PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

THE PEACHFRONT CONURE FILES
MY KENYA DIARY: IN QUEST OF EAGLES
MADAGASCAR DIARY: SERPENT-EAGLES, GOSHAWKS, AND MORE
TROPICAL STORM BILL CRUSHES OUR HOUSE LIKE A BUG PHOTOS
Hurricane Katrina Disaster Recovery and Photos
A Very Partial Index to the Entries
BIRDS***BIRDING***WILDLIFE GARDENING
SF/BOOKWORM***NUCLEAR/SPACE
POKER *** BLACKJACK*** TRAVEL
a donation is never required to read my site, but any you care to give will go to the bird food fund

photo copyright © 1987 by Elaine Radford, all rights reserved

100 things about me

Read this before you email me for the first time. Personal mail only. No spam. No mean people. If you can't say something nice, I'm not interested.

Recent entries
some death-defying species from madagascar, my death defied and her extinction defied, yeah both in one trip - 2009-08-11
the borg - 2009-08-10
appearing soon in your hometown - 2009-08-10
tweet - 2009-08-09
don't be talking about me in front of my face, yall - 2009-08-06

By public demand, and after a delay of an embarrassing number of years, I've finally put my notorious essay, Ender and Hitler: Sympathy for the Superman, free on the fabulous internets.

A bibliography of my published books and stories.

Here's my card-counting FAQ.

Visit my original website but I recommend putting pop-up/banner blockers on first.

A Sadean take on Asimov's classic Three Laws of Robotics can be found in Roger Williams' NOW REVIEWED ON SLASHDOT!!! The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. Adult readers only please -- explicit sex and violence. For updates on the "Dead Tree Project" and other topics, you may visit the localroger diary.

Visit Peachfront's Cookbook, for recipes that are fast, cheap, and good. A work in progress.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill blog by Mark Bittner about feral Cherry-Headed Conures in San Francisco.

an update on the hummingbird garden

2003-06-28 - 10:51 a.m.

Note: all photos © 2003 by Elaine Radford
On this gray overcast day, the backyard is alive with activity -- the Mockingbird fledglings insisting that they still need to be fed, the gang of adult and immature male Common Grackles cruising through with sinister intent, the immature or female (no full gorget on throat) Ruby-Throated Hummingbird flitting teasingly from flower to flower as I snap my photographs. I have possibly re-discovered the crazed dill-munching caterpillar, who -- assuming it's the same one -- found that potted dill I'd hidden near the tangle of the asparagus plants. The potted dill was promptly consumed and then, oddly, the caterpillar placed its chrysalis on an asparagus stalk that was tangled in with the dill.

I dug up these plants from a shady spot behind J.'s house in Folsom last summer. I didn't know what they were, because they couldn't bloom back there. Actually, I still don't know what they are, other than orange. The hummer tried them briefly then went back to the Cardinal Climber.

Here are some updated photographs of the wildflower area. It is a tangle of green finally tall enough to conceal the air-conditioning unit. Cardinal climber has taken the bait and climbed the feeder, and echinaceas are blooming freely.

I put out another suet cake before I wrote this diary entry, and the Mockingbirds and the gang of Grackles -- perhaps more than a dozen of them -- have already discovered it. Of course, the adult Mockers always shoulder their way to the front of the line but as soon as they take off to feed their fledglings, the Grackles are all over it, sometimes even landing on each other in their excitement.
Hold the Presses: As I was posting this entry, I observed a Mississippi Kite cruising over the neighborhood. Whoo hoo. It is never a bad day when you see a kite.
Hummingbird Report: Lots of hummingbird to-ing and fro-ing. Not sure if I'm seeing the same one or different ones. Sometimes the flowers are being used, sometimes the feeders.

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All Rights Reserved, Copyright © 2002-200- by Elaine Radford