This year's kids

Judging by the number of young birds at the feeder, and by some just hanging around trying to figure out how and what to eat, this has been a good year. I don't know where the house finches build their nests, but there are a lot of young ones, all vying for attention from the seemingly ever-patient finch fathers who indulge them by feeding them until they are bigger than they are.

The curve bill thrashers were successful in raising their chicks and even Roadie, precarious though her nest was, saw two young roadrunners fledge. She and her mate were diligent and committed parents, and when I feared we would be disturbing her when the propane tank was filled 2 feet from the nest, she just hunkered down and stayed put.

But the laurels must go to the cactus wrens who managed to raise two separate broods in two nesting boxes, eight feet from the kitchen window. The last set of three fledged a week ago and the parents are back in the first nest box making it ready for a third batch. Also they are attentive parents who do us a great favor by keeping the porch insect free. They bring moths to the nest and take fecal packages away. What birds!

Both gamble and scaled quail have brought their young ones to the feeders, and there have been more than can be counted. Sometimes they are good parents, giving even Roadie a run for her money, but sometimes I wonder if they even know that those tiny little birds that behave just like they do, are indeed their brood.

This morning, after a 62 mile bike ride, we had the excitement of having to relocate a big bull snake that was about to snatch up a couple of baby bunnies in Buggsy's stall. The mother was frantic and the babies petrified, and although we like having the bull snake around because he keeps the rodent population under control in the barn, this was more than we could stand. So, he was carefully caught and relocated to an uninhabited part of the desert.

But how I can make a rabbit understand that raising a family in a horse stall, sweet as Buggs is, is a bad idea? And this is the second year she has tried to do so!