Time: 1 p.m.
Conditions: Sunny and 89 degrees
Observed from: the backyard
Notes: We haven’t hit 90 degrees yet this year, but the afternoon is young and we’re already only 1 degree away. It’s been so pleasant this summer that this hot day has come as quite a shock to the system. Just ask the “melting” squirrel I discovered cooling his belly in the grass. There is a line to use the birdbaths!
I’m a little sad today because my homing pigeon is finally gone. Every day for the last 6 days she’s appeared out of nowhere to visit my birdfeeders and hang out on my or my neighbor’s roof. Today she was missing in action. At first I was optimistic that she’d finally decided to fly home to Milwaukee, but while outside this afternoon I found white feathers everywhere. I figured it would only be a matter of time before a hawk would find her. It’s kind of hard to hide when you’re BRIGHT WHITE and insist on sitting on dark rooftops.
Today’s Count:
- 10 grackles
- 4 Gray Squirrels
- 4 chipmunks
- 1 Cardinal
- 2 White-breasted Nuthatches (the first I’ve seen in months)
- 3 Chickadees
- 1 Blue Jay
- 4 House Sparrows
- 6 bathing-beauty Robins
- 1 Monarch Butterfly
- 0 homing pigeons 🙁