Squirrels and Birds sharing (not really)

Squirrels are really pigs in disguise.  After they eat everything in their own feeder, they go and steal from the poor birds.

When I yell at them, they just look up and ignore me.  And they continue to eat.

Then they move on to another feeder, just to mix it up a little and confuse the birds even more.

For all you squirrel lovers out there, you are more than welcome to mine!  Seriously.

Finally, the birds get a chance.   It's fun to watch the Papa Cardinal feeding the babies.

Really, I'm very hungry and would appreciate it if you would pass over a sunflower seed, Dad.  You know Father's Day is coming up - do you want a gift or not?

Thank you.  That was yummy.  Keep it coming.

It looks so good the house finches want some too, but the cardinals keep chasing them off.  You should use those chasing skills on the nasty old squirrels.  Poor house finch has to hide by the fence to get a little snack.

Hope the cardinals will be gone soon so I can eat in peace.  My poor mate is waiting for an opening so she can eat, too.

Eventually, they all get something to eat, but it can be very traumatic at the bird feeders.  Again, all you squirrel lovers, feel free to come and get your free squirrel.  They're going fast!!

Dinger Trains Her Human

Spring has sprung, and the hummers are back.  Yippee!!

Remember Dinger?  She is the female hummingbird who was so much fun last year.  Well, she is back from her Winter vacation in Mexico.

Since she was gone, a screened lanai was added to the back of the house, which necessitated moving around the feeders.  Where Dinger's feeder was last year, now there was a regular bird feeder with sunflower seeds in it.

Well, Dinger was having none of that.  As soon as she came back to town, she zoomed around that bird feeder, and I swear gave me a bunch of dirty looks as if to say, "How dare you replace my feeder with  this thing!"  Then she buzzed around the new location for her feeder and would have nothing to do with it. 

After a few days of ignoring the feeder and hiding out, I got the message, and as her properly trained human, I rearranged the feeders and put hers back where it originally was. 

Within minutes, Dinger was sitting on the feeder having a royal feast.  As soon as she was done (for the moment), here comes Dandy, the male hummer, and he had a snack.

Dandy sure is a handsome fella, don't you think?

Once Dandy finished, along came a new female to the crew.  Her name is Skitter because she never quite lands, just skitters around the feeder and does her best to grab a drink before Dinger chases her off.

Skitter is constantly in motion, and quite skittish around the others.  Hopefully, she'll be comfortable soon and will actually land.

In the meanwhile, I have been properly chastised by Dinger and will do my best as her humble servant.  Hummers rule!  Now if the cardinals, titmice, house finches, etc. could just get over being mad because I moved their feeder...

Stay tuned...

Flit's Flight of Fancy

Hi everyone!  I'm Flit.  Mama says I'm the prettiest dragonfly ever!!

I was born at The Big Pond.  When I was smaller, I called it "The Pond" cuz I thought it was the only pond.  Mama explained it to me, though, and when I was big enough, she took me on long trips to see some of the other ponds.  Did you know there are at least 17 ponds?  But ours is the biggest and the bestest.  There's my cousin, Red, hanging out at The Big Pond.

Red really likes to hang out on reeds that grow at the edge of the pond.  Red is neat to hang around with, but we have to be really, really careful.  Other creatures like to hang out at the edge of the pond, too.  Like those nasty old ibises.  They are pretty sneaky, acting all pretty and pretending they're sticking those long noses in the grass, then WHOOSH, they whip around and grab one of us!!!  I sure don't want to be no ibis lunch!  That's why I'm super duper quick!

I found this cool backyard close to The Pond, and it has all sorts of interesting things to explore.  

I'm not even sure what this thing is I'm peeking over, but I can hide behind it pretty well to check out the other stuff.  There's lots of flowers over here...

Oooh, Greenie found a pretty little bud to perch on.  He's good at finding cool things.

Can you spot my buddy, Greenie, hiding out in the middle of the gardenia tree?  We were playing hide and seek, and it took me a long time to find him!

I made a lot of friends over here.  There's Flutter - isn't she pretty?

I said something to Mama once about how jealous I was of Flutter's beautiful wings.  They're so colorful, and she's so graceful as she moves from flower to flower.  Mama thought about that for a minute, and she told me that Flutter sure is pretty, BUT us dragonflies have a secret that butterflies don't.  Our wings are gossamer - and when the sunlight hits us just right, every color of the rainbow shows through our wings.  Nobody else can do that!  I felt a lot better after Mama told me that.  I like being special and having something no one else has.

Want to meet a few of my other friends?  These are my newest friends - teeny-weeny grasshoppers - they're really just babies.

That's not a very big flower they are sitting on.  Like I said, they're just babies, but they'll get bigger soon.

Did you ever see a stick bug?  This is Stretch.  He wishes he could fly, but he does okay on his own.

If you look closely, you can see that he's having a little snack while he's hanging upside down.  He's pretty smart.

I have lots of lizard friends, too.  That Gizmomma lady who lives here, she calls them all "Lizzie", but of course they all have their own names.  I think she just can't remember all their names, so she just calls them all Lizzie.  How silly is she?

This one was in the middle of lunch - doesn't he look like he has wings growing out of his ears?  Good thing he doesn't eat dragonflies!!!

You wanna hear something funny?  That crazy Gizmomma lady thought she was talking to the Geico Gecko.  Listen close...

There's also cool skinks.  Did you know they can change their colors?  That's a neat trick, if you ask me.

There's even a huge, evil, red lizard that scares me half to death...

HAHAHAHA!!!  Just kidding.  I know this is a fake one.  Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

I saw a different kind of dragonfly the other day too.  She's awfully cold and standoffish.  I don't know why she doesn't like me - everybody likes me.

I don't know why she just sat there and let that snotty little spider walk all over her back.  Doesn't she know they bite?  Ouch!

I have fun all day long, flitting all over the place.  Once, I landed on Gizmomma's book that she was reading.  I tried to enjoy the book, but she wouldn't turn the page, and I got bored, so I flitted away.

One time, I even landed on little Gizmo's tail while he was laying on the grass.  He's a funny guy.  He didn't even notice I was there, and I giggled and giggled forever.

Well, I gotta go - Mama's calling me for dinner.  Don't tell her I've been snacking all day long on my travels.  I had a fun day.  Hope you did too!

See you soon.  Byyyyyeeeee!!!!!!



Ode to a Grecian Gizmo

Poor Lil Giz.  He said that this blog sure looks like it's named after him, so how come he wasn't featured in the first post?

Lil Giz says, "Maybe I'll just run away from home.  That'll show her.  She'll miss me but good, then she'll feel bad that she dissed me."

"I should be the star of this here show.  I checked with all my aunties and uncles, and they agree with me!"

"I can be amusing!  I mean really, just look at me pretending to be Groucho Marks with my cigar.  I'd like to see some stupid bird do that!"

"Seriously, I am way cuter than those birds she's always raving about and taking pictures of."

"Oh, the injustice of it all!!  I could just cry.  I do everything I can to protect the house and bring yippy little smiles to my Mama.  What more can I do?"

"What, oh what, do I gotta do to get a little respect around here and have my own story?"

"I even put up with the indignity of having a bath, just to please my Mama.  Surely, I am story worthy."

"What's that?  Did I just hear Mama say let's go outside and play?  Is that her camera in her hand?  Is she gonna take more pictures of dopey birds?  Well, I'll go outside, but I'm gonna hide behind that funny looking firecracker plant she got for the hummingbirds."

"Wow, Mama was taking my picture while I was hiding.  She ignored the hummingbird that buzzed right in front of her face and just kept filming me and talking to me.  What do you know?  Maybe I'm gonna get my own story now!  Woo Hoo!!!"

"Hooray!  Yippee!  I'm getting my own story!  I'm going to romp and frolic and play my little heart out.  Take that, you stupid birds!!  Gizmo is the King!!"

"Now I'm happy.  Thank you Mama!  Can we have a bone for dessert if I promise to eat all my dinner?  (snicker)"

Dinger Dances While Eating

This is Dinger, my female Ruby Throated Hummingbird, who stopped by for a snack at one of my feeders.  In the middle of eating, she decided to do a little pirouette, and then continued eating.  (Sorry it's a little jumpy - it's hard to follow a teensy little hummer!)

Then she tried to sip from a different feeder, but Gizmo's yips scared her away.

After Giz finally quit his nonsense, Dinger came to a different feeder and had a good ole time!

Then she went and sat on a branch, protecting her numerous feeding spots from others.

Aaah, it's good be Queen!!!

Rascally Raccoons Continue to Wreak Havoc!

Dopey Raccoons keep stealing the peanuts I put out for the squirrels.  The squirrels rarely get a chance at the peanuts, but every once in a while, they get some.

But, the squirrel doesn't get too many, before the raccoon comes back for more!

So the squirrel, who does not want to be thwarted in his search for free food, decides he will raid the bird feeders.

But, the raccoon spies the squirrel, and he thinks to himself, maybe that's even better than the peanuts.  Think I'll have what he's having.

Then the raccoon decides that not only is this good free food that's easy to steal, it's a fun ride, too!

The squirrel is still hungry, though, and since the raccoon was occupied on the good feeder, the squirrel thought he would go grab some from another feeder.

At this point, Lil Giz has had just about enough of these rascals.  So he scared off the squirrel, and he chased the raccoon right up a tree!

The raccoon says, I'll just wait up here where it's safe until that crazy little dog goes away.  But, it's kind of boring up here, think I'll lay down for a while.

Eventually, Lil Giz got bored too and stopped watching the raccoon.  The squirrel came out of hiding, and found a few seeds on the ground.  That's a lot easier than jumping and leaping all over the place.

And the raccoon came back down the tree to start the cycle all over again.  And the poor little birdies just sat in the trees waiting for all these thieves to leave their feeders alone.

And I went to the store to buy more bird seed!  And so, the cycle continues every week!!!

Sandhill Crane Baby Grows Up

Fred and Ginger, our resident dancing Sandhill Cranes, brought their baby, Bobaloo, out for a walk through the neighborhood over the weekend.  Bobaloo has gotten almost as tall as his Mama and Papa, but he hasn't yet developed their coloring.  Look at the sweet, rust colored crew cut, and his beak is the same color.  He was very friendly and enjoyed the treat I put out for him.

Look at the difference between the Mama's coloring and the baby's coloring.  Aren't they stunning?