Wildlife

We live in a marginal neighborhood and there's been more than a little tagging of late around our house. Our fence invites it, but this week we got tagged on our garage door. Honey wrote about it, so I'll let her speak on the subject.

I've been thinking about behavior of people this week a lot. And animals too. I had a disagreement with a campus department this week. It didn't make me particularly emotional, as those things often do. I'm good at getting along most of the time, but when tensions get high, I can have trouble keeping my cool. I didn't have any trouble this week. It may be that the folks with whom I disagreed were either more civilized and didn't get personal or were too dispassionate by virtue of their field and dispositions to know how to get personal. I found it refreshing, actually. And I think I may have solved the problem already. Everyone seems to like my solution so far.

I've been home with Biscuit today. It's a state holiday and other than going to have lunch with my honey, I wanted to actually take the day off. Biscuit is theoretically a domestic dog. She's not acting like it. She's become obsessed with the contents of the office trash can. I have had to interrupt myself twice to go get pieces of paper she took out of it back from her. She shreds them into little teeny pieces and what isn't shredded is vomited back up. She keep barking at the trash can. I've tried to explain to her that today is Friday and that our time together today is special. The prospect of ripping up deposit slips seems more compelling to her.

Honey and I have been talking about finally dealing with our yard. When we bought the house, they had painted and recarpeted, but the yard was a mess and it hasn't stopped being one. We have solutions we like and can afford for the front yard and the side strip of land beside the tagged fence. We both hate that we're responsible for that strip, but we are and we'd like it to stop having ice plant and trash. A friend of mine once told me that Italians refer to ice plant as "la miseria." That about sums up how I feel about the area along the outside of the tagged fence.

Our back yard is a bit more vexing, as it is large, contains Biscuit most of the time and I don't think suburban lawn is eco-responsible in Southern California. We'll do something, I don't know what.

Since we got the house, I've been feeding birds in the back yard. I always somewhat despaired of the lack of diversity in the variety of birds that came around. I like the fussy house finches. My friend Sharon says they're "faculty" finches, lots of noise and disagreement but nobody really gets hurt.



I get mourning doves and house sparrows. My favorite birds to visit are goldfinches. They hang upside down in the nyjer feeder and when you have some, you have a flock. It's like the yard is full of flying flowers.



H and I have a song for them, based on "Goldfinger" that goes something like, "goldfinches, they're the finches, the finches with a touch of gold, but not too much, because it's winter or they're girls." The girls are pretty too, as are the boys in their winter coats.

I get scrub jays and even court them. They're loud and fussy, but what can you do? Corvids are smart and I like smart.



But that was basically it. I had a cowbird wander through once. And some starlings. Anna's hummingbirds will zip through. I can't get it together to keep a hummer feeder full. Too many bees. I did see an oriole once. Mockingbirds live in the neighborhood and they'll stop by sometimes to wag their tails and sing their fantastic songs. There are crows and pigeons, of course, but they don't come into the back yard.

But it's nothing like my folk's feeder I set up in Atlanta. Sit there for a bit and you get cardinals, titmice, chickadees, and the same finches I get.

Because our yard is such a mess, we have more bugs around. It's a meadow really. And it's a meadow with bugs. The bugs have attracted a pair of Black Phoebes. I love the Phoebes. They're fantastic. They like to hang out on the fence and their little peaked heads look so cool. They swoop around looking for flying insects.



We need to fix our yard, and we will. I hope whatever we do meets with the Phoebes' approval. I'd like them to stay. Maybe I'll send them a note.

Notes to write:
To the taggers: cease and desist
To Biscuit: cease and desist
To the Phoebes: a welcome note and the offer of a lease