Midsummer

  A great pleasure of midsummer is watching bird parents feed their fledglings. We have more orchard orioles this year than we have before. I have seen three adult males at once, the first time I’ve seen more than one at a time. This is also the first time I saw a dad orchard oriole feeding a chick.

Feed me!

Nom, nom!

After a long absence, the goldfinches are back at the feeders. I assume this is because their parenting duties are done for the summer. The house finches are always around.

Goldfinch and house finch flinging/eating sunflower seeds

One tom turkey has been helping himself to the sunflower seeds on the ground, which are numerous thanks to the goldfinches flinging 9 seeds for every one they eat.

Tom turkey

I have witnessed but was unable to photograph a redwing blackbird chasing the turkey away from the feeder. The blackbird attacks from behind, and the turkey flees, in spite of being several orders of magnitude larger than the blackbird. It could be a riddle:

Q: When is a turkey a chicken?

A: When he’s being chased by a blackbird.

A green heron has apparently taken up residence here or nearby. I have seen it fly over every day for a few weeks now. Terry has spotted it perched in the third oak, which was struck by lightning a few years ago and is half dead. In a recent heavy rain, the heron was grounded by the orchard. It took off when I went out to get a picture.

Green heron

I’m pleased with how my wildflower garden is coming along. The original garden was at the end of the garden shed. I have moved some plants, but most of them have moved themselves to the vacant ground at the end of the garden. There are also a few poppies and asters that have seeded themselves from a commercial mix of non-native flowers.

The wildflower garden started at the shaded end of the garden shed

The beebalm attracts numerous bumblebees, but for all the flowers growing here right next to the beehive, I rarely see any honeybees. Where they are foraging remains a mystery.

Beebalm with two bumblebees and no honeybees

The pullets have not yet integrated into the rest of the flock. The hens are no help in that process as their behavior can hardly be described as welcoming. They chase the pullets away from the food and water. There seems to be an uneasy and unstable establishment of territory on the perch at night, pullets on the left, hens on the right.

Pullets on the left side of the perch. A Wyandotte is next to the wall, then Doriann Gray and Goldie. Another Wyandotte is absent from the photo

Hens on the right side of the perch

Some nights Henrietta Houdini (the one who ran away from butchering) stakes out the left and pecks at any pullet trying to get up there. The pullets are growing fast. They will be better able to defend themselves soon.

I also love the bounty of this time of year. I’m not overwhelmed yet and can actually use produce from the garden for meals. Soon I’ll be spending all day at the stove blanching, peeling, canning, and be too exhausted to do anything but warm up Tundra Surprise (leftovers from the freezer) for supper night after night.

Summer bounty

I harvested the first standard tomatoes from the high tunnel yesterday. I’ve been getting cherry tomatoes for a week or so. The arrival of the big tomatoes means that we can BLTs for supper. That’s quick and easy.

Tomatoes from the high tunnel

I noticed a large number of black raspberry canes growing in the Nanking cherry shrubs that border the road. I remembered them ripening the last week of June and thought I’d missed them. The last time I mowed, however, I saw that they were ripening. I’ve been picking for a week. If I’m lucky, I’ll get enough for a batch of jam. If not, I will have to do math and make a partial batch of jam. That’s okay. I can do math. Picking black raspberries makes me happy. It is something my mom and I used to do together from the time I could walk. What is better than free food?

Black raspberries