Haven't been blogging for a while. A lot of things going on in our family. I would like to dedicate this entry to my beautiful fun loving sister-in law, Colleen. She fought a tough battle with cancer. She passed away on Tuesday, June 29, 2010.

THIS ONES FOR YOU, COLLEEN

My husband, brother in-law and I had journeyed three hours north to be with her earlier in June. She was still in a wheelchair and able to talk to us and joke around ( which she was very good at). Her favorite place  was sitting on the porch birdwatching. In the tree right in front of her were six hummingbird feeders. Her favorite of all birds.
Every time I see a humming bird I will think of Colleen.

STARE DOWN

 Went to visit a friend this past weekend and she had bird feeders everywhere. We spent time sitting in her screened in porch. She asked me what would be a good birdseed to buy because weren’t many songbirds coming by. I told her to get black oil sunflower seeds. Even if that is the only type of food you buy, there... will be birds hanging around. After she filled the feeders we were still sitting in the porch. It maybe was an hour later and a purple finch showed up. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. http://www.birdsnestinginn.com/

Check out the picture. What's his problem???

A BIT OF TRIVIA

Did you know bluebirds like baked apples?

LIGHT IN THE ATTIC

Maybe I'll get a new bird bath for Memorial Day?
As mentioned earlier, my husband blew a hole in mine. I happened to be looking for anything that would imitate a bird bath. Shallow serving tray or a large pail, anything that might work. Then I came across this.

A couple times a year he likes to go panning gold for a hobby.
What a great idea!( "I have my moments") I cleaned out one of his gold pans, put about 2 inches of water in it, then some stones on the bottom for birds to set on and drink comfortably.

This is now my new bird bath. Think He'll notice. I can't wait for his comments!!!

WE HAVE SUNSHINE

Well we have sunshine and the temperature is predicted to be in the 70's for a few days.
I moved my garden plants from the house to the patio. My husband worked up an area for a rock garden
last summer. Even though summer was a bit short, this first time garden turned out pretty well.
Next my husband is going to till the garden area.

One of my favorite feeders.

We planted a few thing but didn't have as much success as we would like to have seen. Last year it was cold until the 2nd week of June.

This year we are planting now!
The bird feeders have been up for a couple of months with great success attracting yellow finch, raspberry finch, pine siskin and chickadees.
http://www.birdsnestinginn.com/

GOOD GRIEF!

Three Summers ago, my husband and I decided to start landscaping our backyard into a Bird Habitat. We started this project not only because we enjoy watching wild birds but to help preserve wild life.
We are new at this so we plant and build as we learn.
I know to attract and keep birds visiting year after year there are four major elements to have. Water supply like a pond or bird bath food supply, nesting areas and adequate cover.
In June 2008 we purchased four blossom trees. Two Prairie Fire crab trees and two Pink Spring Crab.
once we marked off where we would plant each one, the digging began.
My husband dug a three foot wide and two foot deep area. Before putting the tree in we mixed natural ground and a small amount of horse manure that we had in a pile for five years.

He placed the tree in the spot as I held it straight and he filled in the area. Then he set the hose by it to trickle water for a while. As we planted the other trees, every thing went well until we looked up and the first tree was floating away. Told you we were new at this. So a word of advice, "look up more often".

Here are a couple of photos of what our yard looked like in summer 2008.

Back of house

(Pretty cool how the names of each tree just floats next to it.)

                  

KABOOM!!!

Has anyone ever noticed that as adults their husband, boyfriend or brother still have that hidden child
syndrome that comes to life every so often? Well, every so often found its way out of my husband.

There are a few essentials needed around the yard that assures birds keep coming back.

One important item is water. This could be a pond, fountain or a bird bath.

I had this perfect starter bird bath that attached to the patio rail. It was close by so I could clean and fill it. I put a few rocks on the bottom so smaller birds could balance themselves for drinking. There was also an attached but hidden electric heating cord which worked great for the winter birds. This was just the perfect  little bath and watering item. One day my husband was on the patio filling cans with water and throwing waterproof fire crackers in them. Apparently he ran out of cans, because the next thing I hear was," honey, I owe you a new bird bath. (gotta love em). Pictured to left is the one I had

last year and I'm still waiting for it's replacement. Let's see, Christmas is over, Valentine's Day long past, birthday gone and forgotten. Mother's Day? I'm not his mother. All these things shall come to pass. I'll be sure to post a photo when he replaces the bird bath.
Find a similar bird bath at  http://www.birdsnestinginn.com/