Well, you know what they say about best laid plans. Well, actually I don't remember what they say about them although I did a
post about that. But I do know that this morning that I was going to take some pictures of the several kinds of new flowers that were blooming but decided to wait until the evening when the light was better. That didn't work out. We have had bands of heavy rain and storms since early afternoon and they are supposed to continue into night. In fact I was held at work for extra time waiting for a storm to pass. That particular storm broke a window in our building. It was kind of exciting and kind of scary.
Anyway, this all means that I don't have many pictures this week. But here are a few things I saw this week during a
Second Look.
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| This chipmunk has only recently discovered the seed droppings from the bird feeder. It's been a year or more since we've seen any chipmunks although they have been plentiful in the past. |
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| That means the squirrels are getting some new competition. |
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| We are slowly getting more hummingbird visitors. |
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| A couple of times, we have gotten two of them at the feeder at once. |
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| More baby birds hatched this week. As I approach the box, I can hear the babies cheeping away. However, they are quiet and still when I get close or touch the box. Good survival instincts. |
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| We also saw a baby fawn this week. (This group was about 100 yards away. Too far for my camera to get a good picture.) |
What happened that caused the window to break? We have a lot of storms in the PNW, but they tend to be on the mild side, small hail, not a lot of lightening, etc. Our biggest risk is from wind, with tree branches.
ReplyDeleteI love chipmunks! We don't get any in our yard. But I've seen a few in the rain forest, nearby.
It looks like the wind broke a tree branch and crashed it into the window. The tree was about 30' away so the wind had to be pretty strong to carry a fairly large branch that far.
DeleteI can ship you as many chipmunks as you would like since I seem to have an abundance of them this year. I keep telling Shelby (the dog) her position in the family is determined by how well she keeps them at bay. She is losing ground fast!
ReplyDeleteOf course part of this might be my fault for planting strawberries this year and keeping them well fed!
Our cats would probably keep a lot more critters at bay if we only let them go outside.
DeleteI enjoyed the pictures of the chipmunk and the deer and I'm thankful that we don't have any visiting our backyard :)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos, as always, thanks so much for sharing them. That must have been some storm that blew that window! I'm glad you were OK. How is your hubby feeling?
Deer and chipmunks while cute, can really do a lot of damage to things you don't want them to. Backyards are great places to for them to find good food. You're lucky that you and your plants aren't competing with them.
DeleteMy husband is feeling better and better every day.
Wow, that's quite a storm. One blew through our area while we were out of town last week. My wonderful neighbor (the cat-sitter) picked up the big branches in our yard and apologized for not getting all the little ones--I never would have expected her to clean up our yard for us--it's such a blessing to have reliable and thoughtful neighbors.
ReplyDeleteI am not a lover of chipmunks. We have had too many problems with them stealing food when we camp (and we don't leave our food out--they can be very aggressive in hauling off items right in front of you). I do love squirrels and deer, though.
I think you have some great photos today! :)
What a wonderful neighbor to pick up your branches. While we help the elderly with outdoor things in our neighborhood, we've never picked up able bodied neighbors' branches. We barely get our own yard cleaned up.
DeleteYou are indeed blessed to have such thoughtful neighbors.
I like the deer photo, kind of surreal. I love the hummers and boy do they fight amongst themselves! Cute chipmunk!
ReplyDeleteI like that. I'll call my deer photo surreal instead of out of focus.
DeleteI have the same hummingbird feeder (first pic). I love it, it is so easy to clean. Do you ever have woodpeckers on yours? We do! They are addicted to the nectar, especially the downy woodpeckers.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I have never seen a woodpecker on our hummingbird feeders, but a quick google suggests that it's not that unusual. Mostly, we just get bees going for the nectar.
DeleteI first thought they were after the ants that eventually find the feeder, but no, they are drinking the nectar. My feeders are hanging on shepherd hooks, so they land on the pole and jump to the feeder.
DeleteI've been putting vaseline on my shepherd hooks and the ants haven't been able to reach the hummingbird feeders since! It doesn't seem to bother the birds who are still perching on it. I wonder if their next landing is a little slippery, though :)
DeleteI'll have to try that Nathalie. Hubby sprayed the pole with spam once, but once the sun bakes it, the ants return.
DeleteI tried the Vaseline on the pole to keep the ants off without much luck. But I haven't tried it this year. Maybe I'll give it another go.
DeleteMaybe you didn't put enough on it? I take a big gob in my hand and just grease the whole pole, and even whatever hook/string holds the feeder to the pole. Before I did this, the ants were finding the feeders within minutes. I started doing the Vaseline maybe 3 weeks ago and I haven't had ONE ant in the feeders since! However, it was very challenging grabbing the pole out of the ground yesterday when I wanted to move it from one spot to the other, lol.
DeleteBefore that I tried vegetable shortening, which just cooked on the pole and didn't do anything at all.
Got it. More is better.
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