We’ve always had tons of song birds. But this year I’ve noticed a lot more crows than usual. Not sure why.
What a cool looking bird!
We now have enough cicadas that there is a constant low hum outside.
They’ve not come out in Middle TN, yet.
Do they eat cicadas? Though it’s kind of early for that to be a big factor.
This afternoon I saw a bee swarm! In the middle of Berlin, just in from of my window! They settled on the tree just 10 yards from where I was standing and after less than 30 minutes two apiculturists came with white bee-suits and collected them in a box (actually, they are still doing something there, I think they are not doing it well).
There are numerous beekeepers in the city – Berlin is quite green for a big city – but it is the first time I ever saw a bee swarm looking for a new home. It was impressive, and the buzz was loud! I was so fascinated that I forgot to take a picture.
Yeah - ain’t it the weirdest thing? Not at all what you expect. I posted about seeing this last year, #2293/2295. I took a photo, so I guess I was about a meter away.
Last night in nature… we had a forecast for thunder overnight. I was watching TV, idly wondering what the continuous rumbling noise outside was, so I took a peek. Uh - continuous lightning (!) I mean, a thunder storm goes Flash…pause…Rumble… long pause… Flash - and so on, right? I counted - the longest gap between flashes was six seconds, with about 20 to 30 flashes per minute - hence the continuous rumble of thunder. Never seen anything like it. And - I can’t explain this - it never even occurred to me to take some video. I can only apologize.
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That is it! (The picture) Strange, I follow this thread regularly but I had no recollection of your post from as recent as May. But be assured, the swarms (“yours” and “mine”) were rescued and removed to safety, that is a human managed and taken care of wooden bee hive. A young freshly swarmed queen is a valuable resource and dedicated beekeepers will try to keep her and her workers happy for many years.
In Europe this will happen in a sedentary way, as surely is the case in the UK too: where the bees are brought, they stay. You probably know that in the USA beekeeping has a more industrial, itinerant side, but I post this link for the readers here that perhaps don’t know that the beekeeping industrial complex that is described there is not practised anywhere else that I know of. And my excuses should this be trivial.
Speaking of bee swarms. I didn’t see this, but quite a lot of other people did
I saw an echidna, just shuffling along in a church carpark. A fair way from any bushland, too.
It’s cicadageddon out there!
That’s really cool. I hope it was okay.
^Showed this to my gf and she is all excited.
They’re covering our entire back fence.
Here’s one coming out of its shell:
I saw it when I went out to check the bird feeders and found they were still full. I don’t think I’m going to have to check again for a while.
This explains soooo much!
I see that spot. Know that in these parts some people use those just as spots to watch critters and shoot pictures.
And so it begins…
They were about 20 yards from my truck when I took the house dog out for potty this morning, and were kind enough not to move off the property altogether before I got out to the truck to head to work. Bulls have all shed their antlers now, so it looks like all cows, but I do know there are at least 3 bulls in this herd.
The trees are just starting to open their leaves, my daffodils are blooming, the grass is green, I can smell the Balm of Gilead (balsam poplar), the frogs and birds are singing, it’s light out until 8:30 (so far), and the sun starts peeking out around 5am. It just a glorious feeling!
Yes!!! Last night my gf visited her mom. I fixed dinner for myself around 7, took it to the pond along with the dogs. Had a lovely evening watching it slowly get dark.
And I can’t get on my bike with my back currently. 