Bees and Birds

All the birds are a twitter here. Lots of spring lovin' goin on. The western kingbirds are doing their aeronautical high wire acts and the meadow larks were vocalizing notes I can't even describe last week. The purple finches, who live around our house but don't trust us, have been very busy building nests. We don't know where they nest for sure. We built nesting platforms which seemed to be rejected by all the birds. But at night when we go out onto the porch in the dark, we invariable scare a bird away into the night. We have seen three greater yellowlegs on our little pond and a green heron which is a thrill. They are on their way north but it's still wonderful to see them poking around.

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard (or two) have been stealthily surveying the surrounding grassland. Often in the morning I will come out to see only their heads sticking out of the grass like tiny lochness monsters. They are so cautious. We always wish them well and try not to disturb them while they are here. I was talking with a friend about how in the spring our area glows like no where else. Maybe it's a kin to the brilliance of the desert when it rains and all the flowers bloom. We have such a long dry season that spring with all the rain and the gentle sunshine encourages an explosion of green life and exuberant color. It's such a pleasure to be outside right now.

This morning I watched a hummingbird work every purple flower on the blooming garden sage. I am amazed every time I see one of these creatures. My sister sees several every time she looks our her window at her feeder. Many people have feeders in her neighborhood as well as flowers so these birds have a steady supply of nectar. But what are the little guys way out here living on? We don't have a feeder and yet here they are. I think they like one of the native plants in bloom right now, coast fiddleneck. I am in awe of their energy and determination.

I have observed that honey bees will not work several different flowers at once even if they are in bloom right next to each other. Once they have decided on a flower they will only seek out that flower and go to no other. For instance right now they are working the red filaree. From tiny purple flower to flower they go by-passing the kale which is in bloom and the sage altogether. The giant bumble bees will not do this. They will move from one species of flower to another. Honey bees seem more singularly focused. Might have something to do with the hive mind.

I also saw a strange yellow/golden fly eating from the rue flowers. Seemed normal enough. Then I saw the same little guy eating the head of a smaller black fly. O...k.... I haven't id's these insects yet. We don't have a good insect book in our library. Might need to get one. When I came back the next day to check on the weird rue scene, many of those same golden flies were "attached" to the rue, and seemed dead. Their bodies were starting to deteriorate. Very strange. Saw our first snake of the season this morning. It looked like a night snake which has similar markings to a rattler but no rattles just a pointed tail, big eyes and non triangular head. If it didn't have those marking I would have assumed it was a racer which we saw a lot last year.