Wow! Thanks for all the Goofy Bag love! You’re all so kind!
Did you all have a good weekend? It’s been nice and relaxing here in Thimbleannaland after being away all week. We cleaned the house a bit, saw Mama Mia (which was a pleasant surprise) and had a nice day with MeMum and Big Daddy today.
So, in the absence of any exciting crafty news, I thought I’d follow Sharon’s Flora and Fauna lead and show you a few pics of summer around here. Remember my Gerbera Daisies? This is their second bloom — aren’t they funny though? There are two pots there — one pot grows really long stemmed flowers and the other pot has twice as many, but they’re short stemmed.
My pretty pink lilies bloomed while I was gone this week. They won’t be around long with the heat, so I’ll try to peek in on them every day.
I have a few pots of petunias on the patio. I’ll probably be trimming these in the next week or they’ll get too leggy.
Now, for fauna, we’ve had a very exciting spring this year. Two or three months ago, two big hawks moved into the top of one of our trees in the front yard and built a very large nest.
After they moved in, we didn’t see a whole lot of them. At one point we even thought they might have abandoned the nest. Then one day, we saw an extra head peeking over the edge of the nest. So, we just watched for a few weeks and nothing exciting happened, and again, we wondered if they’d grown and gone. Then one night about 10 days ago, we came home and there was lots of squawking up in the tree. The kids all happened to be home and I’m sure the neighbors wondered what we were all doing under that big tree looking up and pointing. It appeared that mama was kicking the baby birds out, as they were on the branches around the nest. Then, one of them flew to the top of a nearby tree — convenient for a picture, as the top of the tree has lost it’s leaves. I wasn’t sure if this was a parent or baby.
Again it was quiet for a day or two and we thought they were gone. Don’t birds leave the nest and fly away? Apparently not…the Saturday morning that I went to see Cami, they were all lined up on a nearby branch. Aren’t they cute? Look at those new little downy feathers. We initially thought there were only two babies, but these three all look like young birds.
Tonight when we came home from MeMum and BigDaddy’s, these three were playing on the front lawn. They were springing straight up in the air and TheManoftheHouse says he saw something in one of the birds talons. We watched them for a minute and the neighbors came over. They’ve been watching them too — it appears that the hawks live in our yard and their dining room is in the neighbor’s tree. He said he frequently finds small bird carcasses at the base of his tree. While we were watching them on the ground, they got spooked and flew into a tree where I could get a little closer and take this picture of one of them. He (she?) looks older already.
TheManoftheHouse came inside and did a little internet research. He thinks they’re Cooper’s Hawks and this Cornell website is full of more info if you’re interested. According to the website, they leave the nest around 5 weeks and go out on their own around 8 weeks. According to that schedule, we might only have a week left with them. We’ve had great fun watching them. The downside is that our birdfeeders (and the neighbors) are pretty lonely this year. It will be very interesting to see if they return next year.
If you have some interesting flora and fauna where you live, I’d love to see it!
XOXO,
Anna
Great pictures of those hawks. One day a couple years ago as I was coming downstairs I noticed something on the porch. It was a hawk looking at itself in the kickplate on our front door, sort of scared me…they are big birds. Wish I had a picture but I didn’t carry a camera on my hip like I do now.
could you please delete susan’s comment? i sort of like to be the first commenter whenever possible. thanks.
i LOVE that you have hawks in your front yard! i would be glued to the front porch until they left. thanks for sharing them with us,they are beautiful.
you have something green in your teeth.
Are you trying to out do my Fauna??? ARE YOU????
LOL@Sharon!!! Hawks are so fascinating, I love seeing them in flight. How fun to watch them grow. Hope you will keep us updated
To have hawks like that in your tree is seriously exciting – and especially a successful fledge of three babies! Fantastic pictures of them!
Very lovely flowers too, especially those broght red gerberas – so cheerful.
Cool pictures of those hawks! I saw Mama Mia last week too, loved it!
Fantastic pictures of those hawks Anna. We came home and found a baby seagull walking through our lavender last night, not nearly as exciting as a hawk!
Kimx
Your hawks are facsinating! But how disappointing to find out that baby birds hang around the nest for so long after the parents tell them its time to go! I wonder if the mama and daddy hawks are still paying their car insurance and cell phone bills??? LOL!!!
Your lilies are gorgeous…the hawk pictures are wonderful…I think you may have a future at the Discovery Channel…LOL!
What fun! I confess spending entirely too much time watching the birds! But alas no hawks. :-) Wonderful photos.
Those hawks are spectacular. They scare me slightly but what great pics.
My petunias all have really long, low producing stems right now and I didn’t know that i could cut them down—thanks for the tip!
How cool to have the hawk family for the summer! It makes sense that the other birds have found another place to feed for the year though. Who would want to eat birdseed with a hawk peering at you???? ;)
I love seeing yor hawks. Ours are red-shinned (I think) hawks, and bold hunters. So much so that when we had our chihuahua, he wasn’t allowed outside. Little dude was litter-box trained! We have fewer small birds this year… I hadn’t even considered until now what the reason was. I suppose Herr Becher’s “yard maintainence program” *snark* has only added to the bird buffet. C
I love your photos Anna! Besides the bird pop being kinda low at your place, the mice and snakes tend to get a little skittish as well. Hmmm, maybe I could convince one of those little hawkies to live around here?
Those are awesome pictures of the hawks, you are really lucky to see them up close.
I love the garden pictures, thanks for sharing.
EXCELLENT shots, Anna! We love birdwatching so much girl-child swears she’ll come home one day to find the chairs facing the window instead of the TV. I’m one step away from that as I crane my neck around to watch the hummingbirds now.
I love seeing glimpses into your world. Thanks for sharing.
OH thanks for the pictures, these birds are wonderful! I think maybe the last picture is the Momma?? Don’t they fly off to get you to pay attention to them and off of their young?
What great pictures! It’s always so life-affirming to remember to get outside and see what’s out there in the world other than cleaning house (which I posted about today as I haven’t anything crafty to share either) or staying inside to sew, etc. I love birds and flowers and most all living creatures (okay, I do not like snakes).
Your hawks are amazing! I love that photo of the three of them sitting in a row. Lucy x
Cool hawks – nice photos! I really love the opportunity to enjoy outdoors that summer brings. “Life affirming,” as June said.
How great to have a hawk’s nest right there in your front tree. I have been enjoying a robin’s nest in our yard. I followed you and Sharon and posted about the flora and fauna. Have a great week.
Your flowers are so gorgeous, and hawks in the yard!! That is so cool! How great to be able to observe them like that! We have a hawk (or two) that hang around (eating all the ground squirrels I imagine) but we’ve never seen a nest.
Cool! What a great shot!
Love the pic of the 3 all lined up. It’s always fun to watch those little guys and the pics of your flora is so pretty. Someday when I grow up I hope to have at least a partial green thumb :)
Hugs – Mrs Farmhouse
Love those hawk pics. I’m a nature lover so this kind of thing really turns-my-crank. I’ll bet they are Cooper’s Hawks. We have Sharp-shinned hawks here and I see them every now and then in my backyard harassing the songbirds at the feeders. I’m quite sure they want to snack on them.
Pretty flowers too!
Jody
Oh Anna, I bet those lillies smell magnificent, and I always think summer just isn’t summer without the scent of petunias. I’m envious of your Gerbera’s. I have miserable luck with them.
Those hawks are sure impressive looking. We had a couple in our neighborhood for about two weeks. It was the first time I’d seen them in the city. We often see them in the rural areas, but never so many, all at once.
I hope you have a great week ahead.
Best wishes!
Wow…a very interesting post today. Thanks for sharing all the pictures. You should work for National Geographic!
Wow, birds like that that don’t live in my backyard! We did have some other (smaller) bird nests.
How neat to have hawks in your backyard. We’re always trying to figure out a way to keep the birds away from our fruit trees. I think you’ve found the solution!
Gotta love those gerbera daisies. They’re about the only flowers that I can keep alive during the hot summers we have in the San Joaquin Valley.
Hello!
What a fun site! I especially love the links are with all of the Anna’s (wonder why) – I’ll have to check out their blogs.
Great pictures of the hawks! I love birds and last summer raised three tiny little sparrows whose nest was destroyed. They were so little- they didn’t even have feathers yet! I had to hand feed them every hour (even during the night and at work with me) with baby bird formula through an insulin syringe (no needle of course). Eventually they got big enough to fly away, but it was pretty fun! Have a super day! =)
HOLY CU-RAP WOMAN, post something else already! :) i am leaving to go to dinner. it’s 10pm in indiana… you should be HOME already, posting for our entertainment value. i guess i don’t get to be your first pesto poster.
:cries a river
We have a huge angry possum that lives in a large tree along our driveway. He has built a nest to live in and regularly renovates it messing up our drive not to mention to poo! He often sits on out verander at night and growls at me or the cat in the house. But best of all he plays target practice with his urine and my husband head when he comes home from work :). Just like one of the family really!
How fun is that. Wonderful pictures.
What fun! Our favorite tree at our first house in Idaho was a completely dead Douglas Fir. We hung birdfeeders in it, and watched all kinds of local birds come and go. Having hawks nesting in your yard, though: that’s quite the experience! I’ve always loved hawks (well, so long as I don’t have any kittens around).
I remember, once when I had Lil’MissL out in the yard when she was about six or eight months old, the resident red-tailed hawk came and circled over the yard, very obviously checking out what the small, noisy person in my yard was doing. Such impressive, beautiful birds . . . thanks for sharing yours!
Your flora is beautiful and the fauna is pretty darn cute! Your photos are great, Anna! Thank you for sharing.
Great photos…amazing hawks!