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Posted on August 7, 2012 by Barb — 32 Comments

Gardening Projects for Kids – Growing Your Own Little Gardener

The Book of Gardening Projects for Kids: 101 Ways to Get Kids Outside, Dirty, and Having Fun by Whitney Cohen and John Fisher is much more than a “how to” garden book. It is more than suggestions for getting started with gardening with your children. It is in fact a book that encourages a gardening way of life..spending lots of time with your children in the outdoors in your backyard working and playing together. I love this message found throughout the book.

It is exciting to find a resource that gathers many easy to use ideas, presents them in a way that is enjoyable to look at, and lights a fire inside me to get outside into our garden as soon as possible. This book does a great job at showing how ordinary families with ordinary kids can get outside and make memories that will last a lifetime. What a great supplement to the Outdoor Hour Challenges!

Want to get a glimpse into what this book has to offer? Here is a short video on YouTube!

Gardening is an important way to connect our children with nature. Gardening allows for casual talk about things we observe as we plant seeds, water seedlings, weed, and harvest the goodies from our garden beds. The Book of Gardening Projects for Kids is a visual feast for the eyes and will inspire you to make room for a garden in your yard. This delightful book is just so much fun to look at and paging through it I just can’t help but smile.

Don’t have a garden yet? Don’t worry! It is never too late to get started.

I garden and my son takes a scooter break.

“Your joyful work in the garden is the most likely thing to encourage your kids to join in…..Simple role model gardening with a joyful attitude and an open mind, and your kids may find it contagious.”

Making Gardens Fun for Kids section

Gardening is a time for them to work as well as to play. They can explore the garden while you do the garden chores. The book shows ways to incorporate play in your garden from the smallest toddler all the way up to teens. This book shows you how to “weave the garden into your everyday lives”.

The projects in this book are more than your average list of things you would expect. Here are a few that caught my eye and make me wish my children were much younger.

1. Solo Garden Ramble- You set up a trail of notes for your child and as they follow your directions on their own they are cued to do certain things in the garden like smell a flower, look for shades of green, hug a tree, etc. I love the idea of fostering independent exploration.

2. Making Dolls From Flowers- This would have been a huge hit with my daughter when she was younger.

3. Blindfolded Meander – You guide your blindfolded child through the garden encouraging them to use all their other senses.

There are many projects in the book that are appealing to me even now that the children are older.

1. Growing a Rainbow of Cut Flowers
2. Homemade Tea Bags
3. Making Your Garden a Certified Wildlife Habitat
4. Rock Plant Markers
5. Lots and lots of recipes using produce from your garden

Creating Their Own Garden Box – Always a Highlight Each Spring

Gardening Projects for Kids is a book that families will want to look at together as you pick a few things to add to your garden each year. I am keeping it with my garden reference books so when I am picking seeds and planning when to sow them, I can pull this book out and be reminded that we need to have fun in the garden too!

The summer is nearing its end but there are still plenty of warm days and sunshine to start enjoying your garden with your children.

Older children can design their own garden space.

I can’t share all the wonderful ideas in this review but here are the chapter titles to capture your interest.

1. Making Gardens Fun for Kids
2. Designing a Play-Friendly Family Garden
3. Digging in With Kids: Planning, Growing, Thriving
4. Pizza Pies and Pumpkin Jungles: Theme Gardens
5. Wings, Webs, and Whiskers: Animals in the Garden
6. Garden Adventures and Games
7. Art in the Garden: Fun Projects for All
8. Cooking from the Garden: Snacks, Meals, and Other Tasty Activities
9. Preserving the Harvest
10. Let the Festivities Begin: Garden Celebrations

There is something to learn from each chapter in this book…in fact, there are 101 ideas packed into the pages. Our family gives this book a huge thumbs up and we are excited to use a few of the ideas when we plan next year’s garden.

I have one copy of this terrific book to giveaway! Please enter using Rafflecopter below. You will need to make a blog comment and then enter on Rafflecopter. See details on the Rafflecopter Widget below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received this book to review and the giveaway copy from Timber Press and no other compensation. As always, the opinions expressed in my reviews are my own and are a fair and honest account of my experience with the product.The Amazon links are affiliate links.

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Barb — 6 Comments

Family Monarch Study – How To Conduct a Nature Study Follow-Up

In any blackboard reading lesson, and, so far as possible, in individual written work by the children, tell —

First. What I did.

Second. What I saw.

Third. What I thought.

If this order is habitually followed, the children are more apt to think for themselves, and to base their conclusions on what they have seen. If told in the first person, as far as possible, class reproduction is apt to be more thoughtful and the pupil’s work more individual.

Nature Study and the Child by Charles Scott, 1900

What We Did:
We sat in the garden on several occasions to try to spy out some butterflies as part of the Outdoor Hour Challenge for summer butterflies. Mom had her camera and was ready to snap some images if a beauty came along. We mostly saw bees of various kinds and the occasional dragonfly.

Fiery Skipper from 2009 – I forgot to plant my cosmos this year…just realized.

What We Saw:
Western Tiger Swallowtail (We studied this butterfly during the summer of 2011.)
Cabbage White
Fiery Skipper (We identified this way back in 2007.)

Photo from a few weeks ago showing the damaged wing.

What We Thought:
We wondered why we never see the caterpillars in our yard so we investigated the host plant for the Western Tiger Swallowtail. Turns out we have no host plants so that solves that mystery. The host plants are: willow, cottonwood, and chokecherry. (You can use this link to learn about host plants: Create a Butterfly Garden.)

We also noticed that quite a few of the butterflies that come to our yard have tattered wings. We did a little research and found that butterflies can still fly even with up to 70% of their wings missing. It is really a blessing that they are capable of flying even after a bird has taken a bite out of their wings. (See this webpage.) Did you know that some people actually repair a butterfly’s broken wings? Never knew that.

I forgot to mention here on the blog that my milkweed that I had been nurturing along for a few years in a pot on my deck was totally and completely destroyed by the roofers that came to roof our house back in June. They somehow managed to dump it to the ground and it was just smashed into a million pieces, beyond saving. I shed a few tears and promised myself that I would try again. Reminds me I need to order some more seeds and buy a new pot. I am determined to start a monarch habitat in my yard.

We didn’t see any monarchs this week but we did last month.

So to wrap up this post, I want to encourage you to try the simple process that Charles Scott outlined in the quote at the top of this post. It is an easy way to structure a nature journal entry….even young children could give a few words in response to the prompts.

First. What I did.

Second. What I saw.

Third. What I thought.

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Barb — 6 Comments

Handbook of Nature Study August 2012 Newsletter – Big Plans for the Outdoor Hour Challenge

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter

Companion to the Outdoor Hour Challenges

Supporting a Global Community in Their Nature Study

August 2012- How to Use the Newsletter Edition

The Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter is a companion to the Outdoor Hour Challenges that are posted here on the blog every Friday. After compiling the results of the Outdoor Hour Challenge survey from earlier in the month, I have decided on some changes to the way the Outdoor Hour Challenge and the Newsletter will work together. I have outlined all the changes in this edition of the newsletter. It is important to read this edition so you will know how things are going to work for the next year here on the Handbook of Nature Study. Hopefully, this will only make the challenges and your family’s nature study even better!

This edition of the newsletter also includes all the usual things. There are four contributed articles, printable grids and a notebook page, special links, and information about the special bundles available here on the Handbook of Nature Study. Lots of great end of the summer nature study ideas will be found in the newsletter so make sure to download and save your copy. Enjoy!

I have attached the newsletter download link to the bottom of my blog feed so if you are a subscriber you will receive the link to the latest newsletter at the bottom of every post for the month of August. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can still subscribe and receive the newsletter link in the next post that comes to your email box.

You can subscribe to my blog by filling in your email address in the subscription box on my sidebar.

If you have trouble getting the newsletter to download, try right clicking the link, save the link, and then open it. (The link is in the email and not in this blog post.) I am not going to be archiving the newsletters at this point. You will need to SAVE the FILE on your computer each month if you want to save back issues.

It is not too late join in with the Summer Sizzle series of Outdoor Hour Challenges. You can find them on the summer tab of my blog or in my latest ebook.

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Barb — 6 Comments

Colors and Surprises in the Late July Garden

Is there anyone else that plants things and then forgets what they are from year to year? I had two mystery plants in the garden that have now flowered and I could identify them. Yes, two plants.

It was a complete surprise to me when I looked down off the deck last night and saw a hibiscus blooming. Where did that come from?

Edit to add: Several of you commented and emailed that you thought this mystery plant was a Rose of Sharon. Turns out we are all right. The Latin name for this plant would be Hibiscus syriacus and the common name is Rose of Sharon. Thanks for the help!

Isn’t it beautiful? I did have a hibiscus in the front yard but it died a few years ago…maybe I planted one here in the back at that time to replace it. Perhaps I should keep a garden diary where I keep track of new things that we add as we go along. Seems sort of late for that now.

My gladiola is starting to blossom. I love the delicate shades of lavender.

Our Four O’Clocks are continuing to blossom. This was another of our mystery plants that we were able to identify this summer.

Apples on the tree! I am surprised that they are getting so big on my small little tree. I had to prop up the limb because it was bending so far down to the ground.

I just can’t get enough of my sunflowers this year and I am sad when I think that soon they will be gone and I will have to wait until next year to enjoy them again. We have been counting bees as part of the Great Sunflower Project and it is such a wonderful way to slow down and enjoy your garden.

Up on the deck, my container garden is still providing the colors of summer. These snapdragons are my favorite combination of colors.

We continue to see lots of butterflies each day….some look like they are just floating through the air as they come to rest on the flowers. The Western Tiger Swallowtails are my favorites because of their color and their size.

This image is a promise. My dad sent home some zinnia seedlings for me to plant and he promised me they would bloom before the season was over. I have faithfully been making sure they are watered each day and I look forward to seeing the fulfillment of that promise.

With the afternoons that bring us monsoon moisture, the sunsets are absolutely gorgeous. We can see a glimpse of it each day from our back deck….only if we stand way over in one corner. It is worth the effort.

My garden brings me such joy.

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Barb — 4 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival – July Newsletter Edition

Summer weather and summer trips have filled my life the past month. We enjoyed a trip to the Oregon Coast (blog entry coming soon), a crazy lightning storm, the amazing display of colors in our garden, lots of eating outdoors, swimming at the lake, and counting bees in the garden.

Summer as your children get older changes. The rhythm is different and I have found such satisfaction in my gardening and bird watching. There is time to read in the evenings as the sun sets slowly over the landscape. There are far fewer Popsicles being consumed and lots more Gatorade in the fridge as the boys take on new sports like soccer and volleyball with friends, mountain biking, running, and Hacky Sack.

On our camping trip I found that my boys were still happy to walk along the beach with me looking for pretty rocks and watching for marine life in the tidepools. They scooped up sand for me to look at as we compared each beach’s unique sand. Nature study is not formal in our family anymore….it is casual and comfortable. We make observations, we make comparisons, we try to notice details, we read signs and books and displays when we travel, and we learn more every time we put forth the effort.

Thank you to all the families that sent in entries for this edition of the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. It is always one of the highlights of my month to get to put this entry together after reading all the entries. I appreciate your time and effort to make this carnival a success.

Summer Pond – Turtles and Pondweed
Robin from Academia has submitted her post: Bike Ride to The Pond. They rode bikes to their pond and she was able to capture some interesting pond life. Love the damselfly!

Kristin from Broom and Crown put together their Pond Study for the carnival. What a perfect summer pond day they had with insects, animal tracks, and so much more. She also includes a great example of a younger child’s journal. You can also read about another day they had at the Madrona Marsh. They are taking advantage of their local nature center this summer!
Summer Weather
Shirley Ann from Under An English Sky shares her entry: the Great British Weather. What a great entry to show how their summer weather is unique to their part of the world. I learned a few things too!

Summer Butterfly Study
Tricia from Hodgepodge shares the account of their summer butterfly story: The Marvel of the Butterfly Cycle. I agree with her and know that reading about this in a book does not even come close to comparing with watching the life cycle in person. Thank you so much for sharing your family’s study.

Cristy from Crafty Cristy recorded and submits for your enjoyment: Studying the Life Cycle of the Fritillary Butterfly for this edition of the carnival. They discovered eggs and caterpillars in their own butterfly garden.

Heidi from Home Schoolroom writes about what she calls Mesmerized by Monarch Metamorphosis. This mama went above and beyond to find the caterpillars, keep them fed with milkweed leaves, and then take a time lapse for us all to see of the caterpillar’s change into a chrysalis. What a jewel! You don’t want to miss sharing this one with your children.
Potpourri
Jennifer from Royal Little Lambs tells carnival readers about their Hummingbird Study. They have a variety to observe and they are making the most of it..complete with notebook pages for their nature journals.

Wendy from Loving Learning submits: Foraging for Fungi. Their family went on a guided fungus hike and learned more about their local specimens. I enjoyed reading about this South African nature study!

Shirley Ann from Under An English Sky has written a wonderful entry: Cuckoo Spit, Froghoppers, and Other Things. This is such a wonderful entry showing a nature walk they took with a friend…and ended up getting soaked in the rain.

Kristin from Broom and Crown shares their skunk study: My Lil Stinkers. Her girls really enjoyed learning more about this creature that we all hope not to see up close.

Zonnah from Zonnah’s Addictions shows us how they jumped back in with the Outdoor Hour Challenge: We Are Back. Looks like they are using the newsletter grid to have a hot summer afternoon of outside activities.
Catherine from Grace to Abide writes about their Outdoor Hour Challenge #14 (Pressing Flowers). They are experiencing some cold, wet weather in their part of the UK but they have spent time in their garden and observing things as part of the OHC. Love their colorful flower garden!

Jen from Snowfall Academy submits their entry, Summer Tree Study, for you to enjoy. Don’t miss reading her daughter’s next stanza in her “My Tree in All the Seasons” poem. Excellent job.

Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in August are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 8/30/12 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com or submit them at the blog carnival site (link on the sidebar of my blog).

Also, the August Newsletter link will be in tomorrow’s blog entry so make sure you are subscribed so you can download your copy as soon as possible. You will not want to miss this edition of the newsletter because it is going to explain the Outdoor Hour Challenge plans for the next year. I will be giving you a detailed account of how the newsletter, Friday nature study challenges, and some new facets of the OHC are going to all work together to bring the OHC to the next level.

To subscribe to the Handbook of Nature Study, you can enter your email in the box below and you will receive each blog entry and the link to the monthly newsletter in your email inbox. Thank you so much for reading and supporting this blog!
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Posted on July 25, 2012 by Barb — 1 Comment

Monsoon Moisture – Our Summer Weather Study

I captured this image of the clouds at sunset last night coming in off the lake. Gorgeous!

Summer in our part of Northern California is HOT and DRY!

But, occasionally we get the weather phenomenon called “monsoon moisture” which really means that the storms come from the Gulf of California and are tropical in nature, reaching up into the mountains of Northern California with moisture and thunderstorms. (That is my very non-technical explanation of monsoon moisture.) We are going to be using this topic as the advanced study portion of the Summer Weather Challenge.

Monsoon Moisture in the eastern Sierra Nevada at Mono Lake 2006

When this happens, we see quite an interesting buffet of weather activity:
1. Scattered afternoon thunderstorms
2. Down pours of rain
3. Gusty high winds
4. Beautiful clouds (especially at sunset)
5. Increased fire danger because of the chance of dry lightning (no rain)

After an monsoon weather event, the air is sticky with warm moist air. The plants and trees are refreshed, the dry leaves swept away, and the air just smells so nice and fresh.

Monsoon Moisture – Bodie State Park, Eastern Sierra Nevada 2006. We got very wet in the rainstorm that came shortly after taking this photo!

We had such an even last night which will give us an account to share as part of the Summer Weather Challenge in the More Nature Study series. It was really hot at bedtime so we decided to sleep out on the back deck under the stars. It started off fairly innocently with a few wisps of clouds slowly moving across the sky blocking out the stars. Then the wind started to gust and the first flashes of lightning came quickly one after the other. The rumble of the thunder was in the distance. No problem my husband said…he thought it was just going to be a dry lightning event where there is no rain associated with the storm.

Boy, was he wrong!

By 11 PM the lightning, thunder, wind, and rain hit with full force. The wind chimes were ringing constantly and we decided we better give up the idea of sleeping outside. This kind of weather is fairly normal for our area in the summer and we have a couple of these storms usually in July or August. What turned this into an unusual event was the length of the storm. We still were having lightning, thunder, wind, and rain until at least 4 AM. It was a restless night for all of us as we kept getting up to peer out the windows and doors at the awesome display of power in this storm.

The garden still had plenty of beautiful flowers for a bouquet this morning.

The power went out for a short time but all in all there was little other inconvenience from the storm. Today the sun rose and warmed the air and made us all feel welcome. The windows were opened and the fans turned on to drive away the humidity a bit.

Right on time for our Summer Weather Challenge!

Here are a few of our other summer weather entries:
Summer Weather 2011 – Can You Say HOT?
Summer Weather Sunrise/Sunset Observations 2010

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Barb — 42 Comments

Book Review: Fifteen Minutes Outside-365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect With Your Kids

All those years ago when our family started implementing the idea to go outside for just fifteen minutes at a time, we could never have imagined all the things we would find to learn about and enjoy as we spent just a little time each day together in our own backyard.

Rebecca Cohen has written a gem of a book, Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids, which explores this idea even more as she made a promise to herself to get outside for at least fifteen minutes each day for an entire year…no matter the weather.

By month and season, Rebecca Cohen gives the reader a comprehensive list of things to actually do outdoors during those fifteen minutes outside, providing suggestions to make it more enjoyable.

“Going outside with my family every day has changed my life. Instead of frantically running from task to task, I have learned to use the spaces in my schedule to look around, breathe deeply, and live in the moment.”
Rebecca Cohen – 15 Minutes Outside

These monthly lists form the heart of this book and will inspire families for many years…no more wondering what to do outside or how to entice your children into stepping outdoors with you. You can keep this book handy and reference it on those days where you just don’t feel like going outside but know that once you do you will be refreshed.

As a family, we are naturally happier when we are outside, learning and active together. It doesn’t feel like a chore.”

Rebecca Cohen – 15 Minutes Outside

Don’t miss the opportunity to give these ideas a try. Currently the price of this book on Amazon.com is $10.19…..what a bargain. She has a free download list of “50 Outdoor Activities for Busy Families” that you can use to get you started.

My copy of this book has found a spot on my nature shelf and its pages are marked and highlighted with things I want to try with my boys. Although the book is aimed at younger children, I found quite a few ideas to explore with my teens.

Rebecca aimed to keep the activities in this book simple, little or no cost, and to be enjoyed every day of the year. I think she hit the mark and this book will help nature loving families to enrich their time outdoors without much extra effort. Thanks Rebecca!

Along with the book, she has a wonderful product that I know you are going to love! She has created Curiosity Cards for you to use as starting points for conversations that can take place anywhere. These laminated cards on a ring can be stowed easily in a purse, backpack, or hooked to a stroller. I recently took these on a day trip with my family and we made use of the cards as a way to stimulate meaningful conversations about thoughts, emotions, dreams for the future, and just plain getting to know each other better.

What would you like do more of every day?
Find two things that feel different from each other.
Look for animal tracks or signs of animals.
What game could we make up right now?

These Curiosity Cards are a gem and I give them a big thumbs up for my fellow nature loving families. You will use these for a long time in your family.

Don’t miss Rebecca’s website: Rebecca Plants. Here you will find lots of encouragement for getting outdoors with your family, including a whole series of videos to watch.

Rebecca has generously offered to supply a copy of the 15 Minutes Outside book to one of my readers. Use the Rafflecopter gadget to enter a random drawing for one copy of this exciting book. Hurry and enter the giveaway before midnight 7/27/12 and I will announce the winner over the weekend.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please note that I was not paid for this review but I did receive the book and Curiosity Cards for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

Rebecca’s products are a perfect compliment to the
Outdoor Hour Challenge!

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Barb — 3 Comments

Summer at a Northern California Beach

Summer days at the California beach. This is typical Northern California beach weather for July/August….foggy mornings with the fog lifting later in the afternoon for an hour or two.

My daughter and I had planned a day trip to go hiking at Yosemite but the weather was way too hot to enjoy a day on the trail up in the Sierras so we went the opposite direction and headed for the coast instead. The cool weather was a welcome relief!

We got out our California map and scanned for a new place to explore.

Point Reyes National Seashore! We packed a lunch and zipped down the highway. Two and a half hours later we were at the Pacific Ocean with our toes in the sand.

Point Reyes is much larger than we imagined but after a quick stop at the Visitor’s Center at Bear Valley, we had a map and a plan. It wasn’t far to North Beach where we ate our lunch surrounded by the sound of roaring waves. The fog was lifting but you still couldn’t see very far up or down the beach.

Next stop was the Point Reyes Lighthouse…..we walked the 4/10 of a mile from the parking lot to the Visitor’s Center and then descended the 308 stairs down to the lighthouse on the point. It was windy! It was cold and misty!

But, that was the price to pay for a fabulous viewpoint of this part of the California coast.

See? I made it the 308 steps. Going down was the easy part though and huffing back up the stairs reminded me that I need to do more hills in my weekly workouts.

Amanda was like a gazelle with her super long legs and she made it up with little effort. Ahhh…to be young again.

The rocks alongside the stairs have a bright orange lichen on them. What a pop of color on a rather gray day!

Tucked in the nooks and crannies were wildflowers where they were fairly protected from the strong wind that was blowing.

We had one more stop for the day.

At last the sun came shining through and the fog lifted, allowing a wider view of the coast. The wide sand beach at Drake’s Beach was perfect for a long walk before we started the car ride back home again.

What a great day with Amanda! We both enjoyed the adventure of a new place, exploring the facets of a Northern California beach in the summer.

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Barb — 5 Comments

Summer Bird Study – Hummingbirds

This is our busiest hummingbird feeder. They also like the flowers in the pots.

We love hummingbirds. I think we pay more attention to the hummingbirds in our yard than any other bird. They are constantly at our feeders, in our garden flowers, and flying around…front yard and backyard.

There are at least three in our yard at all times, competing for the feeders and flying fast. They sit in the trees and chirp at us when we eat dinner on the back deck. They are not afraid of us when we are out in the backyard and frequently will fly right up by us as we work in the yard.

They are year round residents.

What aspect did we focus on this time in our hummingbird study as part of the More Nature Study Book #4 Hummingbird Challenge? We started off asking questions about their feathers and how in a certain light they are very green and in then in another light they are bright red. What makes them iridescent? But then we got side-tracked asking why the Anna’s hummingbird chases the Black Headed Grosbeaks out of the seed feeders. I mean they are aggressively chasing them far out of the yard. Our field guide says they defend a 1/4 acre territory. We haven’t found the concrete answer to our questions yet but we have some guesses.

Also, we were fascinated this week by one hummingbird in particular. We call him “Flutter”. He has a unusual sound to his flying. Most of the birds have the familiar “hum” to their wings and the Anna’s Hummingbird make a clicking sound as well. But Flutter sounds like he has a bum wing…like it is not beating like the other birds. It sounds like a fluttering instead of a humming, if that makes sense. We have yet to catch him with the camera because our thought is that if we can take a photo and take a look at his wing shape, maybe he has some sort of injury.

One last thing to relate about our hummingbirds this week. I was out in the yard using the hose to water a few of the bushes since it has been extremely hot and dry. I had the hose in a fine sort of mist and in the shape of an arc. Well, a hummingbird decided that it was the perfect place to fly in and out as he took a bath! It was amazing to watch and I am hoping I get to see it again some day. Our hummingbirds are quite comfortable with us right now and they will fly right up behind you and visit the feeder even if you are inches from them.

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Barb — 10 Comments

Gardening for Birds – Expect to Be Dazzled By Who Comes to Visit

Our garden and our bird list is very interconnected. The birds are coming and enjoying a variety of things in our garden habitat. I learned from Angie at Petra School that it takes about twenty minutes before the birds forget that you are watching. I have tried to find a spot to sit or stand in the garden and just wait to see who will come back during that twenty minute’s time.

The results?

I can confirm that she is right on! Usually after a few minutes the jays come back and the nuthatch and the grosbeaks come fairly quickly too. But some of the birds take a good long time before they reveal their hiding places in the trees and in the shelter of the bushes we have at the edges of our yard.

It is worth the wait. I decided that this week’s garden/bird entry would be a photo essay with lots of colorful images and very few words. Enjoy!

Day lilies and our back birdbath

The birdbaths are a frequent stopover for the neighborhood birds.

Our little wild patch of blackberries just behind the birdfeeding station.

The blackberry bushes are a perfect shelter for birds to rest and to wait their turn at the feeder.

The leaves on our sunflowers are being eating by nibbling finches.

The sunflowers and birch trees are attracting the Lesser Goldfinches…who are eating the leaves and seeds.

The Black-headed Grosbeaks and the Western Scrub Jays are in and out of the feeders all day long.This is the best image I could get this week…they are fast in and out of the feeder. They have a sweet little song as well.The Mourning Doves and California Towhees are pecking around under the feeders.The White-breasted Nuthatches, House Finches, Titmouses, and House Sparrows are always found in the seed feeders.The European Starlings and Robins are busy eating the fruits from the neighbor’s tree that hangs over the fence into our yard.The birds are making a huge mess by taking the fruits all over the yard and eating them. They leave the pits behind and they are covering our driveway. This starling will leave the pit in our neighbor’s grass and next year it may start to grow into a tree. I know this from experience.

The Anna’s Hummingbirds are everywhere. They still come to the feeders but they also are in the trumpet vine, the roses, the bee balm, the butterfly bushes, and several of my potted plants.The neighborhood Great Horned Owl is heard once it is dark and still outside. I envision him hunting the rodents that get into my birdfeeders.The mockingbird sings all the time…almost round the clock.

Additional bird notes:
We have heard the Steller’s Jay and their “shook-shook-shook” several times in our neighborhood but we have yet to see one. This would be a new to our neighborhood bird.
We have heard the Nuttall’s Woodpecker lots of time but only once in our back tree. I need to remember to fill the suet feeder.
The Starlings come everyday now which is new for this year as well. Their buzzing sound is now a familiar backyard bird sound.
The Black-headed Grosbeaks are also a new every day bird. Their flash of color at the feeders is beautiful.

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!You may be interested in reading my entry, If You Build It, They Will Come, entry that shows the butterflies that are frequently found in our yard.What are you doing to make your yard attractive to birds and butterflies?