Haven't Packed the Bags Just Yet

It got really noisy on the deck on Saturday afternoon. There were cardinals and chickadees chirping at each other. I glanced outside and, well, the robins haven't left Chicagoland just yet.

They are quite fat. In spite of a drought, it does not appear they have been at a loss for food. This is probably a male and female. They eyed me warily but let me get off a couple snaps before leaving.

I need to wash the windows on the back door. I read where Coke poured onto a paper towel can be used to wash windows. It has a natural grease cutting property. I wonder if it would also help get the, um, debris off the deck from robins who use the birdbath. It's really messy right now.

Beverage:  Raspberry Zinger tea

Deb

Watching

One thing I noticed on Saturday as I sat on the deck. The birds were not out singing in the yard until around 10. I thought this unusual but perhaps I've not paid as much attention to the sounds in the yard as I should. There used to be a robin, perhaps I've talked about him before, who would sing at the crack of dawn outside my bedroom window. Robins are loud, particularly at 5:15 a.m. when you're trying to sleep. I have not heard that robin this year but then, the windows have been closed to keep the air conditioned air inside. He might still be singing but I'll not hear him.

I like to just listen to the outdoors which is why I noticed the absence of bird calls. The cicadas are out in full force and I think, like a lot of things, that's early this year. That was the predominant noise from 8:30 to 11, when I went inside. The birds didn't make an appearance until around 10. It started with a couple of cardinals calling across the yard. I'm not sure where the other male was but I could hear him. I like hearing the call of the one in my trees and then the response of the other one trying to make inroads into territory by calling. I'm not sure how they decide which one of them has won a "sing off". This went on for an hour. Then the chickadees showed up.

There were 3 of them. At first, I thought they were "yelling" at one of the cats. It was how I knew where my other cats who were allowed to go outside at will, were within the yard. You just had to listen for the chickadees. I realized, however, there was not a cat outside. So what were they "chick-a-dee-dee-deeing" at. Looking up at the birds hopping around in the tree off the deck, I realized one of them was female. AHA! It was comical to watch the males hopping around, trying to impress her with song and agility. Eventually, they spotted me watching them and they all took off for the trees at the back of the yard.

I've noticed a distinct lack of grackles this year. I'm not complaining. They are very messy birds and intimidating to smaller ones. The lack of them means the chickadees and finches and sparrows have a more pleasant environment. In spite of the messy robins, the bird bath is cleaner because there are no grackles. There are a couple of cardinals and several chickadees who use the bath. They are too fast for me to photograph, however.

Perhaps the absence of song is a relation to the heat. It must be hard to forage for food and sing when it's hot and humid. I hope my keeping the bird bath clean keeps native birds in the yard.

And about the photo at the top. There's a cardinal in the bushes. A spot of red in a sea of green.

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb

I just...want...to sleep.

So the North American robin is NOT an endangered species. Given all the publicity about home foreclosures, can I get a sheriff to my neighbor's to evict the robin who made a nest at the bend in her downspout?

Robins generally arrive in my yard between March 8th and March 20th. I didn't see the first robin in my yard this year until mid-April. They like my yard, as do a lot of birds, because of the overgrowth. I don't have that much trouble with the cats preying on birds. We've had a sparrow, 2 starlings, a grackle and one robin brought inside in the 25 years we've had cats at this address. Generally, they go after the vermin.

Robins have a distinctive song. It's loud and once you've figured out which song belongs to a robin, you can pick it out immediately.

They are the first birds to sing with the growing light of the morning. On these lovely summer nights, all the windows I can have open are. In July, these birds will start at 4:15 and no, I am not making this up, 4:15 a.m. to chirp their morning song. Given that the nest is a mere 25 feet off my bedroom window, that makes that bird friggin' loud.

This morning, that chirp was accompanied by the crack boom of an approaching thunderstorm. We had quite the rain from 4:20 to whenever I fell back asleep. And if I get out of bed to remove the screen and shut the window, the cats think I'm up and they think they will be fed. Rascal has been particularly noisy of late and she was very noisy this morning.

So, when I venture out for lunch, I need to take into consideration that I'm very likely to fall asleep at 1:30 p.m. at my desk and I should find something to help keep me awake. What I really need is a full, uninterrupted night's sleep; no cats, no thunderstorms and no robin who thinks the whole world wants to hear him sing.

Beverage: Blackberry Sage tea

Deb