Hot

Another hot one 97 degrees and a new record. My car thermometer registered 104 at one point. I filled our little bird water bowl several times today, since I was off due to a small skin cancer procedure today. I need to be more diligent with sunscreen!

July 11

Back to sunny weather today after a lot of rain the past day and a half. My rain gauge had 4 inches of water in it so far this week!

6 Blue Jays, some Mourning Dove, House Sparrows and a Downy Woodpecker were all around this morning.

Wild week

It's been warm and we had quite a line of thunderstorms come though the night of July 2. We had wind, rain, hail, lightning, with some local gusts up to 70 mph.

Multiple trees or large pieces of trees down near us. I counted 7 in the nearby woods and pond trail. Many power outages over the holiday.

Here is a large part of a tree that just missed our building at work!

Here is more in the woods by my driveway

Current Mood: hot

too hot

Weather Alert: Record Heat Today; Highs Around 100

Feels like Arizona in Rhode Island today!

Blue Jays and Cardinal were out early and we put out lots of water.

Weekend

Some nice sights over the weekend, plus I was able to get some yard and garden work done.

The favorite was a Cardinal family, with the young cardinal following the parents around a begging for seed.

I also saw a Hummingbird. I assume a Ruby throated, it was hard to tell in the low late afternoon light

Current Mood: gloomy

Rain rain rain

It's been a wet month... 2 plus inches over the past couple of days, almost 7 for the month.
Around 9 inches in my gauge near Providence RI.

x.com/NWSBoston/status/1925972346197754177/photo/1

Mount Washington in NH had several inches of snow

Red bellied Woodpecker

There's not much going on today with rain showers all day long.

We did get this shot of a Red Bellied woodpecker out front the other day!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/b4hr9bkBCDxpKMez8

Current Mood: rejuvenated

Entry tags:

birds,
vacation

Busy

It's been a busy past week or so. We took a vacation to Aruba and I got to see some tropical birds. The little Banaaquits were my favorite. They are tame, small sugar loving yellow and black sparrow type birds.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananaquit

They also have Grackles called Carib Grackle and a Tropical Mockingbird, both very similar to ours

Link to Aruba butterfly farm

photos.app.goo.gl/J8qu6FBbgtiNSNnMA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hRbQJ9Pfv8DtnHPs6

Aruba natural beach..very rocky
photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN5zNn0dKqdWNFTOykOMuIIv05SdbUlW9iv872z

Resort beach..much better!
photos.app.goo.gl/yLcf2G7cFjQFvvUg9

Lizards at the pool
photos.app.goo.gl/DtZPohASJ9YSEUKR8

Great sunsets
photos.app.goo.gl/qVVEhyKqKqykBij1A

Our resident Mute Swans had 6 babies, I just spotted them this morning

Link to the swans photos.app.goo.gl/EhgB3rJfTh2UsccG8

After we got home, there was a deceased whale washed up near Providence. Mind you we are about 40 miles from the ocean, but Narragansett Bay links the ocean to us.

Link here to the whale :( https://photos.app.goo.gl/tEYDYHTpg2czjEZQ9

Wild bunny

We have a wild bunny again in our back driveway.

This rabbit seems to enjoy leftover bird seed. I'm surprised since we have a pet bunny and they are not supposed to eat bird seed.

Friday sights

We woke up to a loud drumming Red bellied Woodpecker this morning.

I also saw some Dark eyed Junco and a couple of Wood Ducks in a stream along a muddy trail.

Birds

Many birds around Wednesday after our 4 days of rain and cold.

Unfortunately it looks like another rainy weekend here so it will be hard to get some garden prep done.

Our local Osprey Watch is starting up soon, I will be a nest monitor again this year as there are a few nests not too far from my home.

https://www.osprey-watch.org/

Osprey are back

I saw my first of the season Osprey yesterday.
I had seen reports of sightings but this was my first one!

Signs of spring

Finally getting some more blooms - daffodils, more crocus plants.

More signs of spring - seeing more Robins across the lawn.

Time to get some garden beds prepped for planting.

Pond sights

Here are some of my pond friends. I brought them some seed and kale and they seemed to like it.

Looks like the Canada Goose have bands but I could not make out any of it.

Crocus

My first two crocus came up. Cool morning with my early trip to the dentist for a root canal.

Two Turkeys and some Grackles in the yard early on.

Entry tags:

plants,
pollinators

Pollinators

I'm posting this for future reference, since our pollinators are in trouble!

Native Plants for the Northeast

https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/22-026_01_NPPBI%E2%80%94Northeast_web.pdf

Hike

Hopefully the weather will be decent Sunday March 9 for our first hike of 2025.

https://blackstoneheritagecorridor.org/event/hunts-mills-historic-walk/2025-03-09/

THIS HIKE WILL BE LED BY: East Providence Conservation Commission for the East Providence Historical Society

This is an easy and relaxed paced hike that is good for beginners and kids. The grounds have plenty of history as well. We will stop several times and discuss the history of the property. The John Hunt House, a museum of East Providence history, will open at 1:00 PM following the hike.

Hawk

I believe my feeders were quiet this morning due to this Sharp-shinned Hawk nearby.

I heard some Chickadees and Flickers, but that's all.

I did get a Tufted Titmouse and White breasted Nuthatch in this shot a few days ago

Cold

29 day till spring? Doesn't seem possible
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/spring

It's been cold and windy after a snow storm this past Saturday night. It rained all day Sunday but the temperatures plummeted and everything turned to ice. 50 mph gusts Monday with wind chill around 0. Today (1:45 pm) it's still windy and cold, but sunny 24 degrees with a wind chill of 10. There's not much melting going on.

We stayed in Boston Saturday night. By Monday, the news reported over 500 car crashes were called in Massachusetts State Police!

Here's anothere wild story near Boston today:

Firefighters use rafts to rescue trolley riders after MBTA station floods with icy water

https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/firefighters-use-rafts-rescue-trolley-riders-after-mbta-station-floods-with-icy-water/DWKXUKOTH5H4RNMEXMAWACKL3M/

Snow

It looks like we are in a snowy weather pattern. We had 3 to 4 inches Saturday night into Sunday, and now we expect another mix storm Wednesday night into Thursday, then again Saturday into Sunday.

Here is a flock of House Sparrow with an Eastern Towhee at my back door Sunday morning