Tena StetlerAuthor of Paranormal Romance/Suspense & Cozy Mysteries With Magic Spark!

Apr 30th Robins vs Mourning Doves – Who Will Win the Right to Nest?

We were excited to discover that birds wanted to nest in our geranium hanging basket again this year.  The other day, I heard quite a ruckus out in the front yard.  A pair of Robins and a pair of Mourning Doves were noisily discussing who was permitted to build a nest in one of our hanging baskets.  Keep in mind there are two baskets, one on each corner of the house.  Apparently, only one is suitable for nesting.

The birds dove at one another and squawked loudly shoving each other out of the basket.  Finally, they all flew off.  I figured they’d be back for further negotiations.  However the next evening the Robin pair started  carrying grass, twigs, string, straw and a shoestring to the hanging basket and began building their nest.

The Mourning Doves nested in that basket for years and years.  There was only one summer several years ago, that a pair of Robins made it their home.  Sadly, for the last two summers the hanging basket remained unoccupied.

Mourning Doves are quiet tenants and hatch three sets of two eggs during the summer.  You wouldn’t know they were there unless you looked up as you walked in the door or saw them fly out of the nest.  Never heard a peep out of their chicks either.

Now the Robins are a different story.  They hatch only one set of three eggs and then they are gone.  Robins are very noisy while building their nest, as if discussing the placement of every twig.  When the chicks hatch, they cheep loudly every few hours and even while the parents feed them.  The bigger they get the louder they get.  If the parents are late, you can hear the chicks venting their displeasure.

My husband and I enjoy watching the progress, from the nest building to the hatching and then when the parents teach the chicks to fly.

There are several bird feeders in the back yard and lots of birds teach their young chicks to eat from the feeder as well as forage for food in the area.  It is amusing to watch the parents try to teach the babies to eat at the feeders.  The baby birds want the parents to feed them, and raise holy heck until the parents give in and fed them.

This only works for a little while and soon the parents refuse to feed them.  This forces the baby birds to try to balance on the bird feeder’s pegs and eat at the same time, usually resulting in losing their balance and flying off.  At that point, the parent birds will follow and feed them.  They try over and over until the baby birds get the hang of it.

Since the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest wild fires, we seem to have a much more diverse population of birds than ever before.  Have you noticed a change in the birds visiting your feeders or yard?

Our dog watches all this, never bothering the birds.  But let a squirrel enter the yard and its game on!

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Apr 3rd Spring Snow Brings May Flowers!

Those April showers that bring May flowers came in the form of eight inches of wet snow and big white fluffy flakes are still falling. It’s hard to believe that it was sunny and 60 degrees yesterday. I took a couple hours off from writing, leashed up my dog and scampered outside for a much-needed walk to the park and around the neighborhood. We admired all the daffodils and tulips plants that were several inches above ground. OK, I admired, Mystic was too busy sniffing the air and ground to see who came before her. We also found quite a few green blades of grass in the yards among the brown winter landscape. The buds on the lilac bushes look ready to burst wide open. Bet they are rethinking their decisions about now.
The neat thing about this storm is that we got to try out our new snow blower. Yes, that’s the one we purchased last year, after several snowstorms and my husband was out-of-town. So, the fun of shoveling all that snow, fell to me. The purchase worked, no measurable snow fell the rest of the winter, last year.
My husband has an innate ability to be in sunny California or Arizona on business when the snow flies here and there is any measurable accumulation. It was great fun to watch the snow blower cut a 24 inch swatch through the white stuff in a matter of minutes, especially since my husband was at the controls. Definitely beats shoveling. What was more amazing is that he was actually here to do that job! Will wonders never cease. Of course, there wasn’t supposed to be any measurable precipitation with this storm, an inch if we were lucky. The weatherman missed again, gee now that’s unusual. NOT! I know that compared to the storms in the eastern United States eight inches isn’t much, but here it’s needed moisture and finally enough to use our new snow blower!
Mystic, our chow, truly enjoyed tunneling under the snow with her nose and frolicking in the back yard, snow piled almost to her belly. The snow will probably be gone when the sun comes out, this afternoon or tomorrow, but now the snowball fight is on!  Nothing packs together better than the wet spring snow.

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