Upon opening the blinds in my office this morning, I was treated to the sight of this female Northern Flicker foraging in the front yard. (That’s a lot of f-words.) First she was picking at stuff in the street, then she moved onto our dead grass and clay, where she spent a fair amount of time hammering out treats from the dirt.
There are lots of birds at the front yard feeder today—several Red-breasted Nuthatches, the usual chickadees and titmice, dozens of cardinals and jays, even a couple of Eastern Bluebirds. Supposedly it’s going to rain this afternoon, which would be the first rain on our house since September 14 and is probably why the birds are extra active.
Who needs grass? My experimental patch of White Dutch clover seed is actually sprouting in the front yard despite the drought, but I’ll bet a nice shower would really make it take off. On Monday Josh and I spread a layer of compost and seeded it with clover and thyme, then misted it to get it going. It’s already looking green with sprouts. The cooler nights help because a dewy layer develops into the morning, helping along the germination. We need to get something growing out there to keep the yard from eroding down the sewer, but I can’t and won’t run the sprinkler in this drought. If my clover experiment continues at this pace, by next summer we should have an entire front lawn of nice green clover that laughs at dry weather and needs minimal mowing. Bwahahaha!
