And so, the grass over here is often longer (and greener!) than it might be elsewhere in the neighborhood. And recently, I’ve noticed that this has a new practical consequence: in a lawn a bit in need of mowing, the garden wildlife’s desire paths become easier to spot.
Category: Musings
Graduating Squirrels
It's graduation season, and over the past few days, we've had four young squirrels graduate from their drey to our garden. Their mother (a beautiful, chunky, slightly beleaguered-looking female-- as many a good mother is) has been a regular at our feeders for a while and, last week, she introduced her children to our yard. … Continue reading Graduating Squirrels
People-Watching Animals
Recently, I've started collecting photos of backyard animals watching me watch them. I don't mean our eyes meet across the yard as I'm photographing them going about their foraging/nesting/mating/romping activities; I mean I'm catching them chilling somewhere (usually on a branch or on the fence) expressly checking me out. I spend a fair amount of … Continue reading People-Watching Animals
A Little Death
Today I held one of the chipmunks while it took its last breath, cradled in my hands, my fingertip against its slowing heartbeat. Having so much life in the garden means there's also at least a little death. Sometimes that looks like a shattered eggshell, or a mess of feathers, or a ransacked burrow...and sometimes … Continue reading A Little Death
Mulching & Other Manual Labors
It's true that a garden is never finished, but, sometime in May, there's a short moment when it can look deceptively in order. Of course, this moment lasts less than a day or two and may be just a hallucination induced by the exhaustive labor of mulching. I'm speaking from experience. Last week, my husband, … Continue reading Mulching & Other Manual Labors
In Defense of Sparrows
When I started birdwatching (and knew basically nothing except to look for beaks and wings), one of the first species I managed to identify and photograph clearly was the sparrow. It wasn't hard to find and differentiate at all! It let me get so close! This was that first photo, of a sparrow sitting on … Continue reading In Defense of Sparrows
Phototrophic Field Guide 