Month / January 2025

by Cheryl Batavia

Pecking Order & Backyard Politics

Photo of a gray squirrel by Brad from Unsplash

Pecking Order & Backyard Politics

Photo of a squirrel by Praswin Prokash from Unsplash

Who is top diner at the feeder?

Nobody dares to challenge or quarrel

with this unelected leader;

the king of birdseed is…the squirrel!

Red-bellied woodpecker. Photo by Jack Bulmer from Unsplash

Photo of Eastern blue jay by Matthew Schwartz from Unsplash

Woodpecker with rapier beak

is top bird at the table.

Even aggressive blue jays seldom seek

to resist him… They’re not able!

Mourning Doves. Photo by Stephan Gogov from Unsplash

Doves in pairs feed side-by-side…

Woodpeckers and jays are intimidated!

For doves in teams, they stand aside…

teamwork to be emulated!

Photo of cardinal by Stephen Walker from Unsplash

Cardinals, bright, spritely little creatures,

take everything in stride.

They’re much more than their flashy features…

They model confidence and pride.

Tufted Titmouse. Photo by Jack Bulmer from Unsplash

Tiny titmice hang out on the ground

as diners scatter seeds on the lawn,

eating leftovers they have found,

visiting feeders when bullies are gone.

Photo of grey catbird by Jack Bulmer from Unsplash

Photo of brown thrasher by Joshua J. Cotten from Unsplash

Catbirds and brown thrashers

visit feeders sporadically.

All birds flee these party crashers

who disrupt community hierarchy!

Photo by J. A. Uppendahl from Unsplash

Photo of rabbit by Andrew Coop from Unsplash

Raw peanuts scattered on the ground

attract everyone, even rats and rabbits.

Squirrel visits to feeders slow down…

a pause in squirrels’ pushy habits!

Squirrel eating a peanut. Photo by Ms. Uppy from Unsplash

Hope you enjoyed this overview

of backyard politics and pecking rights.

Feeders bring animals close to you…

Proximity provides fresh insights!

Copyright© 2024 by Cheryl Batavia

Note to Prospective Bird Feeder Owners:

Bird feeders are outlawed in California. Signs in many places say, “Danger! Do Not Feed the Bears!” or “Unlawful to Feed Wildlife Here” or “Don’t Feed the Alligators!” There are good reasons for such warnings. Feeding some wild animals can cause them to lose their fear of people and become aggressive and dangerous. Feeding some wild animals can make them dependent on humans and less able to survive on their own.

In our neighborhood, lots are being cleared for new construction, and animal habitats are disappearing at a fairly rapid rate. Endangered gopher tortoises in our neighborhood have been displaced, losing their homes when a new house was built on the site of their ancestral burrows.

Gopher tortoise at burrow. Photo in the public domain, origin unknown

We often see gopher tortoises eating grass in our yard and believe they may have dug new burrows in the wooded lot behind our house. The underground network of gopher tortoise burrows is routinely used by a variety of animals, so the impact of losing these safe passages is not limited to the tortoises who dug the burrows.

A new house was recently built diagonally behind us. I think some of the birds and animals we are seeing at the bird feeders once made their homes on the site of the new house.

I don’t know whether I am doing the right thing putting up bird feeders. I hope it is the right thing. I rationalize that the animals are still fending for themselves from when the feeders are empty in the late afternoon until I fill them again around 7:30 in the morning.

If I am ever able to do so, I will purchase the wooded lots beside us and behind us to preserve a bit of animal habitat.

When considering whether or not to feed wild animals, I believe we must follow the laws, and then let conscience be our guide.

Thank You, Joanna, for your advice on feeding birds! They are a joy to watch!

Visit Joanna’s beautiful and informative website, naturetails.blog

💚

One More

Raccoons are mostly nocturnal, but nursing females also feed during the day in order to provide their babies adequate milk. My daughter, Katey Batavia, took these photos of Mama Raccoon eating peanuts under our bird feeder in broad daylight.

Although raccoons are delightful to watch, we don’t seek to feed raccoons; they can carry rabies and have an annoying habit of raiding garbage cans and scattering garbage. Our garbage cans are secured with bungee cords.

But how can you begrudge a hungry mama and her babies a few peanuts under the bird feeder?

by Cheryl Batavia

The Colors of My Life

Photo by Marco Forno from Unsplash.

The Colors of My Life

When I was five,

I looked up at the sky,

and my favorite color was blue.

When I was fifteen,

I wandered woodland ways,

and my favorite color was green.

When I was thirty-five,

I paused to smell the roses,

and my favorite color was red.

When I was sixty-five,

I swam in the sea,

and my favorite color was aquamarine.

Now I am seventy-five.

I look up at the sky,

and a rainbow paints the colors of my life.

Copyright© 2024 by Cheryl Batavia

I Have Missed You So Much!

I have been on an extended break due to health issues. This poem was written in early August to mark my 75th birthday. I wanted to share my birthday poem on WordPress at that time, but I knew I still wasn’t quite up to blogging.

When I went to my cardiologist, I was told that I was healthy and didn’t need to go through routine tests this year. I had experienced an extremely mild heart attack 18 years earlier and had years of good test results after that. I had no reason to suspect that anything much was wrong with my heart.

Ten days later, after several days of horrible “indigestion,” I ended up in the emergency room with a massive heart attack. On August 26, I had quintuple heart bypass surgery. I had spent twelve days in the hospital.

Women have different heart attack symptoms from men and often experience heart attacks as “indigestion.” Unfortunately, that can delay going to the emergency room, allowing the problems to get worse. That was my experience. It is practically impossible to distinguish heart attack symptoms from indigestion. Even the emergency room once misdiagnosed me with indigestion after 3 hours of monitoring and intensive tests. We must never be embarrassed to go to the emergency room with chest pain, even if it turns out to be just indigestion!

Robert and I both have multiple health challenges, and we look out for each other, but this time, we were both quite ill at the same time. Ill as Robert was, he made me a salad the day I came home from the hospital. Thank you, Robert!

My two wonderful daughters came from their home in Dallas for a week and took excellent care of me. I did the walking I was supposed to do, and for a while, my recovery was going well. The typical recovery time from open heart surgery is about eight weeks and is very intensive.

After a couple of months though, I started feeling ill and ended up in the emergency room again. Two of the five grafts in my heart were 100% blocked, and I had to have them stented. I was in the hospital for four days this time and slept in a reclining chair because I was unable to lie down without chest pain until after the angioplasty.

I felt very tired and weak for several weeks after that, but my energy has begun to return. Some days are better than others. I am building up my walking distance again. Today was a warm, sunny day, and I walked outside for thirty minutes.

Even though I am not quite up to speed yet, I miss my blogging friends terribly. I may not be able to post often or read posts and comment as much as I would like. Please be patient with me, and know that you mean a great deal to me.

Thank you to those who inquired about my health while I was on break and those who wished me well.

Soon I will report on some ongoing projects I have been working on.

A belated Happy New Year! May 2025 bring you and your family good health, happiness, and success! ❤️