Butterfly & Bumble Bee on a Coneflower

House Finch Make Out Session

I saw two mated House Finches look like they were having a make out session. They just both kept pecking softly in each other's mouth. They may have been exchanging food, though, I'm not sure. It was the cutest and sweetest thing.

Bumble Bee Sleeping on a Sunflower Head

Late at night before going to bed at about 2 A.M. I was refilling my feeder for the morning and I noticed a cute little bumble bee sleeping on a sunflower head, one of the smaller sunflowers growing. That made my night. The only reason I saw him was because I had my flashlight with me for seeing what I'm doing outside and just happened to notice him.

That wasp I was telling you about with the missing set of wings...

I woke up this morning about 11:30 A.M. and checked on the wasp. He had moved or fallen to the ground from the hose he was clinging to. He was on his side, not moving and dying. When I picked him up his stinger was doing a pumping motion and his limbs and other body parts were just moving very slowly or not at all. I decided to put him out of his misery. Yesterday, when I first noticed him, he seemed like a friendly, healthy wasp other than the missing set of wings. It's sad.

Planting More Sunflower Seeds

I planted nearly 10 sunflower seeds this evening. Just got the urge to plant some more and give the bumble bees and other bees more nectar, plus when they are done growing I can get many more seeds back from the heads of them all, so it's truly a win-win for me.

It's Been One Year of Birdfeeding and Birdwatching

I took and uploaded my first bird video in June of 2010 and probably got into birds sometime around May 2010, or maybe even late April. It's been a full year of being into my bird hobby. Crazy. Never would've thought I'd be into birds, but here I am. It's been wonderful. It brings happiness and a smile to my face every day.

A Wasp Missing Left Side of Wings

I saw this wasp on my porch steps, then I noticed he didn't have the left side of his wings, appearing one or both of his ripped-off wings were stuck or on his intact right-side wings. I went to my computer and google'd if wasp's wings grow back, which I read they don't, unfortunately, and that they will die without being able to fly and find food. But I also read they eat a lot of insects, which a lot are found on the ground. This is when I learned they have four sets of wings, by the way.

I really feel sorry for this wasp. Maybe it was the recent heavy rain or something else. I thought briefly about putting him out of his misery and inevitably slow death, but when I realized he might still be able to live by finding food on the ground and adapting I decided killing it was not the best option at the moment. I tried to put a dead insect near him but he just walked passed it, and then I put a sunflower heart on the step.

I've never seen any insects that I can think of that were not able to fly anymore because of missing wings, etc. It's kind of pitiful and makes me a little sad.

My First Homemade Suet: Second Batch, & Update on Birdfeeding Acitivity

Just finished making my second test batch of peanut butter suet. It tastes A LOT better than my first batch. I had a taste-test and it tasted good. I mixed in crunchy peanut butter (melted first), oats, flour and crushed unsalted, dry roasted peanuts. The first batch you could really taste the cornmeal too much, I think, which isn't the best tasting, I might add. Oats have a good and subtle taste and it's got a lot of protein and no sodium/salt, as does the flour. The yellow cornmeal in my first batch has a ton of sodium/salt. I'll give the first batch to my dogs or something.

To update on my birdfeeding activity, it has been crazy-busy lately again, picking back up how it used to before the start of the spring nesting season. I've been seeing a lot of new fledgling birds being fed by their parents, like common grackles, red-bellied woodpeckers and blue jays, and I'm sure some other birds. And today, I had a Brown Thrasher visit the feeder for the first time. But mainly a lot of grackles and blue jays, along with the family of red-bellied woodpeckers with their new baby/fledgling, titmice, cardinals, and, unfortunately, more mourning doves. They're not allowed at my feeders because they are some of the most annoying birds, hogging the feeders, gobbling up all the food, knocking my cups I put food in over, poop everywhere, etc. When I shoo them away they come back a minute later and the process repeats over and over and over. They're horrible. I try to only put big peanuts out that they can't fit in their bills, because they have a slim bill and can only eat peanuts that are cracked and in smaller pieces that I put out for mockingbirds, chickadees, etc. Speaking of chickadees, I haven't seen one in some time, not really since that situation with the fledglings I wrote about a few weeks ago. But I hear them, just can't see them. :P Hopefully soon they'll be coming back to the feeders. I love little chickadees; so precious. Their size, call, song, everything.

My First Homemade Suet, Kind of

I just mixed crunchy peanut butter and yellow cornmeal together in a pan on the stove. I let the peanut butter melt a little, then I threw in the cornmeal. Eh, next time I'll use a little less cornmeal, I think. I didn't have any fat to mix in with it, but mainly wanted to make a peanut butter suet cake, anyway. I want it for when I'm still sleeping and there are no more peanuts out in my feeder, because they gobble it up so quick, so it will be kind of the backup food for times when I'm sleeping or out and not able to refill the feeder. I'll let you know how my birds like my first test batch, then I'll make another test batch using less cornmeal. I'll just be doing some experimenting. But I already feel like I can make my own suet now and broken the ice; plus I've read birds tend to prefer homemade rather than store-bought.

Sunflower That a Bird Planted

This is one sunflower of many that birds planted somehow by accidentally dropping black-oil sunflower seeds into a pot of soil. If you click the picture and look at the full-size picture, you can see there are two bumble bees on the head. This one is huge, at least six to seven feet, and standing tall. There are several more in the picture, one now with it's head drooping. There are about 20 to 30 around my house, all planted by birds except one. After I realized birds had made sunflowers start sprouting up, I planted one of my own. It's now about three feet and still growing. Next year I'm going to plant a lot more, and I'm sure the birds will, too.