In Our Backyard

Papayas like tropical weather and they don’t do well in a place like North Carolina even though we do have tropical like weather in the summer time. However, our tropical like weather doesn’t last long enough to sustain tropical plants like papayas. These papayas though, have been coming back to our garden for the last three years. We’re guessing that they are sprouting up from our compost pile. I like to buy papayas when I see some good ones at the super market that’s the only source of papaya we have around here. Certainly not expecting to get them from a tree! But these papaya trees, they just keep cropping up in our garden! The first time it happened, we thought they were okras so we didn’t mess with them and kept waiting for okras to crop up. Instead, their trunks got thicker and they got taller, but no fruit and certainly no okras either!

This is the first year that they’ve stayed in our garden long enough to bloom and actually bear fruit. Now I’m praying that the hot weather will last long enough for the fruit to get a decent size. Even though it may not ripen, I’m hoping I would get at least one green papaya for a salad or relish.

Papaya trees sprouted in the herb garden

Papaya flower with fruit bud forming inside

Papaya fruit bud after the petals from the flower had fallen off

Flowering papaya tree

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A couple of robins started building their nest in our garden in the spring. We worried about where they were building it because it seemed rather low. They built it on the ledge of one of the trellises for the grapes. The nest was high enough that I couldn’t look right into it and it was protected by grape vines and leaves, but all I have to do is hold the camera up over the nest and let it do the spying for me. Here are a few of the shots I took of the nest.

About a week after they finished building the nest, I noticed that the female started sitting in the nest. So on one of the few times that she left to feed, I snapped a photo of her eggs.

After about two weeks, I started getting curious how the eggs were doing so when the mommy left the nest, I again stole a shot and was surprised that the eggs had already hatched and these nearly naked and blind hatchlings were huddled together at the bottom of the nest.

I didn’t want to risk making their momma mad so I didn’t go near them again for a couple of days. Then one day, I heard lots of delicate chirping and saw the momma bird flying back and forth from the nest so I couldn’t resist anymore. They were still blind, (see their eyes?) and couldn’t see me well. When I got up there, they sensed my presence and they must have thought I was the momma bird because they craned their necks up and opened wide. This is my favorite shot of the bunch.

It didn’t take them long to grow though. Another couple of days and they learned how to play mum when I approached. They would be chirping away for their momma and as soon as they hear my walking near, they take cover in the nest and barely make a peep! I had to take a blind shot by holding my camera above my head and aiming it at their nest. When I checked my shot, I was surprised to find them fully covered with feathers and already looking like little chicks.

A few more days and they were out of the nest! We saw them jump down and test their wings. For a while, they just stayed close to the bushes under the nest, flying from one branch to the other. Before long though, they have disappeared into the trees and our little birdies got lost in the flock of birds up there, eyeing our garden waiting for worms.

I wondered if all three eggs hatched because I always kept seeing only two beeks and I saw from the furry photo that one looked to be smaller than the other two so I wondered if he survived. I didn’t see them all come out of the nest, but my husbands swears he saw three birds hopping around the ground that morning. I hope so. I am rooting for the little runt as always