Garden

[ValuSkr]

@possummink  Your Kitty is a very handsome bird!!

[CLEM]

@possummink  @Harpa  From where I am, in the middle of a big busy city, it sounds to me like  you live in paradise. 

But I have live in a similar place as a child on my grandmother's farm in Germany and later when I moved away to different cities where I always lived at the outskirts and was able to hear and see different kinds of wild life including cuckoo birds which sound really beautiful from afar, but up close  they sound scary.

So I know what I am missing and wish you all the joy you can get from living where you are.

[possummink]

Clem,  Thank you.   I have been so very blessed to have grown up 'country' and even now, though the area I've lived in for most of my life has been 'over developed', we, my brother and I(I've been a widow for 17 years) have two acres and the property backs up to a small woodlot and an open field.   We do have many species of birds and a fair assortment of critters,  like possums, raccoons, deer, a woodchuck(groundhog) and a few others, like coyotes.  Before the coyotes moved in we had red foxes which we fed due to a lack of natural prey and habitat.   

The farm I grew up on had so much to keep me outside almost from dawn to dusk and even later in the evening.  We had all the domestic pets you can imagine, plus some exotics, like pheasants, peacocks, guinea fowl etc.  I learned to observe nature in all ways and to this day prefer to be out and about in natural settings.  Housework will always be there, birds and critters won't.

 Bird watching is an awesome activity for all ages and feeding birds brings them close so I don't have to wander very far to see quite a few species.  We have Chimney Swifts that have been nesting in the chimney here since my parents bought this house in 1962.  Chimney Swifts have a hard time finding nesting sites due to chimneys being covered by most people and old trees with holes for nesting are usually taken down.   Chimney Swifts cannot perch like most birds, they have to cling to a wall or tree bark.   I look forward every Spring to their return to our chimney.  They spend the day soaring and flitting in huge circles above the property catching insects, especially mosquitoes.  Those little birds are so welcome here. 

We've planted many seed and berry bearing trees for wildlife and have 5 variety of nut trees for the squirrels, deer, etc.  We now have pawpaw trees and American persimmons for the critters, though I do try to get some too.  The squirrels and deer usually win the race for chestnuts in the fall and the squirrels get 99% of the pecans off of the trees before they ever start to drop in the Autumn. 

Clem,  you mentioned cuckoos.   When I was a kid, we called them "rain crows".   I have no idea where that term came from or if the name even had any significance regarding rain storms.  

Sorry to ramble on and on.  I do 'talk' a lot.  Have a lovely rest of  your Tuesday. 

[Harpa]

@CLEM

Good old Philadelphia!

When I wanted to buy my harp, New York southern tier was job depressed, so off to Philadelphia I went to teach in the heart of the city. I had found an apt. a little further out, but I would try to go home in the beautiful country at least every other weekend. 

We built a double-decker bird feeder...this thing was huge, (it must have stood over 5 feet tall) and all sorts of the neatest birds, etc. would come & feast.

I also went to Temple years before. I can't say I miss living/sojourning/or even visiting the city!

I can imagine that Germany is really quite something else!

(As soon as I tapped the window today at my catbird, a sweet male hum came, and he's been filling up all afternoon.) Finally!

[CLEM]

@possummink  I have seen the beautiful pictures you have been posting for quite a while in various forums and have downloaded many of them for my screensaver. 

You mentioned that you had cuckoo birds and I thought there were non in the US.  When checking, I found out that there are 20 species living here, but that they are not the same as the ones in Europe.  Learn something every day.

Germany used to be beautiful and I guess it still is when you get into rural areas.  But it's so over populated.  When you fly over the country it sometimes seems that there is one city right next to another.

[CLEM]

@Harpa I actually really do like living in Philadelphia.  It has everything I need and want within walking distance or can be reached by bus.  But I really do miss country living.  But I guess I can't have everything.  Miss birds and other animals and especially waking up to birds singing or the rooster crowing (if that is the right word).

When was the last time you were here?

[Icegoddess]

I put petroleum jelly on the wire to the hummingbird feeder to keep the ants out of it.  I have seen a woodpecker at mine.  Not one of the smaller sapsuckers, but the larger ladderback I think.

I have one of those regular bird feeders that closes up when too much weight is on it and that has kept the squirrels out of it.  No worries, I have a larger one at the back fence for them.  I only use black oil sunflower seeds in them.

My suet feeder hangs and that keeps a lot of birds that don't like to hang upside down off of it.  You might have a raccoon.  I had one remove the suet cage from the chain.  I just use one of those shower curtain rings to attach it.  He actualy ran off with the cage.  After much searching I finally bought a new suet cage and when I went to hang it, there was my old cage laying on the ground.  Lest you think I just missed it, he/she has done it more than once.  I have seen said raccoon and even have pics of it. 

[gardenman]

It was nice of the raccoon to bring back the now empty cage for you to refill it again for him.

[sabatini]

@possummink, your place sounds absolutely lovely & idyllic - like something out of a romantic, old fashioned book.  

I loved reading your description of the returning, nesting chimney swifts, but I'm not a fellow fan of them!

I used to live in a huge old house that'd been built in the 1800s.

Its chimney was massive, & ran from the cellar, up through 2 floors, the attic & then the roof. (naturally - LOL!)

Anyway, here came the chimney swifts - which I found to be creepy & I'm a bird lover!

They were so bat-like (even their erratic flight pattern), and would all descend w/ a whoosh! down into the chimney.

Those birds made a racket, & in that massive chimney, the nose echoed throughout the house.

To make matters worse, some would cling to the firescreen, peering into the room, and quite a few babies fell from the nest & died on the hearth.

They were a protected species, so there were no companies that'd help w/ their removal. I eventually had a cap placed on the chimney.

I don't mean to sound like a downer!

[sabatini]

Hi, @Harpa, to answer your question, yes, I have had thieves at my hummingbird feeders!

There was a female gilded flicker who'd come to not only eat at the 'big' feeder, but would also try to land on the hummingbird's, as well as the finch's.

I named her Big Bertha. LOL!

Here's a pic of Bertha and a curved bill thrasher.....and one of her trying to nibble from an empty finch feeder: