The weather has been very un-Coloradolike lately--rains every afternoon, humidity, and clouds. The mornings have been sunnyish, but almost like clockwork we've been getting some real downpours (including hail) around lunch time.
That said, the wildlife is active in our backyard. We've had a Mule Deer doe munching leaves in the middle of the day a couple of times a week. The Violet-Green Swallow pair have been feeding young in the nest box on the outside of our house. They're making about 140 trips to and from the nest per adult each day. And a Little Brown Bat has been roosting in my closed patio umbrella.
The two Osprey nests (Hwy. 287 by-pass and Willox/Shields) were productive. It appears to me that each nest has two chicks, and I've seen both adults near each nest at least once this week. We have no idea of the fate of the chick in the Red-tailed Hawk nest behind our backyard. Once the tree foliage filled in, our view with the spotting scope was obscured.
All the rain has given us a very wild vegetable garden. Every night we have a big green salad, with fresh lettuce (five varieties), spinach, snap peas, and herbs. Just a few tiny tomato fruits are popping up, and a few small hot peppers as well. Our strawberries were few and far between, and what fruits did appear were eaten almost immediately by the birds (which is fine by me--a few Blue Jays and Robins are feeding young fledglings). Our two apple trees appear to have a nice amount of small fruit and the raspberry patch looks great. We're hoping to have another 45 lb. harvest in late August and early September.
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