These cuties are always wrestling with each other! There is one that seems to play and then will go to check on what it’s momma is doing and then runs back and plays some more!
http://thea-creations.smugmug.com/Other/listen2thea-gallery/17024928_LdXXLZ#!i=3192525907&k=tvxCgM4
http://thea-creations.smugmug.com/Other/listen2thea-gallery/17024928_LdXXLZ#!i=3192519899&k=kPPwTKM
I was out working in the yard when I looked up and saw THREE fawns at the top of the hill and momma. I very slowly and as quietly as I could, turned around and went into the house for my camera. One of the fawns retreated into the woods when it saw me moving but the other two stayed out for a short bit. I was wondering if the spot pattern is the same or different for each fawn. I would imagine its different, but they do look very similar from what I can see. I love fawns!
A quick update on the Bluebirds. Their babies all grew up and left the nest and now they are setting up a new nest I believe! They are still Tap tap tapping at my windows but we’re used to it! 😉
After the wrens destroyed the eggs of the Bluebirds first nest, they moved to a new house–actually the house they used last year and built a new nest. They’ve been insistently tapping at all our windows since their first nest was attacked, no matter if I cover a window so they can’t see their reflection, they just move to a different window. Not only could I not cover all the windows in my house but it was starting to become annoying as it sets our dogs barking up a storm. I know they’re supposed to be attacking their reflection, but it was obvious that they could see right into the house and would sometimes just sit on the window sill and look into the living room! I think they may have learned their lesson though as our garage window was open and instead of tapping on the window the male flew right in—to his surprise I’m sure! Of course he couldn’t figure out how to get back out right away and was quite frightened. I opened the garage door but he didn’t fly out that way either. After a few minutes he left the way he came in and since then they’ve been much more wary about tapping on the windows! 🙂
Today I decided to check the nest and I’m happy to report 4 babies that seem to be doing well. I’ll try to get more pictures when I take them out to check for Blow Fly larva attacking them. Here’s their first picture for you enjoy. 
Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of their summer! Unfortunately we have been plagued with one form of a cold after another and passing it back and forth between family members. It has been quite miserable all in all, but as the kids last day of school approaches I’m looking forward to the summer more and more!
Have a great day and thanks for listening to Thea!
The Bluebirds picked a different bird house this year but they have finished building their nest and as of yesterday there are 5 eggs filling it! 
I tried to get a picture of the Chickadee’s nest but momma wouldn’t not leave the birdhouse when I tapped on the side—she’d only fly up to the hole and look out at me and then go back to the nest so I didn’t disturb her any further…
Well, I’m very sad to say that my little family of Bluebirds has left the nest. They left before the 4th of July and I missed the entire thing. Momma & Poppa seem to still be around but so far the babies haven’t flown to the meal worm feeder at all. I don’t know how quickly they leave the care of their parents once they’ve left the nest. Usually with other birds I notice the babies are there with their parents as the parents will still feed them food except now it’s on the tree rather than in the birdhouse. You can always tell a youngster because they are extra chirpy and flutter their wings allot. I’m keeping my eye out for them!
I’ve cleaned out the nest box and hoping momma & poppa will set up their 2nd nest there–fingers crossed! 😉
Here’s a picture of Momma and Poppa–Poppa has the brighter colors.
Here’s the Baby Bluebirds first ever picture taken.
Here is the last picture taken of the baby Bluebirds approximately 4 days before they left the nest.
Fly free my friends!
There’s nothing like a refreshing night swim before heading up to bed. It’s hot in the bedrooms so a nice swim really does the trick of making you comfortable. We have 4 globe lights around the perimeter of our pool but its soft lighting. We were enjoying the water when we noticed a dark shape in the pool. Our first thought was that it was a cricket but then it spread it’s legs and kind of moved across the water. It was a large black spider! This is the third time I’ve removed these large spiders. Normally, I don’t see anything this large on a regular basis so it does freak us out. But, you know me, I’m fascinated by it at the same time! So, I grabbed my camera phone instead of my regular camera—SHAME ON ME as I would have been able to get a much better picture with my Canon! Oh well, here’s a picture and a video. You can actually see the baby move on it’s back quickly in the video.
http://thea-creations.smugmug.com/Other/mobile-uploads/17813514_4kjHqQ#1366866603_sd79tNz-A-LB
I forgot to add–we came in and bought some more pool lighting! 😀
Do you love Bluebirds?
Attract them to your yard by enticing them with meal worms!
All birds love meal worms so you are going to need a lot of them!!
Here’s a female Oriole enjoying some meal worms!
Here’s a male Oriole enjoying meal worms
I love wild birds and have had Eastern Bluebirds visit my yard but hadn’t been able to get them to set up a nest. So I purchased a bag of meal worms online which the Bluebirds LOVE but they aren’t cheap! So I decided to start my own meal worm farm so I would always have them on hand! You can never have enough meal worms in my opinion because as soon as the other wild birds discover them they’ll be gobbling them up too!
You may be thinking— meal worms –EWWW GROSS!!! But they really aren’t–they aren’t slimy like earth worms, they don’t bite and watching them transform through their life cycle is really rather interesting.
Mealworms are the larva form of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, a species of Darkling Beetle. They go through four life-stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
The Darkling Beetle at the Adult Stage: When first hatched are white and within a day darken to a dark brown to black color. They have wings but cannot fly and don’t give off any odor as some beetles do as a defense mechanism.
The adult males impregnate the females and within days she will lay approximately 500 eggs. These eggs are TINY like dust that floats through the air but you never see unless the light is just right.
After 1 week the eggs hatch and larvae (tiny mealworms) emerge. Once again they are so small like an individual hair strand. But they grow and grow and grow into larger mealworms. Perfect for feeding to the birds! 
During the larva stage, mealworms will undergo repeated molting (shedding of their outer skin)between bouts of eating various vegetation. This takes place 9-20 times as it gets too big for its current exoskeleton. During its last molt, it wiggles out of its skin and emerges as the pupa stage shown below.
When it first emerges from its skin it’s very white and then turns a dirty yellow color as it ages.
In the pupa stage they don’t require any food or water. They basically lay still unless touched by something and then they wriggle around. As they get closer to emerging as a beetle its features are more easily seen as they’ve darkened and they do a constant little wiggle of body its body signaling they are about to transform.
Temperature affects how quickly or slowly the mealworm passes though the different stages.
How I keep them Wrangled! 😉
I built my farm using a small plastic Sterilite 3 drawer storage shelf from Wal-Mart.
The top shelf holds the mating beetles, the 2nd shelf has only Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal in it
and the bottom drawer holds growing meal worms.
.
The top drawer I’ve cut the bottom out of and glued in fabric window screening to replace the plastic bottom. This way when the adult beetles lay their eggs they drop down to the 2nd shelf where they are safe and just continue to grow. By the time the bottom shelf of growing worms has either been used up(fed to the birds) or transformed into pupa-I can just switch the 2nd shelf to the bottom and start a fresh egg catching 2nd shelf.
Beetles in Top Drawer with mesh screening in the bottom of the drawer
Growing Meal worms in the bottom drawer
I use Quakers Old Fashioned Oatmeal as a bedding and food source because they like it and it’s readily available at the grocery store. Put about an inch to two inches in the bottom of the 2nd drawers. I use a thinner layer in the drawer with the beetles as it takes them a long time to eat it and I want the eggs to drop through easily.
You can take a paper towel or newspaper, wet it and squeeze all the liquid out and they will be able to drink the moisture from it and they love to get between the layers of the towel/papers when it dries. Don’t get it too wet though because too much moisture will create mold.
They like eating pieces of potato, apple, squash, orange peels, carrots, use your imagination–put it on a paper towel or skin side down on top of the oatmeal. Some things will go bad before they can eat it so be a good worm farmer and check up on them frequently and replace pieces that have started to mold. Do not over feed–a little goes a long way and they can actually go a long time without extra food besides the oatmeal. But by feeding them the extra moisture food it keeps them plump with nutrition for whatever your feeding them to.
I check my meal worm farm often and sort out the pupa from the bottom worm drawer and place them in a separate plastic round container until they hatch into the beetles and are moved into the beetle drawer.
Maintenance- The beetles & meal worms create frass which is essentially their poop which looks like brown to black fine specks that end up on the bottom of the drawer under the oatmeal. As they eat their way thru the oatmeal you will eventually end up with more frass than oatmeal. They don’t seem to be bothered by it all but to clean that up I use a wire mesh strainer (found in the cooking utensils section of a store) to separate the frass from reusable oatmeal and the worms & beetles. However the tiny worms that are freshly hatched will go right thru that strainer with the frass. So I keep the frass in another bucket for a few weeks and then strain out the grown worms a few times before discarding the frass entirely. The frass makes excellent fertilizer for indoor or outdoor plants, just make sure to work it under the soil for indoor plants.
**Make sure to do the straining in a well ventilated area or even better, outside because it is dust like and you don’t really want to be breathing that. For this reason I would think people who suffer from Asthma might want to steer clear of this hobby or wear a protective breathing dust mask.
**Beware of moth or mite infestations. Since Indian meal-moth eggs are found in almost all grain products, it might be helpful to bake the food medium to kill any moth eggs that arrived in the food medium, before putting the food medium into the bin. I usually don’t worry about it but some people do so I thought I would mention it. For purposes of this discussion, we’ll select wheat bran as the food medium. Baking can be done in the regular oven or microwave. If in the microwave, this is not a long process. Generally, 10 cups of bran need microwaved for only about 4 minutes. However, microwave ovens vary in power. So, until you are familiar with how your microwave will work on the bran (or other food medium), watch it constantly. (It is possible to burn or ignite the bran.) Regular oven baking requires however long for the center of the amount of bran being baked to reach 212 Fahrenheit (the “boiling point”). (Note: if there are already moths in the home, they will lay new eggs in the baked bran. The baking will only kill the eggs that were in the new bran.)
That’s about it! Happy Meal Worm Farming! 🙂
Thanks for Listening to Thea
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