Towheeblog

The birds, not the country. A family of three arrived in our garden this morning. First family visit of the calendar year–tom(dad), mom and moppit. It will be interesting to count the fall flock–last year there were thirteen. I recently blogged about one youngster eaten in a walnut tree –perhaps by raccoon(s). A clutch of turkey eggs can number as many as 15 to 18 per clutch. A single young indicates nesting problems–food, predators, traffic? The young turkey doesn’t fly up into trees until it is more than two weeks old. That makes it vulnerable on the ground. Clearly it is also vulnerable in a tree in the dark.

Click here for remnants of treetop turkey devoured.

Not much later there was a Turkey Vulture overhead–completes our “turkey” checklist for today.

Besides the true turkeys, the other large avian invader in our neighborhood are peafowl. Click here for my piece on Salem Reporter website about those big birds.

At Clark Creek Park we encountered a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches. One was a nutty hatchling. Still fuzzy, and sitting in the grass! Not yet a full-fledged (every pun should be applied hereto) nuthatch, clearly. Killdeer, robins, even crows may stand around in the grass…everybody knows nuthatches belong where they can attach to tree bark…or at least a suet feeder.

Fuzzy fledgling with pale gape, on the ground. Parent on tree trunk gathering appropriate foodstuff in beak. Parent on ground delivering snack.

In our garden male American Goldfinch getting those autumnal gray spots that must soon replace his golden garb.

House Finch, still in bright colors before onset of his autumn drabbery:

The Mourning Doves that feed several times daily in our garden (I never see them take a drink!):

In our sun-heated garden the insects are moving constantly in the hot air. Bees really like the fuzzy, highly-scented clusters of tiny florets atop our weedy mint plants:

They don’t buzz, they build. And right now spider webs form a thin film on many of our garden plants, the house, the garden shed, even the outside mirror on the car. One hedge supports a lengthy film of web next to web next to web.