Empty Nest

      We've been empty nesters for quite awhile now. This post isn't about that, it is literally an empty nest. As in robin's nest. Off and on over the years we have had robins build a nest in the same spot under the eves on some lattice by our back door. This year I thought I would follow their progress from start to finish.              

                      Here's Mrs. Robin starting to build the nest.

     This all started on April 6th. The male arrives at the nesting area first, but the female does most of the nest building with some help from the male. The nest is made up of grasses, twigs, debris worked into solid foundation of mud, lined with fine grasses and plant fibers.

Work in progress

                                                                                                      

     Time to lay some eggs. Usually 4, but sometimes 3-7. In our case she had four. The incubation by the female is 12 -14 days.

      The babies have hatched and the feeding begins. Both parents feed, although the female does more. They make up to 40 feedings a day. Mostly insects and earthworms.

         Waiting for their food.

Getting bigger

     Things are starting to get crowded. The young leave the nest about 14-16 days after hatching.

 

     The last one to leave. This was taken on May 16th, the next day he was gone. The parents make sure the babies find a good hiding place and continue to feed them. The male may tend the fledged young while the female begins a second nesting. There are usually two broods per season, sometimes three. As adults, robins eat beetle grubs, earthworms, caterpillars, fruits and berries. Watching nature unfold is such a pleasure, especially in our own backyard.

 

We just noticed that robins are building a nest in this tree just below our bedroom window. Can you see that dark spot towards the top and a little to the left? We of course don't know if it's the same pair of robins, but we like to think so.
 

A thought to ponder: "A person is rich in proportion to the number of 

                                    things which they can afford to let alone."

                                                                                    Thoreau

                            

Participating in: Grand Social, Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party, Thursday Favorite Things

Building a Waterfall

     We've lived in our present house for almost 25 years. It's fun to look back at pictures and see the changes that have taken place in our garden. In this post I am going to share the evolution of our waterfall/pond. We started out with a concrete fountain that we bought at a local nursery in 1994.

     This worked well for several years. Our dog at the time enjoyed climbing into it with his ball or just to get a drink and splash around.

     Our Wyoming winters started to take their toll on the concrete, so we decided to replace the largest bowel with an in-ground pond. So the hubby with the help of our son dug a hole that we lined with pond liner. We used flagstone and other rocks to finish it off. 

     As you can see from the above shot we also expanded the area to make an Asian garden.

     The weather continued to take it's toll on the concrete even though we tried to protect it in the winter. So then we were down to two bowels.

The birds enjoyed our waterfall as much as we enjoyed watching them.

     But we also started to have problems with the ground shifting around the pond area. So we decided we needed to come up with another idea that would hold up better with our crazy weather. My husband was working at the time at a hotel/restaurant. He found that they were throwing out some large aluminum baking pans, so he asked if he could have them. Thus was born a new idea for a waterfall/pond. First we bought a sheep water trough to put in the existing pond and filled in around it, with a little help from the grandson. The rigid sides of the trough keep the dirt from shifting. 

     A friend knew how to weld aluminum so helped us build the waterfall from the baking pans. We cut off one end of the pans and then stacked them in a slight curve and welded them together. At the highest end a metal pipe was used to support it. I spray painted the pans with brown paint to make them blend in more with the rocks that we stacked around. We covered the bottom of the pans with river rock.

     This has held up really well since we built it in 2009. The blue color of the water is a non toxic coloring we bought at Home Depot. By making the water a darker color it helps slow down the growth of algae. 

     As you can see we made a few other changes to the area. It is lovely to sit on the patio and listen to the flow of the waterfall.

This bell was made for us by a friend, from a used oxygen tank.

    We had a turtle for awhile. Our son spotted him trying to cross the street and was afraid he might get run over.  He brought him to our house, he stayed for awhile then moved on.

We put this board and ramp to make it easier for birds to drink from the pond. It came in handy for the turtle. It is also helpful when we have the occasional frog stop by for a visit.

We added some larger frogs to the decor. These were given to me as a retirement gift.

We have also used the pond for an orphaned goose.  See my post A Goose without a Mother

     So as you can see the pond and waterfall has brought us more then just beauty and soothing sound but also the enjoyment of wildlife.  It diffidently has been a wonderful addition to our garden.

A thought to ponder: "Life is like a waterfall, it is always moving and there is                                        always an uneven flow to it."

Participating in: Grand Social, Share the Joy, Nature Notes, Share Your Cup, Our World, Seasons

Spring Time is for the Birds

     One of the things I like about living in Wyoming is that we have changing seasons. After the snow finally disappears for good, we enjoy walking around the yard looking for what is emerging from its winter sleep.

Daffodils are usually the first flowers to bloom. 

The crab apple trees are in full bloom now, adding a cheerful pink to the landscape.

     I also look forward to the return of the robins, a sure sign that spring has arrived. We always seem to have one or two build a nest somewhere in our yard. In fact we have one now working on building a nest in about the same spot as the one below.

  

      This brave mama built under our eves, right outside our back door several years ago. It made for a perfect spot for us to view the progress of nest building, sitting on the eggs and feeding of the babies. I was able to get a pretty good shot of her hungry offspring. 

     We have all kinds of wildlife and many different birds in our backyard. You can see more photos of our wildlife by visiting one of my earlier posts: Who's in Your Garden. We always have an abundance of chickadees. A few years ago we were happy to see them build a nest in a bird house we had received as a gift. It was great fun watching their comings and goings.

A thought to ponder: "Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."                                            John Ruskin

Participating in: Grand Social, Share the Joy, Seasons, Through my Lens, Amaze Me Monday, Our World Tuesday, Wednesday Around the World, Share Your Cup

Invasion of the Grape Snatchers

     My husband is an early riser. In the nice weather he likes to take his morning coffee out on the patio and watch the day unfold. Watching and listening to the birds start the morning is particularly enjoyable. The other day when I got up he told me there was quite a ruckus going on in the grape arbor. The purple grapes (Valiant) are ripening and the word evidently went out to all the robins in the area. 

The grape vines frame the entrance to our herb garden

This is looking from the other side

      The robins were flying in and out of the grape vines. We think there were about 15 or so. You couldn't always see them but the leaves were rustling like they were alive. There was also a lot of squawking going on. My husband said he even saw one robin take a grape away from another and fly off.

This one seems to be waiting her chance to get some grapes, or maybe she's trying to chat with the mama goose?

These guys are looking with a covetous eye

Here's what the grapes look like up close. They make a wonderful jelly. 

Here's what they look like after the invasion

           You can see a bunch of grapes above this ones head. I doubt they                 will be there long. 

Here's a young robin waiting his chance

     As I mentioned before the grapes make a wonderful jelly. Fortunately I still have some from when I made jelly a couple years ago. I won't be fighting the robins for grapes this year. I'm not too sure I would win anyway. 

This picture, taken several years ago, shows some of our harvest. 

                     This little guy just happened to be hanging out when I                           was taking pictures of the robins.

A thought to ponder: "The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best"

Participating in: Grand Social, Tuesday Garden Party, Outdoor Wednesday, Share Your Cup