This Time
Wednesday while cleaning up around the kitchen sink, I noticed something moving along the stonewall. Normally it's one of the very plump chipmunks scurrying in and out of the rocks and the tunnels they've dug beneath my plants.
In fact, calling out for Katniss to watch for another fat chipmunk heading her way when I glanced in her direction, she was crouched on the small reg rug near the slider...waiting.
Yet once it emerged from the thick ferns and I saw what it was, I forgot all about Kat waiting and couldn't get the camera fast enough. Pecking at the rocks and among the crevices, I hoped it was snacking on the small ants that have really been a nuisance this year.
It was a young Northern Flicker! A symbol of growth and advancement, the Northern Flicker is always a welcome sight here. Perhaps it's appearance is telling me something. Now I just have to figure out what...LOL!!
seeing, saying, and sharing...
This Time
with you and those at
According to Google: Its wingspan can reach 18 to 21 inches. What they eat: It is commonly found on the ground where it will run a few steps and stop, run a few more steps and stop, until it finds an anthill. Ants are their most important source of food. One Flicker's stomach was found to contain more than 5,000 ants.
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I've been wanting to share something with someone who would 'get it", and since I was alone, I have to! I was standing on my front porch early one morning with a cup of coffee. I had seen hummingbirds flitting around in this area before, my neighbor has feeders. On the top step I have one single pot of lantana. I saw a flutter and at first thought it was a butterfly, and then saw it was a hummingbird. It poked that long beak into several of the flowers and didn't seem to even notice my presence just about three feet away. I was afraid to breathe! And then it became somewhat miraculous, it flew upward until it was about a foot and a half from my chest. I truly thought it was going to land on my shirt. After raising birds by hand for years, my instinct was to slowly raise my hand with my finger extended as a perch. The little guy looked like he was contemplating it for a second, and then darted away. Is this an odd thing? I'll never forget this moment. I wish we had more summer left so perhaps I'd see my little friend again!
Have a good week, JP!
Jane ❤️
~Anni