nesting | wordsfromanneli

July 6, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 39 Comments

This Place is for the Birds

This spotted towhee has been living here for quite a while.

His wife is somewhere nearby but she’s more camera shy.

She looks much like her flashy husband, but her colours are slightly muted.

They have been nesting on the ground inside my fenced garden, usually under the thick rosemary bush. But this year I cut the rosemary back quite a bit, not thinking I was making the usual nesting area less inviting.

So the towhees chose the messiest corner of the garden where I had not weeded, and put a nest in the mess. I let the poppies grow up in the raised bed, thinking it would hide the weeds until I could get to them. Little did I know I was also helping hide a towhee nest.

I sneaked in there with my camera and got a picture of one towhee baby still in the nest. Mother had flown out when I came close but she went right back after I left. Now I’m hoping the baby will make it through the next critical days and weeks.

There’s no question of catching up with my weeding in this part of the jungle now.

Please click on the links below if you would like to take advantage of smashwords’ e-book sale. My e-books are 50% off during July.

July 1, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 38 Comments

Sorry, Sorry, oh, so Sorry!

Yesterday, I watered my hanging baskets, and, for the second time, scared up an Oregon junco, who flew up into the nearby firs and scolded me.

“How dare you pour water on me?” she chipped.

Today, I had a closer look. Yes, the junco flew out for the third time that I have disturbed her. But when I parted the flowers and looked into the base of the pot, I felt just sick to think I had been pouring water on a little junco nest of five eggs.

I felt terrible to think of what I had put her through, and that I might have hurt her eggs. I thought nesting time was over!

And now, I’m wondering how I can save my hanging basket if I don’t water it.

*****

P.S. The Smashwords sale begins today with my e-books being 50% off.

Go to the smashwords link https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/ and type in my book titles in the search box at the top of the page. You can find the titles on the sidebars of all my posts.

Sale is on for the month of July.

March 28, 2023
by wordsfromanneli 25 Comments

Drumming Up Business

This flicker likes my chimney. It’s a perfect drum for establishing territory, possibly for protecting nearby nesting areas. She was here doing the same thing a year ago. How do I know it’s a “she”? The male red-shafted flickers have a red moustache slash. The females do not.

She hears another flicker and answers the call and then drums to assert her right to the territory.

And speaking of drumming up business, please visit my other blog site, annelisplace for everything related to books, reading, and writing. https://annelisplace.wordpress.com/2023/03/28/say-youll-come/

April 25, 2021
by wordsfromanneli 32 Comments

Location, Location, Location

A few days ago, David Kanigan posted photos of a Canada goose nesting on a dock.

https://davidkanigan.com/2021/04/20/and-the-show-goes-on/

Please visit it to see this post.

I had mixed feelings about this goose’s choice of location. It’s right out in the open, and so vulnerable to predators and the weather. I hope for, but don’t expect, a good outcome for this brood. Still, if she pulls it off and any of her goslings hatch and survive, the goose will deserve a medal for bravery and stamina.

I thought of this goose nest when the Captain came home from a trip up the BC coast, having taken pictures of a goose nest in a very remote location. This is how it should be. This goose nest is beside a river, but somehow the goose knew about rivers rising in the spring, and it has placed this nest high up out of the reach of a flooding river.

The nest is on top of this tree stump, out of sight, and out of reach of the spring run-off in a rising river. It is sheltered from aerial predators by the new growth on top of the stump. Being up high would also give it a slight advantage over animals that might threaten it from ground level.

But even with all of the advantages the goose has with this remote nest, it is probably at just as much risk as the town goose in David Kanigan’s blog post.

Thank you, David, for showing the city goose as compared to my country goose. I hope they both manage to bring off a nice batch of goslings.

July 31, 2020
by wordsfromanneli 27 Comments

Housebound

“Throw your head back, open your mouth wide, and look hungry,” chirped Robbie Robin. “And, oh yeah, peep as loud as you can. Ya gotta sound desperate … like this: PEEP! PEEP! PEEP!”

“Is that you making trouble again, Robbie? You know I can only feed one of you at a time. Maybe two. Good thing your father is helping out for a change.”

“Sorry, Mom! But we’re all kind of hungry here … not to mention BORED! We’ve been in this one-bedroom nest for over 10 days now. It’s so bohhhhh-ring.”

“Hah! Four more days, she says. We’re going to be falling out of the nest by then. I mean there’s hardly room for me, and then there’s Ryan, Ross, and Roberta. I don’t even know if Roberta’s going to make it. She’s kind of small and getting squished. Can you blame me for being a bit grumpy these days?”