Empty Nest

The last two fledgling House Finches flew off from the nest this morning.  One or two others had left a day or two ago, but we didn't think these two were quite ready to leave the nest yet.  Although the larger one appeared to have pretty good feathers and was stretching its wings, the smaller bird didn't really look quite ready.  http://plantagarden-itllgrowonyou.blogspot.com/2016/05/location-location-location.html

They both took off anyway when we stepped out onto the porch this morning to say goodbye to a friend who had been visiting.  The larger chick flew across the driveway into the neighbors' shrubbery, but the smaller one hadn't quite got that flying thing down yet and only flew as far as the driveway, where it sat looking a bit dazed for a few minutes.  Then it sort of hopped and flew under our rose bushes and then into the pomegranate container on our front porch.  Cindy later saw it fluttering off toward the neighbors on the other side.  Since the parent birds continue to protect and feed their chicks for a few days after they leave the nest, we're hoping that they will be able to reconnect with it and continue to feed it.

Last week one of the chicks fell out of the nest and landed in our driveway.  Since the chick at that point was still in the nestling stage, mostly covered with down and only a few true feathers, we followed the advice of the Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation, dragged the ladder out and returned the chick to the nest.  Because birds have a poor sense of smell, returning a nestling bird won't discourage the parents from continuing to feed it.

However, both organizations advise against returning a fledgling bird, with fully formed feathers, to the nest since they're just beginning to learn to fly at that stage and need to spend some time on the ground practicing their flying skills.

We're feeling bad that we accidentally scared the fledglings out of the nest today, but Project Wildlife says the parents will continue to search for their babies and even resume feeding them if they've been gone a day or two, so we'll continue to hope that all the chicks will be all right.

Now that they've gone, we'll be able sit on our front porch again.

Of Course...

Of course, we're not the only ones around here who love blueberries.  Most of our blueberry bushes are protected by Cindy's anti-varmint panels from attack from the ground and by bird netting from depredations by marauding California Towhees, who like a little fruit with their bird seed.

The three bushes in pots in front of the garage, on the other hand, have no protection.  I was looking out the window the other day and saw the leaves of one of those bushes being agitated as if by the wind, but there was no wind blowing.

And then I noticed that Big Mama, the matriarch of the California Ground Squirrel population, seems to have produced her annual brood serially this year instead of all at once as she usually does.

That means that she now has some adolescent juvenile delinquents as well as a couple of very cute baby squirrels just out of the den, and she's teaching all of them where the free bird seed buffet is located.

Big Mama and Brood

Unfortunately, it also means that the juveniles have started ranging a bit further out and have discovered....Blueberries!

Fortunately, we collected most of the blueberries from the the garage bushes before the squirrels finally stripped them, and we also had a very good yield from the bushes in the protected area, too.

"I Found My Thrill....On Blueberry Hill..."

It's Blueberry Season!

We now have our original four blueberry bushes and three more Cindy got from her friend Janet when she moved.  All of the bushes have been flowering and producing berries for months, and now the berries are ripening.

Some varieties of blueberry require more "chill hours" than our San Diego climate has, but there are several varieties that do very well here.

Good thing we love blueberries.