My Midsummer Gift From The Birds
By Darkwing
@Darkwing (21583)
June 26, 2009 10:27am CST
Two or three years ago, I noticed a strawberry plant in my garden, beside the arbour. Not knowing where it came from, I assumed the birds had carried the seeds there, and deposited them where I regularly sit on my lounger. I do have a couple of regular bird visitors when I'm sitting out in the garden, in a blackbird and a robin. I won't go into the meanings of these birds, but they both come right up to me when I'm out there, and I talk to them. Yeah, ok... the sun hasn't got to my brain... I just have this way of talking to the birds and animals... even trees and plants.
The first year there was any fruit on the strawberry plant was the following year, and the cheeky little beggars stole them all before they were properly ripe. Then I started splitting the plants and putting them around the garden. This year, I saw the flowers, in May, and thought the same would happen... that the birds would be out there at dawn on the day the berries appeared, snitching them from under my nose. But no! The first plant and two ensuing ones that I split, have borne a mass of large, sweet strawberries... they're delicious! The ones that were only split last year have very small but equally sweet strawberries on them, and I'm thrilled with my gift from the birds. I've also had lupins spring up in the garden, and a couple of redcurrant bushes, which came from nowhere! I just love birds and encourage them to my garden all the time, along with butterflies.
Do you have any plants spring up in your garden which the birds have supposedly put there? Do you have fruit plants and bushes, flowers, or wild plants. I also have some foxgloves and bracken but I'm not sure if that's the birds' doing. I feel it's their way of saying thank you for their Christmas Tree and all the seed in the winter. Do you share with the wild birds?
5 people like this
13 responses
@saw2207 (1359)
• United States
26 Jun 09
Darkwing .
Thank you so much for that post. .. how refreshing to have come across your gift. With so many discussions around here moaning about people and making money . .or whose spouse is cheating . .or the numerous other non sense discussions . .your post here was a real treat for me!
I love to garden but never have really watched the birds .. . I probably will pay closer attention now! What I can tell you though is that I too have foxgloves and they bring the hummingbirds around &hearts
Once again thanks so much for sharing,
Happy Lotting to you!
@Darkwing (21583)
•
26 Jun 09
You're quite welcome, my friend and thank you for your encouraging words. I too have found it difficult to find discussions which were light hearted or repeats on the topic of a certain person's passing. I avoid them, like the plague. Oh.. but I tell a lie, I'm sorry. I did answer one about MJ, but it wasn't a morbid repeat of the news... more a comparison between him and Elvis Presley. lol.
I love foxgloves, especially the cream coloured ones, because they're more rare. We don't have humming birds here, unfortunately, as I'm in England, but foxgloves attract the bees, and all these insects interest me. I can stand and watch them at work for ages. Next time you're out in the garden, take fifteen minutes to sit quietly and watch the wildlife... I'm sure you'll be amazed. It's such a calming yet interesting experience. Sometimes, even tears come to my eyes when I think about the way these creatures must struggle through their lives with all the predators they encounter. But still, I feel joy in my heart and it brings a smile to my face to watch their antics. The birds, butterflies, dragonflies and bees teach me that if I work towards it, I too can fly high and free.
Brightest Blessings, my friend and thank you for your contribution.
2 people like this
Lotting To You . .
p.s. I often have the same thoughts and feelings about the birds . .GMTA
@allegradream (210)
•
26 Jun 09
Hi, I have a plum tree, cherry tree, strawberrys, raspberries and tons of herbs....I also try and grow vegetables..some successfull, some not so...the only strange plant that's appeared is what appears at the moment to be some sort of bean plant, its got a good strong stalk on it and has grown to a little taller than a foot in length, it had lots of white flowers that turned black and some of the black remains have green "pods" growing upwards out of them. I wondered if it was some sort of bean..but time will tell once Ive let the pods grow fatter, I shall take a peek inside..It appeared close to the fence that is next to a meadow on the other side of the fence...but I've taken a look and theres nothing else similar growing on the other side..I can only imagine that a bird had a seed in its beak, and rested on top of the fence, then dropped it...but I dont understand why it didnt pick it back up..I dont have any cats or dogs that would scare birds away...I do have 6 kids though and I have wondered if one of them planted a kidney bean or something similar lol
@Darkwing (21583)
•
26 Jun 09
I think that you may have a Broad Bean plant there, my friend. They have white flowers with a blackish mark in the middle and they turn dark also. There's a possibility that birds were fighting over a bean when it dropped to the floor, and maybe there was more than one bean so they didn't bother about swooping down to pick it up. Rather took the easy way out! lol. Of course, it could be as you said, that a bird picked up a seed from a garden, possibly not even realising he dropped it on passing yours. Or I just had another thought... it could have been eaten by the bird and passed straight through it, into your garden as it was close to the fence. It's amazing the things you find when you have a good look around, huh?
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.
1 person likes this
@allegradream (210)
•
29 Jun 09
Broad bean! Excellent, Ill really look forward to them when theyre ready for picking...Thankyou for your response :)
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
27 Jun 09
wow... that is incredible... it is so sweet that you receive a gift from the birds this summer... a nice strawberry tree for you... and as you say, it is sweet as well... lucky you... i would love to have a bird coming to my garden as well and plant some seeds in my garden too... who knows that i will get a nice apple tree so that i can save some money on buying apples... :-) anyway, enjoy your strawberries and your garden... take care and have a nice day...
2 people like this
@Darkwing (21583)
•
27 Jun 09
Yes, my friend... a wonderful gift indeed. I have several plants now through splitting them down. They are all giving me good crops of strawberries, but some plants are yielding smaller fruit than others. I don't mind that so much because they are all sweet and tasty. I have been managing to find enough for a dessert just about every day, recently, but soon, they will come to an end, and I will have to look forward to next summer. I think I'm going to have a few redcurrants too, and I've been contemplating trying to grow my own apple tree from the seeds of an eaten apple. 
I love to achieve good produce in the garden, but I don't have an awful lot of room. An apple tree with a seat beneath it appeals though!
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my friend.
I love to achieve good produce in the garden, but I don't have an awful lot of room. An apple tree with a seat beneath it appeals though!
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my friend.
@teapotmommommerced (10359)
• United States
27 Jun 09
darkwing my friend I have a pair of doves which come in the evening to eat out of my bird feeder. Now they have brought their baby with them, the baby is half grown.
I love to sit out in my back yard and watch the birds and the butterflies and then also the dragon flies. I have a pool and they come around the water. the dragon flies are red. I will post a photo of one sitting in my tree.
@Darkwing (21583)
•
27 Jun 09
What a lovely pic, my friend. I have commented on the picture itself, and thank you for sharing it with us here. I will return it with a picture of a butterfly on the buddlia, which I took last summer.
There are a few white collared doves which roost in my next door neighbours tree. They are one of the first, or most prominent calls I hear in the dawn chorus and they feed from my bird table also. They're a bit large to get onto the roofed table, so one feeds whilst another sits on the roof of the table, warning other birds off! lol. They're quite amusing.
Dragonflies, I love. There are always several over at the millponds, and in spring, whilst it's still quite damp, there are some that fly around my garden. They are turquoise in colour, but I've seen yellow ones as well. They're beautiful, but very difficult to photograph. You did well to capture your red one! I had a surprise a couple of days ago. I went out to pick some of my strawberries, and this frog leapt out of the undergrowth! Boy!!! Did I jump, or what? I have no idea where he came from but one of the neighbours must have a pond, what with dragonflies and frogs! There are a couple of herons which often fly over too, or sit on roofs watching for somewhere to swoop on the fish.
Like you, I love to be at one with nature... to just sit there and watch the proceedings, in the garden or beside the millpond. It's so soothing and wondrous a thing that Mother Nature has provided us with. I regard it as my second greatest gift, second only to life itself. Brightest Blessings my friend and thank you for your contribution.
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@teapotmommommerced (10359)
• United States
4 Jul 09
I am doing more and more to my back yard to get more plants and attract butterflies. I have a small garden and have squash and green beans. I bought a pillow stand from a store that is going out of business and turned it into a plant stand. It looks more like a hanging plant stand then a pillow holder to me. I then hooked up drip system to it last night so all's I have to do is turn my faucet on and they will get watered. I then have a plant stand "bakers rack" with loads of plants" on the patio also by hooking up the drip system this year I sure to have the pretties plants I have ever had. I love my patio and yard especially the swimming pool.
1 person likes this
@Kashmeresmycat (6369)
• United States
26 Jun 09
Awww, wish I was there with you Darkwing enjoying all that peacefulness. I love the birds too and feed them all winter, unfortunately, I get to enjoy them more when I go to the parks for a picnic.
So you have some nice sweet juicy strawberries do you?, mmmmmmm. Sounds delicious and you're very lucky to have a yard to enjoy all this beauty in. I use to have a small space in my other house where I could grow different vegetables and loved to do it.
The birds certainly love you and gave you a special treat this year.xxx..Bobbie
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@Darkwing (21583)
•
26 Jun 09
Yes, they certainly did, my friend. Everything seems to be growing in abundance this year, probably owing to the weather we've been having. The clouds watered the gardens well for me this morning early, before I got out of bed, and the day has been reasonably dry. More strawberries were picked which I'm going to have with some creme fraiche for my dessert this evening. 
I only have a small garden but at the bottom, there's that field of sheep... a couple of horses have been added to the flock as well, so it's ultra peaceful out there except for during haymaking! lol.
I enjoy the birds elsewhere as well. There was a robin came right up to my feet and he chirped at me full time, at Glastonbury's Chalice Gardens. Then, just a couple of days ago, I went to Bodiam Castle. I was standing on the end of the bridge across the moat, watching the ducks and huge fish feeding off bread being thrown in by visitors, when there was this flutting, and a duck landed on the handrail right beside me. He edged closer and closer to me, and was quacking all the time. I talked back to him and he even stayed long enough for me to take several photos... amazing!
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my dear friend. xx
I only have a small garden but at the bottom, there's that field of sheep... a couple of horses have been added to the flock as well, so it's ultra peaceful out there except for during haymaking! lol.
I enjoy the birds elsewhere as well. There was a robin came right up to my feet and he chirped at me full time, at Glastonbury's Chalice Gardens. Then, just a couple of days ago, I went to Bodiam Castle. I was standing on the end of the bridge across the moat, watching the ducks and huge fish feeding off bread being thrown in by visitors, when there was this flutting, and a duck landed on the handrail right beside me. He edged closer and closer to me, and was quacking all the time. I talked back to him and he even stayed long enough for me to take several photos... amazing!
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my dear friend. xx2 people like this
@Kashmeresmycat (6369)
• United States
26 Jun 09
HaHa, I knew what you meant with no problem. I just noticed on one of my posts I spelled beautiful wrong. You're right, the keyboard does it's own thing, lol!
Birds are such precious little things too, and you always were a special lady in my book. The birds are just confirming it. I would think the peace you have surrounding you helps your inner soul come through, so they know you're not going to hurt them, but are only there to enjoy their wonder.
We both know animals have an incanny way of knowing things in this life, Bless their little souls....xxx
2 people like this
@Rosekitty (19368)
• San Marcos, Texas
27 Jun 09
I love your story...and i love the presents from the birds..each year they gift me with new things and i always gift them right back..I've gotten trees,flowers and a new bush is forming..have to wait and see about that..and no its not the brownies..lol..
2 people like this
@Darkwing (21583)
•
27 Jun 09
Thank you Rosekitty, my friend. Yes, it's wonderful the way nature works to give us the best things in life. I had forgotten that an oak tree sprouted in my garden a few years back, which must have grown from a dropped acorn which either the squirrel or crows dropped. I put it into a pot because my garden is far too small to house a fully grown oak, but it became a bit potbound and flooded during heavy rain, so I'm going to have to transplant it to a bigger pot. I love oak trees, even though my birth tree is the hazel.
I looked out of the bedroom window at dawn, this morning, and the freakin' cat from across the road had jumped up to the larger bird feeder after the birds and pulled down the feeder. Peanuts were strewn across the garden and the feeder lie in the middle of my downstairs neighbour's lawn. I stood there watching for a few minutes, afraid that the birds might come down to it and be so engrossed in feeding that the cat would pounce on them, but first, after a few minutes, came Mr. Fox! lol. He sneaked round the side into the garden and I must have made the slightest sound or movement because his head swung round and spotted me. I uttered to him, "Ah, it was you, was it?" With that, he gave me a pretty strange look and hacked it to the bottom of my garden behind the bushes! lol. Dang... I didn't even have my camera in my hand. That would have been a wonderful picture!
Hmmm... the brownies! Are you sure, and where's mine, or perhaps I don't need them? 
Thank you for your contribution my friend... welcome back, and Brightest Blessings.
Thank you for your contribution my friend... welcome back, and Brightest Blessings.
@GardenGerty (157596)
• United States
26 Jun 09
I tend to share with anything that comes to my yard, beastie or birdie. I have some volunteer tomatoes this year. There is a pumpkin growing in my compost, but I believe it is my fault on that one. Me and the wild things tend to get along just fine. We put out cobs of "critter corn" for all to enjoy as well.
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@Darkwing (21583)
•
26 Jun 09
Oh yes... me too. I'm in an upstairs flat and have a badger trail down through my garden, where the badger comes each evening to take bread and cake crumbs off my downstairs neighbour's window ledge. He even says thank you before he goes, and in the spring, he brings his little ones with him! Sometimes, the crafty old fox will be seen, his ears protruding above the window ledge whilst he snaffles some of the crumbs, but that's between the badger and the fox... all are welcome.
Then, there's a regular squirrel visitor, who comes prancing along the top of the hedge and wraps himself around the peanut feeder. He chooses the bigger one of course... easier to wrap himself around, whilst the birds stay clear of him, on the smaller feeder. They're funny to watch. I have a pic of my squirrel which I'll post in here for you.
I love to encourage the wildlife to my garden. I plant special shrubs and plants to attract them, like the lobelia, for the butterflies, and lavender etc., for the bees. I love nature. Brightest Blessings, my friend and thank you for your contribution.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
27 Jun 09
I am craving fruit now but I do not get much as I cannot afford to buy it, it is so ungodly expensive here. I need to get some fresh fruit, my system is craving it.
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@winterose (39887)
• Canada
27 Jun 09
I am disabled and I cannot tend a garden, with all the things that I have to do with the little bit of money that I have, I cannot afford buying the pots even to try an indoor potting
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@Darkwing (21583)
•
27 Jun 09
Awww.. I'm sorry if I intensified your craving Rose. Do you have a garden or some pots where you could grow fruit plants, or trees? It's quite a rewarding pastime and the crops you get make them a very cheap commodity compared with the shop prices. If I could send you some of my strawberries, I wouldn't hesitate but I fear they'd be past their best by the time they arrived.
Brightest Blessings my friend. I hope you can find something to satisfy your cravings at a reasonable price. Maybe you can find something on offer? Thank you for your contribution. x
1 person likes this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
27 Jun 09
We do put out bread crumbs CHey loves to feed the birds
and I found a baby bird in the back the other day so I got it up and put it in front so mama could find it not sure where it went.
Have 2 doves stay under one of my rose bushes in the front yard I keep wondering if they are the same ones that was always there when Hubby was alive. How long do doves live?
I also get Blackeyed susans spring up in garden
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
2 Jul 09
I envy you your garden and your birds. It all sounds too delightful. We have terrible soil here and the bore water we have is worse...not conditions conducive to growing things.
If I was able I would add lots of manure and other necessary things to the soil but I don't have the money or the mobility and it saddens me greatly because I love spending time in the garden. These days I water (which kills them) and pull weeds which is causing further damage to my back.
Think of me please as you go about your pleasures in your garden, speak of me to your bird friends...brightest blessings. xx
@Darkwing (21583)
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27 Jun 09
Awwww... that's too bad, my friend. You're making me feel guilty now but then, I guess the presence of your cats could make a slight difference, where the birds are concerned. There's a cat across the road from us, which is hardly ever let into the owners house, and has been her for approximately two years. I have grown to dislike him a bit because although I know it's a natural thing for cats to do, I loathe finding bird feathers in my garden. It's not MY cat, so why should I have to suffer the consequences of it being there. A lot of the birds which used to inhabit my garden have moved on or been prey to this cat, and although I like all animals, birds and insects, I am beginning to feel a dislike for this particular cat. I won't harm him but if I see him preying on the birds, he gets a cold shower, lol. It's a pity that these owners don't take more care of him... I often see him sitting on their window ledge, and not being let into the house. In fact, they went away one Friday for the weekend, and the cat was shut inside. I kept seeing him at first the living room and then the bedroom windows, looking out for them. They finally came back on the Sunday afternoon, but this poor cat had been shut up for three days and I doubt he had food to last him. That sucks!
Ok... I've had my rant... lol. Thank you for your contribution my friend and Brightest Blessings.
1 person likes this
@prinzcy (32322)
• Malaysia
27 Jun 09
That is so sweet! Sometimes the bird can bring in something like that. Well, the only seed that birds carry to our garden was chili. We already have a few trees of them. Strawberry is definitely out of question. Even if a bird manage to bring in one, the seed won't grow to a plant due to the hot weather. Too bad~~~
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@Darkwing (21583)
•
27 Jun 09
Chilis are good too! No, I can understand that strawberries don't like the hot weather without a certain amount of rain. What sort of fruits grow where you are? Can you grow orange and lemon trees for instance?
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.
@flyisky (196)
• China
27 Jun 09
Well, it looks like you share your garden with wild birds very well. I will I had a green garden too. My grandparents live in an old house with eaves. When the spring coming, there are thousands of swallow fly in the wild field and they will pick a comfortable eaves to build their own nests. So, just looking up, we can see the swallow fly in and out to feed the baby swallow with pests. They do help peasants a lot to clear the pests who will do a great harm to crops. Therefore, my grandparents live happily with the swallow and told us not to disturb their lives.
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@Darkwing (21583)
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27 Jun 09
I wish you could have a green garden too, my friend. It doesn't seem fair that some of us are able to enjoy a garden and others aren't. Yes, your grandparents must be very happy to have the swallows as residents because they protect their crops to an extent. How wonderful.
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.
