What's Nest?

Screech. Screech. Screech.

"That bird is driving me nuts," I complained to Mr. Ginley.

My pic...I'm no George Frankovich

"What kind is it? Don't you have an app for that?" was his reply

I recorded the noise and put it through the Merlin app on my phone. 

It was a grey catbird. Just to confirm my findings, I texted a photo to my sister, Diane, who told me that was a good guess, although the photo was lousy, so it was hard to tell. She also indicated it was probably screeching at me because it was protecting its nest. And that I likely had to put up with a couple of weeks of this.

Ain't nature grand?

So for the past 13 days, from early morning to late evening, Mr./Mrs. Catbird has become the soundtrack of our summer. He/she sits on the phone cable outside our back window and hollers at us. Sometimes Maggie joins in, and the two have what I think is a rather ironic cat-bird conversation. I imagine Maggie is saying something like, "I'm in the house, numbnuts, I can't get at your stupid nest, would you please shut the f**ck up!" To which the bird replies, "Screech!" Over and over and over...

In the meantime, other woodland creatures have made their way into our backyard. Returning the other morning from retrieving the garbage can, I spotted a bunny, a squirrel and a robin in my backyard. None were particularly bothered by my presence. They just kind of looked at me, saw I wasn't going to feed them, shrugged and went about their business.

Oh, and the groundhogs are back. But I can't talk about that without grinding my teeth. Let's just say I'm once again engaged in a Wil-E-Coyote vs. Roadrunner situation. I don't think that's going to change anytime soon.

I'll admit I was hoping the haze that filled the air would have a detrimental effect on the groundhogs, but I haven't see the little asshats coughing, so I'm guessing they're doing just fine. Meantime, I've been sneezing to beat the band. 

Oh, well. 

Hopefully, we'll get some rain soon. And the fledgeling will leave the nest so Mom/Dad chill out.

I'd like to be able to open the windows again without getting yelled at from morning till night.