purple martins – Page 7 – Nature Along the El Camino Real

by Donna Lewis
(with additional photos by Sue Ann Kendall)

This is Suna’s Phoebe mom, eating sunflower seeds and amaranth, or waiting on a fly.

Anywhere I look I have baby birds right now, which is a wonderful thing for a naturalist. Who could be bored right now with so many little creatures to look at?

On our front porch we have a nest with five tiny Eastern Phoebes. They are fly-catchers and love things with wings.

This morning mama tried to force a giant beetle down her youngest daughter and I thought for awhile I might have to preform the Hine-lick procedure…

Suna has a phoebe nest atop an old swallow nest.

Then in my Blue-bird houses I have five babies in one house and six babies in another. Again, bugs are on the menu. This year the Blue-birds decided to run off the Purple Martins so they could use their perch to look for predators near their houses.

Over in our barn I have a nest of baby Carolina Wrens in a bucket that was hanging on the wall. If you have never seen a wren baby you would not believe how tiny they are. They are the cutest little things ever. There are only three babies.

Up in the oak trees about 18 feet high we have some Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Now talk about a tiny house. You can barely see it. It is wrapped in moss and is very concealed.

There are ton’s of Cardinal nests everywhere. They eat bugs and from my feeders. I have them year round. They are regulars here.

Then at last my beautiful Purple Martins, who came very late this year, are starting to lay their eggs finally. That unfortunately will cause the babies to mature during the hottest time of the year.

I have seven nests with eggs and more that have not started yet. I have the fewest Martins than ever at this site. There are many potential reasons for this, and it’s hard to determine for sure.

But the ones I do have sing to me, and it’s all worth the trouble.

Nature is everywhere you are. All you have to do is look.

Heaven on earth.

by Donna Lewis

Hair, and a Bunny Story

Since I can’t get my hair cut, this is the new normal…

Anyway, the little cottontail in the picture below got separated from his mom. He was on my front porch for about three hours.

Now, our first impulse is to pick the baby up and try to give it food and water.

That is wrong of course. I checked and she/ he was not injured, so it did not need intervention.

I herded him out towards the pasture where he probably had a worried Mom waiting for him somewhere. The rehab group All Things Wild calls it kidnapping when humans try to rescue an animal that is not hurt or starving. Most will be reunited with their mothers. We need to give them that chance to return to the wild.

Now, if they are injured, we need to get them to the rehabbers. But Mother Nature will normally do what is needed. It was so cute, and I did want to hold it…

My Purple Martins

This is my Purple Martin Gourd rack. I normally would have about 20 to 24 adults in the house by now, laying eggs. I just welcomed a new pair on Earth Day ( that was neat) and now have only eight martins in this house.

This is very late and very few. There are potentially several theories for this, but only time will tell me what has caused this to happen.

I watch my martins all day long every day, so lots of field observations are made. The one thing I know is that I am so happy to have any martins to brighten up the day with their beautiful song. Thank you Mother Nature for this gift.

Tag: purple martins

Babies Everywhere

by Donna Lewis
(with additional photos by Sue Ann Kendall)