Changing of the Guard

The Redpoll Gang is gone: The 50 birds that stripped my feeder bare every day for several days with just an hour of concerted effort. A few still come, but the main body has moved on. May they have fair winds and re-filling feeders wherever they go.

In the great circle of being, the wooded area behind and beside our house is coming to life again, literally greening in some cases. Last year’s burdock burrs snuggle into the leaf litter, waiting only for the first rain to burst into hideous life. Wee brown bunnies emerge, blinking, from burrows.

The robins tease us by dropping off nesting materials on the same porch column where they nested last year and then disappearing for days on end. Like, are they coming back or not?

In even unhappier news the squirrels have once again found the magnolia’s buds, which emerge before the tree’s leaves. Time for chemical warfare.

Magnolia bud with cayenne treatment, early leaves, heather in bloom, tulip likewise.

All’s Fair

“Agent Or’nge” adheres.
Rat-like noses sniff the buds,
wrinkling in dismay.