Practicing with my new DSLR camera in preparation for the big trip. Backyard birds make great subjects. Thanks to this little guy or gal for sitting still long enough for me to get this awesome photo!
My orchid cactus, given to me as a clipping from someone’s yard, is blooming. For many years I had no idea what I had. I stuck the clipping in a pot and subsequently forgot about it. It grew to be unexceptional, spindly, and unattractive by normal standards of beauty. I[…]
In this moment I am surrounded by nature. I mean seriously. The Mockingbird Chronicles is just the tip of the iceberg, there are so many other birds in my urban backyard. A few days ago I came home from my very first shift as a docent in a butterfly house[…]
This may be my final Mockingbird post. The babies now spend some of their time in neighbors’ yards and once they learn to feed themselves I will have no means of tracking them. I follow them as best I can now. One sibling lags behind the other, slower to fly,[…]
The calm and silence in my backyard is almost deafening. For a short while both parents are absent. When they do appear it is without food. A crow is allowed to perched atop the telephone pole without threat. The nest is empty. This puzzles me because elsewhere I hear the[…]
Mockingbird aggression is on the rise as babies food intake increases. LOL, this sounds like the heading for a newspaper article. Bryx can’t venture far from the house now without both birds ganging up on him. And the air is thick with sounds of warning squawks and hungry squeals.[…]
I thought I’d look up the spiritual meaning of Mockingbirds given their presence in my life right now. Whenever the mockingbird arrives, look for opportunities to sing forth your own song. Follow your own path. Learn to take what you can and apply your own creative imagination and intuition to[…]
After some investigative work, the nest is found. The frequent squealing of baby birds narrows down the location to a dense juniper tree next to my house. The parents confirm the spot, after much hesitation. Even though I keep my distance they know I’m watching and are not sure if[…]
10/20: I’ve not written here in two months. People ask if I no longer have things to be grateful for or if the things I’m grateful for are so constant they’re not worth writing about. Neither really applies. You can always find something to be grateful for. Think outside the[…]
8/11: In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence. ~Robert Lynd
May 27: While the logistics of air travel have become tedious over the years, the view from the plane never grows old. And this was my view flying home last night. A view of the heavens.
May 21: I’m so thrilled to have visited the New England Aquarium today. It’s a bit odd to come to Boston, a place steeped in so much American history, to see an Octopus, but ever since reading The Soul of an Octopus by naturalist Sy Montgomery this is what I’ve[…]
May 16: The Nuttall Woodpecker I wrote about awhile back is now a proud parent. The City’s Tree Services Coordinator came by to discuss the replacement of our two diseased Liquid Amber trees and as we stood below the tree in question I became distracted by the sound of baby birds. I[…]
May 4: Turned on the sprinklers in my rose garden and noticed a warthog in the nearby stump of a recently removed dead bush. Art in nature always brightens my day.
April 10: It’s wildflower season in Southern California and I’m determined not to miss it. The amount of rain determines the abundance, even the existence, of the season. Years of drought followed by an unusually wet winter make this year a special treat. The news reports the best display of[…]
March 30: I am grateful for Mother Nature’s sense of humor and creativity. Case in point is this big splat of bird poop. I found it on the nature walk I took earlier this week, the walk with the Labyrinth on it. I see an awkward looking bird with a big forehead and beady[…]
March 20th: Talk about the squirrel syndrome. I came home from an appointment desperately needing to write about March’s book club book, the one I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit. It’s a book of connected essays and I finished the final three this morning. If I had[…]
March 18th: We share an orange tree with my neighbor. Officially it’s their tree; we simply benefit from its location along the fence that separates our two properties. A few months ago I was grateful for the oranges, today I am grateful for the sweet calming scent of orange blossoms and[…]
March 6th: I suffer from “Squirrel Syndrome”, kind of like Dug the talking dog in the movie Up. It’s not always a metaphor though. Today there actually was a squirrel in my yard, lounging on the fence in the shade of a tree. It’s a distraction that makes me smile.[…]
March 4th: In the spaces between rainstorms there is spring, just enough spring to tease. I spent the morning in the garden weeding, pruning, planting seeds for my butterfly garden, and hanging up hummingbird feeders. A Mockingbird inches along a telephone line, hop hop pause, hop hop pause, silently moving into position to dive[…]
February 12th: A storm cleared out yesterday leaving in its place a warm, sunny, spring-like day. The Pear trees are in full white bloom; the hills, usually a fire concern, are covered in a lush emerald green carpet; the trickle of water in the normally bone dry creek twinkles in the sun. A perfect day for[…]
January 28: This is the time of year for Mourning Cloak butterflies and today there are two flying around my yard. Butterflies are one of my simple joys so I am always grateful for them. They remind me to stop and enjoy the life that surrounds me. They bring a smile[…]
January 26th: Our large pool barren backyard is both a playground and natural food source for raccoons, in fact I’m not sure which did greater damage to our yard last year, water restrictions or raccoons. While we don’t encourage them by leaving food out, we do accept their presence. The grass[…]
January 13th: Today I am thankful for rain. Rain is rare here and it has rained most of this week. Our plants, suffering from a year of water restrictions, are thirsty. Rain had made them new and fresh. Rain has washed away the grime of daily living. Rain has sweetened[…]
Dear Friend, So I have this hammock in a part of my backyard that I call “critter corner”. An Australian Willow frequented by squirrels, raccoons and opossums anchor the corner. The ground is littered with the leaves of a nearby Flame tree making critter stealth virtually impossible. My bedroom faces critter corner[…]