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You tend to attract more than sparrows.
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And while I think this is a Coopers Hawk…
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I know he’s looking for a nice fat juicy dove for breakfast.
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It’s never easy to watch, but he has to eat too.
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And birds of prey are such glorious graceful creatures…
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❤️
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Never let it he said the wild critters at Casa River are underfed.
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Talk about a chonk!
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Winter hibernation will be a breeze this year.
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😉
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We have stinky visitors every night.
(Pardon the picture quality, I was shooting through a window in the dark)
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Thankfully they rarely spray each other and reserve their perfume for the raccoons or fox who get too close.
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But when I flip the deck light on and see four of the little striped darlings jostling each other for access to food?
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I want to holler tails down please!
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And enjoy a scent free evening.
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I recently joined a FB group that shares photos of Maine wildlife… and seeing that we have a backyard full, I was anxious to add my critters to the mix.
I started with our chuckers eating watermelon because what’s cuter than that?
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This post was well received with dozens of comments and over 400 likes on the first day.
After that resounding success, I thought I would share my helpful hint about putting mint leaves on hummingbird feeders to repel bees naturally and without chemicals .
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That’s when things started to go wrong…
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I never said they didn’t.
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I’m not killing bees, just stopping them from driving my hummingbirds away.
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Bee feeders? Well good for you, but I’d rather not attract stinging insects to my deck.
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I don’t use red dye, I make my own nectar and put it in a red glass feeder.
To be fair the majority of comments were favorable and quite a few people tried it and thanked me. But it’s like they say, no good deed goes unpunished.
🤣
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You never know what summer in my state will bring. Last year it was hot and dry, this year we’ve had rain every other day. July was brutally hot and humid but most of August has been pleasant.
The other morning?
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It was downright brisk, which I love… but by noon it was almost 85 degrees, which I don’t. They say if you don’t like the weather in Maine wait a minute. Or in this case 6 hours.
Have you ever had a Facebook memory make you cry? Mine did today when it reminded me we lost our beloved Huffington 11 years ago.
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He was run over by a speeding car in front of our house and I swear I still haven’t gotten over it. I know you shouldn’t have favorite children or pets, but this little guy was special and is still very much missed.
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Talk about overkill.
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I like boats as much as the next girl, but this offends every New England frugal sensibility I have.
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Random backyard woodchuck shots…
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Because I can.
❤️
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I’ve been battling bees on my hummingbird feeders for a while now. Once they find a sugar source, they’re hard to get rid of… but I think I’ve found a solution.
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Mint leaves.
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Bees hate the smell and hummingbirds can’t smell at all so it’s the perfect deterrent.
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If I can get the hummers used to the new leafy attachments.
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They kept buzzing around, not sure what to make of it.
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I didn’t think it would be a big deal. They drink nectar from flowers and flowers have leaves.
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A few brave souls have made peace with it so I’m hoping the rest will soon.
The bees?
Gone!
👍
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I saw this on FB the other day and had to share because it’s so….. me.
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It’s probably not a good idea, the little devils are tunnelers and chewers, but you know if I did adopt one of our backyard crew…
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I would totally give him a bath.
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This is simply off the charts cute.
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And now I totally want to do it!
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❤️
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I took Lord Dudley Mountcatten out for a walk the other day.
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Or rather, I tried to… as all he wanted to do was sit.
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Granted we’d just had rain and things were a little wet, as proved by this photo of our newly completed deck I lined up and photographed.
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As this was happening, His Lordship spotted a woodchuck in the day lilies and it started squealing.
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I pivoted, climbed to the second step, took a picture and then the Tasmanian Devil I had at the end of the leash decided to wind around my legs and make a dash at the chuck. This resulted in me stumbling off the steps, getting wrapped up in the leash and falling butt first in the flowers.
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See the large depression to the left? That was me and my ever expanding posterior.
I’m not sure who scared off the woodchuck, but I’m guessing it was the sight of my giant behind coming straight at him that made him beat feet.
No worries. I picked myself up, dug around the bushes for my phone and went inside where all was well.
Until I woke up the next day with intense pain on the right side of my bad knee.
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Something’s torn or strained or pulled because walking is painful and flexing my ankle makes me grimace.
As you can see, Lord Dudley was completely unharmed.
🥴
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In all the years we’ve fed hummingbirds… 17 years in North Carolina and 21 years here…. we have never had more than two on a feeder at a time.
Ever.
They’re territorial little buggers and don’t usually tolerate companions when feeding. So when I snapped a picture of three hummers on the nectar together last week, I was thrilled and thought I’d seen something special.
And then yesterday I saw this…
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I have no idea why… but we are currently in the middle of a hummingbird population explosion.
Every day there’s a literal flock of the little darlings buzzing around our deck.
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I didn’t manage to capture a photo of the six, but I did get a few of these 5… which for me was an absolute delight.
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I don’t know what we’re doing right.. but I’m going to try and keep doing it.
👍
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A buffet of carrots, green leaf lettuce and raspberries was laid this morning.
And before long there were two nibblers .
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Then there were three.
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And then things started to get interesting.
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Siblings.
Two legged or four, they rarely get along.
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