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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

30 minute wildlife watching from the windows

It's too hot to go outside, but we are getting plenty of action outside out windows. :D

o Male Cardinal catching a bug in-flight, dismembering it and feeding it to a juvie Cardinal.
o Female Cardinal bathing in the birdbath
o Rare visit by a bright blue male Indigo Bunting, waiting for a turn at the birdbath and subsequently bathing. A less showy female taking her turn.
o Enormous Monarch butterfly (a newly arrived migrant) floating all around the garden
o Male cardinal and the juvie in the vegetable garden -- male is looking for something in the ground, flying out to sit on the trellis, the fence, searching along the espalier fruit trees, then going back to the juvie. Juvie is doing it's own ground search among the corn (or else it was following the Daddy bird around and chipping at it the entire time though we couldn't hear)
o Catbird and Robin in the yellow-fruited Kiwi Gold raspberry -- obviously the idea the yellow color will attract "less attention" by the birds is NOT working :roll:
o Robin flying back to her nest in the dwarf magnolia -- I've seen the noisy babies clamouring in there before though they are not visible from the window.
o Zip-zip Hummingbird fly by
o Aerial display in the treetops by the bright yellow Goldfinches
o A fat Rabbit eating red clover
o Movement in the mint patch -- something moving among the mint -- eventually revealing a little Bunny. Most likely one of the survivors from the nest DH accidentally almost mowed over -- the nest was exposed and later raided by a trespassing neighbor's cat, but this one has been managing to escape INTO my fenced gardens. I've noted missing Swiss chard leaves and munched bush beans. :roll:
o Monarch butterfly still floating around, making note of the Milkweed locations and possibly laying eggs.

:()

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rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

wonderful! What a great show for the kids...


How hot is too hot to go outside?

It's 89 here, heat index 94. I've been in and out all day. Drape a wet towel around my neck and go out for an hour or two. Come back in and cool off for an hour, rinse, repeat....

But it's easier to do that when you don't use A/C. Indoors is shady and breezy with fans, so it's cool, but not chilly compared to outdoors. In and out of A/C all the time is hard on your system.



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