Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Have several blue bird nests on the property. They are quite busy now raising their young.
Oh...so beautiful.
One year we knew fledglings were about to leave the box nest so we sat up chairs a distance away, had a good time just waiting...then they did fly to the closet limb and one to the ground where mom quickly called it to her. One took a running start kind of....funny.
I have yellowjackets in my charcoal grill. I need to do something about this...but strangely at the same time, kind of don't want to. I mean, I don't want them in there and I know I need to deal with them before the first generation of larvae become adults and I've got a bigger nest potentially on my hands. And this is the area right by my back door, a small patio, where I go sit and smoke, where we come and go a lot.
Also, yellowjackets are jerks and I really do not like them, and don't want to be stung.
So yeah I need to deal with this.
But I find myself a little fascinated though. I've been reading today about them. See, what I've seen so far have been only two individuals. One is obviously the queen. She's bigger and a more orange color. Looks totally different. And one other, which is smaller and black and yellow, classic coloration you'd expect. The smaller one never bothered me, but the queen, when I'm sitting out there smoking, has "buzzed my tower" a few times, forcing me into rapid retreat out of her area. Like they do.
Interestingly (to me) the smaller one, had its head sticking in one small hole in the main body of the grill and its backside sticking out for a few days, and then later, had its backside stuck inside another of the holes, and its head and first two legs sticking out where I could see them. And now it appears to have died in that position, after a couple of days like that.
I was like...so when its head was sticking in, was it doing some sort of nest building activity? When it's backside was sticking in, was it fertilizing eggs or something? What's going on here? Are they even (as I think) the same kind of wasp? Like maybe one is trying to lay eggs, and the other is another species also laying eggs, whose larvae will eat the eggs or young of the other one? Wasps are pretty nasty like that, that first round of babies, they are some meat eating little critters and the queen will "provision" the nest for the first go. Did the red queen somehow get the smaller buggo stuck in there where it would die to feed her larvae? Like for some reason I'm obsessed with knowing exactly what is going on here.
So even though I'm kind of like, "they are in the grill, kill it with FIRE" I'm also like...but...but...I wanna watch...
Yesterday while walking in the neighborhood I spotted a Rosy-faced Lovebird sitting on a large rock just below a huge Saguaro cactus. It appears that he/she lives in the cactus. I wish I would have had my camera with me that morning, the next time I take a walk I’m taking it with me. First time I’d ever seen one and I was surprised it lived in my area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy-faced_lovebird
We've got yellow jackets in our grill too. And after years of planting for the butterflies and bees we have several nests of bumble bees in the ground of our yard.
I like to watch them too.
Last night son and I sat on the deck as the sun went down. What a luxury after such a long winter!
The moon was a sliver of itself in the northwestern sky. And accompanying her was a very bright Venus.
My son said, "Did you know that Venus is the only planet that doesn't have a moon?" We thought about that.
I said, "Do you know that in Mexico they call it "the rabbit in the moon?" We thought some more.
This morning I watched a Carolina Wren take a long, elaborate, soaking bath in my birdbath. He then flitted over to one of the Adirondack chairs nearby and spent quite a while preening and fluffing and preening and fluffing. THEN he hopped over to one of the potted plants and took a thorough dust/dirt bath!
This morning I watched a Carolina Wren take a long, elaborate, soaking bath in my birdbath. He then flitted over to one of the Adirondack chairs nearby and spent quite a while preening and fluffing and preening and fluffing. THEN he hopped over to one of the potted plants and took a thorough dust/dirt bath!
Seemed a bit counter-productive to me!
But how I love those little guys.
I looked her up, puginabug. She is certainly a charmer. DH says our house wrens are back but I haven't seen one yet. Ours are a mousy gray instead of that pretty rust and yellow.
Soon we will enjoy the creation of their annual composition - "the little bird with the big voice." It starts with the male sitting on the house singing, "This is my house. Ladies please come have a look."
Then in a while it's the serenade, "Oh, my lovely wife in my lovely house!"
Followed shortly by, "Stay away from here. We're trying to raise a family."
And my favorite when I weed nearby, the faint sound of the chicks chittering in anticipation of the next snack.
Our Carolina wrens make their nests in the funniest places, in hanging plant pots, old Christmas tree stands, in the corners of eaves, in ornamental plants, etc. Watching them bring in materials is a nice way to spend a few minutes...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Rosy-faced lovebird
