CAN'T STOP WISHING FOR SPRING

It's less than 4 weeks away but it seems so far!

After our first and so far only "snowstorm" of the season I look out over my yard and keep thinking about spring.  The good thing is I have lots of pictures taken by my wife Karen over the past several years here to remind me of all the visitors to our property.

Pair of House Finches

One of "many" rabbits!

Put up the sign and they all show upl

               


We get so many birds since I grow the flowers and shrubs that they adore but more importantly I spend a small fortune on bird food.  Of course several of our "visitors" are neat to look at but not really welcome.  We have been fairly lucky with the deer population.  They seem to appear now and then but luckily have done little damage to the flower beds.  I have been lucky using two products that are harmless but seem to be effective.

Not a welcome visitor

One is called "Deer Tape" which is a ribbon stretched around the yard that repels deer.  The other product is "Liquid Fence"  It is a safe biological spray that really deters the deer.  Stinks at first application but quickly dissipates and remains effective.  Lets hope this spring the two work as well as in the past.

The pond naturally attracts frogs or toads that seem to enjoy the rocks and water and manage to keep the insect population to a minimum.  We never seem to have a problem with mosquitos.

Our pond attracts a number of frogs

Of course the large number of small birds and even the frogs and fish do attract other not so wanted visitors such as the hawks and the occasional Great Blue Heron.  It's nature but sometimes I wish it wasn't so evident in the yard.  We have lost fish to the herons but again, it's nature

Hungry Hawk

I guess I am to blame since I did apply for and did receive a Wildlife Habitat certification sign that the creatures must be able to read............ so they come.

The owl was a welcome sight since they are reliable at keeping the mice away.

                                                                                                             

The common Eastern Garter Snake,                  NOT SO WELCOME.  I do not like snakes and as harmless as this variety is supposed to be, they scare the crap out of me.  Seems like every summer the rocks around the pond as well as all the vegetation create perfect breeding grounds for these scary creatures.

Of course since we went to Austrailia and put up this sign, we have yet to see a Koala in the yard.  Hopefully we will be able to attract a few this season!!!!

 And of course the most anticipated arrival in the late spring, are the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds.  Year after year they return from their winter home in Central America (so lucky!!!!!!) and arrive in our yard when the lilacs are in bloom and stay all summer.  I will have a whole post devoted to these marvelous creatures later this spring.
In the meantime, enjoy some of Karen's pictures of them feasting on the nectar inside our Black and Blue Salvias last year.

With the arrival of the hummers come the butterflies, unfortunately nowhere near as many as in past years.  The Monarch population is way down worldwide and last summer we were very aware of that here as we saw very few in our yard.  Hopefully they will be able to make a comeback.

And finally, the return of spring and all the welcome and even unwelcome visitors allows ME the opportunity to enjoy it all........relaxing in our yard.

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