Here's the photo of the day.
I think that our nest box is larger than the one pictured above because our birds aren't quite as cramped. But they are getting big. All of them have now opened their eyes. I was out earlier mowing the grass and weeds around the box and interrupted a feeding session. When Mama and Papa would arrive, I'd turn off the mower and go back into the house. Otherwise they would sit on the fence with tasty morsel in their beak chirping to their little ones who were probably wondering what exactly was going on. It is extremely hot and humid here today and I've only been able to do about 20 minutes of mowing at a time before needing a break. I think that this has been good for the birds, because not only is my mowing exposing bugs, but my absence is allowing for the parents to capture them. (On a normal day, it takes a full 2 hours to mow the lawn--and yes, we only have a push mower--I should be tons thinner than I am!!)
During my mowing of the very long grass (we've been negligent of it lately b/c of all the rain), a garter snake escaped from under the mower unhurt thankfully. I spotted a small toad down by the road and was able to avoid him/her as well. I also found 2 downed nests underneath the long row of pines. We've had some heavy winds lately and I'm sure that the abandoned nests have easily become dislodged. I have a feeling that they are ex-finch nests because we have a big influx of them at the feeders now. We have had a lot more hummingbird activity again, so I'm thinking that their 2nd broods have fledged and are feeding themselves.
Posted by Elizabeth at July 12, 2004 03:31 PM