Chickens and the clover patch

My small back yard lawn/pasture has taken hold. It is a mix of grass and clover, with a few various weeds. It took a while for the clover and the grass to get going and I kept the chickens out of the area until it was well enough established to bounce back from their foraging. The area is a small island of green in a mostly bare spot that used to hold a big pile of dead ivy that I'd pulled from the huge amounts of ivy growing in the back yard. Once the ivy pile was truly dead, I used it as a cover for cardboard and newspaper that I used to cover other areas of ivy. The newspaper and cardboard over ivy approached worked quite well. Cutting, pulling, and digging ivy is quite a chore. And with that area bare I decided a small, green meadow/pasture/lawn type space would be nice. And it is nice.
I moved the chicken fencing to allow them access to a portion of the clover lawn/pasture. They moved in to explore and have been eating the clover and grass. I bring them treats from the garden, fallen peaches, seed spikes from salvias - which they peck and scratch at to get to the black seeds, and sometimes a tomato hornworm or a cricket. Egg production has slowed some with the onset of hotter weather.

Rooster in the clover lawn/pasture

The clover has begun flowering and attracts bees and even hummingbirds. The clover takes well to mowing and grows very quickly after. It is fixing nitrogen in a spot that seemed depleted when we got the place, and it is serving wildlife, livestock, and the humans in this system well.

June First - downpour

This time of year usually finds us basking in hot, sunny weather. We're usually irrigating the garden by now, and the warm-weather plants are usually on their way. Usually. This year has been an exceptionally wet spring. Good news is that it ended a three-year drought. Our water reservoirs and snow packs are all looking very well stocked. The trouble is many of us like the hot weather for which this area is known. Some things in the garden will be delayed or diminished. My white peach tree could be counted on for ripe fruit by July 4, but this year that timeline will definitely be delayed. On the other hand, some plants in the garden prefer this weather, especially the raspberries, which have produced quite well so far, and look like they will continue. Having a diversity of plants and microclimates in the garden is important when the weather is not "normal."

June 1, 2011 downpour

Today we had a big downpour, hail mixed with rain, thunder, rainbow. Last week we had all that plus a small tornado or two touching down out in the less populated area.
All this rain means water for the garden. This has become my mantra. Still, we are looking to be outside, sitting under our big shade tree, sipping refreshing beverages, and watching the resident hummingbird work the abutilon blossoms, rather than observing from inside.

At least I know my seeds and seedlings are being watered (some of the seedlings were battered by hail but many have survived). It will be an interesting season.

Another hummingbird brood coming?

Shortly after the last brood vacated the nest, a female bird was there touching things up, and tonight, less than two weeks later, a bird is sitting on the nest. I'd seen her working throughout the day today, and tonight when I went out to close up the chicken coop I saw her silhouette in the nest.
I took a photo, dark and shaky though it is.

Fall rains

Cool fall rains have finally arrived and have washed the dust of summer away. The air feels clean and the plants are refreshed.
Walnut harvesting has begun in the orchard across the street. Normally that would mean a dust cloud for days on end but the rain has helped keep that down.
Our walnut trees are dropping nuts and I've been harvesting them. The chickens seem to like walnuts so I've been feeding the broken nuts to them. The best nuts from our trees will be given to friends. It is rather a shame that walnuts do not appeal to my palate since we have so many nuts from the big old trees.

Along with the cooler weather, and the rain, the abutilons have really started to look their best. They struggle a little through hot weather and then they thrive once it cools some.

Abutilon

This yellow abutilon is visited frequently by hummingbirds and is a plant I grew from seed.

Hummingbirds are growing

The nest is probably starting to get a little close with two growing hummingbirds packed into it. The mother bird has started to feed the babies even when we are at the far edge of the patio, something she wouldn't do when they were smaller. She comes and feeds the birds and they eat and then do some stretching and flap their little wings. One of the babies is definitely larger than the other.
An interesting phenomenon is the spattering of droppings under the nest. We've seen the little specks come flying out of the nest.

One baby hummingbird chin

The mother hummingbird has now started sleeping elsewhere, which means the hatchlings are feathered enough to regulate their own body temperatures. I've seen two little chins poking above the nest, and today while the mother was off foraging I got close for a quick photo of one tiny chin.

Hummingbird Nest Decorated with Lichen

The hummingbird has added a considerable coating of lichen pieces to the outside of her nest. It would work great as camouflage in a tree. I'm not sure she's really blending in with the string lights though. She is on the nest for longer periods of time, and away for shorter. Makes sense. She will bring back little pieces of fluff and tuck them inside the nest.

She'll feed at some nearby flowers in the back yard, and also at flowers in the front yard.

I'll start watching for babies in about a week or so.

Hummingbird update

The Hummingbird has been spending much more time in the nest the past few days, and she is in the nest tonight. I did a little research on the nesting habits of hummingbirds and it seems the female builds a nest soon after mating, then after a day or two lays up to two pea-sized eggs. She'll incubate them for two weeks or so, then she'll tend to the babes by keeping them warm and feeding them frequently until they are feathered enough to regulate their own body temperatures. Not sure how long that process lasts, a few more weeks I think, then they'll leave the nest.

You won't see any egg pictures from this nest because I feel that would be too intrusive. I've been out in the general vicinity of the nest, keeping my distance, moving slowly, and she's stayed in it the whole time. She usually makes a chirp as she leaves the nest and goes off for a while, then returns for a while. She was gone in the late afternoon and early evening, but I did see her profile out there tonight, so I'm guessing she's incubating eggs.

I'll be sure to try for photos of the babies, without bothering the family. It is all a bit wonderful.

Hummingbird in the Nest

This hummingbird will avoid the nest if I am hanging around nearby outside, or too obviously gawking from the living room. It has been chasing away scrub jays and doing the intimidating hover/chirp at the cat. I have found if I hide behind the curtains just so, with my camera focused on the nest, I can get more photos of the bird in the nest. It doesn't stay long, so I have to be quick, but I got a few that I've cropped to show more of the bird.

Nest Expansion

Day two of nest building. These photos are shot from underneath the nest and it looks like those green pieces could be lichen, but I do not know. Top photo taken around 8 a.m. and bottom photo taken around 11:45 a.m. The bird is building at a pretty fast pace, but I suppose that is what one might expect from a hummingbird.

New Resident

We light our patio with LED string lights, which look very festive and are much easier on the eyes than the bright spotlights that were installed before. We've noticed a hummingbird hanging around the string lights, and hanging around the patio area - buzzing by for a close look at us while we drink coffee in the morning, and taking a close look at the cat, when she's on the other side of a glass door. The hummingbird has been a regular visitor.

Today I noticed it buzzing around and stopping by the string lights rather frequently. It seems to be building a nest on the string lights. I took a few photos of the brown duff after it had been back and forth all morning.

A little later the hummingbird was back at the nest site, and I caught a picture of it, sitting there. The nest site is in a spot I can see from my office, at a short distance, and directly out the living room window, at close range. I'm a bit thrilled with the idea of having a hummingbird nest to watch all summer.