In case you didn't know, the theme of this blog is counting all of the "seasons," large and small, here in Vermont. Conventional wisdom says there are four seasons, but in a place like this there are many more than that. In some places there are actually less than four; as far as I'm concerned, places like California and Brazil have two seasons, rainy and dry.
The change of seasons here is very stark. Phenomena arrive, are here for awhile and then depart; replaced by something else. This impermanence is made manifest via a number of different aspects of the natural world; flowers, weather, seasonal constellations, and birds. There have been birds here on the other side of the creek throughout the cold season, but not many. With the warming of the weather, the birds of summer are starting to arrive.
The bluebirds returned a number of weeks ago.
We have been fortunate enough to have bluebirds nesting here for many years. I have become very attached to them for better or for worse. For years the bluebirds grappled with house sparrows, and I did my best to try to protect the bluebirds mostly in terms of where I put the bluebird houses. In recent years the sparrow threat has abated only to be replaced by the house wrens. Last year was the first year in many years that we didn't have any baby bluebirds here. The house wrens took over. I have moved the bluebird house away from the old site to a more open space in the field in the back which the bluebirds prefer, and the house wrens avoid. I also read that if you put up some "dummy" birdhouses, the house wrens will spend time filling them up with sticks to discourage competition. I read that if you regularly empty said houses of the sticks there, the house wrens will spend time filling them up again, and theoretically this will keep them from bothering the bluebirds. That is my plan for this year. I put up a couple of these houses in another field the other day. We'll see how it goes.
The change of seasons here is very stark. Phenomena arrive, are here for awhile and then depart; replaced by something else. This impermanence is made manifest via a number of different aspects of the natural world; flowers, weather, seasonal constellations, and birds. There have been birds here on the other side of the creek throughout the cold season, but not many. With the warming of the weather, the birds of summer are starting to arrive.
The bluebirds returned a number of weeks ago.
We have been fortunate enough to have bluebirds nesting here for many years. I have become very attached to them for better or for worse. For years the bluebirds grappled with house sparrows, and I did my best to try to protect the bluebirds mostly in terms of where I put the bluebird houses. In recent years the sparrow threat has abated only to be replaced by the house wrens. Last year was the first year in many years that we didn't have any baby bluebirds here. The house wrens took over. I have moved the bluebird house away from the old site to a more open space in the field in the back which the bluebirds prefer, and the house wrens avoid. I also read that if you put up some "dummy" birdhouses, the house wrens will spend time filling them up with sticks to discourage competition. I read that if you regularly empty said houses of the sticks there, the house wrens will spend time filling them up again, and theoretically this will keep them from bothering the bluebirds. That is my plan for this year. I put up a couple of these houses in another field the other day. We'll see how it goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment