A big ruckus

Late in the day yesterday, when the birds settle down for the night, the crows suddenly got all agitated and set up an obnoxious cawing-- which usually means an eagle is passing over.   But this ruckus went on forever, and I was upset seeing "my" pair of white-crowed sparrows make that piercing parental alarm call, and flying back and forth like crazy things. I'm sure they have a nest hidden in the holly tree, and my worst fear was the crows had found and raided it. 

Nope, mystery solved.  All the avian fuss was about this cute little guy.  I spotted him poking around in the dense border under the trees, probably looking for worms and beetles.  And he wouldn't say "no, thanks" to an egg either, if it happened to fall from a nest.

But who knew birds detested possums to that extreme?  There's a little tunnel going under the shed, too big for a rat and too small for a racoon, so perhaps they made a summer home there.  Good luck to them in this harsh town.

Yesterday we went to an amazing hidden garden in Federal Way (of all places) called Powellswood.  The 3-acre property was purchased by a couple in 1993, the hideous site of an old garbage dump with soil so sterile weeds wouldn't even grow.  The smart owners partnered with the county on a research project testing the effectiveness of different mulch preparation on soil restoration.  Needless to say, it worked. The plants are so abnormally large, it felt like Jurassic Park.

 No, not paint splashed-- a stunning verigated hardy kiwi.
Garden envy rears its ugly head.