Neotropical return

What a delightful surprise today. An ovenbird was in net 41 and it is a recapture. I banded this bird May 24, 2009 as an AHY male. One of the goals of the MAPS program is assessing adult bird survivorship and this bird is contributing to that goal.

Fresh peas

Picking snap peas, regular peas, chard, lettuce and radish from the garden. Snap peas and chard go well in a stir fry. I've added onion and mushroom to the mix sometimes. Last night ate the stir fry with some teriyaki beef strips Lew had prepared.

Turned over part of the middle bed this morning and added compost from our own compost bin. Then planted these young chard plants that I've grown from seed. Now I'll find out how chard handles the increasing summer heat and humidity.







This is what the beds look like right now.

Nesting birds

Activity on a dead stump caught my eye. After a while I realized brown-headed nuthatches were going to that stump VERY regularly. So I checked it out. Binoculars revealed birds were sticking their heads in a hole and then, one came out with a fecal sac. The nest is about 3 feet from the ground in a shrub stump in the lawn by our driveway.

Elsewhere in the garden a pair of bluebirds has a noisy brood that are probably close to fledging. The adults were not providing frequent food deliveries this afternoon. Instead they'd sit on the box and then go look inside.

Our vegetable garden is growing well. I picked the first snap peas today.