Demanding Babies and Other Garden Antics

You can feel the exhaustion of a new parent looking at that starling, can't you? All those mouths to feed!

And here's the starling doing the actual feeding -- at least we have a bird feeder to keep them supplied. The two parakeets seem oblivious. As you can see, I've gone back to the bigger feeder, even though it's old and hard to refill (I have to keep it wired shut to discourage the squirrels). Three or four birds can be on it at a time, while the replacement can only accommodate one or two.

We're going through a chilly spell here. It was down in the mid 40's F last night, and will be again tonight and tomorrow night. At midweek the temperatures warm up a bit but supposedly we won't see the sun again until Friday. At least we're getting some rain, finally -- a 90 percent chance on Tuesday.

I'm not sure I did anything yesterday worth writing about. Mostly just trying to get organized after my trip -- do the laundry, water the plants, that kind of thing. I didn't lose any more seedlings in the garden, as far as I can tell, but they're all still tiny.

More squirrel ballet!

I did download the garden-cam last night, so I've got a video of the week's activity. Not as wild as last week, but some good daytime shots of the foxes and some other interesting critters:

We start with the baby starlings, hopping around after their parents on the ground, mouths open to demand food.
-- At 0:16, one of the foxes show up, and there's some back and forth by a couple of animals.
-- At 0:45, a squirrel carefully prowls the grass.
--  At 1:01, the foxes are back. At about 1:09, one of them gives the camera a good long stare, clearly curious about what that thing is.
-- At 1:27, we get some good daylight shots of a fox. I'm not sure which one.
-- At 1:47, this looks like a young bird. It's fairly mature but still has a bit of fluff and stubby baby wings.
-- At 2:07, one of the baby starlings is hopping around with its mouth open, no parent in sight. It's like it thinks food will just fly in.
-- At 2:23, the foxes are back, first Crooked Tail and then Q-Tip.
-- At 2:38, as a little dunnock hops around on the ground, the rain comes.
-- At 2:58, a several hours after the rainstorm, Pale Cat walks past.
-- A fox is back at 3:07, carrying something in its mouth. A dog treat, I'd guess. I still have no idea where they're getting those.
-- Another daytime shot of a fox at 3:12. Looks like Q-Tip, with white on the end of its tail.
-- At 3:28, we see Crooked Tail at night while a noisy helicopter flies overhead.
-- At 3:38, a minute later, the helicopter is gone and Crooked Tail walks off as it begins to rain.
-- At 3:56, just another minute later, Tabby wanders past. The cats and foxes are certainly out there at the same time.
-- At 4:04, about ten minutes afterwards, a damp fox emerges from the brush.
-- At 4:20, the following night, it's Crooked Tail.
-- At 4:30, the mouse is back. No rats this week, thank goodness.
-- At 4:50, one final fox.