our bedrooms look out on. We speculated for some time about what kind of bird it was. We’ve seen male and female cardinals at our feeders, some yellow finches and sparrows, so we wondered what bird might have claimed this one branch to build its nest. When we returned, we found a male and female robin and three nestlings already hatched, the down on their little heads already turning into darker feathers.
We had friends over this past weekend, and we took great delight showing off the new babies. They would turn their open beaks toward us hoping that we might be bearing gifts.
Yesterday, during that torrential rainstorm that just about drowned everything on my property, we had to go out to backwash the pool and lower the level in the pond. I haven’t seen this much rain in quite awhile. My wife went to check on the nest, and found both mother and father robin shielding the babies with their bodies. The adult birds were absolutely drenched even with the cover of leaves overhead. I thought the poor things would be flooded right out of their nest, but the adults provided as much cover as they could to keep their brood warm and dry.
This morning, as I was passing the nest to feed the fish in the pond, I noticed the nest empty and thought the worst. It was then that I found one of the little birds testing its wings and perched on one of our patio chairs. The mother and father were close by keeping a wary eye on me, but I was all smiles. I ran inside to get my camera, but upon my return the little baby was gone. I guess its wings really do work.
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Don Jackson
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
- Alex