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Thursday, July 12, 2012

Rain birds

It's been a soggy, soggy week here so far. My yard has gotten over ten inches of rain and the ground is well saturated.

The few times that I've been outside during this weather, the birds have been quiet, mostly sticking to the cover of the leaves. Late this afternoon after the rains stopped - at least for awhile - and the sun came out briefly, I saw American Robins running around the front yard, probably searching for earthworms. The heavy rains often flush them to the top of the ground and sometimes drown them, creating an easy meal for the birds.

A little later, as I was working in my study, I looked out the window to see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding on the shrimp plant blooms there. A bird's gotta eat, come rain or come shine!

A year ago during our terrible drought, the birds and I would have welcomed a spell of weather like this, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Now, I think both the rain birds and I are ready for some sunshine.

2 comments:

  1. WOW! 10 inches of rain. We have had probably about 5 or 6. I'm so grateful for it. My black chinned hummer is guarding the feeder. The female tries to sneak a sip every now and then:)

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    1. My rain gauge overflowed at one point so I don't know exactly how much rain we got but it was more than ten inches. And the forecast calls for more tomorrow. I think we are going to soon be caught up to where we should be on rainfall for the year.

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