Dante's Spirit

First, the absurdities.

So, 3 years ago now, when my brother moved into the house he's currently renting, we thought it was too large and too old (as in, not well maintained), but he liked it, he was paying and that was that.

Every winter the pipes freeze. No matter what he does. Every winter, his electric goes up to over 300.00/month, for one person, because the house isn't well sealed, and that's with windows sealed, rooms closed off, etc.

Now, there's foundation issues. And the roof leaks in the hallway, but maintenance keeps claiming it's the gutters (the gutters are no where near the door way water is dripping from, nor does water run *uphill* here.)

It leaks *right over the circuit breaker box*. The hall light shorted out last week because of the leaks.

So this week, they had an electrician come in to rewire the light. He *didn't turn the main breaker off first and caused a short to fry the surge protector my brother's modem was plugged into*. I was flabberghasted when my brother told me- he'd even asked if it should be.

Nope, seems the breakers are mislabeled, so rather than hit the main, do the rewire, then trial and error and correctly label things, he just... rewired the light and caused a surge on another line.

At this point, dear reader, the 3 of us are in agreement- my brother needs to move.

The incompetent contractors the rental agency hires, combined with the lack of proper maintenance/upkeep, *and* the increasing rent every year, it's not worth it in any way (we didn't think it was worth what they were asking 3 years ago, but well, that's us.) So now, he's saving up to move, packing extraneous things and starting to look now. His lease is up in Sept. Hopefully he can get into one of the limited income residential places around here. Personally, he should have tried there in the first place, but well, what's done is done.

Just, ugh.


Meanwhile...

Yesterday, I set the Merlin Bird ID app to catch the birds that are active here around noon, since morning birds tend to be different and evening birds are too.

We have a lot of birds.






All those in a 31 minute period. Sheesh.

Went through my recordings, since I'd been slacking, and found, I'd had *11* new to me birds-

Green Heron (that I caught this past Sunday), Veery, Lesser Yellowlegs, Ruby Throated Hummingbird (!!! Can't believe I actually caught one!), Red Breasted Nuthatch, Savannah Sparrow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hairy Woodpecker, Fox Sparrow (so. many. sparrows.), Common Raven (they like to hang out in the hay field and are fun to watch), and a Blackpoll Warbler.

Several had repeated hits, so they are definitely here. Others, I hadn't had the app running and have seen them myself, before getting a hit on the app (startled a Red Headed Woodpecker yesterday when I went out to fill the large suet feeder, for example.)

Most days I just watch them at the feeders and don't run the app. For example, I can hear a Mourning Dove out there. Heh. There's a Blue Jay on the porch railing currently, and House Finches looking for seed.

Anyway, back to working on were bunnies, I have a Festival next weekend.

Had a hit on the Merlin BirdID app on Monday that I thought for sure was a mistake, or maybe the Mockingbirds imitating as they often do.

But now, apparently Ruby Throated Hummingbirds *are* now in our area already.

They mentioned them on the local news, that there'd been sightings already that evening.

Huh. I would have thought it was early for them, but I guess not.

Feeders are now up.

It's interesting how the weather affects which birds are out and about versus which are not.

Monday, Tuesday and today, all around the same time of day.



Monday- Bright, sunny, warmer, few clouds that built in later in the day. Light breezes.

Tuesday- Overcast, cooler, windy with high gusts. Threats of rain that never appeared.

Wednesday(today) Overcast, but light breezes. Slowly warming up.

Tomorrow is supposed to be clear and near 80 degrees. So it'll be interesting what birds show up then.

Ugh.

So, my brother, who got himself catfished and had his own personal Facebook page stolen out from under him, meaning he lost access to his deceased wife's page, a couple years back, is on the local community group, criticizing someone elese's personal page, calling it 'suspicious', because it says 'digital creator', and has no friends showing.

He of all people has no place doing that sort of thing. He knew better and look what happened.

I mean, really. The sheer audacity. So I called him on it. Knowing him, he'll sulk about it for a few weeks.

Until he needs a ride. Heh.

Anyway.

Good bird viewing today. Getting their feeding in before the weather comes in this afternoon/evening.

Two new to me birds too- a Brownheaded Nuthatch and a Fox Sparrow. I'm used to the Whitebreasted ones, so will have to watch for this one. So. Many. Sparrows. That's *3* in one area. And I know there's Field Sparrows around here too.



Left- Back feeding area. Right- Front porch feeding area.


I also caught the resident Red Shouldered Hawk, likely on flyover. And the oh so elusive Red Bellied Woodpecker. I swear they know when I'm watching for them. The Crows tend to go from the front too the back, where there's a feeding station out in the open for them- it needs refilling. Mourning Dove army, as I call them, was out back. Caught the Downy on the back feeders, despite seeing it on the front suet nugget feeder.

Plain seed feeders need refilling before the rain starts and I noticed a couple empty spots on my quad suet feeder on the porch. So off to do that before the weather comes in.


Ok, refilled feeders, refilled feeding station for Crows...

And came back to the front porch where the House Finches had taken over the seed feeders already, along with Cardinals and Tufted Titmouse. Heh.




Ran the app while filling everything..



Sat out there for a little bit. Caught the Fox Sparrow again. Still haven't spotted it though. Golden Crowned Kinglet I've had before. But it's interesting which birds move to the front versus the back in the afternoon. I guess the Goldfinches overwinter here. Interesting.

Was thoroughly berated by the Blue Jays, and I was getting chilled, so called it and headed back in. Enjoy, feathered friends, enjoy.