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In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Learn more about the project and see all the 365 Nature posts.


This summer, it feels as though there has been few birds in our yard, or if they’re there, I just haven’t paid attention. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed a return presence of the Bewick’s Wren. In the spring they nested in our yard and I watched them constantly, but since then I’ve only seen or heard them occasionally. Recently though, every time we go out back they’re there with their alarm calls.

This morning a lone crow sat on our neighbor’s roof and watched us. I watched it in turn as it preened and uttered a series of caws. This afternoon I noticed the peanuts I’d left out on Day 254 were finally gone. Who took them I can not say because we were gone in the morning. Later today I again had the wren calling an alarm and at the same time a flock of Bushtits made their way through our yard. With the feeders back up and filled, we should start seeing more birds and once we get new suet made and new hummingbird water, our yard will once again feel like autumn.

Today I also noticed the sundew carnivorous plant I’d gotten on Day 236 was blooming with small, pink flowers.

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Kelly Brenner

Kelly Brenner

Kelly Brenner is a naturalist, writer and artist based in Seattle. She is the author of THE NATURALIST AT HOME: Projects for Discovering the Hidden World Around Us and NATURE OBSCURA: A City’s Hidden Natural World from Mountaineers Books, a finalist for the Washington State Book Awards and Pacific Northwest Book Awards. She writes articles about natural history and has bylines in Crosscut, Popular Science, National Wildlife Magazine and others. On the side she writes fiction.

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