Welcome to my zone 9 garden. My roots are deeply planted in the sandy soil of sub-tropical central Florida, where the summers are long and hot, but the rest of the year is paradise!

Monday, June 06, 2016

A Feathered Nest

Shortly after I started working on my new garden, I hung a plastic gourd birdhouse from the arbor. I was hoping that a mama bird might use it to feather her nest someday. Nothing happened the first year, even though the Carolina Wren checked it out and placed a few sticks inside of it.

 But recently when I was working in the garden, I noticed the Carolina Wren flying back and forth to the gourd. I got all excited about it and headed inside to get my camera.

Standing far away from the nest, I zoomed in as far as I could and was able to see a couple of babies in the nest.  Isn't that the cutest little face ever? After mama flew away, I walked past the gourd and could hear the chirps of hungry little baby birds.

As I sat at the back of the garden and watched mama fly back and forth with tasty treats, I noticed that she was plucking Zebra Longwing caterpillars off the passion vine growing just a short distance from the gourd. 

That wasn't exactly what I had planned when I planted the vine but, oh well, there will be more Zebra Longwings in the future. And, perhaps, that is why she chose to feather her nest in the gourd. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy the striking purple flowers, and the adorable little wrens as they learn how to fly.

As my garden becomes more established, I'm happy - actually, I'M THRILLED - to see more and more wildlife making it their home.



6 comments:

Leslie Kimel said...

Oh, I love your picture of the baby--so cute! That's awesome that the wrens nested in your gourd. It really is such a great feeling to see wildlife making themselves at home in your garden. It's so satisfying.

Your passionvine is beautiful, by the way!

Janice said...


Aww...you're right, that's the cutest little face ever! It's too bad about the caterpillars, but we have to respect the food chain in our gardens. Susan, thanks for sharing. _Janice

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Your garden is lovely and sustaining itself. A bummer about the zebra cats, but there will be more.

Happy Gardening ~ FlowerLady

Rusty in Miami said...

Nice pictures Susan, that mother bird is no fool she picked a nice garden to nest

Anonymous said...

Letting Mother Nature do her thing (birds eating your butterfly caterpillars) was one of the hardest gardening lessons for me to learn. I don't even chase the caterpillar eating wasps anymore - and trust me, that requires restraint. LOL

Your post makes me want to grow some gourds now . . . or at least order seeds for next spring. :-) Love it!

Susan said...

Leslie, it is satisfying to,have birds nesting in my garden. Hope they return next year.

Janice, so true about the food chain. Nature has its ways and I don't intend to interfere.

Thanks, Lorraine!

Thanks, Rusty!

Eli, My mom grew gourds one summer. They used her grapefruit tree as a trellis. It was fun. We still have several of them and that was at least 20 years ago.

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