May 21, 2011
I took an old chair and placed it my front garden to create a bird station. The chair is visible from my desk and gives me hours of pleasure watching the birds. My cats both love it too, as they sit in the windows watching the birds come an go. Yesterday, Pandora spent most of the day at one end or the other of my desk watching birds and chipmunks at the feeder:
To create the bird station I tied a small bird house on the back of the chair with jute, and then laid large strips of bark from an old stump on the seat area of the chair (the caning was gone) and tied a pagoda shaped birdhouse onto the seat. I also added some bare branches for perches for the birds. On the large rocks in my garden I placed large shallow oval aluminum container that I weighted down with small rocks from the garden and filled it with water – it makes a fabulous bird bath!
I use songbird blend bird feed. The birds love it…
(Photo: c. Pamela J. Leavey 2011)
Coyotes on Plum Island
March 27, 2011
I was driving down to Plum Island this afternoon and had just made the corner at the airport when I spotted an animal walking out past the runway. Having lived in Los Angeles for 19 years, I recognized that it was a coyote. Although I have heard that there are coyote in this area, I had not seen one before this. Coyotes tend to be nocturnal creatures, so I was surprised to see one in the middle of the afternoon, slinking along the salt marsh heading for Plum Island.
I has however heard just yesterday that there was an article in the Newburyport Daily News about a cat missing on Plum Island and the suspicion that it had been caught by a coyote.
Well they are definitely out there on Plum Island.
A commentor on the Newburyport Daily News shared an awesome closeup photo and sighting here.
UPDATE (3/29/11): There was a good follow up piece in the Newburyport Daily News… Life With Suburban Coyotes.
Related Images: