VERY productive day yesterday.
We have many pairs of bluebirds on our place this year - at least two nests fledged last year and I think the young bluebirds are competing for nesting space with some older couples this year.
My dad made bluebird houses probably 20 years ago - unfortunately, they do not open up to clean them out or check on nests. I’ve replaced two of the (now ‘derelict’) old houses with new ones - cedar, open for cleaning & one has a screen sub-floor that I really like.
Surprise, surprise - one of the derelict houses, which is in a good spot, but hasn’t been used in many years, has a nest in it this year. I was shocked because the roof was half off - the screws on one side had totally come out of the house itself so there was a large gap, at least one inch, between that side of the roof & the house. I do not know how the babies stayed warm/dry. By the time I figured out there was a nest, I didn’t want to disturb anything & didn’t attempt repairs. So yesterday, since the nest had fledged (I saw a fledgling witting with Papa Bluebird on our old pump handle), I decided to check out the box - clean it out for sure & maybe fix the roof. Well, the mama bluebird already had a 2nd nest going, with two eggs laid. The box had more problems than just the roof, but when I finished, the roof was snugly back on & the whole box was more structurally sound, with screws tightened up & the mounting board more secure. I saw mama fly out of the box this morning, so my work yesterday didn’t scare her off.
I spent from 5:30 to about 8:45 (dark!) in the garden. All the beds are weeded (my back was beyond ‘complaining’ - it was cursing!). I have replanted one cucumber (seed - hope it germinates soon!) that had its leaves ripped off - bird? The rest are doing fine. I planted marigolds in the tomato beds - the sun shades are working beautifully. In the zinnia/Teddy Bear sunflower patch, I added more zinnia seed in some bare patches & added two more Teddy Bear seeds in gaps where the original seeds didn’t germinate. All the pepper plants (red bell & Jalapeno) went in the ground. It is foggy/damp & coolish this morning (63 right now) so the peppers should have some time to adjust without a hot sun beating down on them. All in all, a really good evening in the garden.
“witting” = sitting.
Baby Bluebird Junior may have been telling Papa jokes, too - who knows! :-)
That WAS a productive day! It rained here, on and off all day, and now we have THIS ugly monster headed our way:
(Move the map over to see Wisconsin - I’m in the SW corner of the state.)
https://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php