calling any one from missouri

[SueT]

Lo and behold, just like my drawing, the clean-up crew has arrived! There are even 2 of them! I think they are gorgeous birds! We won't have to bury the armadillo after all...

 

[OhZark Biddies]

.... I think they are gorgeous birds!
View attachment 1883931

What? I thought you just had your eyes tuned up?

I had a armored-diller plowing up the yard the last two nights... but I was too tired to stay up waiting for him last night...

They supposedly eat Japanese beetle grubs, among others, so hopefully that’s the silver lining of all the damage to the yard

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I finally got a short video of the wrens doing their thing.

JT

Do ya miss the little stooges yet?

When our bluebirds leave the nest the birdhouse always seems so lacking for a while.

 

[SueT]

What? I thought you just had your eyes tuned up?

I had a armored-diller plowing up the yard the last two nights... but I was too tired to stay up waiting for him last night...

They supposedly eat Japanese beetle grubs, among others, so hopefully that’s the silver lining of all the damage to the yard

View attachment 1884614

we wonder if the one killed was the culprit digging up our yard....

 

[jthornton]

Do ya miss the little stooges yet?

Yea, I miss trying to catch them on camera... should I leave the nest alone or remove it? It's not in my way at all.

JT

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Yea, I miss trying to catch them on camera... should I leave the nest alone or remove it? It's not in my way at all.

JT

You did better than me with the camera... I tried to get wren pics this spring, but only got blurry ones

I’d say remove the nest.

The Carolina wrens sometimes reuse nests the same year, but it’s so late in the summer they should be done with making eggs into little birds this year ...

I usually always tear out the old nests just in case a baby died in the nest, etc... and let them build a new one... it only takes them a day or so...

I always clean out the nests for our blue birds, and they re-nest in the same box 3 times a year... if I recall correctly they generally won’t reuse the same nest... but will sometimes build right on top the old one.

 

[SueT]

This morning I found this hornworm on the boxwood hedge. Is this a different species or the same as on tomatoes? It has a lot of blue color. Look at the eyes!!!!! Very scary! But Speck wasn't daunted. She's the only hen who dares to eat them.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

This morning I found this hornworm on the boxwood hedge. Is this a different species or the same as on tomatoes? It has a lot of blue color. Look at the eyes!!!!! Very scary! But Speck wasn't daunted. She's the only hen who dares to eat them.
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Nice pics!

Interesting that it’s blue, I found this:

“....Some time back, biologists discovered that feeding a non tomato/tobacco diet could produce blue hornworms....”

http://springfieldmn.blogspot.com/2013/10/blue-hornworms.html?m=1

Looks like a tomato hornworm according to this:

https://colinpurrington.com/2015/09/distinguishing-tobacco-and-tomato-hornworm-caterpillars/

 

[jthornton]

Yup that's a tomato hornworm... look for any burr holes under the bush where some might have escaped to return next year.

JT

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Tonight this little wee froglet caught our attention on one of our house plants that spends the summer on the porch...

It’s always a bit interesting to see who hitches a ride back into the house when we bring the plants back in...

I guess that’s coming up in the next several weeks...

Which makes me think that I heard a whippoorwill earlier tonight... that seems late in the year to me? ...

But it seems like just last week I was commenting on here about hearing the first one, so I thought it appropriate to comment on the last one, hopefully I hear him a bit longer still though ...

In any case it’s been a pleasure sharing the summer with the rest of you MO-Folks... I’ve enjoyed all the conversation about frogs, snakes, birds, ‘dillers, fried hot dogs, local sights to see, local bird swaps, local fairs, shows, festivals, and all else!

I’m actually kinda looking forward to seeing what there is to share this fall and winter

.