Finches Leave The Nest

We think the second of the four House Finch fledglings left the nest this morning; the first one seems to have left yesterday afternoon.  There were only two heads visible in the nest this morning when Mama bird was feeding them, and they both look like they still have some growing to do.

Old House Finch Nest

This photo is from a nest from two years ago.  The House Finches love this location on the beam that runs above our front porch because it's close to the birdseed feeder and the fountain in the back yard, and it's well protected from predators.

We had some Mourning Doves nesting there years ago.  They were not very good parents; they would just throw a few twigs on the beam and call it a nest, and one day one of the parents turned around and its tail feathers swept the chick right off the beam.  So we decided to discourage them from coming back by installing some plastic spikes along the top of the beam.  That seemed to work--they kept coming back for a while, but apparently couldn't figure out the spikes.  My stern lecture to one of the doves sitting on the porch railing about the need for them to be better parents if they chose to nest there again may also have influenced their decision to go elsewhere ("The neighbors are crazy people, Gladys, they talk to birds, we'd better go somewhere else.")

The House Finches are a different story, though.  Far from discouraging them from nesting there, the plastic spikes provided them with a means to secure their nest by weaving their twigs, pine needles and Asparagus Fern in and around the spikes for better protection and stability.

They are very good parents, with both parents maintaining a regular feeding schedule for all their chicks.  They stick fairly close to the chicks for a while after they leave the nest, apparently teaching them how to navigate the big world.  Several years ago we saw a mother House Finch trying to show her chick how to get seed from the feeder.  Junior wanted Mama to keep feeding him, but she apparently felt it was time for him to move on.  http://plantagarden-itllgrowonyou.blogspot.com/2014/07/mama-bird-and-junior.html.  

Thursday In The Park

We've been wanting to check out the Kate Sessions Park for some time, but weren't sure exactly where it was located.  Turns out that if you stand in the parking lot of Gelson's Market in Pacific Beach, where we often shop, and look up the hill, you can probably see it from there.

So, since our options for our Thursday Play Days are pretty limited with the Covid-19 restrictions, we decided to go for a brief walk in the park named for San Diego's pioneering botanist, Kate Sessions.  https://sandiegohistory.org/archives/biographysubject/sessions/.   Known as the "Mother of Balboa Park", she apparently recommended that the city reserve this 79 acre space as a city park.

View of Mission Bay

We wore our masks, but very few of the people we saw in the park were wearing masks, although they were, mostly, observing the social distancing requirements.

Most People Were Staying Apart

Although These Dudes Weren't

The view from the top of the hill toward the ocean was spectacular.

And then we spotted this fearsome creature.  Was it Sasquatch?  A Yeti?  An angry Grizzly Bear?   No, but I'm starting to feel a bit like a Sasquatch two months after my last hair cut.

Yes, I Really, Really Do Need a Haircut

But there was also this magnificent Jacaranda tree.

It was a very nice day, and a welcome change of pace.  We were out of the house but also staying safe.

Ansel

Our handsome boy Ansel crossed the Rainbow Bridge this morning.

He had shown up in our shrubbery about fifteen years ago, a skinny, shy ragamuffin of a cat who we would see only fleetingly before he ducked out of sight again.  We and other neighbors fed him off and on for about 18 months.  We decided to call him Ansel because of his black and white coloring, naming him after one of our favorite photographers, Ansel Adams.

We had discussed trapping him, at least to have him neutered, but assumed we'd have to release him back to the shrubbery because he seemed to be feral.  We worried about him all the time, especially when it was cold and rainy, wondering if he had a warm hidey hole somewhere.  And when the coyotes in the canyon would start yipping and howling at night, we'd wonder if it was Ansel they were pursuing.

We hadn't seen him for a while, but on Labor Day weekend in 2007 he turned up again, skinnier and more ragged than ever, but this time he had a big, gaping wound over his right eye.  We knew then that we had to trap him because even if he didn't die from the infected wound, he would probably lose the sight in that eye and be more vulnerable to cars, dogs and coyotes.

Shy and Wounded Canyon Cat

So, with the advice of the Feral Cat Coalition, the  local trap, neuter and release group, we put the Tomahawk cat trap we had bought months earlier out with a dish of food in it to try to trap him.  He was very interested in the food, but kept trying to go through the side of the trap to get to the food instead of going in by the door.  I finally had to resort to using a long thin stick to push the food to the front of the trap, then move it back to the other end when he finally followed it in through to door, then manually spring the trap when he was far enough inside.  He was definitely NOT HAPPY to be in the trap, and disliked cages, carriers or confined spaces forever after that.

But we had caught him and were able to get him to the vet to get the wound cleaned and stitched up, and get him neutered, too.  Because we thought he was feral and would have to be returned to the canyon shrubbery once he had recovered from the wound, the vet also clipped off the tip of his right ear to signify that he had been neutered so he would not have to be trapped again.  Since we had to continue to treat the head wound, we set up a big cage in our family room with the help of our friend Val Miller.  We had to let Ansel out to clean the cage and the second time that happened he strolled out, came over to me and jumped up in my lap and made himself at home--clearly not feral.

Ansel At Home

We found out later from a neighbor who was also our USPS mail carrier that Ansel had belonged to a woman who had since died, so we adopted him and he became an indoor kitty.  He quickly established himself as the Alpha cat in the household; he had to overcome the objections of Chutzpaw and the other male cats, but although Chuzpaw was bigger than he, Ansel had muscles and street smarts from his days as a canyon cat that helped him get the upper paw.  Ansel and Chutzpaw would launch themselves at each other, fur flying as they rolled on the floor in their mock battles for household supremacy; then they would sit up, lick their fur back into place and go about their business.

When we adopted two five month old kittens, Bailey and Jenna, a few years later, Ansel became their nursemaid and nanny, and he continued to protect them for the rest of his life.  Anybody who messed with his girls would soon have to deal with Ansel.

Jenna, Bailey and Ansel

He wasn't pleased when Princess Fairweather Daintypaws arrived in the house about two years ago; her agenda of achieving world domination through intimidation and outright conquest didn't sit right with him and he set about the task of teaching her some good manners and civilized behavior.  Part of the "civilizing" process included us taking the two of them for twice daily walks in the garden on harnesses and leashes for the last six months.  Both Ansel and Princess enjoyed the walks, although they usually each went their separate ways--for a while.  Then Ansel would show up wherever she was to check up on her and make sure she wasn't up to mischief.  Then he would go on his way to secure the perimeter of the property and maybe take a dirt bath to reassert his macho credentials.

Warm Pavement

Ooohhh, Love That Dirt Bath

Where Did She Go?  

He was a good cat, one of the best we've ever been privileged to have.

 

Another Visitor To The Garden

When Princess and I emerged from the back door for our afternoon walk yesterday, she started pulling me toward the steps up to the driveway.  I stopped suddenly and pulled her back when I saw this:

I held her back long enough to get a good look at the big snake stretched out along the bottom of the steps and make sure it was our friend the gopher snake and not a rattlesnake.  Sure enough, its head was narrow, not triangular, the body was slender rather than thick, and the tail was long and pointed without any rattles, so I determined that it was a gopher snake and let the cat proceed with her walk.

Princess jumped up on the garden wall beside the garage to get her daily ration of the wheat grass we've planted there for the cats to nosh on.  I'm not sure she had even seen the snake snoozing there in the shade of the steps, but I kept looking back over my shoulder to see whether it had finished its nap and started moving toward us.  I knew it was harmless to humans and cats, certainly a cat as big as Princess would not interest this snake, but thought I'd better keep an eye on it anyway.

I also kept a tight grip on the leash because I didn't want the cat to decide to mess with the snake, either.  These snakes are beneficial; they eat the mice and rats that devastated Cindy's lettuce crop last year, so I was happy to see later in the afternoon that the snake had finished its nap and gone about its business.

Here's a link to my blog post from last summer with a description of the differences between harmless gopher snakes and poisonous rattlesnakes:  http://plantagarden-itllgrowonyou.blogspot.com/2019/07/good-snakebad-snake.html.

What's For Dinner?

Our weather turned from "Rainy Season" to "Full Blown Summer" in the space of about two days, which you might think would suit Princess Fairweather Daintypaws down to the ground, but she seems to think that flopping down in the shade is the thing to do.  It must be due to that fur coat she insists on wearing all the time.  

So we were flopped down in the shade yesterday afternoon, Princess on the pathway, me on the wall beside the garage, idly watching for lizards in the lavender bushes and observing the Lesser Goldfinches, House Finches and Nutmeg Mannikins on the bird feeders.  

Lesser Gold Finches and Nutmeg Mannikins

Suddenly, there was a rush of feathers and flapping of wings and the little birds were all gone.  The cause of the commotion soon became apparent--a Cooper's Hawk had been looking for dinner, but fortunately hadn't caught any of the smaller birds.  

The hawk took up residence in our Chinaberry Tree and waited for the other birds to return.  

Cooper's Hawk in the Chinaberry Tree

They were evidently too freaked out by the sudden appearance of the hawk and didn't return until well after it had decided to go elsewhere to look for its dinner.  Or maybe it was the presence of the large furry predator and attendant human in the immediate vicinity.  Eventually the hawk flew off into the canyon to continue its hunt for prey.   

Back View of Cooper's Hawk  

And what did the Princess think of the Cooper's Hawk?  I don't think she even noticed it--she was too busy looking for those elusive lizards in the shrubbery.  

Yesterday's Culprit

My brother suggested that the reddish tree squirrel caught in the act of raiding our suet and seed feeders in yesterday's post was likely a Fox Squirrel, Scirus niger.  Although they're not native to Southern California, they were introduced in the early 1900s and are apparently thriving here.  The article in the link suggests that this may be so because they have adapted to an environment interrupted by human habitation, and will eat things that the native Western Gray Squirrels won't.  Here's the link again:  https://baynature.org/2019/05/28/are-fox-squirrels-replacing-gray-squirrels-in-california/.

Fox Squirrel

This is the time of year that Big Mama, the matriarch of the local California Ground Squirrel population, usually produces her latest litter, but we haven't seen her yet this year.  She may have reached the end of her normal life span, or the very handsome Gopher Snake that inhabits our canyon may have taken her out. Or they might just be late this year.

Ground Squirrel 

This was Big Mama in her heyday several years ago with some of her brood.  The Ground Squirrels are more gray than the Fox Squirrel and the juveniles have white spots on their backs.  Their tails are also skinnier than the fluffy plume the Fox Squirrel sports.

The Ground Squirrels are the main reason Cindy built the panel system around the raised beds; they like tomatoes and blue berries as well as bird seed.  The panel system has worked very well at keeping them away from the veggies, and we're hoping it will keep the Fox Squirrel out, too.

Mystery of the Disappearing Suet

We noticed that the cake of suet in the suet feeder on our bird feeder pole was disappearing at a rapid clip, but thought it was due to the combined efforts of the California Thrasher and the Scrub Jay that often visit the feeder.  The crows seem to have given up on it since we stopped putting a pillar with seeds, nuts and bugs embedded in it, but we know the Thrasher in particular likes the suet.  

But this morning I looked out and saw another prime suspect at work on the suet.  Yep, it's a squirrel.  

Caught In The Act!

This one doesn't seem to be the usual California Ground Squirrel; this one looks more like a tree squirrel of some sort, with a bigger, fluffier tail than the Ground Squirrels have.  

You Lookin' At Me?

And, not satisfied with plundering the suet block, the furry acrobat moved on to investigate the seed feeder and the Nyger seed, too.  We had fun watching him getting to the goodies.

Squirrel Acrobatics

So how did the squirrel get past the baffle?  Easy--the Grevillea next to the feeder pole has grown to the size that any self-respecting tree squirrel can easily use as a stairway to paradise, or at least as a launching pad to get to the goodies.  

Overgrown Grevillea

I'm guessing there may be some pruning in the future of that shrub.