Feeding Frenzy

It's a busy time of year at the birdfeeders! I have an abundance of finches at my new country home--gold finches, purple finches and pine siskins. There are probably some others that I'm not familiar with, yet, but those are the primary three. I haven't seen any house finches, to date, but I'm sure they're around. I was overrun with them in the city. I also have mama and papa nuthatches, tufted titmice, chickadees, a pair of house wrens and the obligatory flock of mourning doves, whom I adore not only because they're pretty, but because they waddle around and clean up all the seed the other birds spill on the ground. Wasteful little things birds can be, sometimes. The papa nuthatch will actually THROW things OUT of the feeder that he's not interested in, but the doves take care of it, so I'm not complaining. He is a little territorial, however, and I'm not so fond of his running off my other birds should they DARE land on whichever feeder he's possessing at the moment.

In addition, and perhaps my most prized residents for the moment, are two mated pair of bluebirds whose babies will assuredly adorn the garden this spring and, I noticed yesterday for the first time, the rose-breasted grosbeaks (up until now I had seen them only rarely!) are NESTING atop the downspout just outside my office window! What a treat that will be a little later in the season!

I am beginning to get the gardening itch. When I moved to the new place in the country back in August, the garden had been somewhat let go (understandably so) through the summer due to my landlord being in the throes of trying to finish her new house so that she AND I could both move. To that end, there was alot of cleaning up that had to be done. Some of it I tackled--most of it I left. Now it's time to get out there and finish the task! I have taken some "before" pictures and will post those in the near future. 2009 is going to be a year of gardening, which I haven't had the pleasure of being able to do for the past few years because of my prior living situation. This year, all of those little (and some not-so-little) plants that I have been tending to in their pots for the past four years are finally going to find a home! The blog will follow along with the progress, the success, the trials and the tribulations. I hope you will, too, and I wish the very best in 2009! Thank goodness it's FINAllY here. I feel better already!