Archive for May, 2009

Tragedy strikes

As you will know from the last post our killdeer family was just starting to explore the front garden, as they do every year. I managed to get a photo of the baby killdeer, well two of them as the third was a bit further away and I could not get them all in the same shot.

However, yesterday we heard a right commotion in the garden. The killdeer are very noisy, vocal birds especially when something is threatening their young. We could hear them shouting and flying around but could not see what was upsetting them. Suddenly I noticed that there was actually three adult birds, not two and the intruder was dive bombing them.

Well for about an hour this carried on and then seemed to settle down. Once again we could see the two adults, but unfortunately no sign of the babies. At first we thought maybe they were being hidden in case the other bird came back, but after 24 hours and no sightings we can only assume the worst – the babies are no more.

The adult are still about and hopefully they will have another brood – they certainly have time as this batch came out in mid May whereas last year it was mid June, so they have time to lay more eggs and have more babies – hopefully.

Also some of our squirrels appear to be pregnant. Their little tummies are swelling and it’s not just the nuts they are eating! So hopefully we will have some more baby squirrels too. The raccoons are also pregnant and we are doing our best to keep them away from the garden so they don’t bring their broods with them when they have them. Baby raccoons are adorable, but there are too many of them and they are pests, so best to keep them away if at all possible.

First babies of the season spotted

This morning we spotted the first babies of 2009 – the killdeer. Every year since we have lived here, and I suspect before the killdeer pair have returned to breed every spring. This morning we spotted both the parent on the front lawn which usually means the babies are about as normally only one will forage for food at a time whilst the other stays on the nest. Sure enough a few minutes later we spotted the babies. So far there looks to be three. The previous two years we have had four, although we lost two to predators the first year.

Lets hope all three survive as we really love seeing this lovely little birds running around the garden. Will post some pics soon.

Love is in the air for the grosbeaks too. We definitely have one pair and have also spotted a second female. So either the male has two women on the go or there is another male around that we have yet to spot.

Here is the grosbeak pair.

Aahhh, how sweet!

The weather is still a little unsettled. Warm one minute and cooler the next. We have had some really big, long and torrential rainstorms with accompanying thunder and lightening. Hopefully it will start to settle soon and we can get some real summer weather.