American Grey Squirrels

Summer has been busy for the squirrels. During a storm the babies nest blew out of their tree & I found it in the front yard. I carried it around back & laid it on the deck by their tree. It was fun to watch them carry it all back up the tree. Some of the nest material was the coco mat lineing of my flower planter. I peeked inside & they had pinecones stored in there.

The two babies continue to look for peanut butter sandwiches each day and stretch out on their bellies like a dog to nap on the deck railing. A favorite of theirs is apples. We enjoy it when they look in the kitchen window to let us know we are slow with our offerings. On a cool morning I took my coffee out on the deck. Bits of peanut butter sandwich were landing around me.

A reminder that the squirrel kids had taken their breakfast up the tree. I had to chuckle.

The tailess squirrel continues to forage on the ground around the birdfeeders. He can still be mistaken for a Guinea Pig and it is always fun to spot him.

The squirrelboys are starting their mournful Yowling to attract squirrelgirls & will do a jitterbug in front of one that comes near. Their jitterbug looks like they stepped into a pile of ants & they have the heebejeebies. It's comical to watch.

There are a good number of Leaf Nests around where they sleep in the summer. Sitting out in the early morning I have enjoyed watching them leave their nest, stretch & yarn and begin jumping from tree to tree to find breakfast. They throw themselves into the air and when you think they surely have missed they grab the tiniest branch & rescue themselves at the last second.

One summer I was sitting in the yard reading. Loui the cat was under my chair napping. Squirrels were running through the treetops, tree to tree, and one missed. He came straight down & landed at my feet. I was shocked. Loui was electrified and pounced, but the little guy got away. Squirrels are fast.

Nest

On Easter Sunday The Rabbit was nibbling grass on the front lawn.

Weeks later a rabbit burrow appeared on a bank near the garden. It's next to a small brush pile of twiggy branches. In this pile the wild mother rabbit dug a hole and lined it with her fur.

Early one morning a tiny rabbit was hopping around in the branches and later in the morning he was tucked back into his nest for a nap. Other mornings found him in the burrow with fur blanketed over the opening. We wonder if there are Nestmates.

Now just a few weeks later two junior size rabbits and their mother were seen in the backyard and garden area playing chase, leaping, standing tall to reach flowers on the shrubs and nibbling new grass followed by tender-to-watch washing of ears and face.

September Sunrise

Baby Nibbles and his Mother our "Wild Rabbit Visitors" continue to come together at Sunrise to nibble grass and forage in the Birdseed under the Feeders. They have enjoyed the Red Sage & Black Eyed Susan leaves and in exchange produce small piles of brown rabbit droppings for the garden.

Baby has grown quite large now and bursts into sprints & leaps around Mom when she's feeding.

They have become somewhat tame and move to a comfortable distance and continue feeding when the flowers and birdbaths need a drink. A loud noise or the Warning Call of the Blue Jay will send them dashing for cover.

Wondering if they are the owners of the Den dug into the Compost Pile by the Garden.

Nibbles

A very large wild rabbit has been magically appearing on our lawn for the past year.
Living in a housing development, we welcome the squirrels and birds that come, but a wild rabbit is a treat and especially welcome. It wasn't unusual to hear someone say. . .
"Hey, did you see the big rabbit?"

This summer the "big rabbit" left us a sweet gift. Out back in the flower garden with the white picket fence is Nibbles, a tiny brown rabbit. He looks like a kitten with a tiny white powder puff following behind. One early morning sighting found him creeping out from under the big shed, stretching each back leg and yawning. Then he stood up and washed his face and each ear.

The young squirrels are curious about him and get close for a sniff and once over, but seem to be disinterested and go back to foraging for birdseed. He ignores them and nibbles away at a long blade of grass. His high speed sprints and leaps on his short baby legs are comical to watch.
He can be sitting in a spot and in a flashing split second disappear from view or he practices the "freeze" and sits there staring with not a whisker moving.

Sunrise trips to the backyard to fill birdbaths are now rewarded with sweet "Nibbles" sightings.

Baby Robins

Two fluffy baby Robins
with bright orange beaks
sat on the deck railing birdbath
this morning.

One was dipping
to get a drink
and his nestmate
was drying out
in the golden morning sun
after a nice bath.

Brown Rabbit

Yesterday at Sunset a large brown Rabbit
was poised standing on his hind feet
next to the garden's birdbath.
He investigated a sprouting onion
on the brush pile and hopped
around the perennials in the
garden, stopping occasionally
and standing tall and alert.

This evening we will put some
Alfalfa from the pet shop out
for him. Sweet.

Newly Hatched

I was just turning on the faucet to put water in the birdbath
and something dropped to the ground.

It looks like a newly hatched
Female Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly.

It was black and sky blue
with dots of orange and gold
around the edes of its wings.

It was crumpled and soft like a newly
unfurled leaf and crawled onto my hand.

I hurried around to the Lithodora Groundcover
just recently planted. It has blue flowers.

It crawled across the plant and up onto
some pine straw hanging off the railroad tie
above. It hung there drying out.
When I returned later it had flown away.

Balogny?

Yesterday I noticed that there wasn't much bird or squirrel traffic at the feeder. This morning as I was getting gardening gloves out of the big shed i heard a loud buck-buck-buck-buck noise come from our largest pine tree. It kind of sounded like a chicken.

Up high on a branch was a Hawk. I remembered recently finding a clump of bird feathers near the birdfeeder and another day the young squirrel had shown up missing his tail. Have I created a Smorgasbord for the Birds of Prey?

Bird's and Bloom's Magazine says not to worry,,,Hawks have to eat too. OK, I'll just have to quit naming my favorite songbirds, so when they come up missing I won't be so crushed. But what about Greenbean, Dove, Thrasher, King, and Rocky?

Maybe if I hung Balogna from the tree,,,