Critters and Greens

Summer is here and we've been getting a garden set up for the first time in a few years.  After we got the chickens we found it very difficult to have a garden because they would always come and eat everything.  Craig has set up some fencing and beds and barrels and dirt, so hopefully we'll have produce to enjoy after some time and work.  Meanwhile, critters all around us are working on their business.

Paco, enjoying his business of lounging in the grass:

This little lizard seems to have recently regrown its tail:

Craig discovered his little tractor was in fact strong enough to move the big boulders into position as campfire seating:

First seedlings planted!

One big strawberry:

I almost caught a picture of this rufous hummingbird checking out the strawberry:

We uncovered (and re-covered) a cicada larva while gardening:

My beautiful fuschia birthday present:

Cherries are almost ripe!

This beetle was big.  Very big.  I still need to identify it, but did I mention it was big?  Over an inch long.

This beetle was small.  And cute.  Very small:

Caterpillar with lovely colors moving along:

The pileated woodpecker rat-a-tat-tatting.  They have been very busy this year:

Cucumber beetle on a dandelion:

Well, hello to you too, Al:

Al showing his glamorous smile:

Busy on the waterline edge of a rock in the creek:

Butterfly visiting:

Peep!

Craig getting some of the barrels planted with the bigger starts:

We get bats in the house sometimes.  Generally we sort of wave our nets around and try to help them find the open door and leave.  Bats are very fast and when they get in, tend to fly in circles in one room, very quickly.  Ninja Craig remarkably caught this one in the net while it did laps in our bedroom.

Hello small bat:

Go outside now and enjoy the night.  It hung on for a while, then zipped away:

Spot the mantis:

Hummingbirds Hatched!

We had an incredible opportunity to watch the progress of a hummingbird nest this year.  It was made on a low limb of a tree in the forest and we only found it because the mama bird buzzed by Craig unexpectedly, so he knew something was up and searched around until he found it.  It was nothing you'd ever just notice without searching it out, but once discovered it was visible both from the trail and the hillside above.  That first day, it held one tiny, brand new baby, and one egg, about to hatch.  We visited it regularly watching them grow at an amazing rate, until one day as Craig was nearing the tree, they fledged.

Here is the first time we saw the nest, with me keeping some distance and aiming the camera down from not-too-close and without looking.  The photo isn't great, but you can see a little egg and a little new bird:

Here is the mama hummingbird sitting on her nest.  This was taken from around 12 feet away with 30x zoom:

The babies!  Mama was out feeding herself, and we got a peek at the newly hatched hummingbirds:

Another day or two later, growing baby bird feather spikes:

The opening of the nest where the babies are tucked in is barely the size of a quarter, maybe:

Starting to fill the nest a bit more and soon to be feathers becoming more evident:

They are almost big enough to peek over the side, although their beaks are still short and fat and mostly orange:

Beaks getting longer, and peaking upwards now:

They really start growing fast at this point:

And proper feathers start coming in:

Getting higher and higher in the nest:

The nest is really so well covered, very difficult to spot:

Both birds up high now and although they probably could have flown at this point, they didn't take flight until the next day:

And then they flew!  We think we saw them at our hummingbird feeders some days later and for some time thereafter as the slightly fatter but smaller, fluffier, shorter beaked birds who seemed to still be learning a bit about how to do the things they do.