June 13, 2008
The mercury topped out 104.9 in the backyard last week, at which time it was a cool 94 in the shade with a gentle breeze.Backyard tip of the week:
Try using a fan outdoors when possible to keep yourself cool. An outdoor rated ceiling fan is great if you have an overhang area that you sit under. Even a box fan or pedestal fan is good, just be sure to plug it into a GFI outlet so that you stay safe. Your backyard fan will help the body's evaporative cooling process by creating a breeze on your skin. Extra bonus alert - the breeze from the fan will also help to keep away any pesky insects which is something that you're sure to love!
Backyard sightings for last week:
Including northern cardinals, American robins, northern flickers, rose-breasted grosbeaks and eastern bluebirds. White-crowned sparrows, chipping sparrows, Carolina wrens and house wrens, eastern goldfinches and house finches. Red-bellied and downy woodpeckers, white and red-breasted nuthatches. The tufted titmice, black-capped chickadees, blue-jays, American crows, a couple of grey squirrels, a mostly white skunk, some bunnies, and a bat! A single doe was seen eating sunflowers that would have looked lovely in a month or so. Also, European starlings, common grackles, red-winged blackbirds, mourning doves, a young bullfrog at the pond, and a late night toad that was stuck in the garage After Dark on Tuesday! (I helped him find his way to freedom.)
Cool sighting of the week:
There were a veritable smorgasbord of cool sightings in the backyard this week. The nuthatch was seen peacefully co-existing with the male grosbeak while feeding at the songbird feeder. A family of Carolina wrens were spotted moving into the new birdhouse that was put up in the meadow just a week earlier. And a bluebird has found the bluebird house again, for the first time in a few years. Finally, a hawk was seen to have been victorious over a mourning dove who's feathers were found scattered on the ground in front of the garage door. On the glass pane of the garage door was the last impression the dove ever made, a sort of ghost image, left from the impact of the dove's feathers when the hawk drove him into the door. It was very cool!
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