painted bunting........ female woodpecker and assorted bflys
birds and flys
oh how lucky Jacki. I haven't seen a Painted Bunting this year at all
Very nice!
OHHH!!! You actually have a Painted Bunting!! More pics please!! I have seen these in books and would be thrilled to see one.
DonnaB, seems you and I like the same things!
These are very elusive...I photoed these thru my kitchen window
and a poorer quality photo collage of the female. She is quite different, a green color
and a little internet wisdom......
Male Painted Buntings are highly territorial and aggressive toward each other. Fights between males, which include pecking, beating with wings, and grappling, sometimes result in death.
and more
I'm SOOOOO jealous!!! I do not feel sorry for you having less rain than us any more!!! ;) They are SO beautiful!!
So tell me how you attract them. What kind of trees do you have near you? Do they live in your yard? visit? come daily? Can you tell that I would love something other than sparrows?!
What a beautiful bird, and great pics!
I live (retired from Dallas/FT Worth) in an isolated rural area on a 30 acre site , never previously developed with utilities or roads. A little valley with wildflower meadows and native texas/okla tall grass and cactus lands surrounded by native oak , elm, prickly ash,sumac, and red cedar. We carved out the middle for our home and landscaped the immediate surroundings and left the rest natural except for winding golf cart trails throughout the property. We dug 4 small ponds where I have water and bog plants that survive with little assistance. Dug 2 water wells because of the severe drought conditions here. Currently we are pumping water from our wells into the ponds and then pump out of the ponds into a sprinkler system, set up where we can water the cultivated areas, the rest have to survive as best they can under these conditions. I owned this property for 20 years , bought when Okla land was dirt cheap before the Casino came in and started developing this area...We had an 1100 sq ft modular home here where we weekended for years...now we use it as a guest house when the kids come up.........2 years ago this august we built our permanent home here.
It is not total isolation. 10 minutes to Gainesville or Marietta. 30 minutes to Ardmore, 45 to Denton or Sherman, and of course 80 miles to DFW where most of our adult children and grandchildren live. .anyway , sorry to bore you with the history........
I have birdfeeders all around the house they attract cardinal, titmouse, chicaddee,goldfinch, all kinds of woodpeckers, and seasonal friends during winter...housing is up for the purple martin....feeders up for the hummingbirds from april thru november..we see numerous variety of hawks and owl, and of course the country buzzards...we encourage the wildlife with squirrels and bunnys everywhere...See an occasional bobcat , they keep their distance....all food scraps are thrown out the door in the evenings and gone by morning.....I have 4 fox that come up to my porch every evening just after it is toooo darn dark to photograph them. Have several blue bird houses around the property , they nest 4 times a year and we see lots of them. Egrets, racoon,snakes, bull frog, snapping turtle, and the blue heron feed off the small fish, frogs, and crawfish in the ponds. Roadrunners with their babies in the springtime running the paths.
Neither the bluebird or the painted bunting eat from my oiled sunflower feeders, I understand they eat mostly ground insects....of which we have an abundance...the drought has been so bad the last 2 years that there is little water between here and the Red River 3 miles away. The buntings have always been here, we saw them in the brush only rarely, but this year they are are coming closer to the house because of the water. We used to have quail and a few wild turkey, don't see many of them anymore.
This year grasshoppers are eating away at my gardens. I don't use insecticides in order to conserve the beneficials and not to harm the birds and butterflys. I won't use manmade fertilizers. I don't want the chemical runoffs in my soil and ponds...the last few days I have been digging water lily to take to another pond that has more water..this smaller shallow one doesn't get supplied by the wells and is drying up. I dont want to lose some of my fancy waterlily I have collected over the years so I have been moving them to larger ponds and offering some for trade with DG members.......lots of work involved digging them from the muck and moving them.......wellll I guess I should have started this novel by saying "once upon a time'...sorry to drag on.....soooooooo many pictures I could send
The End
Jackie ;>)..........pictured the guesthouse
It's a beautiful story and a beautiful guest house. I see so many ''heaven on earth'' yards. I'm always happy for those who love living right where they are. You've done a lot of work and are well rewarded!
It sounds just wonderful! I'm impressed at all the different birds and animals that you have. I'm also impressed at all the work you've done. Digging ponds and wells and pumping water into your sprinkler system sounds just...terrible! ;)
We've actually been getting some rain here so maybe it will be better this year. We're still way behind but I'm not complaining and neither are my plants. I'll wait to complain after I get my next water bill!
I am still just in love with that Painted Bunting. Even hummers can be aggressive and I still love them. More pics!
I would love to see a painted bunting, but I don't think they come this far north (NH). I was lucky enough to see an indigo bunting at one of my feeders last year though. It stuck around for 2 days and then was gone so I think it was just passing through :(
you are so lucky to have the Painted Bunting all summer. I only see them passing through in spring. Didn't see much of anything this year at the new place but didn't expect to with all the destruction from last summer. Hope fall migration or spring is better next year. Oh I did have a Hooded warbler trapped in the garage of all places last week. I have been trying for years to get a good pic and now I finally have. I moved him out to the shrub and he napped for a little while then flew off
Oo he is beautful, we don't get those
........yes, I have considered knocking um unconsious long enough to photo
got about 4/10 rain today most we have had in over 2 months
Great pic DonnaB!
I got a lot of rain today!! I'm not sure that I trust rain gauges but it said a little over an inch. All I know is it came down hard and heavy and I was doing a happy dance! I hope it's coming your way Jackieshar!
me to KK I got a little over 3" and more supposed to come tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed for 3 more inches. We really need it
3 inches?! wow!! We sure need it too but I don't want it all at one time either. We had that happen earlier in the year. Within like 2 days we got about 8 inches!! It was incredible, and it probably gave my thirsty plants the "umph" to go another year!
This message was edited Jul 5, 2006 11:19 PM
Ooooo you guys!!! I was a praising and a singing over 4/10
Ya gotta be thankful for the small things! :)
we got 1 1/2" more the next day for a total of 4 1/2" Have not had but maybe 3" since the Hurricane last August. Not very good for plant recovery. We were all jumping for joy!!!! In fact I jump for joy for a sprinkle because anything is better than nothing lol
We get plum teary eyed over a cloud here in southern Okla, but alas, no rain
I understand! It doesn't take much to make me happy when I'm gardening, but clouds make it wonderful!
I let my 7yr old son take some pics the other day. This is one of them. Although I know the camera is automatic and does most of the work, I was impressed at some of his angles.
This is another one that I really liked. It's of his stepping stone we made with his handprint.
