To read about the first "Backyard Antics" - https://steemit.com/life/@youhavewings/backyard-antics-true-stories-from-the-peanut-gallery

Out my back door, on any given day, you'll find a steady stream of backyard friends visiting. Breakfast, lunch and dinner they come...even in rain or snow.

It started many years ago when my children were very young. It was like National Geographic out our back door! It got so active, that I started feeding them....then hand feeding them...then more showed up!

An interesting experience (and education) I had watching the crows and squirrels relationship:

It became clear to me early on that the crows were afraid of the squirrels. Which really didn't make much sense to me given that I've witnessed crows chasing off hawks and other predator birds for quite some time. And, Of course the squirrels were afraid of the hawks but not the crows.

I watched as the crows worked together in organization to collect their bounty of peanuts one day - always requiring a lookout partner to watch as the gatherer crow nabbed a nut. This went on for about an hour - carefully, collectively gathering.

I had assumed that they were eating the nuts as fast as they were collecting them. However, I heard a racket of crow drama accumulating somewhere close by in my yard. I followed the noise until I located the epicenter of drama. What's this? The 12 crows had formed a circle in the yard and each one was entering the center and depositing their bounty of nuts. One by one, they entered the inner circle to make their contribution. Wow! I felt like I was watching some kind of secret ritual. It gave me such insight into how crows work together as a group for survival and shared resources. They are a tribe.

Then came the Great Heist.....
As I watched in anticipation - witnessing this rare and intimate look inside a crow's world - the last bounty of nuts was placed in the center of the circle. The EPIC moment! I am literally on the edge of my seat...tribal drums beating from recesses of my imagination.....What will they do next?!!!

Apparently, I wasn't the only witness to this crow ritual. From the four corners of my yard, the squirrels waited...covertly in their very own special ops stakeout. With the last nut placed, they simultaneous descended upon the unsuspecting circle of oneness as if they plotted and planned this great heist together. I was shocked. Appalled. With that, my view was disrupted by a storm of black flapping wings, chaos and an emotional tirade of screaming crows.

When the dust finally settled...there, where once there was circle....sat four very content squirrels in the middle of a pile of peanuts.

Meet Clyde:

Clyde is a new crow that has joined the tribe. He appeared for the first time this early spring with his girlfriend. What distinguished Clyde from the other crows was that he obviously had a broken foot and it was causing him a considerable amount of pain. I wondered if this injury was going to affect his survival. He soon disappeared through the summer months. Was he still out there somewhere with his tribe? Did they venture off to a new location or did his broken foot cause some unfortunate event - was he exiled from his tribe or something much worse?

Last week very early, I woke to this strange sound coming from downstairs. Emma and I rushed to go see what it was. All I could hear was a rapid succession of melodical clicks. It was almost guttural/throat-y. By the time we reached the bottom step, I was quite sure it was some animal at my back door - but who? Who would be making such an odd, intentional sound?

CLYDE! The crow with the broken foot was back!

It was obvious to see that he was no longer in pain and he had learned to survive with his now non-functioning foot. He adapted! He is ALIVE!

He was just coming by for a visit. It was interesting that he remembered after all these months and called out with his little clicking communication until I came to the back door. I would describe it both in feeling and sound as a purring type of sound but with clicks. That truly warmed my heart - both seeing that he was okay and that he stopped by to say hello and get a few peanuts ;)

----More on crow language: How Does It Work?: https://nature-mentor.com/crow-language/

In doing a little further research on the 'sound' Clyde was making. I discovered that it's called a 'rattle'. According to Candace Savage, author of Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys, and also Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays," it is used to acknowledge familial association.

You can hear the sound here. It's quite distinct and unusual! :)

Source

It was amazing to me that this his call woke me up and projected as far as it did. Listening to this sound, you can understand why I was so curious about it.

I am looking forward to Clyde's next visit.

Of course, my neighbors are complaining about 'all the crows' in the neighborhood ;) Shhhhhh

I just think they are amazing creatures and it's because of my encounters with them over the years that I have developed quite a fondness for them. I think they are incredibly intelligent, social with the right amount of mischief all mixed into their little personalities. I enjoy the fact that they stick with their tribe and help each other.

Wherever I am, whether in nature, a park, in a parking lot....there they are. Where there is 'one' there are others....people watching. They enjoy watching people! I caw back to them whenever I see them just because I'm a little nutty that way - but who cares! I'm more interested in impressing the crows than I am people. haha

In the last Backyard Antics story:

We now have two doves, a cardinal couple, a titmouse, bunnies and one of the most profound visitors, Lady Hawk.

So what are they doing now?

The Doves:

The two doves still consider our backyard their home and visit quite often throughout the day. What I didn't realize until recently is how stingy our little, 'sweet' doves can be! The little cardinal couple now has a baby that they bring with them for feeding and the doves will chase them off. They can be little bullies!

But I do enjoy having them hanging out with us. They've taken to lounging on the deck some days...sleeping the afternoons away.

Do they get along with the squirrels? Most of the time! I'll catch them all lounging around together some days.

This what I woke up to a couple weeks ago - So cute!

Cantaloupe was a total flop. It did, however, attract bees and yellow jackets! Not a total loss though, the wrens came along and speared a bee and ate it. Surprise! I didn't know they did that!

The doves have become quite tolerant of our presence. They don't seem to mind me photographing them either. I would even say, they're just as curious about what we are doing as we are with what they are doing.

The Cardinals:

I have fallen in love with our little cardinal couple and their now baby!

Like the doves, they definitely don't mind our presence and allow us to come very close to them. A couple months ago, they brought their baby to visit and feed which was absolutely 'adorable'.

I simply cannot get enough of their little 'chipping' noise!

I'm fairly certain that the family either lives in our camelia trees or the front holly tree (they peer into our front window from the branches, bowing their heads as if saying 'hello').

Apparently they love mealworms, so I think I am going to surprise them with a special treat in the next few weeks. Maybe I'll record the special event and share on Steemit. I'm really excited to try this and maybe our Robin will make an appearance more if she has some mealworms.

To learn more about the mealworms:
https://wildbirdsunlimited.typepad.com/the_zen_birdfeeder/2011/05/faqs-about-feeding-mealworms-to-the-birds.html

Other birds that enjoy the mealworms:

• bluebirds
• chickadees
• nuthatches
• titmice
• wrens
• orioles
• robins
• woodpeckers
• warblers

This adorable little baby cardinal was still being fed by her mama. I managed to capture some of the feeding.

The reason she seems to be 'sideways'? I don't know! haha She stayed like that for the longest time doing her little sweet tweets. I was a little concerned she'd fall off the side, but she was just stuck there sideways. Maybe she was just overwhelmed and over-joyed being out with her parents for a foraging adventure.

Click to watch these adorable short videos:

Family eating together :)

The Robin:

I always see Miss Robin out and about in the yard. Our soil is full of worms for her to eat. She usually enjoys spending time with my husband when he is tilling up the soil and planting in the veggie garden. So, she is pretty friendly and curious around people by now.

It was almost comical when I mentioned to my husband that I've never seen the robin visit the deck and then she suddenly appeared 'on the deck'! I just think she is absolutely beautiful! Such a sweet face.

Some new visitors:

This is a titmouse. They are pretty small but oh so cute. They are quick and only stay long enough to grab a morsel and they flit away! Have to be quick to snap a photo!

I wasn't sure what this little birdie was. He's brand new! But this is a House Finch. Judging from the beak, he's probably exclusively a 'seed eater' but I recently found out that they prefer 'plant based foods' which is suppose to be very rare in the bird world. Hmmm Wonder what kind of plants they like to eat?

Here's a another new little visitor that I wasn't sure about. It's a White-throated Sparrow.

Oh yes, why not! We have a lizard that now visits pretty regularly. Do they hibernate during the winter?

This little guy is a Carolina anole. They do change color like a chameleon but typically stay a bright green color. They might also change to a brown color if they are stressed or cold. It was a little cold this morning so perhaps that is why he's looking a little murky.

Is he begging for food because everyone else is? haha!

The hawk (I've affectionately named her Lady Hawk)

She has been by just a few times over the last few months but I hear her often as she flies over our house. I have yet to write her amazing story but if you peer into her eyes, you will get an idea of how special she is. She's been with us for 4 years now and anytime she visits it is a gift although I also wonder if she's trying to prepare me for something. This is a photo I took 3 years ago during a most difficult time right after a particularly powerful moment between she and I. She doesn't only come to warn me, but she also comes to comfort. If you think that is strange and out there, consider that this photo was taken with her blessing (I asked her if I could photograph her! haha) She allowed me to come within a few inches of her and as you can see, she was perfectly calm and posing for me. I probably took a hundred photos this day - it was amazing! Hawk's usually have a stern gaze, but not Lady Hawk - she has this compassion and sweetness in her eyes...this warmth. I just love her!

And yes, I would say that her visit this time was a message to prepare myself. I've been through this with her sooooo many times. She appeared only hours after I finished my "Forgiveness" post Source which was weird enough. So naturally I attributed her visit to that, but there was a small part of me that thought, "Oh no, I hope this isn't one of those warning visits.". It was only a couple weeks later that we lost Bay.

The Squirrels:

What can I say, these funny little creatures bring us sooooo much joy every day. I just adore them and dote over them every day all day long and they in turn do the same. It doesn't matter what time of the day, usually there is either one or two squirrels hanging out.

It's the cutest thing in the world when they plop down in the sun flat, like a pancake, with their little legs sprawled out behind them. Or I happen to look up and see their adorable little faces peeking in the window to see what I'm doing. This has been going on for a looooong time!

And for the @IFC finals, I even did a photo shoot with them as they helped me get one of the items on my list for the photo scavenger hunt in June. Did we have fun?! Oh yeah!

A little behind the scenes look at what went into making that great photo: https://steemit.com/@youhavewings/backyard-antics-does-ifc-photo-shoot-a-behind-the-scenes-look

Now that it is Fall, it's a busy time for squirrels. This is what they've been up to lately:

Peanut?

Thank you!

And then the poses come....little hams for the camera!

Hey, you're not digging up my plants and burying your nuts, are you?!

It's about time for the pine cone treats

It's a fun craft to do with the kids, but we've made it a tradition. Super easy, but the squirrels really love them.

You'll need:

• pine cones
• 2 plates
• bowl
• string (if you're going to hang them on the trees)
• bird seed, sunflower seeds (all non-salted and without chemicals like pesticides, etc)
• A nut butter without additives (preferably organic)
• spoon or spatula

Instructions:
It's a lot less messy to wrap your string around the pine cones first. Be aware that pine cones also have stickers so if doing this with little ones, it is advisable to cut off the stickers first.

Put the nut butter in your bowl. It's better to add a little at a time as needed.

Pour a decent amount of seeds onto one of your plates.

It's best to lay these out in an assembly line with pine cones first, bowl and then plate with your empty plate last (this will be for placing finished pine cones).

Get to slathering! You might need your spoon or spatula to get the butter into the crevices of the pine cone.
Roll in the seed covered plate

Yummers!

If some of you are worried about the hawk with the squirrels, interestingly enough Lady Hawk doesn't seem to bother them. In fact, after the first Backyard Antics, they all appeared together as if they were pleased with the post. LOL Maybe a coincidence, but it was a pretty amazing moment.

Crows don't like hawks and chase them away, hawks eat squirrels - and yet, as you can see, they are all together in this photo happy as can be together. Go figure!