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in
the garden....
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love our garden!! This year in March and June 2010, we
were blessed with baby Screech owls roosting in our Norfolk Island
Pine tree.
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My
garden is certified by the National Wildlife Federation
as Wildlife Habitat No. 24924. I am also
certified from the University of Florida.
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| Getting
your garden certified and approved as a wildlife habitat means that
you provide food, water, shelter, nesting sites, and protection for
birds to raise their young throughout the year. |
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Our
new bird feeding station!
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Our
garden attracts so many birds and animals. We've had
downy woodpeckers in residence, wrens nesting near our doors, red-tailed hawks
catching snakes in our trees, great gray herons stealing fish from
neighboring fish ponds, and pileated woodpeckers feeding in mass on
avocado tree fruit. One very unusual thing we saw was a
pileated woodpecker taking a dust bath in our compost pile....
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Go
to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the
pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,
But
it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the
bee.
For
to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,
And
to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
And
to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure
is a need and an ecstasy.
People
of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.
Kahlil Gabran -
The Prophet
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Charlie
Returns for Winter
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Charlie
Leaves |
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| 11/13/05 |
3/26/06 |
| 09/03/06 |
03/28/07 |
| 09/17/07 |
03/5/08 |
| 09/10/08 |
03/31/09 |
| 11/20/09 |
04/2/10 |
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8/29/10 |
4/15/11 |
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01/15/12 still here... |
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Almost
considered a pet. Our hummingbird Charlie has come back 7 years now and stays
about 6 months. His feeder is right by
our dining room window, so we enjoy him daily. He
is always
missed, but never forgotten when he migrates north. We're thrilled
when he returns. We've yet to recognize that he has a mate and
we've seen him fight off other hummingbirds. We've also
noticed that he lands in the same spot in different trees.
Since he stays so long, he must have a nest, but where I've yet to
locate.
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1/9/07
- First day in the garden, fell through the shed
roof!
1/16/07 - Saw
hundreds of red-breasted robins feeding in Camphor tree.
3/4/07 - Accidentally
sprayed face with red spray paint. Measles for a
day!
3/17/07 - Snake
sighted in the house! I kid you not! It was on
it's way out, but I draw the line there with nature!
5/1/07
- The cats are gone. We've got our wren nesting by the back door.
Late in the season, but she's there. 7/15/07
- Baby wrens leave the nest. (Last year they left 7/25/06) 10/07
- Red tailed hawk lands in tree low to ground during lunch.
We were only 10 feet away from him...staring in awe. 3/2010
- Built Screech Owl house 4/2010
- Saw hawk steal a baby blue jay.
5/1/2011 -
Yellow-bellied Gnat Catcher sighted, baby wren eggs, waiting on baby
owls....
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Our
most valued sighting.
A Painted Bunting. Twice seen.
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