Critters, the Tree

We have been enjoying sparrows, cardinals, black capped chickadees, and now, in the last few days, house finches eating the safflower seeds on the window feeder.

Here's a house finch on the top of the garden window, getting ready to go to the feeder.

It noticed me right away, and seemed to wonder what I was doing.

The rosemary plants look like they've made it through the winter.  I'm hoping it gets warm enough for them to go outside in the next few weeks.

Look at that face!  I hope to see more house finches around.

The black capped chickadees are such characters!  They are the most frequent visitors to the feeder, and are still pecking at it from time to time.  I almost wonder if the pecking causes more of the seeds to go into the feeding area.  They seem to face away from the window a lot.

We had a covering of snow this morning, and could get more tonight.  When I looked out this afternoon and saw that it had melted, I also noticed a squirrel eating something by the curb.

Larry added some food to the back feeders this afternoon, and I kept looking out the back door window to see if any birds were eating.  This suet has been out awhile, but only a little has been eaten.  I saw a female woodpecker eating, but the photos did not turn out very well.  Maybe now that it's cold again, they will eat from it more.

Do you think this sparrow is thanking me for putting the rest of the seed mixture out, or trying to figure out if I'm planning on opening the door?

The dark eyed juncos are good looking birds.

When I looked out later, I saw a male woodpecker.  Again, the photos were not so great.  They don't stick around once they see me with the camera.

We have had three estimates for cutting the silver maple down, and are expecting one tomorrow, and one Monday.  The first one was the highest so far.  The last one was a little more than half of what the first one was.  The first company is a landscape company, and the third, a tree service.  They are both certified arborists, licensed with the city, as are the others we are considering.

It is going to be a huge adjustment losing the tree.

I was going to put these photos in a SkyWatch Friday post, but didn't get it done.  The branch veering off to the left is the one that has the biggest hole (that we know of) in the base of it.

This is where the baby squirrel is.  The extension office said it will be out of there in a little over a week.

Larry and I continue to have different ideas for this area.  From what I've read, we shouldn't plant another tree for a few years.  It's going to have to be a smaller one, because the city said it has to be 5 feet from where the sidewalk would start if there was one.  The tree is about 8 feet from that area as it is, and I've read and been told that one should plant the new tree 5 feet from the cut down tree.  It's going to be a challenge.

I need to move the plants at the base of the tree, and some in the planter by the house will also need to be moved.  They won't like the full sun.

At supper, Larry mentioned putting in a raised bed the size of the one that's there.  I told him I was thinking the area with the ground stump would probably be bigger than that.  I said I was thinking we could put some bricks in the area between the planing area and the sidewalk, where we usually have a bench and a couple chairs.  I thought we could put a fence across the front of the bed, and plant some big flowers to make the area more private.  I still am thinking about annuals, but some tango lilies and other tall plants may look nice there.  I had mentioned sunflowers, but Larry reminded me the squirrels usually knock them down. He's not thrilled with more dirt or mulch showing, and said he thought a raised bed would look nicer.  I said, OK, let's put a big raised bed in there, and plant some veggies!  Well, that's not what he had in mind, either.

What would you do with this area until you figured out whether you can plant another tree?

 

I wonder how many critters are going to be homeless due to cutting the tree down.  I have an area in my garden across the street where I'd like to put a big branch or two in for them.  We hope to cut circles to put in some flower beds, too.

I am linking into Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  The link is in my sidebar.