What's visiting your yard?

[IDBillzFan]

On 8/11/2023 at 9:18 AM, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

No pic, as it went by too quickly, but I just saw a hummingbird out my office window.  Never seen any hummingbird before.

 

Hummingbirds are some of the coolest creatures I've ever seen. We keep sugar water out for them and they dive bomb each other in comical fashion. The absolute best part is when they build a nest near the food. The eggs are incredibly small.

 

We've watched them hatch babies a few times now, and it's just spectacular watching the mother outside the nest teaching them how to fly. It's better than most anything you'll see on TV.

 

They will also re-use another hummingbird's nest.

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

On 5/2/2023 at 2:18 PM, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

The harrier is one freaky-looking bird - owl head, eagle body.  Most space-alien-looking thing I've ever seen.  Best picture I could find illustrating that, and it still doesn't do it justice.

 

 

 

 

Had this creepy looking thing in our yard again this morning.  

 

Wife went out to fill the bird feeders, and it wouldn't move, no matter how close she got.  Just kept staring at her with a look that said "Try anything I'l rip your &#%$ing face off..."

[KD in CA]

Yellowjackets.....all over the lawn.  Must be nesting in one or more of the gopher holes but no clear openings anywhere.  Have watched them plenty over the past few days and can't see where they enter/exit.

 

3d day with the traps up, but so far not effective.  Just replaced the sugar water with Coke;  sweet in late summer is supposed to be the formula.  Maybe the breeze is keeping them from exploring the traps?

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

45 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

Yellowjackets.....all over the lawn.  Must be nesting in one or more of the gopher holes but no clear openings anywhere.  Have watched them plenty over the past few days and can't see where they enter/exit.

 

3d day with the traps up, but so far not effective.  Just replaced the sugar water with Coke;  sweet in late summer is supposed to be the formula.  Maybe the breeze is keeping them from exploring the traps?

 

We've had quite a few too.  We've been lucky (wife is deathly allergic - she's taken to carrying an epi pen on her, and another in the house).  Neighbors have been stung about eight times in the past week.  

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

On 8/17/2023 at 12:15 PM, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

 

Had this creepy looking thing in our yard again this morning.  

 

Wife went out to fill the bird feeders, and it wouldn't move, no matter how close she got.  Just kept staring at her with a look that said "Try anything I'l rip your &#%$ing face off..."

 

This &#%$er is still hanging around.

 

Every other bird has disappeared.  Have two feeders, each used to be mobbed by about 20 birds daily.  I don't think we saw more than three any day since this raptor showed up.

[snafu]

15 hours ago, KD in CA said:

Yellowjackets.....all over the lawn.  Must be nesting in one or more of the gopher holes but no clear openings anywhere.  Have watched them plenty over the past few days and can't see where they enter/exit.

 

3d day with the traps up, but so far not effective.  Just replaced the sugar water with Coke;  sweet in late summer is supposed to be the formula.  Maybe the breeze is keeping them from exploring the traps?

 

 

Once you find where they’re living, get an insecticide powder that contains pyrethrum and put it (liberally) at and in the entrance. Do it in the late evening.

 

 

 

 

[Fansince88]

On 8/19/2023 at 5:44 PM, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

 

We've had quite a few too.  We've been lucky (wife is deathly allergic - she's taken to carrying an epi pen on her, and another in the house).  Neighbors have been stung about eight times in the past week.  

We knew a guy that died getting stung by 43 honey bees last week. Allergic and the Epi Pen did nothing for him as you can probably guess. 

[Cinga]

On 8/20/2023 at 8:37 AM, snafu said:

 

 

Once you find where they’re living, get an insecticide powder that contains pyrethrum and put it (liberally) at and in the entrance. Do it in the late evening.

 

 

 

 

 

Screw that! I pour gas on the @$$h@l&s with wings and light 'em up! But in my defense, I have honeybees which yellow jackets will attack the hives and of course I can't use poison cause of the bees. Never saw a bee go near gas or fire.... 

Yeah, the gas alone would probably do it but the fire warns nearby yellow jackets to stay the **** away

Edited August 21, 2023 by Cinga

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

On 8/11/2023 at 12:18 PM, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

No pic, as it went by too quickly, but I just saw a hummingbird out my office window.  Never seen any hummingbird before.

 

Got a feeder for this little &#%$er, now it stops by about 15 times a day.  Finally got a good enough look yesterday to identify it as a female or juvenile ruby-throated hummingbird.

 

Cat is positively glued to the window.  I think he's confused, and trying to figure out if it's a small bird or a large bug.

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

6 hours ago, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

 

Got a feeder for this little &#%$er, now it stops by about 15 times a day.  Finally got a good enough look yesterday to identify it as a female or juvenile ruby-throated hummingbird.

 

Cat is positively glued to the window.  I think he's confused, and trying to figure out if it's a small bird or a large bug.

 

I now have two hummingbirds in the backyard.

 

None at the feeder...each time one tries, the other chases it away.  

[Jabba The Hutt]

On 8/19/2023 at 4:58 PM, KD in CA said:

Yellowjackets.....all over the lawn.  Must be nesting in one or more of the gopher holes but no clear openings anywhere.  Have watched them plenty over the past few days and can't see where they enter/exit.

 

3d day with the traps up, but so far not effective.  Just replaced the sugar water with Coke;  sweet in late summer is supposed to be the formula.  Maybe the breeze is keeping them from exploring the traps?

Had 200+ yellowjackets burst through a hole they made in the drywall of the ceiling in one of our spare bedrooms, got caught in the ruckus and caught a stinger to the temple 

Next day took a sting from a bald face hornet to the kidney area. I'm about to throw down on any stinging insect I see that doesn't pollinate for the rest of the year.

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

17 hours ago, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

 

I now have two hummingbirds in the backyard.

 

None at the feeder...each time one tries, the other chases it away.  

 

This is great to watch.  One of them is hanging around the feeder, dodging the other.  The other is diving from high up, trying to chase the first one away.

 

It's like watching WWII Pacific fighter combat.

[Foxx]

4 hours ago, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

 

This is great to watch.  One of them is hanging around the feeder, dodging the other.  The other is diving from high up, trying to chase the first one away.

 

It's like watching WWII Pacific fighter combat.

It's probably just a mating ritual. Is one's throat white in color while the other's color is vibrant?

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

35 minutes ago, Foxx said:

It's probably just a mating ritual. Is one's throat white in color while the other's color is vibrant?

 

Both the same color.  Either female or juvenile.  

[Uncle Joe]

They are territorial. I have rose of Sharon bushes that hummingbirds love when in bloom. I'll sit by the bushes while they do their aerial maneuvers. 

[Fansince88]

22 hours ago, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

 

This is great to watch.  One of them is hanging around the feeder, dodging the other.  The other is diving from high up, trying to chase the first one away.

 

It's like watching WWII Pacific fighter combat.

Weird. All mine get along. Must be the neighborhood. 

[RochesterRob]

  Not my backyard but somebody's auto repair shop in eastern Steuben County a timber rattler spotted inside the building during July 2023.  Specifically in the Village of Painted Post which is 110 miles SE of Buffalo, NY.  Not an aggressive species but the habitat in NY is increasing due to more land in areas such as the Southern Tier being allowed to grow up with vegetation as activities such as farming decrease. Kind of the opposite of what we hear when development pushes into wildlife habitat.  Be on the lookout if near a river or elevated rock formation among other locations.

Edited August 30, 2023 by RochesterRob

[ExiledInIllinois]

My neighbor's rooster(s) 🐓 today!

/smdh... Wife sent the pix, when she was working from home today, to me at work.

[KD in CA]

These guys have been around a lot lately.

 

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

15 hours ago, KD in CA said:

These guys have been around a lot lately.

 

 

They are probably saying: "DAMN! This dude needs to water his lawn, there's nothing to eat here!"

 

😉