Birds, bees, and hummingbirds

I just posted my fire update on the previous post, so you can find it there.

The bees are GONE.   They used to gather around my hummingbird feeders and drain them DAILY.   Now they are all gone.   This is the time of year when the farmers here in our valley just let their fields lie fallow.   It is a good time of year for the soil to rest.   I did spot one large field down by our daughter's house that got several truck loads of... CHICKEN MANURE and I'm tempted to drive down there today and...er...um.... "liberate" some of it, but it is on a main street, so I may not do that.  There actually is an organic place down in Thermal where one can pick up bags of organic material, so sometime I may throw hubby in my SUV and drive down there and just buy some and be legitimate.

We still have hummingbirds in the yard (3 of them)...and the woodpecker I hear every once in a while.   Otherwise I don't even have to fill up my bird feeders on a daily basis.  There just aren't that many birds around.  I DO have a little Verdin who is making a nest right outside our kitchen window.   Seems kind of late in the year for that...

The ranch owner and I were talking when I went up there last weekend.   She has a family of ravens that have nested on her property for about 15 years now.   Unfortunately the power company came to trim the lines and BOTHERED their nest this past spring, so they aren't happy.   And, one of the young ones died in her driveway.   She also has families of quail and a roadrunner family.   The resident owl has been driven off by a hawk, so he isn't around any longer.   I used to find owl pellets right by their gate.   She DOES have a flock of turkey vultures that now come around when she throws out dead mice and they race the ravens to er...uh...enjoy a free meal! 

Our neighborhood Cooper's hawk has now stopped by several times for a dip in the water I put in the bowls out front.   He/she will just stand in the water for 45 minutes at one time!   I saw it one afternoon just standing on our stone walkway in one of the puddles.   I had left the hose running slightly (it was one of the 120 degree days) and all the birds had taken turns visiting the puddles.   I now have 3 bowls on top of a large plastic trash can out front and I opened the front door yesterday afternoon to go out and it was standing in one of the bowls!   So, I quietly closed the door and left it alone.   It DID catch a dove because I see feathers all over the front yard this morning...

So, life is much slower now.  The end of July until mid-August is when we here in the desert just try to ... SURVIVE.   Days are hot, nights are HOT (85 and 86 and 87 degrees here at NIGHT) and we just stay indoors and hope that September brings us cooler temperatures.

~~Cheryl~~

 Bodie on the bed eating a carrot.   He later abandoned it...OF COURSE!

The view from the Toro Peak webcam, looking north.   That's smoke and clouds from the Cranston fire.   I looked out one morning and, yes, clouds had developed from the fire.   I thought they were thunderheads, but apparently not.   They were clouds from the fire.   Our valley is FULL of smoke and the air is unhealthy.   Cars are covered with ash from the fire as well.