[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ometimes a photo is not available. Such is the case with what RonTom described when I returned home from a bus trip to Wichita Falls (to hear Beth Moore) with ladies of Fellowship Church.
Remember how I told you about putting blond dog hair from my mom’s dog, Buddy, into a “suet cage” for birds to use as nesting material, hanging just outside our breakfast window? Over the weekend, Ron saw hummingbirds pulling Buddy’s hair from the cage. Can you imagine a tiny little hummer flying with a clump almost as large as itself? That’s what Ron described. Long strands of almost loose dog hair stream from the wire cage.
Earlier in the season, we watched bluebirds and titmice stuff their beaks full.
Our bluebird nest, with dog hair woven into the nest cup, is now empty. Right on schedule, the four Eastern Bluebird babies fledged last week.
Now, an Ash-throated Flycatcher pair spends a good bit of time in our front yard. My hopes are up for a flycatcher nesting in one of our “bluebird” nestboxes. The Ash-throated Flycatcher uses the same size nestbox as the Eastern Bluebird, with the same size hole.
It’s possible the bluebird pair will nest again in our yard. In Texas, bluebirds can have as many as four broods in a season, often using the same nestbox or one nearby.
Pamala Nelson, from the Coves of Cimarron, sent a tidbit saying they can tell when their Screech Owl that uses their Owl Shack is around because the titmice and chickadees raise a racket. She sent a photo.
With my new (Craigslist purchase) iPhone 7 plus, newspaper-quality photos have become easier to snap.
The seller clued me in that an Otterbox (heavy duty protection for smartphone) can be purchased from Amazon to arrive quickly for about half the cost of purchasing from the manufacturer. A call to Otterbox on our way home brought assurance that their warranty applies no matter where the item is purchased. My Otterbox arrived on a Sunday during church after a Friday evening drive to Round Rock to make the phone purchase.
Photos I submitted this week include an Ash-throated Flycatcher, sitting on wire fencing just outside our breakfast window, as we look out at our big boulder water feature.
And, I sent the newspaper images of two “White-lined sphinx moths” (Hyles lineata) on Salli and Brian Wilson’s salvia by their mailbox. Sometimes the sphinx moths are mistaken for hummingbirds as they hover and quickly move from one flower to another. Usually, they’re seen near sunset. Just outside our office window, a photograph of a “purple passion flower” (Passiflora incarnate) served as a reminder to mention the value of planting natives in order to attract native wildlife. Sure enough, minutes later Gulf fritillary butterflies called me back outside to the vine. The butterflies lay their eggs on the passion vine, which hatch into caterpillars that eat the foliage.
This sign-off is intended to call you to action, “Please send tidbits.” [email protected] (subject: Tidbit) or 512-268-5678. Thanks! Love to you, Pauline
