June 27, 2020

Beauty and Mishaps

Yesterday I shared pictures from the gardens of Glen Burnie with sculptures of insects. Here's one more sculpture from there but this one is a hummingbird.

Some things went well this week but there were also some mishaps. The other night I heard a "clunk" outside but did not see anything wrong when I peered out the window. In the morning I found a birdhouse had fallen down. Feathers from the nesting material were all over but I'm not too worried because little house finches had already fledged from there a few weeks ago.

Then there's this empty finch feeder that I found on the ground about 30 feet from where it had been hanging. I held it up to take a picture of the big holes in the plastic. Perhaps a raccoon had taken it. I don't think a squirrel would have made such large holes.

It's also possible that a raccoon pulled down that bird house.

I'm not going to put up another finch feeder right away. I don't want to encourage any predator to come around. If you feed them, they will come!

Here's a picture of the feeder before it was destroyed. Goldfinches really liked the nyjer (black thistle) seed.


Next we see a cat that came around here for years. He walked through my yard almost every day. Sadly, I found him curled up on my deck a few days ago, dead. He had on a red collar so I knew he was not a stray, although he had been some years ago.

I knew that a woman across the street had tried to tame one of the stray cats. I found her number and called her. She had been looking for him for five days! He had not been on my deck that long because I had lunch out there the day before and he was not there then. She came over and tearfully claimed him. She put him in a blanket and Frank carried him over to her yard so her spouse could bury him when he came home. There were no signs of trauma so I think he got ill and came on our deck to get a drink of water and then lay down. Rest in peace, kitty!

A less tragic mishap was our well pump going out. The water pressure fell and Frank tried changing our filters but that did not help. He called the plumber and he showed up early the next day. He and his helper installed a new pump. That wasn't cheap but it solved the problem.

Let's switch to some pretty scenes, starting with Canada geese leading their goslings on a swim. That fountain helps aerate the water and discourage overgrowth of algae.
Weekend Reflections.

Sometimes birds perch on our bench, like the catbird and blue jay.
Saturday Critters, I'd Rather Be Birdin'
This small deer visited our yard. Frank saw him and called me to the window. This is a cell phone picture taken through two panes of glass so it isn't the sharpest image.

I got this meme from the internet to remind everyone that many pets are scared by fireworks. 


16 comments:

  1. Hello. Awesome sculpture of hummingbird. Fantastic photos of Canada geese and other birds.
    Poor kitty...
    Take care.

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  2. Good photos of the birds, thank you.

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  3. Sad to have a loving pet pass the rainbow bridge! So traumatizing. To move on...your photos are wonderful...I do hope this week will be a bit more quiet for you.
    Your post today is a treasure. I enjoyed every minute here and want to thank you for participating at IRBB this week.

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  4. Hello, so sorry for the Cat! Great birds and photos. The hummingbird sculpture is pretty. I love the deer, they are so cute. Raccoons have been known to raid bird nest and damage the feeders. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Enjoy your day, wishing you a great new week ahead. PS, thanks for the comment and visit.

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  5. ...no fireworks here either!

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  6. What a lot of things happening at once...and at least your water pump is fixed now! Sorry about the kitty, and that finches won't have their seeds for a while...nor Mr. Raccoon. The sculptures are beautiful.

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  7. What great shots of your birds! I had to laugh at your last image.

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  8. The blue jay is wonderful!
    Sorry to see that large hole on the finch feeder: the next could be a wooden one, Why not ? ... or glass.

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  9. Those wood bugs are great. I had an old cat year ago who lived to be almost 20, found her dead one morning. I love all your birds.
    Stay safe!!

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  10. Great sculpture and nice looking birds!

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  11. I thoroughly enjoyed that! OMG the last image is hilarious and so true. But... the eeejits in our 'hood are already shooting them off from their houses. In Colorado where the motto is "you ain't the boss o'me!" and fireworks are banned because of wind and fire hazard. Meh! what's another fire??!!
    I miss the east coast... and the variety of birds. I saw a pigeon walking on the ground last night, and cried as she was probably bludgeoned by the intense hail storm we endured the night before, so bad it was like like golf balls so numerous the ground was covered in 10 min despite the 90 deg heat! I am not a BIG fan of pigeons but I am a fan of living creatures. So sad about the kitty... but it ended the best it could have. The cat had a loving human for the last part of it's life, and went in it's sleep which is better than at a vets office, and you found the owner so she had closure. But sad... LeeAnna at not afraid of color
    ps if you'd ever like to do an I Like post on Thursdays let me know to include you... you'd fit right in!

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  12. love the little deer. So sweet. And a lot happened in your garden lately. Glad to know the birds was already out of the nest.

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  13. The unfortunate thing about cats is that so many people find them indispensable companions, but they eat so many songbirds. (It's true, despite the denial of cat lovers). Still, it's sad about a pet's death.

    Great photos!

    be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  14. That deer is very sweet …

    All the best Jan

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  15. Poor kitty.

    No fireworks here for Canada Day. Nothing going on tomorrow.

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  16. Pretty goldfinches. Sad news about your neighbor's cat.

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