Embracing Yardwork With One Eye On the Birds

I haven't done much birding this month because of high heat and humidity. Instead, I've been focusing on getting out in the early mornings to take care of yardwork and tend to the garden. I got tired of planting vegetables in the ground only to have them eaten up by woodchucks and other varmints. This year, I planted most of my vegetables in Jack Daniels whiskey barrels, raised them off of the ground, and surrounded the tops with chicken wire. It's working out pretty good so far.

 There was a time when the only thing I liked about yardwork was finishing it but now I use it as an opportunity to appreciate my outdoor surroundings and observing birds and wildlife that are right in front of me. So many times in life we miss what's in front of us by looking ahead to the end result. Sometimes the process of getting there can be just as enjoyable if we choose to view it that way.

I've enjoyed watching hummingbirds at flowers, deer passing through, a ridiculous explosion of the rabbit population, fox and hawks taking advantage of the bunny surplus, and bird nesting behavior. I noticed this robin looking awfully nervous staring at my every move and making noise.

It turns out that this nestling seems to have come out of the nest a little too early.

A few days later I saw this guy hiding between two leaf-filled bags. I wonder if it was the same one? 

This heat spell has given me an excuse to keep my bird observations primarily to my own back yard for a couple of weeks. That's just another way that a birder suffering from a minor case of burnout can change things up a bit.