Sunday, April 18, 2010

A Day of Looking Around...

We have had some wonderful weather so far this spring and I took advantage of it by planting a bunch of irises given to us by our wonderful neighbor and a friend ours.  I also took the opportunity to look around a little bit.

We have great bird watching in the trees.  Chickadees, Nuthatches, Red Bellies, Hairies, Downies, Robins all over, Gold and Purple Finches,  Cardinals.  And...a Cooper's Hawk, well, actually I think there are two.

Our next door neighbor (other side from the iris gifter) had a huge, dead looking pine tree in their yard.  It sort of leans, no needles, no leaves.  Turns out it was not dead at all in any way and it is now greener that the rest.  It is a European Larch - deciduous pine of sorts.  It has a huge nest being built on one of the branches and I think this might be our Cooper's hawk pair.  We'll see but I am concerned for our buckeye chicks arrival and have a new emphasis on both getting the gardens planted AND getting the coop and chicken run constructed.  That coopers nest will weigh heavily on my mind during this next phase.  Don't get me wrong, I like them.  But they are a natural predator for the chicks.

 Next up: Veggie and Flower Gardens and "The Coop" - chicks are on the way sooner rather than later (meaning a week or so) and I have to get things going!  Rain Barrels and a herb garden will round out the spring works. I'm excited.

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