Thieves and Hunters

My garden attracts all manner of birds and squirrels.  None of them expressly invited and some of them, namely the squirrels, not welcome.

Squirrels are the thieves in my garden.  They steal the fruit from my trees and the tomatoes from my planter boxes.  Nothing is sacred; not artichokes, not pomegranates and certainly not tomatoes.  All my tomatoes.  All.  I may never recover or plant tomatoes again.  It was a painful, frustrating summer.

Squirrels also target the bird feeders.  I have a large feeder with sunflower seeds hanging on a pole, with a squirrel guard (an upside-down cone that swivels in an unstable way when touched( on the pole.  Last summer, one managed to climb up a sunflower stem and then scramble onto the feeder when the flower bent under its weight.  I cut down the flower.

The other day, one climbed to the top of the fence and leaped across to the feeder.  When it had stuffed its cheeks full of seeds, it launched onto the ground and scurried away.

I also watched a hunter make its way through all my flower beds.  At first I thought it was a dove; a big dove with a dark splotchy back.  It hopped through the tangle of leaves and branches under the shrub rose hedge.  Then it flew to the top of the fence -- where I was able to get a good look at it through my binoculars -- before landing in the flower bed below.  It wound its way through the native grass, sage and lilacs, searching for lunch small birds and rodents. 

I looked through my bird books; it looked like a hawk but it was far too small and the coloring was not consistent with the red tail hawks that are common in our area.  I found it -- a hawk indeed.  A Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Photo Credit: Audibon website

These hawks are not nearly as common as red tail hawks, which also stalk the garden.  The red-tails are larger and sit on the fence posts before swooping down into the garden and then right back up.  These little guys sneak around the garden, winding through the lavendar, and poking their heads into the lilac bushes.  It reminded me of hide-and-seek -- except that all the little birds had hidden themselves far, far away from my garden.  It was a few days before they came back.

Birds of March

I'm getting better at identifying birds.  When I glance out the window, or work in the garden, I think to myself "purple and house finches," instead of "purple and reddish birds."  The finches -- those just mentioned and Lesser Goldfinches -- are the predominant birds in the garden now.  Gold-crowned sparrows, which were the most common in January and February, are pretty much gone.  I saw one this morning; the only one I've seen this month.  They are only in our area during the winter, so it must be spring (yay!).  There have been a couple American Goldfinches in the garden, with their blinding yellow color standing out next to the softer yellow of the Lesser Goldfinch. 

Canada geese still roam the pastures, and our pair of Mallard ducks have returned as well.  I had just about given up on them.  They come every year and live, for a few weeks, in the donkey pasture, digging in the stream with their beaks and swimming in the pond. 

Wild turkey are everywhere -- on the hillsides, and in the road.  They are such funny birds; tall, gangly and awkward as they hurry across the road, necks out-stretched, like they are reaching for the finish-line tape. 

We still have quail scurrying amongst the brambles of blackberry and fallen wood.  Starlings are around as well, too.  There is one who has been digging in the garden for bugs and sitting on the garage roof.  I'm used to seeing large clouds of them, flying together, but this one is all alone.

Also solitary, though not for long, was the first acorn woodpecker of the season.  He was out under the front oak tree hopping around on the grass.  Maybe he was looking for an acorn left from last fall.  These woodpeckers are numerous in the summer and fall here -- not surprising, given the many oak trees on the property.  I love their bright clown faces, but their insistence on drilling holes in the house is less than endearing.

There continue to be a few Spotted Towhees in the garden and I saw a California Towhee there the other day as well.  The ones in our area have a definite burnt orange blush on their face and an orange spot under their tail. 

I saw my first hummingbird of the season the other day as well.  We have Anna's Hummingbirds here, primarily.  I was surprised to see it since the flowers (daffodil and poppies) are just now starting to bloom.

All photos from the Audubon website, unless otherwise noted  

February Birds

Our February birds were similar to January's visitors.  It is still winter, after all.  I'm posting pictures of the newbies.  The most frequent visitors continue to be gold-crowned sparrows.  There are a handful of house sparrows thrown in, as well.  One morning, I saw a bird that was similar in coloring to a house sparrow -- but not the same exactly.  Same colors, different markings.  I think this is what I saw.  But I'm not positive.  I have only seen it that one time which makes me think that maybe I didn't see it at all.  I'm learning that bird watching is not simple or straight forward.  It's darn difficult.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

We have a few house finches that have joined the purple finches at the feeder.  They are definitely a brighter red than their cousins and they have a red spot on their tail.  I'm sure on this bird.

House finch

And then there was the mystery bird.  A beautiful bird, the size and shape of a sparrow, but a beautiful pale, warm, buff color -- uniformly colored -- started hanging out at the feeder.  I consulted both of my bird books; the quick and easy Sierra bird book and my comprehensive Sibley guide.  Nothing.  I scoured the Internet.  Nothing.  Finally, in desperation, I called our friend Steve who studied ornithology -- so he has a degree in birds.  If he didn't know, I was sunk.  Steve was able to identify the bird -- its a gold-crowned sparrow with a pigment mutation.  No wonder I couldn't find it.  And he told me not to stress about being unable to identify every bird I see.  "It happens to all of us," he said.  If it happens to Steve, then I'm good with letting it go.

Photo by Christian Dionne - posted on Birdphotographers.net website

I put up two kinds of bird feeders in my garden.  I read that it is best to have feeders designated for specific birds.  If you put in an all purpose bird seed mix, the birds will pick through it and discard much of it on the ground.  So, I bought a big feeder and filled it with sunflower seeds.  It is very popular with the sparrows, finches and juncos.  The other is a cylinder of mesh, filled with teeny tiny Niger seed.  It took the goldfinches a few days to find it, but now it typically has five to ten little gold birds clinging to its sides.  I love the goldfinches and the way they light up the bare branches of the garden oak tree with their bright yellow bodies and cheerful chirping.

Lesser Goldfinch

In mid-February, a new bird showed up at the feeder.  It flew a few times to the feeder, but mostly walked upside down on the limbs of the garden oak tree.  That's how I knew what it was; that and its long skinny beak - perfect for sticking into the crevices of trees to get tasty bugs.

White Breasted Nuthatch

(all photos from the Audubon website unless otherwise noted)

January Birds

I'm going to post, at the end of each month, the birds that I have seen on the property.  Unless otherwise stated, the photos are from the Audubon website.  I don't have a fancy camera with a nice zoom lens (and I'm okay with that) so I can't get good bird pictures for you.  Brett says that I look like the admiral of a ship, standing at the window with my binoculars, and looking out into the garden.

We have many California Quail here on the property but we don't see them as often anymore as we did when we first moved in.  Quail are shy birds and they primarily live in the blackberry bushes surrounding the property.  When the big tree fell, we started seeing lots of quail as they took up residence in the twigs and twisted limbs covering the ground.

This is a picture of Canada geese in our pasture.  Last winter, they took up permanent residence there.  This year, they only land sporadically.  

But I hear them honking overhead, every morning.

Eurasian-Collared dove -- these doves are frequent visitors to the garden.  Before chicken wire covered the chicken run, there were almost always a couple in there helping themselves to the chicken scratch on the ground.

After I set up the bird feeder in the garden, these guys took over.  They are constantly scratching and hopping around in the leaves and bark underneath the feeder.  Yellow crowned sparrow.

I put a couple bird feeders in the garden.  This one is for sparrows and other similar sized birds.  I filled it with black sunflower seeds.

House sparrow -- not as numerous as the Golden Crowned sparrows but so pretty with their streak of reddish brown on their neck.

Mourning Dove: we have a few of these in the garden as well as the Euroasian collared doves.  

Purple Finch: This was a new bird for me.  I was so excited when I saw one at the feeder -- grabbed my binoculars and my field book and went to town.  They are very similar to a house finch so it took a lot of back and forth with the binoculars and book before I was sure.  Thank goodness, it was a hungry bird and stayed a while.

Spotted Towhee: We have lots of these, throughout the year.  They are stunning with their black heads, red bodies and spotted backs.  They are one of my favorite birds up here.  

Dark-eyed Junco.  The black head is a great contrast with the buff body (not really shown here).  

On a Cold, Dreary New Year's Day

It was a misty, moisty, cold day.  I don't think we got above 40F and the temperature started dropping after lunch.  We are supposed to get snow tonight and tomorrow; how much is anyone's guess.  The forecast has ranged from three inches to 20 inches (currently at about seven inches).  We never believe anything until it happens.  Today was supposed to be partly sunny, with showers after 4pm.  It looked like this when we got up, and it looked like this all day long.  Sun?  What sun?  It started to rain mid-morning and dribbled and drizzled all day long.

What's a girl to do?  Make more sourdough bread for one thing.  It's a three day process, but so worth the results.  We finished off this loaf at lunch and I'm making more, that I will bake tomorrow, for us to have with soup tomorrow night.  I made the soup stock yesterday and the house smelled wonderful.

Kyle's birthday is today and when he and Camille were here to celebrate Christmas, I also made his birthday dinner.  He requested rib eye steak, potatoes au gratin, corn, Caesar salad, and homemade bread.  The crusty kind.  That's my son -- we know how to enjoy our food in this family.

This morning, there were sparrows scratching around in the leaves under the rose bushes outside the breakfast nook.  I recorded them in my book: spotted towhees and yellow crowned sparrows.

Yellow crowned sparrow (photo by allaboutbirds.org)

Spotted Towhee (photo Audubon.org)

Then I put away all the Christmas decorations and ornaments from the tree.  I always do this on New Year's Day -- my "fresh start" for the New Year begins with the Christmas clutter gone.

I got a couple coloring books for Christmas.  This one is my favorite.  Of course, I started with the chicken picture.  Camille was incredulous ... with all the pictures of wild and exoctic animals to color, I picked a chicken.  I'm thinking about colors for the chicken while I work on the background.

The Birds of Oak Creek Ranch

One of the first things I noticed, when we moved here, was the abundance of birds.  My knowledge of birds is pretty elementary -- I can identify hummingbirds and hawks and crows.  I noticed that the blue jays here are different than in Southern California, as are the bluebirds.  And then there were tons of these interesting spotted sparrow sized birds -- I looked them up: spotted towhee.  So, I learned a very few.

California Towhee

We had a pair of old binoculars; a freebie gift from somewhere.  They were more trouble and hindrance than help, so I gave up on them pretty quickly.  I enjoyed the birds, but stopped trying to identify them, for the most part, because I couldn't get a close enough look to identify anything more than size and general color.

Black Phoebe

When Brett and I were in Mendocino in November, there were a pair of binoculars in our room.  The morning before we left, we walked down to the bench sitting at the edge of the bluff overlooking the ocean.  I grabbed the binoculars on our way out the door.  We traded them back and forth, looking at the waves breaking over the rocks and the rip tides colliding.  I noticed a bird flying overhead.  It was some kind of raptor and I pointed the binoculars in its direction.  It was an epiphany for me -- the bird was clear, with its colors and markings visible.  I was enthralled and amazed.  I had no idea that a decent pair of binoculars could be so helpful.

Back home, I researched binoculars for birding.  I found a pair with excellent reviews and highly rated by the Audubon Society.  Brett said he would get them for me for Christmas.

Hummingbird

Sure enough, Christmas morning there were binoculars for me under the tree.  We celebrated Christmas with Kyle and Camille on Wednesday and, after opening the binoculars,  I promptly ordered a bird journal so I can write down the birds I identify.  This morning, as I was mucking, I heard Canada geese flying overhead.  I thought to myelf; "Aha!  My first entry."

Then, I came back inside and tried to identify the birds in the pictures that Steve took when he and Heather were visiting.  (He took the photos in this post)

Random Five Friday

1.  The blog will be quiet this weekend.  My mom's memorial is Saturday.  I will be celebrating her life with my family and with her friends.  I want to talk about her at the gathering; to share a bit about our relationship and what she meant to me.  I want to but I'm not sure I'll make it through.  I'm going to give it my best shot though.  Wish me strength.

2.  We do not plan to put a cover on the chicken run to protect them from hawks.  We'll see how it goes.  They will have a large oak tree and the hen house for cover.  If hawks start raiding our flock, I'm sure Brett will come up with some kind of cover.  He is putting chicken wire all along the bottom.  We don't need raccoons pulling chicken heads through the fence.  Yes, they do that and it's gruesome.

3. There has been some discussion in the comments about Jackson and his metabolic syndrome; about his supplements and about the wisdom of letting him eat grass.  We don't believe that he has a metabolic condition after all.  We had him tested six ways to Sunday and all the tests came back negative.  I did put him on Cushings medication for a year since metabolic conditions can throw false negative lab tests -- it didn't make any difference.  Our vet up here thinks Jackson just has crappy feet.  His laminitis isn't progressing and he shows no other symptoms of metabolic imbalance.  His soles are super thin, they get soft when the ground is wet and voila, abscess city.  He gets a vitamin supplement to balance his hay.  Other than his feet, he's very healthy.  He's got a boot on -- a diaper and epsom salt poultice covered with bandage tape and a duct tape sole.

4.  I bought a bird feeder and hung it on a pole in my garden.  I can see it from the breakfast table and my kitchen window.  I have a pair of binoculars and a book on birds in the Sierras sitting close by.  Brett thinks I've gone off the deep end, constantly looking up birds.  I saw a mountain bluebird the other day so it must be spring.

5.  Sandy called and cancelled my lesson on Winston.  It seems he's taken naughty to a whole new level.  She felt it best (and I agree) that I not ride him until he gets past this tantrum stage.  She likened his behavior to a two year old; I don't want to do it! I don't! I don't!  But instead of banging his head on the floor (my little brother excelled at that one), he throws himself around the arena.  Sandy rides with a lot of tact and sensitivity so if he's pulling this with her, it's all about him.  We don't think its pain related since he's good as gold when the work is easy and only protests when she's asking for a bit more.  I'm sure he's sore; boot camp is hard work. That isn't an excuse for bad behavior.  I have asked that the body work person give him a treatment (massage, acupressure) and we'll see if she feels anything especially ouchy.  In the meantime, I'm very thankful for Sandy and for her working with Winston.  She believes he can do the work and he can be a good partner; he just needs to do some growing up in the attitude division first.

Puttering and Bird Watching

It's been three weeks since I've been able to putter in the yard. First the flu kept me on the couch and then we had a huge rainstorm. Not that I'm complaining about the rain, we needed it so badly. We have more rain coming in tonight so the skies were grey all day. It is another warm storm so it was a comfortable 60F outside.

The pastures are turning emerald green and the streams are still running with clear water. Kersey jumps in as soon as we let the dogs out of the barn in the morning.

We've stopped feeding the donkeys hay. They have plenty of green grass to eat and they don't need to gain anymore weight. They are not happy about this and bray in the most pitiful way when they see the hay cart going by. Or when we walk to the barn. Even when I step out the side door to grab an armful of wood. I'm sure all the neighbors think we are starving them.

I spent some time pruning the rose bushes along the front porch. While I trimmed back the rosemary and the sage, Sedona kept watch from the middle of the front lawn. Kersey wasn't interested in anything but her bone.

One of the best things about our property is the birds. There are birds everywhere; woodpeckers in the trees, quail in the pasture, sparrows, hawks and Canada geese. I bought a book to help me identify the birds awhile back and I installed a very cool app on my phone (Merlin) that helps me with identification too. This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count (sponsored by Cornell University). I decided to take part so I spent the better part of an hour sitting with a pair of binoculars, my bird book, my iPad and my gardening journal. The "rules" of the bird count ask for a minimum of 15 minutes birdwatching but I was having such a good time that I kept going. ...I have a feeling this could be very addicting.