Hummingbirds in the Backyard

I've been watching a couple of hummingbirds in the yard this weekend and was happy to see that one of them let me take some closeup shots with my camera this morning.
I wondered why this one was sitting in one spot for such a long time - until I took a closer look and discovered it was nesting! I am also able to see the tiny bird and her nest from our balcony.

I caught this shot while the bird was out of the nest for a while. One of the little birds was on the telephone wire and chirped a warning for the other to come back. Now whenever I've gone out and found the nest empty, one of them comes back to the tree but doesn't immediately go back to the nest. It is pretty well hidden, so I guess they either know that, or have seen me enough times to know I won't hurt them.
(If you click on any of these photos, you'll see the bigger versions. If you click on the two photos of the tree, you'll see the bird in her nest. The last shot is a wide-angle shot from the balcony. I've drawn an arrow and labeled the location of the nest since it is really hard to find when you have the whole tree to look at.

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I just added a Facebook badge to this blog since I obviously haven't been keeping up here. I DO have hope I'll come back and update this sooner than later!

Weeks Later, the Latest Pond Iteration is Done!

Just a few more plants and rocks to relocate and it's done!

Dead Goldfish Aren't So Bad

Normally, I would have been very unhappy to discover two of my goldfish dead in the pond, but the good news is that these two moved into our first "raccoon-proof" pond more than two years ago, after living at least one year in a Portola classroom fish bowl. They survived many fishing attempts by marauding raccoons the past late summers-early falls and seem to have lived out their goldfish lifespans.
Fish 1Fish 2It is possible that the roots of the water irises and mint plants had crowded them out or taken up too much oxygen, but knowing what survivors goldfish can be, I rather doubt it. After taking the plants out yesterday afternoon, there was still at last 15 inches of water space at the bottom, as well as space at the top of the "squarepond". Before deciding to remove the pond
Pulling out the plants in order to drain and remove the container
So now I have an opportunity to "remodel" the pond area again. It's been three years since I built the current configuration; this coming weekend, I'm going to try connecting the two ponds and giving the two koi and the four other goldfish a bigger home. Tom has his doubts that it will work since I'll need to connect the smaller pond to the bigger one with two separate pond liners and a channel under the bridge for the fish to travel between water holes. There is definitely the possibility of creating a big leak or dirt collapse, so wish me luck!This week's configuration

Had a Great Time; What a Place We Live In!

We got back from Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows last night - six wonderful days of "roughing it" in order to thoroughly experience the beautiful mountains, rivers, meadows, flowers, and wildlife in the High Sierra. It felt great to shower and wash my hair after we got home (running water is a wonderful luxury) but I would have easily traded another week of living in a tent with the only running water in the river, if I had more vacation time. It struck me that if ever I didn't have a house to live in, I could follow the warm weather and spend the maximum number of days camping in national and state parks. I'm sure lots of homeless people are forced into doing it, but as long as we had the vehicle and fuel to travel, that would be a reasonable alternative.

Coming home, in addition to running hot water and a real bed, also meant returning to electricity and an internet connection. Although I had a mobile phone that got great 3G connectivity, I had my old phone with the battery that wouldn't hold a charge, so although I could take pictures and email them, I couldn't check Facebook or weather updates. (That's why they call it "roughing it", ha ha!) So now I have over 1660 photos and about 50 minutes of video clips to edit - plus laundry and other things to deal with before my vacation ends tomorrow night. Yeah, my life is really rough ;-) We live awfully blessed lives, living so near the beach in Ventura and having the resources, health, and time available to drive 3-8 hours to places with 8,000-10,000 foot elevations for hiking, fishing, and skiing. Now that I have to go back to work on Monday, I'm already looking forward to another vacation in the fall . . . and looking way further ahead: to retiring and getting to travel even more in a few more years!