Monday, March 26, 2012

Home Sweet Home

.Since getting back from the hill country, we've spent quite a bit of time in our yards, doing weeding and other jobs we felt we needed to get done before the full arrival of spring.

A couple of years ago the oak in our front yard absolutely covered the lawn and flower beds with acorns. We picked up thousands but many more got buried. So I'm always watching for and pulling up the ones that have started to sprout. Luckily I'm now getting help from the many squirrels that live in our neighborhood. Several squirrels spend virtually all day every day digging up and eating buried acorns.


Lately Blue Jays have been turning up and joining in.


The male Red-bellied Woodpecker that started making occasional visits to our suet feeders has turned into a regular visitor.


I'm glad the Blue Jays and Red-bellied seem to be settling back into our yards because almost all our winter visitors have now left. The only ones remaining are Chipping Sparrows, and I don't expect them to be around much longer. We'll certainly miss them when they leave!


Working in the yards has given me more opportunities to watch the sky over our house. So I finally got to see the Cooper's Hawk that has been terrorizing the birds in our neighborhood for weeks.


I've had good looks at a Red-tailed Hawk, too.


It's rare to look up for more than a few minutes without being able to see Turkey and/or Black Vultures circling above. However, on Tuesday I was surprised when two Black Vultures strolled down the street and past the front of our yard.


BTW, there is plenty of other activity in our yards. All kinds of bugs are active and several types of butterflies drift through each day. While we hear tree frogs constantly but never see any, male anoles have been displaying all over our fences and walls. I just love watching how they pump up the pink sac at their throat.


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