Our back garden, early June. Oriental poppies, wild daisies, bearded iris, salvia, sweet rocket
American Robin fledgling hiding in our privet bushes
Spring has turned out fantastic this year, with a profusion of blooms and giant-sized plants. All of my Cranesbill Geraniums super-sized themselves beyond expectation, with plants normally 12 inches tall reaching 3 feet! Although our winter was long this year, temperatures never got below 0 degrees F, so perhaps that is the reason there are so many more buds than usual.
Louisiana Iris. We have five varieties from Iris City Gardens growing in our pond. This year they started flowering earlier than usual, (for here), June 14th.
Our semi-shade garden in the front yard including purple eupatorium, hosta, creeping cranesbill (obviously not the 3 ft variety), epimidium (barrenwort) foliage in the front
Early June rhododendron, after many years, it finally got large enough to evade the rabbits and bloom. I had no idea it was this color—what a nice surprise!
Chickadee happenings—past and present
We have a chickadee box attached to the NE side of our house (see above), and the same pair has nested there and raised young for several years. We call the female "droopy wing" because at rest her wing droops a bit.
We believe that she was actually hatched from the same location years ago. It is only a guess, but about 6 years ago, I had watched over a tiny fledgling chickadee, who, being last out of the box, could barely fly and was just a ball of feathers with stubby wings. It was a very windy day, and even the more mature chicks had difficulty following their parents up into the branches of the nearby pine. I had to keep retrieving the tiny fledgling after its valiant attempts to join its siblings landed it in the garden too close to the ground. At one point the chick was in my hand and the parent landed on my hand and fed it! Finally the chick was able to get situated in a sapling near the pine, and I kept an eye out until toward evening the wind died down, allowing the now stronger chick (it is incredible how quickly they grow) to join its family in the pine.
For safety, chickadees lead their babies far from the fledging site, after which the youngsters disperse, so you never know exactly what happens to them. What we do know is that when "droopy" appeared five springs ago, she was quite friendly, even for a chickadee, and would always greet us when we came out and fill up the feeder. Her mate keeps his distance, but she'll land right nearby, and "dee dee" away.
Two years ago, a sad but interesting thing happened. Droopy and mate had already raised one family and decided to attempt a second brood. Unfortunately, in the middle of it all we had several days close to 100 degrees. On the second evening of this heat, I went out to change the birdbath water, and Droopy flew down nearby and began making all I can describe as mournful pathetic "dee" sounds over and over again while acting distressed. It was very odd. I noticed that when she flew back to the box, she did not go in, nor were there any sounds coming from it. I wondered if the babies had died. Sure enough, in the fall, Larry took down the box to clean it out, and inside were the remains of the chicks. Perhaps Droopy perceived me as a "helper" or was expressing distress — who knows. Birds are way smarter especially in the area of communication, than many give them credit for.
Last year, Droopy and partner had a war with a wren who kept stuffing their house full of sticks. The chickadees finally had to give up, so we had no chicks in our box that year. The wren didn't nest there, just used it as a "dummy" house. By the time fall swung around, the box was pretty messed up, so this spring we upgraded it with a copper roofed deluxe mansion. Droopy approved and raised a new brood this year, keeping the returning wren at bay. The photo is of one of the parents flying from the box to find budworms for the babies. Not sure how many fledged this year as they left on a weekday, but from the sound of it there were at least 3 in the box, likely 5. I need one of those fiber optic cameras .... Lar?
Fathers day fun
Speaking of parents, I have also included photos of my Dad with his babies: his remote control airplane, and sheltie Teddy.
Teddy on the move
Dad flying his plane at the "Big Field"
I spent part of Fathers day with my family at my brother Mark's house in the Bristol Hills. The photos are of Mark and my nephew Joseph, 30 months, who Mark and Trudy adopted from S. Korea. As you can tell from the pictures below, Joey loves to be tossed and rough housed with.
Dad and Mark with Lawn Toys. Joseph is interested. Very interested.
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