I have been busy trying to get ready for the launch of a new environmentally friendly gardening blog I will writing for the Washington DC Metro area, so I haven't been spending as much time in the yard as I would like. But I have seen a few interesting things.

First off, at least once a day, I see one or both of the swallowtail kites that have been hanging around. Sometimes I hear them first, sometimes I just happen to be lucky enough to be outside when they fly over. But it's always very cool. I know they aren't out there that often so the fact that I get to see them  always seems like one of those serendipitous sightings. My guess is that they hang around over near Lake Washington and just fly over my house during the day.

I saw three raccoons yesterday morning. Probably the babies that lived in our owl nest box during the cold of the winter. Not my favorite "critters" but kind of cute.

We have lots of cardinal babies and Carolina wren babies. I saw a diligent male dove helping to build a nest twig by twig the other day and just saw a bluejay with a few twigs  of grass. There are so many red-bellied woodpeckers, they must have nested someplace on our property but I'm not sure where.  And great crested flycatchers have completely ignored the beautiful new nest box I made for them and are, instead, using the old beat up one that has been previously used by both titmice and flying squirrels.

The titmice had a nest in another box but have abandoned it. Not sure what spooked them out of there but they were very agitated the last day I saw them using the box and I never saw babies.

I've heard and seen black snakes capturing some of the leopard frogs out by the pond. Always pretty eerie. I hear the frog crying as the snake pulls it back into the woods. Ugh. But that's life and death in the forest.

Anyway, lots of birds using the bird baths in this heat. Love to see the northern parulas in there, as they are some of my favorites. Cardinals and bluejays also seem to love to take a dip. But my favorite site of the last few weeks has been this beautiful barred owl taking a drink and a little dip of his own. It was a great reminder for me to make sure I keep the birdbaths full.

If you know anyone in the Washington DC metro area, I hope you will let them know about my new blog. It's exciting to me that government groups see the value in spreading the word about how to create environmentally friendly landscapes and I promise to make it as fun as they will allow! If you want to join the fun, you can subscribe to the posts or follow the blog on Facebook or twitter.

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