June 6, 2005
We were suddenly called out of town for a week. Upon my return, I see that there are no doves on the nest, the tree blooms have all blown away, and most serious: there appear to be NO HUMMERS anywhere in the yard! Did they all get pissed off that I didn't change the nectar for a week? Seems unlikely. But the desert flowers are drying up, so they should be coming to the feeders, I would think. I may have to try hanging more feeders out in the yard, since mine are all under the eaves and not casually visible to those who are just passing by. (But I do have hummer flowers here, which should attract them too.) This requires further study, for sure.

Other wildlife news: last night the kittens caught a gecko, who had probably slipped in through a hole in the screen on the front porch. By the time I got to it, it was dead, poor thing. At least it answered my question about whether there are any geckos up here. This was the first one I have seen.