Wildlife Wednesday :: God's Creation

In August, when I could manage it, I retreated to the garden with my camera. Spending time outdoors, observing God's amazing creation, always lifts my spirit and reminds me that I do not have to worry about tomorrow...not ever. *

Here are the photos I took of the wildlife that visited my garden last month:

BIRDS

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the evening light.

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird showing off her elegant neck.

A Blue Jay selects a peanut from the feeder.

SQUIRREL

Zipping along the fence after raiding the bird feeder.

BEES

Bumblebee working the salvia.

Leafcutter Bee, another fan of salvia. 

DRAGONFLIES

Posing nicely in the garden.

Making a meal out of a Green Lacewing.

BUTTERFLY 

Tiny Skipper Butterfly, wings spread, basking in the sun.

MOTH

Huge Polyphemus Moth, freshly emerged.

CATERPILLAR

Sphinx Moth Caterpillar on the spent tomato plants.

*Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. ~ Matthew 6:34 (ESV)

I hope you enjoyed my contribution to Wildlife Wednesday—a meme, hosted by Tina at My Gardener Says..., that celebrates wildlife in the garden on the first Wednesday of every month.

Wildlife Wednesday — Purple Martins

You may recall from last time that one pair of Purple Martins had built a nest in our house and laid eggs.

We spent many hours in June observing them and their brood. We had high hopes for their success, but unfortunately, sometimes there's not much that can be done to change the outcome.

HATCH DAY (6/3/16):

We were excited to find three hatchlings and one pipping egg. Baby martins aren't exactly cute—they are born featherless with eyes that are grown shut. It will be 26-32 days before they are ready to leave the nest.

DAY 7:

All four babies appear to be doing well. They have grown quite a bit, but still do not have feathers and their eyes are still shut. That little one poking its head out the entrance seems to be smiling at me.

DAY 14:

Finally, there is feather development and their eyes are open.

DAY 18:

Mama and Daddy Martin both take part in raising their brood. This pair seems experienced and are very good parents. Even with the two of them working together though, it's not easy to satisfy this hungry bunch. It looks like dragonflies are on the menu today.

DAY 20:

Feed me! 

DAY 21:

Up until this point the baby martins seemed to be fine. However, on this nest check, the brood is split between two apartments and that makes me suspicious that something is wrong. It is very hot outside so perhaps it's cooler for them this way. 

DAY 23:

The next day the babies are on the move and have free reign of the lower three apartments. Before we left for church one fell to the ground and we had to rescue it. When we got home there was another one on the ground. We could see no trace of mites or other parasites that might be making the babies jump ship early, but something is wrong. One of the babies stayed out on the birdhouse porch all day in the hot sun and the parents refused to feed it. By the end of the day, it had succumbed. The next morning, we had also lost a second one. 

Day 24:

Once again there is a baby bird out of the nest. It can flap its wings and run, but cannot fly. I put it back, but I don't expect it will stay put. 

DAY 25:

Sure enough, the very next day it was out again. When I tried to help, it ran away from me and hid under the storage shed. I knew this was a bad choice and hoped it would come out before nightfall. I went inside and watched from the window. After several hours of urging from its parents, it came out of it's hiding place, but changed it's mind and went back under. I never saw it again. This left only one baby bird and it didn't look well to me.

DAY 26:

This should have been fledging day or close to it, but the last remaining baby didn't make it. I have no idea what went wrong. The martin parents were diligent in feeding and defending their brood all the way through and we saw no sign of parasites.  

Obviously this is not the story I hoped to share with you and I hate ending on such a sad note, so here's a photo of a successful fledge from July 2009—a reminder to me that sometimes things do go right.

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Today's post is my contribution to Wildlife Wednesday—a meme, hosted by Tina at My Gardener Says..., that celebrates wildlife in the garden on the first Wednesday of every month.

Checking for Baby Martins

We've decided to follow the advice of the Purple Martin experts and continue to check their house and nests, as we have been doing, until all the young have fledged. It still feels wrong to me to disturb a nesting pair of birds, but if you can't trust the experts, who can you trust?

The last time John lowered the house, there was one Purple Martin nest in the lower left compartment...and there were eggs! On Friday we decided to see if those eggs had hatched.

Mrs. Martin was sitting outside her nest as we approached. She let us get right up to the house before she flew away. I didn't see where she went, but Mr. Martin was sitting on the power line keeping a close watch on us.

The first thing we saw when the house was lowered was part of an eggshell just outside the nest entrance. John raised the nest door and we peered inside.

It was dark in there and hard to see, but we were able to pick out three hatchlings and one egg! The photo isn't great, but it's a good representation of what we saw and it shows the egg well. I do believe it's starting to hatch.

We didn't want to keep Mr. and Mrs. Martin away from their babies for too long, so we got busy with the rest of the house maintenance, which means removing all the sparrow nests.

House Sparrows are fierce competitors with Purple Martins for nesting space and can quickly take over a martin house. They can also destroy eggs, kill babies, and injure adults. That's why it's so important to keep them out of martin housing.

Sparrow nests are easy to distinguish from martin nests. A Purple Martin nest is low and flat while a House Sparrow builds a large, bulky nest that fills the cavity completely.

I have to give credit to the sparrows for building comfy, cushy nests. They use grass, mostly, and line the nest with leaves and feathers.

This pretty feather was in one of the nests. We think it looks like a guinea feather, though we don't know anyone nearby that raises guineas. How far did they have to fly to find this treasure?

And we're not sure what kind of bird this one came from. Could it be from a chicken, maybe our very own Duchess of Yolk?

Each sparrow nest held a clutch of five eggs. Since the House Sparrow is not a protected species, it is legal to control them by destroying their eggs.

Our hens love sparrow eggs, so at least they didn't go to waste. Princess Lay-a missed out as she was in the coop laying her own egg.

There were probably six or seven sparrow nests in our martin house and only just one martin nest. The sparrows are winning this year, even though we have been diligent to remove their nests throughout the season.

Before we raised the house back into position, we took one more look at the baby martins. This time I was able to get a better picture.

These fresh-out-of-the-egg hatchlings are completely featherless with bright pink skin and eyes that are grown shut. They aren't going to win any beauty contests, that's for sure. It's obvious they are completely dependent on their parents for care, so we didn't gawk over them too long.

With the house back in place, I waited to make sure the parents would return. Mrs. Martin came back shortly and entered the nest to check on her babies while Mr. Martin took his spot on the housetop.

On Saturday, John checked the nest again and saw that the fourth egg had hatched!

Mr. and Mrs. Martin are very busy caring for their young. While one is off hunting insects to feed the family, the other sits with the babies and doesn't leave until the first returns. They trade off like this all day.

If all goes well the young will fledge in 26-32 days. It will be fun to watch their progress.

Wildlife Wednesday :: Birds in the Garden

Early in May a pair of Purple Martins began building a nest in our martin house.

It was amusing to watch Mrs. Martin try to fit a too-long stick through the apartment door. No matter how much she tilted it or how many times she flew circles around the house, it just wouldn't fit. Eventually she abandoned this nonsense, dropped the stick on the ground, and flew off to find more appropriate sized nesting material.

We love Purple Martins and have been fortunate to have nesting pairs every year since we first put a martin house in our backyard.

One of the keys to our success has to do with the placement of the bird house. There has to be plenty of clear flyway space, so the birds can circle the house as they approach it. If a tree or a building is in the flight zone, they won't even consider your house. Our oak tree has encroached into the flyway space over the past 20 years, but the martins still seem to have enough room to maneuver.

Beyond our control, but also a factor in attracting Purple Martins to our garden is the vacant field behind our fence. This is where the martins spend the day hunting for insects.

The power lines at the back and side of our yard, although unattractive, serve as good perches for the birds to keep an eye on the house and the field...or as in this photo, to keep an eye on the photographer.

As far as I can tell, we only have one pair of nesting Purple Martins this year, even though there are others that seem interested. We would definitely be more successful if there were fewer House Sparrows and European Starlings around. These non-native species will take over martin house apartments, destroy eggs, and kill nestlings.

We are using a martin house with starling-resistant holes and that helps a little. But keeping the sparrows away is impossible. My husband has diligently removed sparrow nests weekly, but they are quick to rebuild again. The last time he checked there were martin eggs in the lower left apartment where Mr. Martin is standing guard. We think they may have hatched, because we've seen both mom and dad flying in with food.

I have asked my husband to leave the nests alone now that there are eggs and possibly babies. My fear is that it will disrupt the balance of things and we'll do more harm than good. Well, according to the Purple Martin Conservation Association, it seems this is wrong thinking and as responsible Purple Martin landlords, we should continue our nest checks. Even after all these years, I have a lot to learn about caring for these birds.

There have been other birds in the garden too...

We've seen a lot of this Northern Cardinal. He and his mate have become regular visitors at our feeder. Cardinals are not rare birds, but they are rarely seen in our garden, so this is exciting!

Our next door neighbor watched the same cardinal pair that have been at our feeder construct a nest in a potted fir tree she has outside her kitchen window. I don't know what happened, but the nest was abandoned. I think they must have a nest somewhere else now, but we haven't found it.

Since we relocated the bird feeder to the center of the backyard under the oak tree, we've been feeding lots of Blue Jays, a bird our town is known for. It's the high school mascot and our police officers even wear a Blue Jay patch on their uniform. This pretty bird is feeling quite relaxed at our platform feeder as evidenced by the way it has lowered its crown.

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Today's post is my contribution to Wildlife Wednesday—a meme, hosted by Tina at My Gardener Says..., that celebrates wildlife in the garden on the first Wednesday of every month.