Busy Backyard

A Follow-Up to my blog post:  My Bird Keeper

Emily got some more feeders for her birthday, one of which was a hummingbird feeder from Matthew's sister's family. I never saw a hummingbird up close and in person before until this feeder was hung up. It's right in front of our kitchen window so it's amazing to see them fly to the feeder and take long sips of sugar water. They are beautiful birds!

Emily tells me that the males have red on their necks while the females are all green, so they can easily camouflage themselves to their surroundings. The males have the red to attract females to their 'handsomeness".

They love Emily's feeder so much that whenever she takes it down to clean and refill they get impatient and eat out of the ant guard!

Matthew added a tray for the finch sock because they are very messy eaters and a ton of seed fall on to the ground. Did not want to waste that expensive seed!

Some like to sit on the tray to eat the seed when the sock is empty. It takes only 6-7 days for the sock to be emptied.

We also have a gathering of mourning doves that come and sit on the lattice or fence.
Emily also told me that they puff up their feathers when they are cold.

She got two more feeders (one squirrel proof one that can hold 6 lbs of seed from her grandparents) and this beautiful lantern one from my brother and his wife.





Annoyingly, the most colorful bird is the most irritating one also.. the scrub jay is a loud bossy bird who swoops into the backyard and squawks at all the other birds to go away..

 and if you yell at it.. it gives you a dirty look before it flies away.

The last thing Emily got was her seed containers, seal-tight ones, that usually hold pet food. Matthew cleared out half of his shed to accommodate all of her bird supplies.

She also noticed that with all the seed that falls onto the grass.. it's been sprouting!

Emily went out to pull the sprouts out and found a praying mantis! Can you see it?