Cheap garden entertainment?

I'm not talking games necessarily, but my neighbor and her grandson enjoy peeking out of their bathroom window, where they can watch the chickens in my back yard scratch about and go up the tree.

In another post, I mentioned setting a pot of stinky liquid fertilizer on top of the lid of the bucket I made it in, then sitting there to watch the flies, then the lizards, gather...and the lizards having a snack.

What other cheap garden entertainment do you enjoy?

Some unenlightened may scoff at what seems ridiculous.

But we all know how miraculous Nature is...and how delightful some of these simple pleasures can be! (especially as we rush about doing a million chores and preps, with the world seeming to fall apart around us!)

I spotted a baby praying mantis in another liquid fertilizer bucket this morning...so wild looking, with those huge eyes, triangle head, sitting there swaying back and forth, arms cocked and ready.  Haven't ever seen one of them catch anything, though...

I like to walk around with my scissors, looking for any dead branches, "chop and drop". I also love to look for ripe fruit and ate it on spot, at the perfect state of matureness. This is what pays for the hard work.

My cheap garden entertainment is sawyer bug launching. Sawyer beetles seem to love smacking into me, then crawling up to my neck if I don't notice them on impact. The first time this happened I grabbed the bug and threw it. The darn thing made an audible noise as it hit the ground. I think I stunned it.

Now I just let them land (usually on the front of my shirt), then pull them off and toss them into the air. Half the time they take off and half the time they hit the dirt and sit there for a while with their legs tucked in. I'm not sure if they're just a little slow on the uptake or just lazy.

A few things... watching the Goldfinch trapeze act as they feed on our sun flowers.

We used to have Mexican petunias filling a whole bed in the front.  Super aggressive and prone to spreading so we spent three years aggressively digging and sieving out roots until they were gone.  We built a walkway around that bed and my mom missed them so they were replanted last fall.  Soon I expect to be able to reliable watch hummingbirds feeding drop them every morning. The hummingbirds aren't as fond of the sunflowers.

And a couple of years ago we had the great experience of two green anole set up territory on either side of our porch.  These color changing lizards are always fun, but the males have a territorial display were they flash an inflatable red throat at each other.  These males would perch on branches across from each other and flash that red marking frequently and foe prolong times... "Don't you come over here.... No! Don't you come over Here!... No You.  " and so on.  I always thought it was hilarious.

I like watching the butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds while those lovely critters are doing their work.

Speaking of praying mantis, I liked watching those on the tropical milkweed going after aphids and soldier beetles.

Memories of Mexican Petunias ... such pretty purple flowers and dark green leaves.  And yes, they are aggressive.  I tried planting them here without success.

Thank you, Alina! I am enjoying reading about everyone's cheap garden entertainment!

Wonder if those aggressive petunias  would make it here? Have to look them up!
Edit: looks like they'd be a rowdy reseeding annual here. (zone 6) they are only perennial to zone 8.

My favorite is watching wasps groom themselves, like cats.
Preying mantises are always great!
I do massed zinnias where we can see them from where we sit, in August that bed will be filled with swallowtails!

I always talk to bugs, reptiles, birds and rodents, we have some fun conversations, admittedly I have to look at their posture and make up words for them to say, but they don't seem to mind. Very few will hold up their own side of a conversation.
Although I did have a fun conversation once with a mocking bird, I was pulling weeds, he was coming right behind me eating bugs (was like working with a chicken!) and when I took a break, he came and yelled at me that I needed to get him more bugs, dammit!!  Pushy bird!!

Out here in the dry desert, I have a low pond where the toads bathe and socialize and.... Near the pond, I stuck a little low power solar light in the ground (that’s the 3 dollar variety). At night the bugs fly around the light, then the toads gather slurp up the bugs with their long tongues in their funny fat effortless way. Mesmerizing.

We currently have a nest of baby swallows living under the overhang on our deck.  They learned to fly recently, so they are out and about during the day, and come back to the nest at night.  Watching 5 babies try to jockey for position in a nest that will comfortably hold 2 is too funny.

We also have a litter of 5 kittens that are 9 weeks old.  They spend hours sneaking up on, stalking, and tackling each other.  They are like little clowns right now.  They jump straight up, whirl and spin, pounce on everything, climb every available surface.  No one needs TV at our house, that's for sure.

Casie Becker wrote: These color changing lizards are always fun, but the males have a territorial display were they flash an inflatable red throat at each other.

Yes, the lizards doing pushups!

I think sometimes they are doing it to me, because I don't see other lizards in the area...kind of like chihuahuas yapping at big dogs!  haha

For me definitely watching and listening to birds. My kids enjoy watching the semi-feral cats stalking through our garden...

It's summer now so we have quite a chorus of nature sounds. Birds, beetles, cicadas, etc.

We like watching snails too.

Snails see the benefits the beauty in every inch, oh why why why oh why are you quick to kiss?

- The Format