Birds, beans, squash and marimbas

Gray Catbirds

We have a Gray Catbird building a nest near the garden. It is probably in the filbert hedge but it could be in the over-grown raspberry bushes.

Catbirds mimic other birds, are an even slate-gray except for a slightly darker region on the top of his/her head. Their tail is long for their body size and they often position it in jaunty, expressive angles...sort of like some people communicating with their eyebrows. They are a bit larger than a starling and their regular call sounds something like a cat. 

Snail vs Duck Damage 

These two bean plants were on the duck side of the fence.

I stretched a temporary fence to exclude the ducks from where Quicksilver and I had planted the pole beans. Due to the geometry of where there were already posts driven into the ground, four beans popped up outside of the enclosure. The ducks ignored them.

Leaves that have been attacked by snails (Gee, officer...it happened so fast...) have a luffa-sponge look. The slugs and snails eat the thin parts of the leaves but don't eat the veins.

I opened up the fence to let the ducks in to where the beans are planted.

Four young Khaki Campbell to the right of the post and two adult Rouen and one adult Khaki Campbell on the left.

They quickly investigated the area and were actively foraging while I took this picture.

 

Snails and slugs have distinct preferences for food. They prefer dandelions to grass, for instance. 

 

Squash and watermelons

Roughly 25' by 25'. 26 "hills" of C. maxima and 9 of watermelons

The squash seeds were saved from a squash that I purchased at the store. It was a Golden Hubbard or Red Kuri type squash.

Quicksilver music selection

Polish Nationwide Music Schools' Symphonic Orchestras Dance Macrabre by Saint Saens. 

Selected because she can watch young ladies playing music.. Also selected because it has marimbas, one of the musical instruments commonly used in Central American music.