Look what I found in the garden.

I was out in the garden this afternoon taking pictures between rain storms. One of the male cardinals was really squawking at me and the photo shows why. I didn't even notice the bird until I focused the camera on some plants. What a nice surprise.

so did you leave the little baby there or did it need assistance? I rescued a baby noisey miner once, it was going swimmingly till the cat got it!

Hi weed woman (great name BTW),
The baby cardinal was trying it's wings, not injured or abandoned, the nest is in a near by tree. The area it landed in is in the garden with good protective cover so I just removed myself and the parents took over. This was the second brood of cardinals that hatched successfully this year in the same area. The 1st nest was in the grapevine arbor. I also had 2 nests of Robins close by, one in the rose arbor and the other in the native honeysuckle vine. After reading "Noah's Garden" by Sara Stein I tried to create a wildlife friendly area ( with many native plants) in a small suburban yard and at the same time have a pretty garden so the neighbors don't complain. After about 15 years I think I have come close to my goal.
I'm sorry about the baby noisy miner you lost to the cat. I'm not familiar with that bird. What does it look like and is it common in Australia?

The bird landed near the purple coneflowers. The red leaved purple plum street tree( you can just see a few leaves) is where the nest is.

http://www.fauna.com.au/birds/noisyminor.php . This is a link to the page about noisy minor (I spelt it wrong before) They are very common here and hang around in gangs attacking the cat and always interfereing in other birds business.
Yor garden looks lovely. Do you have a tour or diary with pics?

Thanks for the photo and information about the noisy minor weed woman, they look almost clown like.
I don't have a photo diary but I can post a few photos here to show my "wildlife" friendly garden.
This is the sidewalk strip garden with primarily switch grass, black-eyed susans and aster now.

Here is the side garden which includes an herb garden and a grapevine arbor.

This is part of the back garden.

Oohhhh, very nice. What is the lovely conifer you have hanging in the background of the last pic. Beautiful!

There are 2 large Norway Spruce taking up the whole backyard. I just garden around them. The original owners must have planted them after they built the little gazebo.

I enjoyed this thread. What a beautiful garden. I'm going to look for that book. My (grown) kids like to say that their Mom and I have a "zoo thing" going on. Love butterflies and humming birds. Thanks for sharing.

That's my kinda garden!

A+++++++++++++++++

Ditto Equil. :~)

Thanks for the complement Dave. Thanks also to Equil and pepper for your kind words. DG has been a big help for information and encouragement. It's nice to be able to talk about or show photos of the garden, and resident creatures, without causing people to have their eyes glaze over. Of course, I can't actually see your eyes after I post similar photos, with slight variations, yet again, LOL.
Dave, If you enjoy Noah's Garden the successor "Planting Noah's Garden" that includes gardens through the country is also interesting. What kind of animals inhabit your "zoo"? There is a very informative forum about hummers and butterflies on DG.
Equil, this is a photo of how little lawn is left.

In looking at the photo, what is jumping out at me is the use of native plants. That's what is doing it for you! You're a little oasis in your community for the native critters.

You've really done a remarkable job over the years and it shows. Not all people are artistic though. Yes, I know you are but I'm one who isn't and must sort of copy what I like that other people do (like you) and try to re-create it over here by on my property me somehow. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't for me. I try though. I did take a chunk out of my lawn again this year. Every year I whittle away at it bit by bit. Soon, all that I want gone will be gone and all that will remain will be native short grasses that don't need to be mowed but once a season.