Last spring a pair of robins made a nest beside our front door. They hatched 3 chicks which we got to watch as they hatched from their eggs, grew bigger and after about 3 weeks flew from the nest to never return to it. The male robin returned about 6 weeks ago. He began to guard the nest, chasing any other birds away from the front of the house. He would see his reflection in our office window and begin to fight himself! He would keep pecking at the window and sometimes he would fly feet first into it! I thought his own reflection was another robin near the nest. He did the same thing with the mirror on my Chey Avalanche. I had to begin to park it in the street to keep him away from it.

About a week and a half ago the female showed up. She spent the first week flying around and feeding on the ground with the male. She than moved into the nest. Once she was settled in the nest we did not see the male robin anymore. The female laid 4 eggs in the nest and is now spending most of her time sitting on them as you can see in the photos.

Female robin sitting on the eggs in her nest

4 eggs in the robins nest by our front door.

Click below to see a video of the 3 fledglings as they left the same nest last year.

Fly way little birds

When talking about natures calendar, what usually comes into people’s minds is writing down on a calendar when you can, for example, plant flowers, sow vegetables, trim weeds lingering in the garden and the like. But that is not the case, as having a calendar for nature is not based on establishing definite dates in the calendar like planting sunflowers during summer time or eggplants during Labor Day. Rather, it is based on the person’s own surveillance of natural events that take place on a yearly basis.

If one is observing what will come into bud and when, what animals will likely remain or go away on a particular date, then that person is already studying, albeit casually, phenology, which is the study of periodic animal and life cycle events and how are these affected in variations whether it is recurring or yearly during climate. Phenology is done through monitoring things that take place outside of your home. Though a variety of interpretations can be made, it all depends on how the gardener can take advantage of a situation and then make use of it. Notes from other observers can also be compared to get a more accurate detail on what month do rainfalls arrive or what month of the year does the weather become hot and uncontrollable.

So in retrospect, having a natures calendar in handy is important if you are a gardener. You need a guide to help you in your gardening ventures and this calendar can do just that.

This video was posted on You Tube by Jerry Browne.

See all of these bird feeders at GardenAccentHeven.com

We had a large flock of Goldfinches land right behind our back door. I had spilled some finch food on the patio concrete while filling the feeders that morning. They landed on the patio and began to eat the sunflower nuggets and thistle that had spilled. They also flew up into the bird bath and enjoyed the Flower Water Dripper. This bird bath very seldom got used by the birds until I installed the dripper. Now I have to refilled the bird bath daily due to all the water the birds splash out of it!

Gold Finches on our patio. Notice how well they blend into their surroundings making them harder to see.

Gold Finches around our patio feeding.

Gold Finches in the bird bath enjoying themselfs.

Soon two House Finches had to come and see what the Gold Finches where up too. They did not want to be left out of the action!