Some backyard updates – I think the hummingbirds are bringing juveniles to the feeder. We’ve had a ton of action at the feeder and so I put out the camera today to try to see what they are up to. We’ve seen 3 at one time for sure and maybe 4. That’s a lot more than we’ve had earlier this summer so I think they successfully fledged a nest.
A pair of wrens built their nest in a terrible place in a pipe on our roof. So, we are anxiously awaiting their departure so we can secure that by using a finer mesh. They are also incredibly loud, but it’s kind of interesting.
We’ve had quite a few monarch caterpillars on the milkweed. I captured the one on video as it was forming its chrysalis, but I haven’t located any more of the chrysalises. We’ve had a lot of butterflies around and I think I have 3 caterpillars munching right now.
Rabbits ate a large part of a prickly pear cactus plant that a friend gave me. They have nibbled on a few other things this week while I was gone to a conference but mostly it’s just been that. It’s so weird.
I’m looking forward to moving some plants around this fall and splitting some things that have grown really well. We’ve seen a lot of bees and caterpillars. We have an abundance of snakes. But, it has not been a good year for toad sightings. Everything comes in a cycle and right now we are in a snake spell.
Even though I’ve mostly been too busy to spend time watching, I have been keeping bird seed out, but not as much as I had in the past with vacations and such. I have noticed that we haven’t seen as many rose breasted grosbeaks this year. We usually have 3 or 4 pairs hanging around and I think we may only have one pair that visits regularly. We still have all of our usual year round birds though. They’ve got plenty to eat in nature right now and whatever they get from here is just a bonus. We haven’t seen an oriole in a few weeks, but this time of year they are usually out finding bugs. We’ll probably see them again before they head south.
We’ve also been having a lot of deer around lately. There’s a young buck, a 4 or 6 pointer that comes through occasionally. Then, there’s another doe with a fawn that we see less frequently. The Doe with 2 fawns is still hanging around all the time. They prance around our firepit many evenings and bed down in the woods out back.
So, that’s what’s been happening here. What’s cool in your yard right now?
Here’s a longer video of the hummingbirds buzzing around the nectar feeder.
