City Girl in the Country

Angie is the dove who moved in after Fiona and her family left. For a while I feared she was a single mother (maybe even a widow!) because I never saw her mate, Gary. But it turned out that Gary and Angie look startlingly alike...uh, not that I'm great at telling the difference between doves!

For some reason, fledglings always leave their nest on weekends at this house. It's rather convenient as we get to watch the drama. Bobby, Annie's brother, left early on Friday night. We saw him sitting on the roof of Kathy's car, with his feet tucked under him in that funny way fledglings sit, like they don't know how to stand because they've spent so much time in the nest.  Read more »

Today was a good day for bird-watching, if bird watching means opening the drapes and looking outside. A new dove is brooding on a nest at No. 1, while Kelly and Ryan Flibberdegibbet (the Finches) are excitedly feeding their new babies at No. 5.

Ryan has turned out to be a very interactive dad, which is a good thing, because these babies are HUNGRY! I honestly think the Finches spent most the day finding food and feeding the babies. I saw Ryan fly over at one point to put the food right into Kelly's mouth so she could prep it for the kids. She chirped something like, "More! We need more!" Another time he fed them while she hunted for more.  Read more »

Unbelievably, I forgot to post the Dove Drama Update this weekend.

On Friday, Mrs. Dove (Fiona) was making it supremely evident that she wanted those fledglings outta there. She would get in the nest so that the babies couldn't get back in. She would lean against them. She was sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Her mate, Albert, came over to try to smooth her feathers, but it didn't go so well.

Fiona: I gotta get outta here! You watch them, Mr. Family Man.  Read more »

Two finches have started building a nest in the eaves outside our living room window, four eaves down from the dove in her nest. The young couple are energetic and excited. They've made remarkable progress in a single day, creating an admirably stylish yet structurally sound nest, even sporting colorful green grass. If you listen close, you can here the female. I think her conversation translates to something like this:  Read more »

After the third family of mourning doves left our nests last September, (the ones in the eaves) I swore I would take the nests down so as not to encourage more. Skee loved the dove families, but I was worried that if we played host to too many, our dove population would explode. However, I never got around to removing the nests.

About a month ago, a young couple started checking out the nest in front of the living room window. By "checking out" I mean they would watch the nest from the fence 25 feet away, fly over and try it out, and generally assess the area for fitness. Was the nest large enough? Sheltered enough? Close enough to food?  Read more »

Last year, tenants from hell terrorized our neighborhood. I live in a residential neighborhood. It a secluded bit of suburban tract housing on the edge of an open space reserve, populated (predictably enough) by people who want some peace and quiet.

One house on the street, kitty-corner from mine, has been rented out for years. When we moved in, frat boys lived there. They tormented the neighbor immediately next door to them (who, like me, works from home) with their parties and shouting and what-have-you. Tired of all the disruption, the neighbor complained and had a hand in getting them moved along.

Next, a woman moved in with her two kids. I thought, well, at least they'll be more settled down than four beer-guzzling college students.  Read more »

I love it when the cattle that graze in the open space come over by my house. I love to watch them interact and feel kind of honored when they come by. I have this pastoral fantasy of me hanging out peacefully near the cows, but the truth is that they are not comfortable with me and tend to edge away nervously when I stand on my back deck watching them. I keep hoping we will work this through together.  Read more »

Our first December at this house (2005) we were introduced to the loudest, Sci-Fi-style noise we had ever heard. Heavy rains had started and, evidently, ONE MILLION tree frogs moved into the pond in the open space. Their combined song filled the night hair with a "spaceship landing" sound. It was incredible.

Even Oliver Heath, our little frog who lives in our hot tub (which we don't use) appeared to move out temporarily to go hang with the conventioneers. They were certainly having a party, night after night, carrying on so loudly that it took me a while to get to sleep. I imagine lots of cute girl frogs got hooked up with burly man frogs.  Read more »

As you may recall, I am a big fan of the cattle that graze in the open space behind my house. Often, I see them grazing in the rolling hills. On occasion, they graze right behind my house and I get to watch "the big boys" (as I call them) up close. I'll call out to Kathy, "They're behind the house! They're behind the house!" as I rush outside. You would think I'd never seen a steer before.  Read more »

Our latest batch of fledgling doves is providing me with all sorts of entertainment of late. Today, the baby doves are sitting under a bush below their nest. Mom is sitting under the eaves, next to the nest, leaning down to watch them. She looks for all the world like she's saying, "Come on kids, you can fly back up!"

The kids, however, appear to be responding with, "Noooo, that's too hard! We don't know how to fly UP!" So they curl up together on the gray rock, beneath a bush.

The kids look sad. Mom looks exasperated.  Read more »

In other news, it's a sad day at Lime Ridge. I heard a lot of mooing and went to look out my back window into the open space. All the cattle were corralled together, with ranchers circling them. Then a big trailer truck pulled up so the could start loading the cattle up to move them out. The cows are leaving! Oh, no! I couldn't watch and had to go back into the other room.

I'll miss my boys. Please, don't tell me where they are headed. I'd rather not know.

Ever since the cows have moved into the open space behind our house, I've become a peeping Alix. Either I'm standing by the window watching them (with binoculars held to my eyes to get a closer look) or I'm out on the deck with my SLR and a long lens, taking pictures.

I'm not sure what the cows think of this. Kathy keeps correcting me and says steer, not cows. She comes from Wisconsin and she knows about such things. I'm a suburban-urban girl who just thinks, "Wow, they are BIG. And very black. Moo."  Read more »

Just over four months ago, Kathy and I (and our cats) moved into our fixer-upper on the edge of an open space reserve. Out our back windows, we have a peaceful view of rolling hills. Falcons hunt above our home, horses graze uphill, and coyotes roam at night. Having spent the last nine plus years in the middle of San Francisco, it's quite the change in atmosphere for me!  Read more »