A Year in Review

So, Pam at Digging got me thinking about my favorite photos from the past year.  And hardly any of them actually made it to the blog!  HA!  No, it's actually because my favorite passionvine photo was taken with my phone, so I never uploaded it to the blog, and I never did get around to posting photos from the Florida vacation (it's still on my list of things to do).

Anyhow, I decided I'd share my favorites from those that actually DID make it to the blog. Naturally, you can click to embiggen.

Mah Cat - Ivy

The Japanese Garden bridge at Zilker Botanical Gardens

One of the many squirrels in the yard

Beetle in a coreopsis bloom

Bloom Day Pink Cosmos

North by Northwest Austin Garden Tour:  Millington Garden

North by Northwest Austin Garden Tour:  Rancho Chaotic

North by Northwest Austin Garden Tour:  Clark Garden

My "Mull-Shay" Bed

Wasp and fly on Cosmo bloom

Squile

There are so many of these guys I can't keep track of them...of course there is one big, ole fat one that I call "Bubba."  Of course, this is not to be confused with what we call our cat, "Bubby."

Missing: Bird Seed. Reward Offered

So I've been noticing this week that the bird seed is getting completely eaten - which is fine, I don't mind that.  I don't mind that all the seed gets eaten in the platform and upcycled feeders - the squirrels have easy access, and I really don't care if they eat some of the seed; they tend to leave the safflower and really the squirrels don't come by until the afternoon anyway.  What I do care about is that I filled up the tube feeder this morning and by the time I came home it was completely empty.  Like I never even touched it.  I'm very confused, I didn't think the squirrels were getting to it, but maybe they are?  But then, since the feeder is cheap plastic, I would have figured that they would have just chewed through the feeder instead of methodically going through the little feed holes at the bottom...

Oh the confusion.

I foresee me sitting by the window all day on Sunday looking for the culprit. 

I can't do it tomorrow though because there's things to be done - specifically a birding seminar, the East Austin Garden Fare and the Wildflower Center plant sale. 

Feeders

The hummingbirds have left for Mexico (this was taken about a month and a half ago right before they left).


The Carolina Chickadees are appreciating the new bird feeders I put out.

As are the house finches.

Those birds will go through an entire feeder full of safflower and black oil sunflower in a couple of days. They, of course, tend to ignore the thistle feeder except for when the other feeder is so busy that they have to take turns to feed.

I'm still filling the platform feeder every day (with about a cup of seed). I've started mixing in some safflower since the birds like it and the squirrels don't. So far it seems like the Jays and the squirrels will make off with the black oil sunflower seed and the finches/chickadees and cardinals will get the safflower.

Of course, we did have our first feeder casualty; a dove. While I'm not necessarily happy about this turn of events, I also know that the killer was one of the feral cats. And while it sucks that a bird died, I can't exactly say that doves are all that smart and it was walking around on the ground at the time of its demise. That being said, the mockingbirds can also be quite dumb - dive bombing cats isn't usually the surest way to a long life...

Successes

The sole gulf fritillary butterfly I've had born in my yard this year. The rest have been killed in their formative stages by the paper wasps that live in the eave of the house.

The saucer I put out for the toads and lizards is finally being used by one of the toads.

The bird feeder, which is mostly used by the Jays and the Doves is also being used by Cordelia the Cardinal (also, my husband believes I am crazy naming all the resident animals, though he had no problem with me naming some of the ducks in college.) Also, this photo was taken through a window and a screen.

It's also being used by the squirrels...meh. They need food, too. Besides, I only put a cup of seed out each day so it's not like I lose a lot by letting the squirrels take the left overs after the birds are done.

Hackberry Emperor butterflies mating on my window screen. You go, little butterflies, a variety of which I've never seen in my yard before, but likely were attracted to the sap from my pistache tree because the bird feeder rubbed one of the branches every time I took it off of the tree.

And finally, the best success of them all, a picture of Bettye - the resident female humming bird (yes, she looks like a male in this picture, but it's just the angle). I have at least three that visit throughout the day. This photo was taken from about 20 yards away. The next day I was able to move my chair to 15 yards. Soon I'll be able to be close.

Birds

It's been so hot and dry out and this damn drought is never ending that the poor animals are having a tough time.

I started putting a bowl of water out for my cats, but the neighborhood cats started coming around so now it's out all the time, and then I put out a saucer of water for the birds (cats in the back yard, birds in the front). Then I started thinking that they needed a bigger water dish (to account for evaporation), so I started looking for a big plastic saucer (like the type you put under flower pots). In the meantime I found a toad living in my garden (probably on account of the fact that it is the only area that reliably gets water), so I started leaving a saucer of water in the garden. Shortly after that i found the tiny baby anole living on my Thai Pepper plant so I now pour water in a yogurt lid that I have on the dirt in the pot so the little guy has access to water. I finally found a large saucer for the birds in the front and I moved the smaller saucer to the back yard in the shade garden as the anoles tend to like to live in that area.

A few weeks ago, the husband and I went to Lowe's to buy some paint and drywall compound. I got sidetracked by the wild bird section and debated on buying a feeder and food. Just this last weekend, after watching a jay family in my yard obviously looking for food, I finally "broke" (at least that's what we'll tell the husband) down and bought a feeder. Since I know all the animals are hurting (except for the wasps and ants in our yard) so I bought just a flat hanging plate and a 17-pound bag of black oil sunflower. Thus far I haven't seen any birds (or other animals) at the feeder, but something's eating all the seeds...or dumping them out at least.

Update: I wrote this a few days ago and since then I have actually bothered to put out the seed and sit at the window and watch. I had the jay family, a cardinal and about 4 doves visit the feeder while some type of nuthatch/chickadee visited the water saucer.