A lot of what we do involves making memories - ones we want to recall and cherish later on.
For those of us who appreciate our feathered friends, bird watching fits right in with that idea.
This Week in the Backyard
Several days ago I rediscovered a shepherd’s crook hanging around in the garage doing nothing useful. So I decided to employ it.
I bought a new pair of metal-and-plastic tube feeders, intending to replace a similar one that’s still liked by the birds but has seen better days. I also bought another baffle to fend off the squirrels.
After setting everything up, I realized this pole was shorter than the others on which I have baffles.
Fortunately the squirrels don’t seem to have noticed this yet. I’m sure they could leap over the baffle and get to the tube feeder, but no one’s tried yet.
I fear it’s only a matter of time though.
What to Watch For This Week
Are there any birds you haven’t seen because they’ve already moved away for the season?
I just noticed that I didn’t see a robin today. I know they’re still around because they don’t migrate, but it was unusual not to see any.
Backyard Moment
It was time to refill some of the feeders - tube feeders and the box feeder.
As I walked out into the backyard with the refills, I could hear a Black-capped Chickadee nearby.
Chick-a-dee-dee-dee
Then I saw him up in the maple tree…fairly low. I hung the tube and poured the seeds onto the box. So I was still fairly close - maybe 3 or 4 feet away - when he came down from the branch, fluttered over the box, and flew away again.
Then he did it a second time.
I realized he didn’t trust me enough at that distance to actually land and snatch a seed, so I took just one step back.
That was enough. In just a little while, he tried again. This time he went for the tube feeder instead, grabbed his sunflower seed and took off.
This was as neat as the close encounter I had with a hummingbird - close enough to hear him tweeting - earlier this summer.
Next I hope to get him to eat out of my hand.
Journal Prompt
What sighting from this year will you want to remember in 5 years?
So far, mine is the Cooper’s Hawk I mentioned last week. Although the chickadee and hummingbird encounters I just told you about are close seconds.
From the Backyard Bird Tracker
Memories, like those I mentioned above, are why I built the Backyard Bird Tracker app. There’s an optional section called Notes that you can use each time you record a sighting.
You can type a short (or a long) description of the sighting there that will jog your memory days, weeks, months, and years from now.
Carrot Patch Update
I got some wire fencing - “hardware cloth”, as I’ve learned it’s called - to protect my carrot patch from rabbits and their ilk. (Don’t get me wrong…I like rabbits. I just don’t want to share my carrots with them.)
An unexpected side effect of installing it was acquiring several snags in my khakis.
I was wearing thick gloves as I cut, bent, and installed the mesh, but I hadn’t thought about my slacks getting in the way.
Ah well, now I have another pair of “play pants”.