My Favorite Time of Year - Guest Post by Dr. Ruby

Hi there!  Grammy said that even though she had a post planned about baby birds,  I can do a post all by myself first!  Yay, yay, yay!!!  Because I want to tell you why this is my favorite time of the year!  I bet you can't guess.  No?  Okay, here's why...

Grammy grows these special plants every year.  She started growing them a long time ago for the hummingbirds but now she grows them for me!  Because I like to eat the beans.  Yep, they are delicious!

Grammy took some pictures this morning so I could show you!  

First, this is what the plant looks like:

Grammy apologizes for the clashing red flowers, but the hummingbirds like them!

They are called Scarlet Runner Beans.  If you want to see more pictures of the flowers, with the 'other' Rubies (Ruby-throated Hummingbirds) you can click here.  I, myself, don't care about that, but you might. 

Although, I guess the flowers are good, because without them, there wouldn't be any delicious beans for me!

Grammy and I went for a walk this morning and when we came back I headed right for the porch swing.

Grammy said, "Wait a minute, Ruby!"  So I stopped, "What?"

She said I was too wet to go on the swing, but she had a surprise for me.  She pointed out a bean that was ready-to-pick and right at my height!  You can see it in the photo, right in front of the middle geranium flower.

Then,  I was so quick, I already picked half of it by the time she got her camera ready!

Yum, yum, yum!  They are chewy and tasty!  In this picture, I'm chewing half of it and you can see the other half is still on the vine.  Don't worry, it won't go to waste!

It takes a little tugging but I got it off...

 
And it's worth it!

I looked for more, but I'll have to wait for them to grow a little bigger.

Although Grammy picked one that was too high for me to reach and said I could have it for a snack later.  She's nice that way.

 There are lots more coming....because Grammy plants them in a bunch of places -- for me, and the hummingbirds as I said.  The hummingbirds only eat the nectar from the flowers so I guess that is okay.  I would love to eat lots more beans, but Grammy says it wouldn't be good for me to eat too many-- plus she has to let some keep growing to have seeds for next year.  I think that is a good idea!

Dr. Ruby and Bird #100

Dr. Ruby hasn't been on the blog for awhile.  Yesterday, when I told her that no one has mentioned missing her, she looked rather sad.  Oh wait... she's a basset hound, 'sad' is her standard 'look'.  But you have missed her, right?  Right!  So today, Ruby is back!

 Did you know that Ruby is a birder?  She likes to sit by our window and watch the birds at the feeders.  It's also very nice that the windowsill is the same height as her chin.  Very relaxing!

She also likes to watch birds in our front yard.

There are tree swallows nesting in the box you see in the distance above her head.

Next on our walk, she sees an American Robin.

That was in the front yard, too.  We need to get out of the yard and into the woods.  We're looking/listening for bird species #100 for our property list.  If you'd like to know what a property list is, or see our list for 2013, you can read about it by clicking on this blog post.

We'll keep an eye out for fawns, too, because it's that time of year.  I've seen one so far this spring, but not today. 

Ruby wants to point out how GREEN it is!  YAY!

Now, we're in the woods.  Doesn't Ruby have almost as good camouflage as a fawn?  (and on a funny side note... spell-checker wanted me to change 'camouflage' to 'guacamole'!)

Okay, Ruby and I are listening carefully for one particular bird song.

There it is!  "Pee a wee.  Pee - yoouuu!"  That's an Eastern Wood Pewee's distinctive song.  I thought I heard one faintly a few days ago, but I wanted to make sure before putting it on the list.  Dr. Ruby was excited to be with me when we reached bird #100 for the year 2014.  This was a bird I expected to have on the list and knew where to listen for them (in the woods like their name implies). 

Same way with the Common Yellowthroat.  They are common... but hard to get a photo of because they are usually in the underbrush.  I knew they would be on the list.

male Common Yellowthroat  May 19th

There are always many birds on the list that are expected, but each year we have some unexpected ones as well.  We certainly were not thinking we would see Sandhill Cranes fly over our house, but they did!

Sandhill Cranes  May 1st

Last year we didn't have Indigo Bunting on the list, so I was really hoping to see one this year. I didn't go birding on May 19th since I was doing housework that morning, but then I saw this one right outside our window:

That's one of the neat things about birding... you never know what you are going to see.  And sometimes I think the birds enjoy seeing us, too!  How about this Blue-grey Gnatcatcher checking me out with his spectacles on?

The birds' beautiful colors and songs can really cheer a person (or a basset hound) up!  Here's another common warbler in our area, singing his heart out:

Chestnut-sided Warbler  May17

 Ruby and I hope you have enjoyed our birds!  We will keep watching birds because we love them, not just to put them on a list - so "stayed tuned"!