A few years ago, I put out peanut feeders and only got native birds. Then I added sunflower seeds in hopes of seeing something else, and while I do occasionally get goldfinches (yay!) I also get all the house finches (invasives from the other coast) & house sparrows (little english jobbies that are now invasive just about everywhere). They even ( Read more... )

I had a ridiculously stressful dream last night in which grauwulf decided we were moving to some place in western Maryland with a house on a small lake that he was trying to convince me was better because it was twice as big, despite the neighbors having paved over their entire lakefront edge. And just as I was sort of getting resigned to the idea ( Read more... )

We have a hummingbird moth. It looks somewhat like a fluffy flying lobster, has been visiting the front garden for at least a couple weeks now, and has finally been caught on pixels. Practically in focus, even.


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I've spent a bunch of the last week or so reading books & avoiding my computer. Not deliberately or anything; I just plugged it in up in the loft, and then didn't go up to visit it. Anyway, the bedroom windowsills are finally actually finished & installed, instead of just cut out. I opted not to resand & third-coat them, on the grounds that ( Read more... )

...and then (yesterday afternoon) this happened:

Baby wren #1, investigating that place where the food comes from.

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This was yesterday morning:


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Butterfly weed (milkweed family, great feeder of monarch butterflies) with hidden lightning bug:


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Some year or other I will actually post pictures as I take them. This spring was not it; therefore there will be three of this post.


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The last speaker at the Lahr Symposium (Thomas Rainer of Grounded Design) had an interesting talk about the disconnect between lawn service people and native plant people, and ways in which to try to bridge it. I am terrible about this sort of thing; I completely fail at contagious enthusiasm, to the extent of just not talking about things I might ( Read more... )