May

We spent most of our extra time going through our old building supplies and putting a chicken coop for the chickens who are growing a lot. The chickens were still mostly sleeping in a box in the garage but they are quickly outgrowing that arrangement. During the day, we have another bigger box they go in that is set up as their "play pen."

In order to get the chickens to be comfortable in their new home, we had to put the box they had been sleeping in into the coop so that they had familiar surroundings. We will remove it as they get more comfortable and as the weather warms up. It will be a work in progress for some time to come.

It is still Spring, although some days feel like Summer. But the birds have been migrating so we have lost some of the birds that have been hanging about for a while. A lot of the sparrows and the juncos seemed to have moved on except a house sparrow family that set up house in an old woodpecker cavity in the neighbors tree. I miss the Lark Sparrows most of all. We did get some new birds that came through for a little while though. We had some Black-headed Grosbeaks that stopped by to feed at our feeders for a short time. That was pretty exciting.

The ever skittish Hooded Orioles have stuck around so far, much to the annoyance of our hummingbirds. But I was excited to find a Western Warbling Vireo come by. 

Even with all the sparrows gone, there is no shortage of birds around. Often, if I look out my window, I can spot at least a dozen house finches milling around the seed feeder and I keep increasing the amount of nectar I put out for the hummingbirds but they seem to drain it faster and faster. I used to only have one feeder outside my kitchen window and it would take 3 or 4 days for them to empty it. I did not fill it completely so that it would not sit there too long and ferment or anything. When they started to drain faster, I filled the bottle more...which turned into two partially filled bottles...which turned into two completely full bottles. Now they drain both bottles in a day or two at the most...with the help of the Orioles, of course.

They are still territorial, but the Anna's Hummingbird that guards the front, can't do anything when the Oriole's come in. They still chase each other away at the second feeder but more of them manage to get along enough to get drinks there, especially at the end of the day. Unfortunately, a couple of bees want in on the free nectar as well sometimes. 

While we were out working on the chicken coop one weekend, there was a ruckus because a crow had invaded the area of a couple of Kestrels. I'm not sure if it raided their nest to steal their eggs or kill their young, or just because it was in their tree. It was too far to see any details. But the Kestrels were squawking and dive bombing the crow for quite some time before it finally left.

We continue every week to work on clearing out our yard...hopefully enough that the fire department doesn't complain about our property. I don't know when they will be going around or if they have already done so. With summer around the corner and fire season already in full swing, I would think that they have better things to do, but who knows.

I am also upgrading our little bird bath and trying out a solar fountain. If it turns out well, I will definitely want to work on this more in the future.