Lovely day here so I've been out weeding and putting mulch at the base of my trees. Cherries are almost ripe and the peach trees are laden, (although the squirrels usually eat those when we go on our hols.)

Anyway, I have a path lined by wax ligustrum bushes. At the moment they're blooming, and home to literally hundreds of young feeding Monarch butterflies. When you walk down the path they flutter all around you in a mini maelstrom like something out of a Disney film.

I also had to pause and chuckle at the sight of a young hawk and a young crow, high in the sky circling and playing tag for 10 minutes. I've seen them before, they seem to have become good buddies.

That's cool about the butterflies! We only get the sad looking white or yellow ones, till quite late any way.

Dragonflies, well I've seen a couple but it seems a bit early.

The Turkey vultures are out in force and they're kind of cool. Lots of hawk type eagle things about as well.

Cardinals are appearing and they've lovely.

A real sign of spring though, the dead road kills, usually possums, beavers and skunks.

Over on the other side of the continent, we had a warm spring day here and I saw my first snake of the season. It was a good sized garter snake and I nearly stepped on it. It was probably soaking up the sun, it was in an area on our land that was clear cut by the electric company last fall because they have lines crossing our wood lot.

We've had bad black file for a few days, few today though (maybe too windy.)

I love the monarchs, we get them later in the year. Plenty of milkweed, monarch food plant, grows around here. Before the monarchs, we see viceroy butterflies - they look almost identical to the monarchs but are a little smaller.

Hummingbirds feeding on nectar. Two or three outside each of my two large windows. Geckos scampering around on the walls.

Dead birds floating in the pool

This is supposed to be a record spring/summer for tent caterpillars. Their cob-webby tents are starting to appear up in the trees.

Someone sent me this Youtube clip of a black bear hoovering up tent caterpillars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGIJOtabQjs

We've got a few blue jays and cardinals around, but my favourite visitors at the moment are "English style" mallards and the "cartoon ducks" as my kids have christened them - think they are actually black bellied whistlers, but whatever they are, they are really cute. They seem to have a permanently surprised expression, and when they come in to land on the water they always bend their neck right down as if looking at the water thinking "Oh sh!!!!!!t"

Anybody got Mocking Birds?
Beautiful birds but yammering every day from the highest tree in 16 different calls...to let every other bird know that this is its patch.
Like pneumatic drills.

Can we have some photos please? Pretty please?

We get a few monarch butterflies down here in NZ. Would be lovely to see many.

I'd also like to see a mocking bird.

I'm so sorry Bevs, getting ready to head off to Chicago and I think they'll be gone by the time I get back...

I'll try to to find time to do it before I leave in the morning...

This is why I want to plant a buddleia bush or two. I've been checking the local garden centres, but have yet to see one....

We have Woodchucks trundling around now.

And Chipmunks, which I do like, but who ate the coil packs on Mrs. N.s Mini... Which makes them slightly less cute.

Mr. (Or maybe Mrs.) Woodchuck.

We have woodchucks in the yard too. My neighbor's son plans to shoot them... (Hopefully when we are not in the yard.)

So have you got the answer to the age-old question then?