While the rains have made a complete mess of most of the vegetable gardens, the flowers are doing superb! In fact, they are getting a little too large and the place is beginning to resemble some sort of florist shop gone berserk! One bed, in particular, is growing with wild abandon. The "miniature" zinnias are all of 3ft tall and covered with blooms. This is all good since I have no problem with hodgepodge gardens and they are serving a purpose.
Zinnias seem to attract more butterflies than the other flowers around the yard. Ruby lilies, marigolds, day lilies, four o'clocks, roses, gloriosa lilies and parrot lilies have all set forth blooms for the past two months but the butterflies all seem to gravitate toward the zinnias. Oftentimes, the insects seem to be almost intoxicated as they lose all fear of humans once they find that zinnia bed! While out snipping the spent blooms, the critters were literally crawling too close to my snips! Extreme care had to be taken not to harm the butterflies! What fun it is to be that "up close and personal" with these beautiful creatures! I think I shall plant zinnias in the vegetable plot and attract more "flying flowers".
This afternoon brought more violent thunderstorms to the Bayou. There was much wind, lightning and torrential rain for most of the afternoon on into the evening hours. This all made me concerned about the newest additions to our hillside. This morning during my early walk, I came across the telltale sign that a baby had hatched. A snow-white eggshell had been discarded away from the nest. It was still moist meaning that obviously the big moment had just occurred. This egg was that of a Mourning Dove and this was probably the second or third hatching this summer. Scanning the low limbs, I soon found what I assume was the father bird standing guard. Slowly I circled the area..almost immediately Daddy Bird literally flopped out of the tree. He staggered, dragging his wing as if hurt. Ahh, the nest was quite close. Sure enough, in a sapling oak covered with a wild Muscadine vine..a nest! Careful not to get to close (since I did not want to disturb Mama Bird) I snapped a few pictures of the nest and then backed away.
Daddy Bird went back to his guard post and Mama Bird remained with her hatchlings! I will check on them in the morning, hopefully they made it through the storms alright. Doves actually are not much as construction workers. Their nests are very sloppily made, sometimes with just a few twigs. An interesting note about doves though, they feed their young "pigeon milk" instead of bugs or seeds. This milk is made in the crop of the parent birds and then is regurgitated to feed the babies. These babies will stay in the nest for about two weeks if all goes well.
