Starting Over....

Two weeks ago I found the brood of bluebirds in the east field dead in the nestbox. It was invaded by ants. I cleaned out the box and waited. I checked it today and found that the pair had indeed started over. Here's some video of what I found:

Dead bluebirds.....

This crazy weather we've been having is playing havoc with much of the wildlife on our property.  Three days ago the high was in the upper 50's, today it's in the lower 90's.  We've had nearly non-stop rain for what seems like months. I had been monitoring one of our bluebird boxes in the east prairie  grass field. Last week I checked it and found some young bluebirds in the nest. I hadn't noticed the parents around the box at all lately, but given all the rain we had been having I hadn't been walking the edges of the fields as much as usual. This evening, armed with my new Kodak playsport, I headed over to the bluebird box. I wanted to get some video of the young bluebirds. The young were dead and covered with ants. I cleaned out the nest box and washed it down. Hopefully the pair will  start over.

We've got a pair of doves that like to nest in the clematis that's on one of the arbors. They're down to just one nestling left. I took out the dead ones yesterday. Three pairs of barn swallows are busy building nests on top of our shutters.

 Smooth penstemon is in bloom in the fields and the hummingbirds are busy with it.

Lorrie and I spent the weekend playing catch-up in the landscaping beads. We're still behind.

New Beginings

Bluebirds have left the nest. I've not seen any around the box, either alive or dead. Hopefully they all make it. I'll be looking for them over the next few days. Indigo buntings are now feeding with the finches on the feeders in the front of the house. How do I know this? Because I've had a bit more time lately to take it all in. The din of the television has finally disappeared from our home. I had been wanting to cancel the satellite service we've had, for over 15 years now, for a long time. Direct TV raised my bill one too many times. They crossed my price/value threshold. $83 a month is too much. For now we have an internet radio. It runs off of the wi-fi in the house. I have Bloomberg, CNN, Fox, and NPR programmed on it, along with an assortement of radio stations. There's also some old time radio programming that we've really enjoyed listening to. Actually got to listen to "Inner Sanctum Mysteries" on the old time radio. I've heard my grandmother talk about how they used to listen to it back in the 40's.  I believe there are over 16,000 radio stations to choose from. We logged into Reciva and registered the radio and use their service to create our own favorite folders of radio stations that each of us like. Best part...it's all free. Over 16,000 stations for free.

This is a picture of the radio. It's a Sanyo R227 and was extremely easy to set up. Works like a charm and can also pick up FM radio stations. Also has a built in alarm clock.

Next step is to buy a computer for the television so we can watch Hulu. All I need is a computer with HDMI output and a proccessor fast enough to pump it out to the TV.

At any rate I know I can find a better way to spend the $996 that Direct TV won't be getting.

New kids on the block

Checked the bluebird box this evening. These guys will not be around much longer. Looking at other pictures of fledgling bluebirds I would say these are older than 12 days and they usually leave the nest at 16-22 days. I count 5 birds.

Bluebirds have been busy...

As I was walking over to the point this afternoon I noticed a female bluebird fly out of one of the boxes. I walked over and opened it up to see if she was sitting on eggs and look what I found. The box is rather high so it was difficult to see exactly how many eggs she had, but I think there's five. Now if only the sparrows will leave her alone. This box not near our house and is in the prairie grass.

Everything is really greening up now. This is a shot of the lane leading to the point. When I started down the lane I saw that the larkspur was blooming. I planted this from seed I collected along a county road.

It took at least 3 years for these to finally start blooming. They're spreading slowly along the path. These are a favorite of the deer. So far they haven't found them.

There is a certain spot along the path where I many times see morning cloaks. This has went on for a number of years now and it's a very specific spot and always the same spot. I saw this one today. He looks a little rough.

 Now how's this for a toadshade plant. These are a yellow variety I orded a number of years ago. They are much larger than the burgandy one's common to our woods.

Back at the opening of the point there are tons of these "Pussy Toes" now blooming. Pussy toe is a plant of very poor soil, often acid where little else will grow. It's coming up between the moss and lichen that cover the point.

Here's a shot of the point. Changing fast now. You can still see a few redbuds and the dogwoods are blooming. The tulip poplar in the distance, next to the pine, is beginning to leave out. In late summer at sunset  Ursa Major is right next to those two trees.

On the way back I saw this  red admiral. It and  a  morning cloak (not the one I saw on the way in because this one had both wings intact) were doing battle.

"Jack-in-the-Pulpits" are up everywhere too.

I always thought this tree had a strange base to it.

Lastly it wouldn't be spring without these guys popping up. They where on the hillside just behing the tree with the weird base. The one in the upper left is a perfect "fiddle-head".

evening walk to the point....

Warm this evening....thick air and rich smells, earthy. It seemed as though overnight everything bloomed, that or I just wasn't paying much attention. Driving home from work I saw some serviceberry in bloom. The serviceberry is the very first wild tree/shrub to bloom here. A lot of people think it's a dogwood, but the dogwoods haven't bloomed yet. The serviceberry got its name because it is one of the first trees to bloom in the spring, right after the big snows melt. This was the time in the olden-days that the preacher could get through the snow and have the first church "service". We've have a number of them growing wild on the property, they're in bloom now and were the reason I took the walk this evening. On my way over to the point I noticed a pair of bluebirds, not far from a box I put up recently. I went over an opened to check and sure enough there's a nest. Now only if the sparrows will leave them alone.

The warm weather and rain we've had has set everything in motion. The moss on the path back to the point is really getting thick now...and so green. As I was walking along the path I heard a turkey gobbling. They haven't been spending much time over on the point lately and for that I'm glad. Last year the broke off many of the daffodils with their scratching.  I missed getting any pictures of the crocuses in bloom this year. For what ever reason the deer left them alone this time. The earlier blooming daffodils have already finished blooming but the larger one's are just now coming on.  I've  now got them planted from the lane entrance to the point all the way back to the outhouse and down the hill. Not sure how many I've planted now, a few hundred anyway. These are the only bulbs I've found that are deer proof. The problem is your limited on colors unless you want to dump a lot of money into the process. I can't see doing that for flowers that are going into the woods.

I took pictures of mayapples, dogtooth violets, dutchmans britches and of the outhouse but I'm too tired to upload this evening. I'll end with a shot off the point. You can see some of the redbuds in bloom, well I can anyway. This will look a whole lot different in a month.