Where's the Bistro?

After a night of disrupted sleep (the ongoing saga of the Tale of Two Kitties - more to follow), I awoke to find the Bistro clothesline laying on the ground this morning.  Apparently Bruinhilda decided to climb the rebar pole, which bent neatly in half, depositing the feeders a foot from the ground.  Very maddening.  The hummers are unaffected since the bear isn't interested in nectar (at least, not yet) but the other birds were flitting around giving me some verbal grief.  

Not a happy morning in the Bistro.  I put some peanuts out for the jays and a small dish of seeds for the little birds - basically they'll only get food when I'm out there to make sure no pesky bears come around.  And, eventually, if there's no food, the bear will move on.

In happier news our little male House Wren, who's been busy singing and building nests, has apparently attracted a mate - I watched them both darting in and out of one of the bluebird boxes today.  It's a box they've nested in before and is in an ideal wren-spot.  Big surprise - while I was watching the wrens, a male bluebird flew up and stuck his head in the box - which had the wrens all a-flutter.  Didn't see the bluebird again (and he won't attempt to steal the box from the wrens since their nest is pretty much complete and takes up the entire box) but I'll put up another box this week, just in case.  It would be lovely to have bluebirds nest here.

Meanwhile, the second bluebird box is getting lots of action from a pair of chickadees who have been flitting in and out of it all day.  I'll check inside the box tomorrow to see if they've started a nest.  I love having chickadees nest here - such fun to watch them.  

The Japanese honeysuckle (a non-native invasive, unfortunately) is in full bloom now so the hummers are not coming to the feeders much.  This is normal - they love the honeysuckle and as soon as it's done blooming in a week or two, they'll be back at the feeders.  And, even the lure of honeysuckle didn't deter P-Hummie from guarding the yard from the tallest crook in the garden!

For those who expressed concern about the proximity of the bear ...it's important to note that black bears are not particularly aggressive unless they are cornered or threatened.  In most cases, loud noises will cause them to run away.  And, since we live right at the edge of the woods, bears are a fact of life for us.  There are some basic principles that apply with most wild animals and one of them is NEVER run - it triggers the chase-instinct that most predator animals have, and a bear can outrun a human.  On occasions when I've come across a bear unexpectedly, I try to stay still or very slowly move away from the bear.  Easier said than done since our first instinct is to flee.  But I digress...

TTFN

Garden Notes:  the phlox is about 18 inches high already and the echinecea and bee balm are nearly a foot!  Both butterfly bushes are producing good foliage and looking healthy.