Feathers and Fuzz

one woman's cure for the empty-nester blues

Flying Squirrel

Feathers and Fuzz Home Sweet Home 2019

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The temperature hit 60 degrees on February 1. For the Feathers and Fuzz it was Home Sweet Home Day!

The Eastern Bluebirds made the rounds … checking out each house on the property. I have often wondered if they do this as much to to scope out the competition as to select a house. I have witnessed Bluebirds waiting for the Chickadees to put down a beautiful, soft moss layer in a bird house … then steal the house from the Chickadees. The house that has been occupied by the Chickadees for several years now has been down all winter awaiting camera repairs. As soon as I rehung the house … within minutes … the Bluebirds were checking it out.

The Tufted Titmouse pair returned to check out the south Owl house. The House Finch pair not only scoped out the platform on the upper terrace, but put down a couple pieces of pine straw as if to mark it theirs.

The Carolina Wrens made quick work of stuffing leaves and grasses into the corner of Phoebe Place as the Phoebe Pair exhibits angst over the ongoing “destruction” of their home site.

You already know the Northern Flicker came home to roost.

Struggle for that Peaceful, Easy Feeling

I watch all this and try to figure out how I can become more like these birds. Don’t the Flicker and the Titmouse remember the Flying Squirrel attacks? And the Finches — really?! Not only was this nest a victim of Cowbird parasitism, but it was also attacked by a snake. Admittedly the snake attack happened in the middle of the night and the parents may not even know it happened. BUT — the female Phoebe was ON the nest when a snake attacked. How could she even consider returning to that platform?

When I tell these stories, people often respond with “nature is cruel”. I’ve thought about that a lot these past couple weeks. Personally, I can’t make peace with an answer ascribing cruelty to God’s design.  It is, in fact, an incredibly beautiful and balanced design.

If you haven’t seen the Lessons Learned page of this website, I’ll share a piece of this page again here.  It is a video about the Yellowstone Park wolf-reintroduction program and what happens when humans modify nature’s balance.  Click here for a link to the wolf-reintroduction video by Sustainable Human.

I get it and I struggle and I get it and I struggle. Such is my design.

Let nesting season 2019 begin!!

  • Home Sweet Home

Knock Before Entering Unmonitored Bird Houses

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I did say I only wanted to tell interesting stories.  Little did I know what a DULL bird-winter this would be!

Feeding the “fuzz” has gone by the wayside forever.  If the bear wasn’t enough to convince me, the huge red oak which housed the “flyer feeder” began to die and needed to be felled.  The final fatal blow was dealt by the owners of the vacant lot next to me who leveled all the trees just beyond the “SE Woods” to begin construction of their new home.  I told them about the bear, but they kept building.  Sigh.

Still, I had hopes for winter bird watching.  Dutifully, I cleaned out the owl houses in the fall in anticipation of the Flicker returning the 3rdweek in October as he has done the past two years. He didn’t show.  Even the flying squirrels disappeared.

And then, we had a 60° day on February 1 and the place came alive.  I can hardly wait to share, but first …

Starting Where We Left Off

I promised to tell you about cleaning out the owl houses – and how important it is to knock before entering (when your in-house camera has failed).  Let’s start there.  Then, it’s Spring 2019 in full swing at The Retreat.  Yes, I do know it is still winter … but my birds don’t!