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Things aren't as busy as they were but there are still fresh young coming here for the first time. I have been busy so haven't had a lot of time to take notice but some things stand out. We are hosting well over 100 starling young and they are still filtering in although not in the numbers they were for awhile. Heaven help this winter if they all come back looking for groceries!! The moms started bringing them before July 1st and there were days when it literally rained starling youngsters. Very noisy. The swallows left July first. I have to take down the house and see if they all left or if there was a death. I can't say they weren't predated but there have been a number of flybys that make me think the young and parents are memorizing the neighbourhood and the location of the houses. The interesting thing, maybe sad......the insects definately were not there this year and the neat thing was there were more than just the parent birds helping feed the young. I am assuming this didn't just happen here. Birds swooped in and everyone brought food for a bit then all adults left for some time most days. I wasn't aware of this before. We have had young bluejays being fed by starling mom's, a song sparrow feeds anything that opens a mouth and squawks, flickers bringing their young here. Juncos have come with some babies that look like they are part pine siskin/sparrow and woodpeckers........man the wood pecker babies we have been feeding. I ahve one young one that I think the mother was hit by a car. She would drop in her swoop just as cars come down that slope out front and I saw her (I think) on the road. I couldn't stop just then and when I got back the body was gone. Later I saw young crows working something over pretty good. The young one has been here shrieking a lot and calling now for a week and so far he/she has pecked holes in just about everything. It does eat from the seed cake and is pounding the daylights out of the oak down front. Hopefully he is getting a balanced meal. I am not seeing fly catchers, vireos, or even many warblers. I am not seeing any bees, wasps or hornets at all. We had a few June bugs but nothing like we had before. Not that I am complaining but the blackflies hit really hard today and there were so many it was hard to breath. My bug jacket was in the car so I had to retreat to the house. There were a few grasshoppers for awhile and now they seem to be gone. Usually by now the birds various are hoping after them. There are lots of earwigs though. Hummingbird activity is minimal. There are two females travelling together and they battle over the feeders with a solitary male as far as I can see. A raccoon visits every night. Robins are gone or incubating again. I don't see them so I suspect they are gone. Very strange to my way of thinking. Marg Millard, White Point, Queens http://margmillard.ca
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