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Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019

[ Edited ]

Welcome dear friends old and new to the Bird's Nest for July 2019.  

 

The sparrow couple in my yellow birdhouse have been busy raising a family.  Two female babies fledged in June.  There are another two babies (gender unknown at this time) that are just about ready to leave the house and greet the world. Heart

 

Image result for red white and blue birds

 

Related image

 

Image result for red white and blue cardinal;

 

Among the trees is a bird's nest,

and in the nest her three eggs rest,

and in each egg, Hush, you'll be heard!

There lies asleep A tiny bird.

Written by H.N. Bialik

There are many elements: wind, fire, water
But none quite like the element of surprise
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Re: Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019

Possummink added these last night:

 

 

Tufted Coquette Hummingbird :o pic.twitter.com/Ce03MG34lA

 

There are many elements: wind, fire, water
But none quite like the element of surprise
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Re: Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019

GOODBYE JUNE HELLO JULY

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Re: Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019

Has anyone been seeing fireflies / lightening bugs?

 

I've noticed them sparking the last couple of nights.  It must be the heat and humidity.

 

 

There are many elements: wind, fire, water
But none quite like the element of surprise
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Re: Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019

Yes among th bushes.   Pretty.   But I suspect the mosquitoes are there too 

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Re: Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019


@Bird mama wrote:

Has anyone been seeing fireflies / lightening bugs?

 

I've noticed them sparking the last couple of nights.  It must be the heat and humidity.

 

lightning bugs on Tumblr


@Bird mama 

 

 

Oh, Bernie,  I wish you could see them here.   We have them by the hundreds upon hundreds,  especially on nights like we've been having.  I even have been catching them in the house and putting them back outside.   I guess with this house being so old they get in through cracks and uneven spaces between the back/kitchen porch screen door and the floor.   I just stand outside at night and marvel and get great delight out of just watching the silent light show.   They are all over our yard and the neighbors.   We don't rake up leaves or have all the dead wood hauled away from here.   

 

I read that lightning bugs are becoming rare in some areas, especially in the east.   Too many people like pristine yards and the beetles need the old wood and leaves as shelter and food sources to survive  Old wood and leaf layers give them what they need to survive especially in Winter.  Many bugs and critters need those things and we don't spray the yard or much else. 

 

Spot spraying of poison ivy or some other noxious weeds is just that spot, right on the plant.   I did pull some poison ivy out by my hands this year.   As long as I can get to fresh water within a couple of minutes it doesn't bother me.   If I don't, and I get it, it's he** to pay.  I react badly to it, but have learned how to remove it safely for me.  No soap, just fresh running water. 

 

 

The light show is going on right now and I have to go outside to fill the feeders for the early morning feathered friends.   I bought a new skeeter repellent today at the hardwares store.   It's base is lemon oil. and worked great when I went outside earlier.   Before I got it today, when I filled the feeders around 2pm,  I got bitten 3 times by mosquitoes and had gnats attacking my face.  The gnats didn't come around either after I put that spray on.  

 

I wish I could post a video of our yard right now.   It's amazing and just beautiful.  So mysterious and silent.  Awesome. 

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Re: Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019

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Re: Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019

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Re: Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019

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Re: Summer is in Full Swing at the Bird's Nest - July 2019

@possummink   When I mow my grass, especially in the back yard, I take the mower up to what would be the outside circumference of the evergreen shrub or pine tree.  I have some plant life under each shrub and pine tree that might be considered weedy.  They are not prickly dandelions or anything, just random plant growth.  As long as they don't get too wild and come up through the shrub or go outside of the back fence and become obvious from the school field, I don't cut them down.

 

Leaving them alone seems to keep the areas under the trees and shrubs moist and cooler and it cultivates a good small bug environment for the birds that eat them. 

 

I do my best to keep a 'natural' yard.

There are many elements: wind, fire, water
But none quite like the element of surprise