cowbird update

feathers on the birds and . . .

one very pregnant, double wide, hot and grumpy goat!

the cowbird and the chickadee

So we have nesting chickadees in our front nesting box again this spring. We think it's the same pair, learned to tolerate us, because when we take down the box for a look, mama no longer flies away. So mostly what we've been seeing is the mama bird.

But a few days ago Sophie saw her fly out and went to look at the eggs. This is what she saw:

One of these does not look like the others! Although our web research tells us that cowbirds rarely lay an egg in a cavity nest, one sneaky cowbird did just that. The bigger darker egg is a cowbird egg, inside is a future cowbird nesting destined to hatch first and out compete it's chickadee "siblings". My first instinct was to lift the egg out with a spoon but they are native birds and they are protected so I let it stay.

Yesterday we saw this inside the box:

One hungry cowbird with it's mouth open waiting for lunch, sitting on top of a smaller chickadee. The cowbirds are not only first out of the egg, bigger, and stronger, but their mouths are red which guides the parents to feed it first.

We put out some meal worms to make it easier for the birds to keep up with the needs of all the nestlings and are hoping for the best.

the chicken and the hawk

bird mystery

For the last 5 years we have had nesting chickadees in a nesting box in our front yard. They are great fun to watch.
They start off as little speckled eggs. This year we had a nest like this when Sophie checked on Friday.
And yesterday we had this--eggs but no nest. I have no explanation. Anyone want to try to explain where the nest went? We have lost sparrow eggs to predators, so there's been a nest with no eggs. But why the heck would there be eggs and no nest??!

herding dogs, song birds, and a pony

This is Sophie in her favorite sweater. I had to pry it off her periodically this winter to wash it. Here she is having a riding lesson Periwinkle. Look closely, Peri exactly matches the pony on her sweater!
At the sheep dog demo at the Gore Place Sheep Festival the dogs herd sheep, they heard goats, and then they herd ducks! I want some of these ducks. They are called Indian Runners and they are adoreable.

We visited Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island.
We got up at 5 am to milk and drove an hour, but it was worth it to see the song birds up close.
As you can see, the beaches are closed because the threatened piping plovers are nesting there.

Happy Spring

The forsithia were forced--there is nothing springlike about what's happening outside. There are still patches of snow and no redwing blackbirds to be seen or wood frogs to be heard.

Here's to all of us finding balance as the Earth finds hers.

spring is sprouting

We're forcing forsythia. (I don't know why I can't rotate the pictures again!)



Sophie hung up this bag of fleece and yarn for the nesting birds yesterday morning . . .

. . . and by yesterday afternoon the chickadees had put some of the green fleece in the nesting box outside our front door. (Sorry it doesn't show up that well in the picture.)

My friend Sandy has a son whose birthday is May 15th, the same as Rebecca's. Sandy just bought a sheep who is due to lamb on . . . May 15th. If she has a set of boy/girl twins, their names will be Rebecca and Hank!

The sap is freezing in the buckets over night and dripping like crazy by noon. We're getting over 5 gallons a day from our 7 taps.

And, ok, this isn't strictly a sign of spring, but Agway delivered the panels for our goats today!

cold enough to freeze an egg

It was warm and sunny later, but this morning Rebecca brought our first (of many?) frozen eggs in from the coop. This could definitely be a problem.

We went cross country skiing


It was such a beautiful winter day and with the dusting we got last night there were lots of tracks and prints.

Oak leaf

Rabbit, squirrel, and Sophie thought this piece of snow looked like a bird.