March 29, 2002
Time for another geeky bird update! First off, I'm extremely happy to report that the hummingbirds have returned. Katie was up on the mountain, getting some things from the trailer, and there were hummers there, loudly demanding some lovely sugar water. The next day, I put my feeder out here at the house, and rufous appeared almost immediately. The next day, I was down at the pond with the ducks, and I watched a hummingbird buzz around the cattails, collecting fluff to line her nest. Yesterday, I watched from the living room window as three hummingbirds fought over the feeder; rufous hummingbirds are extremely territorial. I've heard them referred to as the pitbulls of the bird world, and that they go for the eyes if they attack humans. I've come face to face with a few, and let me just say that I was glad to have my glasses on!
Don't remember if I mentioned the great egret we spotted having lunch out in the pasture, so there, I mentioned it again. I stopped by the Jackson Bottom wetlands and spotted the bald eagle nest on the east side of the water. I'll probably be going by there later with the spotting scope for a better look. Katie and I stopped there last week and watched some large fish (salmon, possibly?) leaping out of the water. No sign of the eagles.
Katie scored the second actual sighting of Musky the Muskrat in the big pond. I put some old celery bunches and apples by the water and they were gone in a couple of days. I duplicated the experiment with a few more apples last night, and this morning they were nowhere to be seen. Musky likes apples!
Our busy ducks are sharing the big pond with a mallard couple. They spend their mornings at the bottom of the hill, dabbling and swimming, and then they return to the koi pond. The mallards keep an eye out from their spot in the pasture and then drop in when the coast is clear. There's a lot of action going on out there. I've identified more than forty different bird species in our backyard alone.
Geeky enough for ya?! |
