The Uncaged Bird -My first Hummingbird has arrived 4/26/2024

This extended dry weather is severely affecting our native birds - some will go to extreme lengths for a decent drink and feed

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-16/emus-take-over-broken-hill/10122430

Morganna said:

mumstheword said:

Morganna said:
Hummingbird ring training kit. https://www.amazon.com/ZUMMR-Hummingbird-Feeder-Trainer-Starter/dp/B07FSKVK4H/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1534109298&sr=8-4&keywords=hummingbird+ring+feeders&dpID=51cJ4xem4aL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 My spoiled brats will have none of that.  They are now busy double-teaming the wasps that have discovered the feeders.

 This has been my best year for hummers. I saw 5 today! One solo and 2 pairs. There has been activity at the feeder, at the honeysuckle vine and around the red salvia. Its delightful.
My wrens flew off and once again I missed the first flight.
Butterflies are fluttering around my 5 Butterfly bushes and there are plenty of birds at the feeder.
The doe and her faun are enjoying my fountain and garden, as well as visiting woodchucks, raccoons  and the odd fox.
All's right with the world.

 This sounds lovely!  I'm getting sad that there's probably only 2-3 more weeks before the hummers start flying south.  Although I see the male and female wrens (or whatever they are) going in and out of the bird house, I have not seen any eggs or chicks.  I had some really big, tall weeds growing around the butterfly bushes and pulled them out yesterday --- and got chewed up big time by mosquitoes.  It's terrible, I just cannot sit or do anything outdoors without getting eaten alive.  So I have to suffice seeing whatever I see from the bedroom window.  It's been a good year for many different kinds of birds, butterflies -- and even some bees, which are rare to see.

mumstheword, does that mean cicadas are also around? Or is it a bit early in the season for them?

I love hearing cicadas in the evenings, but too many drive you nuts after a while.

@Morganna, AG nature photographer of the year gallery... Great timing and captions!

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/aug/17/australian-geographic-nature-photographer-of-the-year-in-pictures

joanne said:
@Morganna, AG nature photographer of the year gallery... Great timing and captions!
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/aug/17/australian-geographic-nature-photographer-of-the-year-in-pictures

 Thanks for sharing @joanne, I just threw my camera in the garbage.

How did he get that shot of the sharks? Stunning.

Morganna said:

joanne said:
@Morganna, AG nature photographer of the year gallery... Great timing and captions!
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/aug/17/australian-geographic-nature-photographer-of-the-year-in-pictures

 Thanks for sharing @joanne, I just threw my camera in the garbage.
How did he get that shot of the sharks? Stunning.

 They would have been in a wave that may have been about to break.

marksierra said:

Morganna said:

joanne said:
@Morganna, AG nature photographer of the year gallery... Great timing and captions!
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/aug/17/australian-geographic-nature-photographer-of-the-year-in-pictures

 Thanks for sharing @joanne, I just threw my camera in the garbage.
How did he get that shot of the sharks? Stunning.

 They would have been in a wave that may have been about to break.

 Scary. I went out on a small craft beyond a reef in Bali. No way was I snorkeling. Once on a German freighter going to Hamburg the only book in English  in the ship's library was one on shipwrecks with the typical; story of people bobbing in life rafts, being picked off one by one.

Lovely thread-drift! I’ll just add that this morning I woke to the news that they’re going to remove the shark nets from NSW beaches this summer because pretty much the nets are ineffective and just trap dolphins and whales instead. 

I was woken over an hour ago by a cheeky kookaburra trying out a new call: cross between a car alarm and someone’s annoying ringtone. Not fun when you’re in a warm, deep sleep and the noisy cheeky bird is in the palm tree right outside your window!

oh - it’s a few weeks early, but big flocks of galahs and corella are back in town, usually resting on powerlines or munching away in treetops or whatever grassland they find. A screeching flock just swirled acrobatically overhead. (Ugly sounding, but soooo pretty)

joanne said:
Lovely thread-drift! I’ll just add that this morning I woke to the news that they’re going to remove the shark nets from NSW beaches this summer because pretty much the nets are ineffective and just trap dolphins and whales instead. 
I was woken over an hour ago by a cheeky kookaburra trying out a new call: cross between a car alarm and someone’s annoying ringtone. Not fun when you’re in a warm, deep sleep and the noisy cheeky bird is in the palm tree right outside your window!

 Cheeky, now there's a word that should find its way into US vocabulary. I'm going to toss it into the banter on FB.  Not sure I could pull it off in a conversation; my accent is more Queens than Queensland.

lol (I'm on the wrong iPad to 'like' your post)

joanne said:
lol (I'm on the wrong iPad to 'like' your post)

 Consider it done!

D is sleeping in this Sunday morning - it 8:20am and he’s still snoring. The ducks had their breakfast across the lake an hour ago.

When I woke, around 5:30am, they gathered hopefully (impatiently) under our verandah letting me know their tummies were rumbling. But it’s his job, I don’t interfere. So I just opened the blinds as usual, went to the kitchen to make coffee - and saw these two beggars at my neighbour’s door!

What’s funny is watching them negotiating stairs!! The front one held back, I guess making sure the other was safe. The one almost knocking at the door decided to ‘walk’ down the stairs: waddle to edge, dangle left foot (feeling for the next step), topple/plop down; waddle to the edge, dangle left foot, topple/plop down; etc. The front one just walked to the edge of the landing facing out (in front where it is in the pic), leant over chest first and basically took a death-dive/topple with eyes shut and wings outstretched. 

Not Creedence ... but joanne's 'Looking out my Back Door'    

thank you! Actually, it’s my kitchen window and her front door...   

joanne said:
mumstheword, does that mean cicadas are also around? Or is it a bit early in the season for them?
I love hearing cicadas in the evenings, but too many drive you nuts after a while.

 Yes, Joanne.  I started hearing them a week ago.  They're right behind my TV watching chair, so it gets noisy!  

mumstheword said:

joanne said:
mumstheword, does that mean cicadas are also around? Or is it a bit early in the season for them?
I love hearing cicadas in the evenings, but too many drive you nuts after a while.

 Yes, Joanne.  I started hearing them a week ago.  They're right behind my TV watching chair, so it gets noisy!  

 I heard the sound but when I looked it up on the map, we are not scheduled to get them. This is the year for NY though so I'm doing some research.

Morganna said:

mumstheword said:

joanne said:
mumstheword, does that mean cicadas are also around? Or is it a bit early in the season for them?
I love hearing cicadas in the evenings, but too many drive you nuts after a while.

 Yes, Joanne.  I started hearing them a week ago.  They're right behind my TV watching chair, so it gets noisy!  

 I heard the sound but when I looked it up on the map, we are not scheduled to get them. This is the year for NY though so I'm doing some research.

 If not cicadas, definitely crickets.  I went out to get the mail before and the tree in front of my house was full of them. It really was deafening!  I haven't seen any dead ones (yet).

would you chance treating wild crickets as ‘game’ and eating them?

joanne said:
would you chance treating wild crickets as ‘game’ and eating them?

 Eating wild crickets, bite your tongue, pun intended. I take being vegan seriously!

I sincerely apologise. 

I was merely wondering, among our general readership, if anyone would be prepared to give free-range backyard cricket ‘farming’ or ‘cropping’ a chance? Meant to be a good source of protein, and also a traditional source of protein in many non-Western cultures. There’s a push to get Euro- and Western nations into consuming more protein derived from such sources.

(They’re not kosher, so I couldn’t even though I’m not strict. Same with witchetty grubs. Yet both are meant to be delicious and very nutritious)

joanne said:

I was merely wondering, among our general readership, if anyone would be prepared to give free-range backyard cricket ‘farming’ or ‘cropping’ a chance? Meant to be a good source of protein, and also a traditional source of protein in many non-Western cultures. There’s a push to get Euro- and Western nations into consuming more protein derived from such sources.
(They’re not kosher, so I couldn’t even though I’m not strict. Same with witchetty grubs. Yet both are meant to be delicious and very nutritious)

 I'm happy to be your food-taster as and when the occasion occurs!

would you chance treating wild crickets as ‘game’ and eating them?

 That's OK, I'll pass!     

Hummingbird frenzy going on at my feeders/garden...they are preparing to leave...near Underhill field.

lynnl199 said:
Hummingbird frenzy going on at my feeders/garden...they are preparing to leave...near Underhill field.

 Yes, I've noticed a great deal of activity. I think the hummers coming down from Canada are on their way down south. I hope ours linger through September. I believe I left my feeder up until October 1st last year to catch the last stragglers.

Morganna said:

lynnl199 said:
Hummingbird frenzy going on at my feeders/garden...they are preparing to leave...near Underhill field.

 Yes, I've noticed a great deal of activity. I think the hummers coming down from Canada are on their way down south. I hope ours linger through September. I believe I left my feeder up until October 1st last year to catch the last stragglers.

 My friend who has a vacation house in the western Catskills told me her hummers were gone last weekend.  But some appeared this weekend, so, yes, they may be coming down from Canada.  My usual ones are still here for the time being.  But I remember them being gone by the week after Labor Day, and I'm south of you.

mumstheword said:

Morganna said:

lynnl199 said:
Hummingbird frenzy going on at my feeders/garden...they are preparing to leave...near Underhill field.

 Yes, I've noticed a great deal of activity. I think the hummers coming down from Canada are on their way down south. I hope ours linger through September. I believe I left my feeder up until October 1st last year to catch the last stragglers.

 My friend who has a vacation house in the western Catskills told me her hummers were gone last weekend.  But some appeared this weekend, so, yes, they may be coming down from Canada.  My usual ones are still here for the time being.  But I remember them being gone by the week after Labor Day, and I'm south of you.

 Its been quiet this weekend and I'm kicking myself for taking away the hanging plants which were close to the feeder. They have been more interested in the honeysuckle surrounding the arbor and the plants were getting ragged and were blocking my view. I'm hoping I didn't throw them off and of course I realize I'm probably being a bit paranoid. As well I'm fostering quite a few kittens in another room so maybe I'm missing some of the action. That is not to say that kittens trump hummingbirds, just that there is a lot of feeding and cleaning after the 4 week olds.

Can't wait till they get adopted as I am now taking in a totally blind cat who was trying to survive the streets of Newark.

This  little guy is ready to go.

Introducing Blackstone.

{oh, he's gorgeous!! If it were possible, we'd give him a home. }

Talking about wildlife living in trees... poor Jack got stuck in the wrong place:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-28/koala-rescued-from-road-sign-at-gold-coast-intersection/10172810?WT.ac=localnews_goldcoast

oh! Morganna, I meant to post this Migaloo/whales  article for you, too! I hope you can read it. It’s from today’s edition of the The Bulletin (Gold Coast newspaper)

Edited to add: great article about white kangaroos

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-29/white-kangaroo-sightings-increase-drought-lack-of-predators/10173648