Scenes from my yard

[Dumpsterkitty]

         

Early summer 2008 I had a robin nesting on a downspout.  All 4 baby robins safely fledged.
She didn't use the nest again-she moved to a favorite evergreen shrub the following season.

       

The nest fell down today.  It held up amazingly well through 2 winters and a 30 foot tumble. 
Just mud and grass...incredible!

[Dumpsterkitty]

   

Not quite sure who this is in my grass.  In flight I thought young catbird, but looking at the pics the beak seems too wide at the base.

[Dumpsterkitty]

My yard is mostly a mess...the lilac caper this spring opened up the "canopy"  and now the poison ivy is absolutely flourishing!  I don't like to do it, but I'm on my second gallon of Roundup...as soon as the tops die another crop sprouts up from the roots...they say eventually it will all actually die.



Anyway, my Japanese Iris is actually doing well (after a hired lawn guy mowed them all last year...looked like grass to me!) and started blooming this week.

[Dumpsterkitty]

Last week Momma Robin was giving me what-for as I mowed the lawn...finally found the nest...



Mom on the ground and Dad in the tree both with a mouth full of worms trying to lure me away from the nest

   

While I took Dad's picture, Mom snuck into the nest and fed at least 3 babies-I saw the beaks in the viewfinder
just before I hit the shutter button-



obviously I missed! 

[DebInTexas]

   

Not quite sure who this is in my grass.  In flight I thought young catbird, but looking at the pics the beak seems too wide at the base.

Looks like a female Brown-headed Cowbird to me.

[Dumpsterkitty]

[

Not quite sure who this is in my grass.  In flight I thought young catbird, but looking at the pics the beak seems too wide at the base.

Looks like a female Brown-headed Cowbird to me.

My bird book shows a browner bird, but I've never seen one before...

[Tokira]

My yard is mostly a mess...the lilac caper this spring opened up the "canopy"  and now the poison ivy is absolutely flourishing!  I don't like to do it, but I'm on my second gallon of Roundup...as soon as the tops die another crop sprouts up from the roots...they say eventually it will all actually die.

When I bought my house six years ago, there was a rampant growth of PI on the back fence.  As in (old cow fence) posts braided with 1' PI trunks, and a top like an elm tree.  I suited up and cut it back two feet at a time so it wouldn't fall on me, and sprayed the stumps with Ortho Brush B Gon Poison Ivy.  About two weeks later, a couple of feeble sprouts appeared, and I doused it again.  Absolutely gone, no further attempt at coming back.
PI should be the West Virginia State Vine,  :
Carol
WV

[Dumpsterkitty]

My yard is mostly a mess...the lilac caper this spring opened up the "canopy"  and now the poison ivy is absolutely flourishing!  I don't like to do it, but I'm on my second gallon of Roundup...as soon as the tops die another crop sprouts up from the roots...they say eventually it will all actually die.

When I bought my house six years ago, there was a rampant growth of PI on the back fence.  As in (old cow fence) posts braided with 1' PI trunks, and a top like an elm tree.  I suited up and cut it back two feet at a time so it wouldn't fall on me, and sprayed the stumps with Ortho Brush B Gon Poison Ivy.  About two weeks later, a couple of feeble sprouts appeared, and I doused it again.  Absolutely gone, no further attempt at coming back.
PI should be the West Virginia State Vine,  :
Carol
WV

I've been looking for real brush b gone but can't find it.  Round-up PI has the same ingredient, probably just lower concentration.  That whole section was thick with it...the new sprouts came up 3 days after the last dousing.  It is working...just tedious...you can see all the vines on the ground


There's another patch on the other side of the house with the giant hairy trunks...not going near that 'til fall...once the leaves drop I can cut it back & hit the sprouts in the spring.

[Patti from Kentucky]

Not quite sure who this is in my grass.  In flight I thought young catbird, but looking at the pics the beak seems too wide at the base.

Looks like a female Brown-headed Cowbird to me.

I also thought Cowbird...I think of the females as more gray than brown when I've seen the couples (males and females hanging out together).

[Dumpsterkitty]

Not quite sure who this is in my grass.  In flight I thought young catbird, but looking at the pics the beak seems too wide at the base.

Looks like a female Brown-headed Cowbird to me.

I also thought Cowbird...I think of the females as more gray than brown when I've seen the couples (males and females hanging out together).

As I said, I've never seen one before...I'll have to keep an eye open for a male...or a nest with an odd looking finch...

[MAK]

   

Not quite sure who this is in my grass.  In flight I thought young catbird, but looking at the pics the beak seems too wide at the base.

Some kind of grosbeak or finch judging by the beak.  Perhaps a juvenile or female.