The Easily Distracted Gardener

09/05/2026

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🌺 The Great Hummingbird Migration Is Underway! 🐦

Every fall, these tiny travelers embark on an incredible journey, flying hundreds—and sometimes thousands—of miles from their summer breeding grounds toward warmer winter homes in Mexico and Central America.

Some Ruby-throated Hummingbirds even make the remarkable nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico.

And if your hummingbirds seem to have disappeared, don’t take your feeders down just yet! Late migrants may still be passing through and can use the extra fuel along their journey.

📍 Are you still seeing hummingbirds where you live? Tell us your state or province in the comments!

08/28/2026

❤️💚❤️

Hummingbirds are making their way south!
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Each fall, these tiny dynamos travel thousands of miles from breeding habitats across Canada and the United States to nonbreeding grounds in Central America. Along the way, they rely on networks of flowering native plants and healthy habitat to fuel their journey.

If you want to help these little jewels on their journeys south, remember to keep your feeders clean! Use a 1:4 white sugar-to-water ratio and change the mixture every few days, especially in warmer weather. No one likes mold or ants ruining their food — hummingbirds included!

Learn more about these tiny travelers on our website:
https://abcbirds.info/4qD0nld

08/20/2026

Oh yeah

08/18/2026

For some birds, fall migration is already underway!

As millions of birds make their way along their routes, a few simple actions can help make their journey safer:

• Make glass visible to birds with Feather Friendly® visual markers or Bird Divert™ Clear UV markers
• Turn off unnecessary lights at night

Small changes can make a big difference for birds on the move.

Follow tonight’s migration and to learn more through the BirdCast
Migration Dashboard: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/heres-how-to-use-the-new-migration-forecast-tools-from-birdcast/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_dndfkzzvrx

Migration movement graphic courtesy of BirdCast: https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/migration-forecast-maps/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_oh5okhzuxf
Lights Out alert graphic courtesy of Colorado State University’s AeroEco Lab: https://aeroecolab.com/uslights?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_jw1hvnsdov

08/02/2026

My favorite color in the summer is definitely Cherokee purple.

05/21/2026

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Most people hear a pileated woodpecker for years before they see one. The hammering sounds like someone beating a dead tree with a bat.

Then she lands on a trunk ten feet away — and the reaction is always the same.

She's the size of a crow. Every other woodpecker at the feeder fits in your hand. Your brain builds a template from downies and hairies: woodpecker equals small. The pileated breaks the template.

The rectangular holes in dead trees are hers. No other woodpecker cuts that shape. And the cavity she drills for nesting becomes the most competed-over address in the woods after she leaves — species that can't excavate their own depend on the ones she abandons.

The dead tree she's working on is the most productive thing in the yard 🌿

05/13/2026

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**Big Bird Surge This Weekend**

It doesn't get any better than this! The bird highway is coming back in a big way. The winds between 1,000 to 3,500 feet above the ground look perfect for a massive bird surge Friday night through Sunday night. A large variety of warblers are expected in this next wave. This will likely be the largest surge of the year and it is very possible this weekend into early next week will bring the best (or nearly the best) birding conditions of all of 2026.

05/09/2026

😂

04/14/2026

🌟

A comet that hasn’t visited Earth’s skies in 170,000 years is returning… and it’s already glowing brighter. ☄️✨

Comet C/2025 R3 (Pan-STARRS) is now visible under truly dark skies, and over the next 10 mornings, it will only get easier to spot.

This isn’t just another comet — it’s a once-in-a-human-history event.
The last time it passed by our planet, early humans were still sharing the Earth with extinct giants.

It will reach perihelion — its closest point to the Sun — on April 19, passing at a safe distance of about 0.5 AU (half the distance between Earth and the Sun).

Then comes its brightest moment:
On April 27, it will make its closest approach to Earth… shining at peak visibility.

But there’s a catch.

By then, this ancient traveler will disappear from Northern Hemisphere skies, making these next few mornings your only chance to witness it.

Miss it now… and you’ll have to wait another 170,000 years.

04/07/2026

Why?