Working with Nature

It’s been such a ‘birdie’ beginning of summer!  We had Western Tanagers migrating through our area and they are such beautiful eye- candy that all one could do was stop and look at them.  

Unfortunately, one of the males flew into my neighbor’s patio door so hard that it obviously had a concussion.  We tried to revive it with diluted orange juice in a syringe.  My neighbor, Phoebe, and I emailed each other through the day. “Henry is safely installed in our AZ room in the aquarium with a small maple branch, water, o.j. and seeds.  He hasn't taken more juice, but has moved around, out of the box a couple of times.

Keep the fingers crossed!”  Sometime in the night our patient (Phoebe named him Henry) gave up the fight and he was buried in the yard under a rock.    

This was the first time I had the privilege of actually holding a wild bird.  He was so light and his feathers were such beautiful colors.  Quite the nature experience and of course, sad. 

Soon after that Peter and I went to Kansas City Mo to visit my brothers and their families for a week.  We really packed lots of activities in along with the visiting.  During the week Peter and I actively kept track of birds and we saw (and photographed some) 51 different species.  

Baltimore Oriole

Brown-headed Cowbird

Northern Mocking Bird

Blue Jay

George and Sue, my younger brother and his wife, have planted an adult size ‘fairy garden’ in their back yard.  It has solar flower and gazing ball lights, a variety of plants and trees and many different bird feeders.  It was such fun to sit  with our binoculars and cameras and enjoy it all. 

David and Dorothy, my older brother and his wife, live in Kansas and they too have been working on their yard.  New patio in the back, new fountains (made by my brother), mulching going on in the yard and a lovely gazebo on the hill in back. 

Peter and I came home to our pine trees in the forest and the first think I did was to fill the bird feeders and clean the deck.  

 I’m been thinking how different we are and yet so much alike.  It is so much fun to see how we all extend the interiors of our homes to the outside and incorporate nature.