Robin on the Mend

Week of 09/09/2012 Best days for doing chores around the farm.

The week started with cooler temperatures and a little rain that came after sunset on Saturday night. The Homestead It was a moderate but steady rain that lasted through the night and left a sweet, fresh scent in the valley.

The flowers in the yard looked rejuvenated from the rain, although the lavender phlox is going to seed fast, and there probably won’t be many flowers left a week from now. It’s always hard to watch the beautiful flowers begin to fade. I would like to have them all in my life every day of the year, but I enjoy them while they’re here and look forward to the next blooms.

Indian Plantain This year’s flowers were all beautiful in spite of the long drought. I carried a lot of water to the garden this summer. I knew if I didn’t, I wouldn’t get to see much of a flower, bee, hummingbird and butterfly show. Because of all those pails of water, it turned out well, and this old country school house came alive in a colorful show of flowers and green leaves.

It’s the last week of August, and there are still quite a few plants that are just starting to bloom. I often take a little stroll around the yard at night just to watch and listen. I like to stop and smell the flowers. Honey Bee Love They always seem to be sweeter in the dark. There was a full moon Friday night, and the large white blossoms of the moon flowers smelled as sweet as they looked. Greenish-white flower heads of eight foot-tall Indian plantain seemed to glow in the moonlight. They tower above all the rest of the prairie plants in the meadow and look like big white brooms in the moonlight.

I love it when the bush sunflowers bloom and the edge of the yard is a blanket of pretty yellow. The honey bees were out early this morning. Lately their favorite thing to do is gather pollen from the thousands of tiny sunflowers. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many honeybees in one place. Moonflowers They hummed in pure delight as they drifted from flower to flower. I don’t know where they are taking their pollen treasure but I hope it will make some beekeeper happy.

Cool dampness settled over the valley on Thursday morning, and misty fog greeted the first light. A pair of barred owls cackled and clucked to each other at the far end of the valley. They’ve been very vocal lately, both in the morning and evening. I’m thinking they had a good summer and are always telling each other how nice it is to be together in this peaceful valley.

A Robin on the Mend I’ve been seeing cedar waxwings lately. These lovely little olive-green birds are usually seen in groups as they search the tree branches for insects. You have to listen closely to hear their faint, high-pitched notes, a whispering “zeeeee, zeeeee, zeeeee.”

The zinnias are luring in butterflies every morning and one of my favorites is the beautiful giant yellow swallowtail. It’s been a good summer for these wonderful flying flowers, and I’m hoping that it will carry over to next summer. I’ll be thinking of them this winter when the zinnia bed is covered with snow.

Time for a little update on the progress of the robin I’ve been caring for over the past month. He seems to be doing just fine and is eager to see me each morning. He spends the night in the shed where he’s safe and dry. Pettie the Robin with Ingrid and Belle I let him out each morning and give him a few grasshoppers and a couple of night crawlers. Then he’s free to fly around the yard during the day. He’s getting a little better at finding his own food but still comes to me several times a day for a free handout. After eating, he likes to drink from a pan of water and maybe take a bath. It’s fun to watch him bathe as his wings beat the water and he bobs up and down to get every feather wet. Then he jumps to a nearby perch and begins to preen by passing each feather through his beak. While he preens, I see that his tail feathers still have some blood quills but are nearly full grown. He’s been flying much better the past few days, and he gets stronger with each passing day. It’s strange that I haven’t seen another robin in the yard since this one came to stay. In fact, I haven’t seen hardly any robins for about three weeks. I’m hoping that he is strong enough to join a migrating flow of robins when they pass through some time this fall.

Naturally yours
Dan

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