Backyard Beth's Observations

Eight...Count 'em...EIGHT Blue Jays!

2010-05-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

We ran out of peanuts at the homestead last week and our "blue babies" were not very happy with us! I intended to buy peanuts over the weekend (Sunday) but their squawks on Saturday morning told me they were very hungry...NOW! To tide them over until Sunday, I sifted through my birdseed and gathered as many sunflower seeds as possible. I sat them on the bar on the deck in the old Kong flyer that we use as a "dish" for the Blue Jays. There didn't seem to be much action on Saturday...probably because we were outside with Oscar for several hours.

Sunday morning, however, was a different story! It started when we woke up about 7:15 AM to the now familiar squawks of our blue-feathered friends. It sure sounded like there were several outside, but just how many we didn't know. We went downstairs to have breakfast and as I went to put Oscar outside, I saw them! It was like a scene out of Hitchcock's "The Birds" except it was all Blue Jays instead of Crows.

EIGHT OF THEM!

They were everywhere! On the pergola, in the two trees by the pond, in the tree at the other end of the deck, on the deck railing, and on the bar! It was incredible! Last year, I suspected that several Blue Jays were a family because two were larger than the rest and the ones that were smaller were "awkward." Has the family expanded? Are these eight all related? I don't know...but what I do know is that I have even more "blue baby" mouths to feed than I thought!

Of course, I don't mind. Blue Jays are one of my favorites! Just this morning while I was brushing my teeth, one landed in the tree outside of my bathroom, turned and looked at me, and squawked as if to say, "You're running a few minutes late, aren't you? There are no peanuts out here yet!"

Silly blue babies!

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

Watch the Birdie!

2010-04-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon/early evening was an exciting time for watching birds around the house. The excitement started with Chris' spot of an Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) in our front garden. At first, neither of us was sure what kind of bird it was, but after a quick check of my field guide for PA birds, we were able to make the ID. I then put in the bird song/call CD that accompanied the field guide and we listened to the song and call of the Eastern Towhee. Chris said he'd been hearing it out back all week.

After dinner, I decided to sit out on the deck to enjoy the lovely weather and began listening and looking for birds in our stand of trees. Almost immediately, a White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) began chirping and climbing one of the trees. I ran inside to grab my binoculars for a better view. When I returned, it took me a few minutes to find the bird again, but once I did, I was able to zero in on him and make the ID. I ran back in the house for my field guide for PA birds and my Smithsonian eastern region bird guide so they were handy.

I didn't make any other new or rare IDs last night, but in the 25 minutes that I sat outside, I was able to watch and enjoy the antics of the White-breasted Nuthatch, several American Robins (Turdus migratorius), and several Chipping Sparrows (Spizella passerina). Chipping Sparrows were eating Nyjer seed at the feeder, not on the ground which is their usual M.O. They are easily one of my favorite birds, simply because of their light and airy "tzee" chip or chirp that they make.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

I am a REALLY crappy blogger!

2010-04-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

So...where is that October 7, 2009 blog post? It never happened. Shocked? I'm not.

A lot did happen last summer around the house and in the garden and here are some highlights:

tomato blight - it hit us and we lost all 24 tomato plants...it was awful...and frustrating...and disappointing
Chris' giant pumpkin - it just grew and grew and grew and when it was all said and done, it weighed 319.5 lbs! There are pictures on Chris' blog at http://www.cablebandit.net/tag/pumpkin/
green beans, broccoli, and zucchini were awesome in the garden last year - hoping for a repeat this year
corn was a bust and we've decided to discontinue it for 2010
hummingbird activity was fantastic - I got a second feeder as a birthday present and will have three feeders this year - two out back and one in the front (it's a window feeder)
bird activity in general was awesome - man I love birds!!!
the push mower died so we bought a John Deere garden tractor and it rules!

Over the winter, we had a ton of deer coming through (as evidenced by the deer track superhighway through and across the yard) so we started buying "deer apples" by the bushel ($5) from the local orchard and leaving 10-12 out per night. That was a huge hit with the deer population and it seemed to save my bird feeder from getting hit as hard (at times, they'd empty the entire thing in one night!).

Here's what's already happening in 2010:

bird activity continues to deliver - goldfinches are finally coming into their colors and are all over the place; blue jays continue to think they have us trained to feed them peanuts on command (because they do!); I had my very first cedar waxwing sighting ever on March 20th - there were three of them and they were incredible; our two bird boxes are filled with tons of crap (sticks, grass, feathers, fur) and if there are no eggs tonight, they are getting cleaned out - they've been that way for two weeks now.
the perennial (hummingbird/butterfly) garden is sprouting to life and it just thrills me to no end!
strawberries are coming up in the big garden and looking very healthy - we got those from our friends Nanette and Roy and are very excited about them!
we are tearing out all of the plants along our privacy fence and planting two raspberry and two blueberry bushes and looking forward to reaping the benefits of them!
Chris has begun hoeing the big garden, getting it ready for a major tilling and then planting next month
we've casually discussed what we will plant in the big garden, but we need to have a serious discussion about it soon - one thing we know...NO CORN!

I took some pictures around the homestead last weekend and will try to post them this week.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

I am a crappy blogger. :(

2009-09-30T10:28:00.001-07:00

So it has been almost four months since my last post. I know this. You know this. We both know this, OK? Do I have a good reason for not blogging all summer? Not really. Do I feel guilty about not blogging all summer? Yes. Have I witnessed something/done something/heard something and thought, "I should blog about this!"? Yes. Did I ever do anything about it? No.

Hence...

I am a crappy blogger. :(

But I do have a lot to share from over the summer...the tomato blight, the bumper crop of peppers, the GIANT pumpkin, and the like. I just need to sit down and devote some time to a seasonal summary and then get back to my backyard observations. Sure the gardening dies down, but the birding certainly picks up! There's no reason why I can't "relaunch" Backyard Beth's Observations this fall!

Therefore, my goal is to post here, on this blog, a summary of the summer's events (to the best of my knowledge and recollection) by next Wednesday, October 7th. After than (and possibly even before), I will resume regular, substantive posts about the flora and fauna at the homestead...if for no one else but me and my one RSS feed subscriber (he knows who he is). :)

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

I'm Fixin' to Make Me Some Wabbit Stew!

2009-06-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

All six broccoli plants...decimated.

Three of four cantaloupe plants...decimated.

One of four zucchini plants...damaged.

Two of six yellow bean plants...damaged.

Somebunny's gonna have to pay for all of that!!!

I am beyond irritated. When I got home from the gym last night and while the pizza was baking, Chris said, "Come with me, I want to show you something." We started walking toward the garden and I said, "If you're walking me out here to show me more rabbit damaged, we might as well just turn around because I don't want to see it...I don't want to be angry tonight." With that, Chris turned around. I said, "Are you kidding me?!?" (Confession...that question was peppered with a few expletives.) That's when Chris showed me all of the damage. The secondary fence is going in this weekend. I wonder how much BB guns go for these days?!?

On a lighter note, the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and Chris' heavily guarded pumpkin plant are doing quite well. Things are doing equally fine in the butterfly/hummingbird garden as well as the gardens around front. I will be adding some pictures this weekend once I pull all of them off my new digital camera.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) activity continues at the feeder. One night earlier this week, past dusk, I saw the male sitting on the shepherd's hook and watched him watching for the female. She would fly in and try to feed and he would chase her off. He would return to feed and then sit on the hook again, looking this way and that until she'd fly back in.

The second bunch of House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) has fledged from the box and already there is new nest building activity. The new nest in box #1 that was started nearly two weeks ago now had 4 House Sparrow eggs in it Wednesday evening.

Once the rain finally stops, I need to refill my bird feeders and plant Mountain Bluet (Centaurea montana) in the bf/hb garden and I need plant my new hibiscus, too (thanks, Mom!). I also have new hope for the hibiscus I planted toward the end of last summer. Here I thought I'd been sold a bill of goods by one of Ocean City's Farmers' Market vendors, but apparently, hibiscus plants don't even begin to show signs of life in Zone 5 until mid-June. So I have another few weeks before I can get discouraged again. Hopefully, I won't. Hopefully one of these days I'll start to see some green emerging from under the mulch. Oh! Also, I didn't lose my balloon flower! It is another one that is very slow to come back, but it reemerged last weekend and is already taking off!

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

Those Wascally Wabbits!

2009-05-28T12:42:00.001-07:00

It appears that I may not be the only one with the Eastern cottontail problem this year...they are terrorizing Chris, too! I've been worried that the rabbits might attack my broccoli plants like they did last year. Instead, it appears that they have eaten Chris' giant pumpkin plants less than 24 hours after they were planted. I found this out through an instant message, so I can't be positive, but I'm pretty sure Chris is irked. Really irked! Thankfully, he still has two other plants that are still in their starter pots. When I got home from the gym tonight, I found out that they also ate one of my yellow bean plants! I am definitely irked! I guess we will have to put up a smaller gauge fence around the bottom of the existing garden fence to keep out our cottontail "friends." Chris is reading up (as I type) on ways to keep them out/deter them. I've got a .22 rifle that would do the trick. (Kidding!)

In other news, the bird box that I cleaned out Saturday morning...the one that had nest building activity that very night...already has an egg in it. It appears to be a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) nest and egg. The nest is very sparse right now. I am going to have to read up on House Sparrow nesting habits. The last two House Sparrow nests were very dense and included feathers and what looked like fur. The egg is a bit bigger than a peanut M&M and is cream colored with maroon/brown-ish speckles.

All but one of the baby House Sparrows had fledged from the second bird box by yesterday evening. When I peeked into the box, there was one baby remaining and he/she seemed really antsy to join his/her brothers and sisters who were sitting in the big bush off to the left of the box. I will check both boxes again on Sunday and I hope to be able to report on more eggs in box #1 and clean out box #2 to make room for another bunch o'babies.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

First Post for 2009

2009-05-27T09:28:00.001-07:00

We have been very busy around the house and in the gardens the past few weeks, so I decided it was time to pick back up with my Backyard Observations for 2009. I received a new digital camera for Mother's Day (apparently Oscar gets a hefty allowance that I know nothing about!), so I will be adding more pictures in future posts this year.

GARDENS
Let's go back to Mother's Day weekend. We had 5 cubic yards of mulch delivered that Thursday afternoon. Saturday morning we woke up and were out and about in the gardens by 8 AM. Chris took the garden around/near the pond while I worked in the butterfly/hummingbird (bf/hb) garden. We weeded and weeded and weeded some more! Nine of the ten perennials that I planted in the bf/hb garden came back. For whatever reason, my balloon flower did not return this year. Chris' Clematis has returned with a vengeance this year - I know he's pleased!

After working on the gardens off the back deck, I moved around the front of the house and weeded the front gardens. While I worked out front, Chris mulched around back. When I finished out front, Chris mulched while I made my way up to the vegetable garden. We rented a tiller for the weekend and he'd already run it through very lightly to rip up the weeds. I took the rake up and raked all of the dead weeds.

Sunday morning we went back up to the vegetable garden, spread the compost we got from the University Area Joint Authority, and ran the tiller through the garden several different times in different directions.

The following weekend we drove down to Martin Garden Center south of Tyrone to buy all of our vegetables. I also purchased a few more perennials and a few annuals for deck boxes. We also bought two new pond plants since we lost our water lily over the winter.

We planted columbine, a hydrangea, and two other perennials (whose names/types escape me) out front. I also planted to perennial gerbera daisies out front that I found on the clearance "dying" rack at Lowe's for $1 each. They just had deadheads...they weren't dying...but if Lowe's wants to sell them to me for $1 each, I'm OK with that! We also planted a bellflower plant in the bf/hb garden and I added some lavender (that I bought at the PSU Vegetable Cellar) further around in the garden.

I also planted my deck box and dish. Like last year, I put Mexican roses (Portulaca) in a shallow, round dish which sits on the bar on the deck. They did so well in that dish and in that location last year that I decided to do it again. In the deck box, I went with red flowers and plants. I bought a reddish spike plant from Lowe's and centered that in the box. Around that I added red petunias, red snapdragons, and other little red flowers. I think it looks great!

This past Saturday morning, we planted our vegetable garden. This year we "only" planted 24 tomato plants (compared to 37 last year). We planted grape, cherry, Carolina gold, and celebrity tomatoes. We planted 12 pepper plants - 6 blushing beauties (ivory to purple/burgundy color) and 6 orange pepper plants. We planted 6 broccoli plants, 4 zucchini plants, 4 cantaloupe plants, 6 yellow beans plants, and multiple onion plants. Chris planted his corn the Wednesday prior. We still have a good section of the garden left...for Chris' GIANT pumpkins!

That's right...Chris is growing giant pumpkins. He found a local giant pumpkin grower who very generously and graciously sent Chris a variety of giant pumpkin seeds (just because Chris had inquired!). Chris started four seeds and they are growing like mad! He started them last week and for several days they rested in our oven with the light on, which produced the ideal 85 degrees the seeds needed! He has already transplanted two from the starter peat pots to larger pots. Something tells me we're going to need a frontend loader later this year to move these things!!!

Ah! Back to the vegetables before I forget. We also planted an asparagus root in a pot to see how it does, spinach and lettuce seeds in pots on the deck (since we have such a thriving rabbit population), and herbs (basil, parsley, and cilantro) in pots also on the deck. Over the weekend, we purchased radish seeds which we'll be starting this week and again once or twice this summer. Finally, I bought two different kinds of sunflowers which I plan to grow along the privacy fence - Autumn Mix (5-7') and Irish Eyes (24-30"). I will be starting them in seeds trays this week and continuing to do so each week for about 6 weeks to get staggered growth and blooming.

ANIMALS
Hummingbird activity began about four weeks ago. No sooner did I get the feeder out and brew up a batch of nectar (one part sugar to four parts water) did the male Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) show up. It is generally one male that comes to the feeder, feeds, and "hangs out." In fact, it was this little hummingbird, who I call "Flick," that was a MAJOR distraction the week I was supposed to be writing my final exam paper for school. I would sit down to read and/or write and, of course, Flick would show up. He'd feed and then sit on top of the shepherd's hook and watch the gnats flying around. He'd also shake (it was drizzling and the rain was beading on his feathers), stretch, and yawn. Amazing...and very distracting! I'm lucky I finished that paper!

Over the past few weeks there have been many hummingbird visits to the feeder. I have seen two males at/near the feeder at the same time, competing with each other for "feeder rights." I have also seen a female at the feeder. As of yet, I have not witnessed any hummingbird courtship, nor have I seen the male and female at the feeder at the same time as I did last year. I will have to go back and review my posts from last year to see when the courting started.

I also have the thistle, "regular birdseed," and suet feeders in the backyard. There are birds at those feeders constantly! I have taken to filling them just once per week. If I filled them everytime they were emptied, my pockets would also be emptied! I ran out of thistle seed recently, but fortunately Tractor Supply Co. had a great sale on thistle seed ($27.99 for 25 lbs.) so I have a raincheck for two bags that I need to go collect. I have found that TSC has the best price (regular price $34.99 for 25 lbs.) on thistle seed and for regular bird seed ($16.99 for 50 lbs. - Royal Wing brand). Wegmans has the best price for suet cakes (10 pack for $8.59).

So far this spring, I have seen the following birds at the feeders and in the yard:

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) *
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) **
Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) ***
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)

I encourage you to follow the links to read and learn more about the above listed birds (as well as others) at the Cornell site. I LOVE the Cornell site!!!

* Love these guys! They have ME trained to feed them peanuts on command. One of them will come and sit in the tree outside the kitchen and squawk for food. If I hear them, I go outside and put peanuts all along the railing of the deck. Next thing I know, four or five different Blue Jays are coming in to eat!

** LOVE this bird! I have seen it twice now - once on May 2, 2008 and once on May 4, 2009. Very nearly a year to the day...strange! Chris has yet to see it and therefore does not believe I have seen it! But I have! I really have!!!

*** We just fledged four baby House Sparrows out of "house box #1" and should fledge four more out of "house box #2" any day now. There were five babies born in box #1, but one did not survive. I found it when I cleaned out the box this past weekend. Within hours of me cleaning out the box, a new nest was being constructed. It appears to be another House Sparrow nest. I have logged both bird boxes with Cornell's project NestWatch and will track the success of these boxes over the summer.

Another bird that I have seen is the Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). Chris and I were out walking last Tuesday evening and we came across an adult Killdeer on a nest. The nest was located among fist-sized rocks roadside (at the end of a driveway between the lawn and the road). The nest was very well camoflauged among these rocks. Ironically, it was the adult that drew our attention to the nest. Had he/she not created such a ruckus, we would have walked right on by. As it was, the adult exhibited the "broken wing" distraction behavior that adults will use to draw attention away from the nest location. He/she was very convincing! There were four eggs in the nest. We walked by again three nights later and there was one adult in the area of the nest and another flying around. Both screeched and squawked when we drew near. I was able to see one Killdeer chick. I didn't want to stand there too long because I didn't want to draw more attention to the nest/chicks and I didn't want to cause the adults more stress. I logged this nest location into NestWatch as well.

Eastern cottontails continue to be abundant in our yards and gardens. Oscar likes to give them chase, although it seems they might be aware of his electronic dog fence boundaries, because it appears they know to sit and feed just beyond his limits! So long as they leave the vegetable garden alone this year, the Eastern cottontails and I will get along just fine. I have, however, begun to research organic rabbit repellants/deterrants just in case!

One final note...and unfortunately, it is a sad one. Fredrick von Hoppenstance, our resident green frog (Rana clamitans), did not survive the winter. His remains, along with those of a female green frog, were found when the pond thawed and Chris cleaned it out. Fredrick was a great source of entertainment last summer. Here's hoping our pond attracts another frog or two this year.

RIP Fredrick von Hoppenstance.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

Turtle Crossing

2008-10-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Just a quick posting to let you know I saw a box turtle on the road Sunday morning...alive and well...attempting to cross from one side to the other. Had it not been raining and had I not been in a hurry to get somewhere, I would have stopped to help him/her across the road. I didn't...and I justify that decision by saying it's all about survival of the fittest. If that turtle was smart enough and meant to live, he would have made it across the street intact...which it seems he did because I have not seen any squished turtles. Of course, I say this - about survival of the fittest - and then realize that I am providing artificial means/sources of food for birds, chipmunks, and squirrels everyday! Quite the conundrum!!!

Until next time, keep your eye open for wild wonders...

...and stop to help that turtle across the street if you see one...I will next time!

Random Miscellany from the Backyard

2008-09-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

Fredrick von Hoppenstance is alive and well! And, apparently, has a girlfriend!!! We went over a month without seeing Fredrick and really began to fret over his fate. Did he meet with an unfortunate end thanks to a raccoon? Did he move on to the neighbor's pond? Just what happened? Well...he's not talking, but at least he's back and he's as photogenic as ever! I snapped quite a few pictures of him today and I will post them in the next few days once I have a chance to upload new pictures from my camera and sort through them. Like I said, he has a girlfriend, too. She is very skittish...if we get within five feet of her, she hops into the pond and away from us. She is also much smaller than FvH. I'm very happy that Fredrick has a companion.

I went up to the garden this afternoon to pick some tomatoes. Yes, they continue to grow and ripen! Unfortunately, with such a dry summer and then the recent rains, the tomatoes that are left on the vines are splitting. Still, I managed to pick about 2.5 pounds of grape tomatoes, about a dozen romas, a few Celebrity tomatoes, and about eight green peppers. As I was walking up to the garden, I heard the familiar tap-tap-tap of a woodpecker. I walked up to the stand of trees and saw an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) in a tree. I watched it for a few minutes until it flew away...then I scanned the trees for the woodpecker and I found her...a female Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus). She did not stay in the tree very long for me to observe her, but I was able to make the ID.

The other bird of note for today is the Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio). I did not spot one...I WISH! But I did hear one this evening and I have heard one on several occasions outside in the evenings. Sometimes it sounds like the call is coming from the trees/woods in the front of the house; most often, however, the calls come from the trees out back. I am sure there are a few owls in the neighborhood calling to each other. I read that Screech Owls are monogamous and that the male will call to the female from the nest site to court her. I really love reading about and learning about birds like this!

I bought my mom a finch feeder for her birthday. She very much enjoys watching the birds visit my feeder when she comes up to visit me. She said she had spotted Goldfinches in her neighborhood down in Baltimore before, so I thought a finch feeder would be a good gift. She filled it and hung it last Saturday and so far, she has not seen any birds. I told her to not get discouraged...to give it some time. I did some reading on how long it takes to attract birds to a new feeder and read that wrapping aluminum foil around the top of the feeder so it reflects sunlight might be enough to bring the birds in. I'll mention that to her! (Or maybe she'll read it here before I have a chance to tell her...Hi, Mom!)

I am so excited that fall has arrived. As much as I LOVE spring and summer gardening and weather, I love fall just as much. Fall is when Chris and I celebrate our wedding anniversary...when pumpkins, apples, and mums abound...when cornstalks become decorations...when the most brilliant colors pepper the trees of the mountains here in central PA...when the most ordinary ride into work on a Tuesday morning can be extraordinary just because of the foliage. I love fall.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

A Plethora of Tales to Tell

2008-08-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Where to begin? Well, I guess it's best to start with the sad news and work our way up...wouldn't you agree?

Monday evening, there was more carnage...this time in the butterfly/hummingbird garden. A dead juvenile Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). It appears that he flew into the window of my office, as there was a very large smudge mark and a single feather stuck to the window. Chris noticed the poor thing and told me. I went out to remove him from the garden before Oscar found him. I took a plastic grocery bag and used it to pick up the bird. Before we determined the cause of death, I did a visual examination. I noticed that one of the bird's eyes was cloudy/milky and that there appeared to be a small amount of blood coming out of its mouth on the same side of his head as the ruptured(?) eye ball. It was then that I looked up at the window and realized just how this little guy expired.

I think what's saddest about this is he was one of about six juvenile Blue Jays that had been visiting our yard and feeders since Friday. Saturday they were all flying about, squawking, eating, and otherwise playing around. It is easy to tell they are juveniles for several reasons. 1) They are still very awkward in flight and landing, 2) their feathers aren't as smooth and full as an adult, and 3) well, they carry on like a bunch of teenagers! They were a source of entertainment all weekend long. And now, one of their own has fallen. I was home sick yesterday and I swear the rest of the Blue Jays were looking and calling for their sibling. So sad...

Now onto happier thoughts, eh?

In an effort to catch and relocate our resident groundhog, I believe I previously mentioned that we borrowed a trap from someone from my office. Well, we finally caught something, but it wasn't a groundhog. Thankfully, it wasn't a skunk either...it was a rabbit. On my sick day. I had a terrible headache - a sinus headache - and had just woken up at 9:30 AM and decided to go down and fix myself a cup of tea. I let the dog out and went to the sink to fill the kettle and turn it on. No sooner did I do that and Oscar started barking, barking, barking! I looked out and lo and behold, there's "Thumper" in the trap. I march outside in my bathrobe and slippers and try (in vain) to get Oscar to calm down, sit, and let me release the rabbit. Yeah, right. So instead, I carry the trap with the rabbit back to the house, where I fool Oscar into going into the house, and then turned around and released the rabbit from the deck. The poor thing was terrified. Of course Oscar was barking at it a mere inch from its face the whole time we were walking back to the house. At one point, the rabbit moved as close to me in the cage as it could get and looked at me like, "Human? Help me!" So much for my subsiding headache...it came back in full force. I think we might be done with that trap. I'm convinced the groundhog has moved on.

The five House Wren babies fledged from their nest late last week. They hatched on August 6th and were due to fledge on or near August 20th. I checked the box on the 20th and they were still there; by August 23rd, they were gone.

On Saturday, I spent an hour picking "stuff" in the garden including one pound of green beans, 20 Roma tomatoes, 28 other tomatoes, SIX POUNDS of grape tomatoes, a nearly five-pound zucchini (I have no idea where it was hiding!), a cantaloupe, and a dozen ears of corn. Needless to say, I spent Sunday morning blanching and freezing quite a bit of vegetation!

Chris planted the red hibiscus I bought at the beach - it is a Bordeaux variety and it is really beautiful. It is supposed to bloom through autumn and I hope it thrives in its new location. It should get plenty of sun. I am very excited to have a hibiscus...I just love them!

Another thing I love is having hummingbirds be such frequent visitors to the feeder and garden! I suspect that the pair from earlier this summer may have nested and had babies. I have routinely observed a small female visiting the feeder and another, larger female who seems to watch over her from the trees. Occasionally, they will fly together, squeaking and chirping. in addition to eating at the feeder, I have seen the hummingbirds visit the bee balm and the Russian sage often.

Hmmm...what else? Oh, yes! Chris counted AT LEAST 18 fish in the pond yesterday. I swear we are going to have to feed those fish birth control pills! I keep telling everyone that "Fertile Myrtle" lives in our pond and just keeps having babies! And there have been no sightings of Fredrick Von Hoppenstance since before we went to the beach on July 19th. My brother and a friend of mine both think Fredrick fell victim to a raccoon. I suppose it's possible. I prefer to think he found "greener pastures" at the neighbor's pond. Either that or...hmmm...the neighbor kids did feed our pond fish while we were gone on vacation. What if Fredrick didn't FIND his way over to there pond but rather was taken to their pond? What if Fredrick was frognapped?!?

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

More Carnage in the Pond Pump

2008-08-13T08:13:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update this morning...Chris had to unclog the pond pump again this morning and this time it was a dead bird that had been sucked in! Yikes!!! He said it was bald and I asked if he thought it was a baby bird or just had been stripped of feathers either by the pump or by decomposition (no telling how long it was in the pond before it got swept into the pump housing). He said it looked like a fully developed bird, but he could not tell what kind. Sad. :(

We have set a trap for our resident groundhog even though we have not seen him since before we left for our beach vacation back in mid-July. A kind gentleman here at work retrieved his trap from his farm for us, so we figured we'd give it a try. If we are successful in trapping the varmint, we are going to relocate him to some state game lands about 5 miles away. I don't want to risk him/her finding his/her way back! We're leaving it out during the day while we're at work up through dusk. Chris springs the trap each night when he takes Oscar out so we can avoid trapping a skunk. We saw one in the neighborhood about a week ago. That's the LAST thing we want to trap!!!

I blanched three gallon size bags worth of squash and zucchini Monday evening. I have more to steam blanch and now that my new 12-cup Kitchen Aid food processor is here, I will be able to make short work of the zucchini. Mike (a co-worker) gave me a recipe for zucchini chocolate chip cookies (and a delicious sample of his work!) so I will definitely have to try them! With the new food processor, I can also chop tomatoes for salsa in no time and also cucumbers for pickle relish. Do not be surprise if you live nearby, work with me, or are within a short driving distance, if I show up at your house with jars of pickle relish in the coming weeks!!!

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

Random Updates from the Past Month

2008-08-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

Shame on me! It has been one month to the day that I last updated my blog. Some blogger I am, eh? I did go on vacation toward the end of July, but that is really no excuse because that was only one week out of four. So, yes, I am a bit of a slacker!

Now on with the show...

Vegetables abound in our garden! We harvested the first ears of corn at the end of last week and it is delicious! You might swear we tilled sugar into the soil or watered with simple syrup...it is that sweet...how exciting! We have zucchini and cucumbers coming out of our ears and at some point soon I am going to have to start making pickle relish to use up all of the cucumbers. Just before logging on to write this entry, I was researching the blanching time for squash so I can freeze a big batch tomorrow night. I got a great idea from my research to steam blanch some shredded zucchini in 1 or 2-cup increments for backing zucchini bread in the fall/winter.

Today I blanched about two pounds of green beans...they are doing really well. The peas did not do so well. I managed to harvest enough to make one serving of peas before the plants started dying off. I'm not sure what caused the die-off. Peas seemed like a pain in the rear anyway, so I am not too torn up over the loss of the plants. Peppers are going like gangbusters - just this weekend I used the dehydrator to dry anaheim and super chile peppers. The gypsy peppers have been very tasty in our lunches everyday.

Another thing we have been taking in our lunches each day is a serving of grape tomatoes. Those are growing quite well (and wild), too! In fact, our grape tomatoes seem like they are on steroids...they are gigantic! All of the tomatoes are growing really well, but our staking did not work very well. We put so much money into the garden this year that we opted to stake the tomatoes rather that invest in cages...probably not the best idea, but we'll make do this year and buy cages next year. It's just that the tomatoes are growing wild and flatter than expected. But boy are they still growing!!!

We have ten cantaloupes on the vines and they are looking really, really nice. I hope I can harvest one or two before this coming weekend (my graduation party) so I can serve some fresh fruit in addition to my sheet cake. In fact, for the party this weekend, I anticipate quite a bit will come from the garden - sliced tomatoes for hamburgers, raw vegetables for dipping, tomatoes for fresh salsa, cantaloupe for dessert, peppers to serve with the grilled bratwursts - it is all going to be very delicious and very fresh!

Goldfinches continue to visit the thistle feeder and other random birds visit the "regular" seed feeder. The hummingbird makes regular visits to his feeder and is once again fending off other males and even the female. When he isn't looking, the female sneaks in for a quite snack. Last week, I saw both the male and the female sitting on the shepherd's hook where the feeder hangs (on separate occasions) and watched as they yawned and stuck out their tongues. It was really cool!

A house wren (Troglodytes aedon) has nested, layed five eggs, and had them hatch in the bird box at the far end of the yard. The eggs hatched Wednesday. In fact, when I did my evening check on the box, three had hatched, one was in the process of hatching, and one egg remained. When we checked the box Thursday evening, all five bald babies looked healthy - tiny, but healthy. Momma House Wren made her presence known while we were near the box and immediately returned to the box as soon as we were about 20 feet away.

Neither Chris nor I have seen Fredrick since we left for vacation on July 18th. We heard him the night we returned from vacation (July 26th), but have not seen him. I am concerned! We had a clog in the pump in the pond on Friday and it was a dead frog! Luckily it wasn't Fredrick, but what if it was his new mate?!? I've often wondered how Fredrick tolerates his swingin' single lifestyle at our pond...I mean, it is a nice bachelor (lily) pad, but still...he has to get lonely. What if that frog was his chance at love, happiness, and frog procreation?!?

Speaking of procreation, our pond fish keep multiplying. In addition to the nearly dozen grown and colorful (white and orange, mostly) goldfish we can see, there are about a dozen small (1-2" long) black babies swimming around. Two of them have started to turn orange already and they are easier to spot. It is really cool when we feed the fish because all of the sudden we will see ripples and movement at the surface of the water, but we can't see any fish because of shadows, reflections, or lighting...but then they will swim to a spot where we can see and there are 5-6 at any give time swimming around together.

The butterfly and hummingbird garden is officially official for both butterflies and hummingbirds now. Butterflies have been seen flying around the yard quite regularly now and on at least three different occasions, I have seen butterflies in the garden on the butterfly bush and the bee balm. Speaking of the plants in that garden, in addition to feeding at the nectar feeder, the female hummingbird has visited the bee balm, the red dahlia, and the Russian sage. I bought a magazine about gardening for butterflies and hummingbirds and plan to read up on ideas and things I might add now and next spring.

Out front, the few perennials that I added continue to do well. The mums from last fall are already up and the red one has already started to bloom. I hope it blooms through the fall. I put in four mums last fall - one red, one orange, one yellow, and one purple (if my memory serves me correctly). I just love mums in the fall!

Oh! One last thing - I bought a hibiscus plant while I was on vacation at the beach. I asked the seller if it would survive up here in zone 5 and he said yes. He told me how to take care of it and convinced me it would do OK, so on the last day of vacation, we walked across the street to the farmer's market and I bought a red one to bring home. It is still in the pot right now, but I am going to plant it one night this week next to the deck. It will get plenty of sun and will be very near the butterfly and hummingbird garden, so maybe the hummingbirds will visit it (since they favor red flowers).

I cannot think of anything else that is worth mentioning/updating right now but I am sure something else will occur to me as soon as I post this.

OH! Chris bought me VERY NICE Audubon binoculars for my birthday. These things are amazing! From our kitchen, I can look out to the garden 300+ feet away and see if we have red tomatoes ready for picking! And the clarity when I look at the goldfinches on the feeder is phenomenal. I cannot wait to get out into the woods and do some bird watching (other than the ones I watch in our very own patch of woods).

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

Oh, Deer!

2008-07-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

A brief conversation with my next door neighbor last evening yielded some insight into the recent decapitation of several of my sunflowers. It turns out they have had the same problem...only their sunflowers are inside their fenced-in garden, not out in the open like mine. Melissa said Rob suspected deer because of some damage he noticed on his corn as well as the sunflowers. I mentioned this to Chris as we spent yet another evening weeding the vegetable garden. I am happy to report that most of the major weeding is complete and what remains is merely maintenance weeding - pulling up the rogue crabgrass here and there. Whew!

Actually, let me back up just a bit. Before Chris and I talked about the deer and the sunflowers or even started weeding last night...as we were walking to the vegetable garden, I saw a rabbit in the garden. This was an average-sized rabbit and somehow that little bugger managed to weasel his way through the 2" x 4" opening in the garden fence and continue to eat our broccoli and cauliflower plants. The nerve! Our neighbors have the same type of fence that we do and this year, Rob ran a second, smaller fence around the bottom of the garden - one with smaller openings to ward off the rabbits. This might be what we need to do next year. We really thought the 2" x 4" openings would be too small for rabbits and didn't expect much trouble from chipmunks. I guess we underestimated the wiliness of our resident rabbits!

OK, back to the sunflowers and the deer. So I mentioned to Chris that Rob had put in the additional fencing to keep the rabbits out and now his concern this year was deer. We knew that a 4' fence would not keep an aggressive or determined deer out of our garden, but we hoped it would fend off a lazy or unambitious deer. So far for us (knock on wood!) that has been the case in the vegetable garden. But that isn't where my sunflowers are located. Mine are out in the open in the garden with the black-eyed Susans, and I've lost three so far.

Last evening as we wrapped up our weeding and started to make our way to the shed to put our supplies away, we stopped to check on the sunnies and Suzies. And that is when we saw it...the teeniest, tiniest little fawn hoof print I have ever seen. I cannot imagine how little this baby Bambi must be because the hoof print was 1", maybe 1.5" in length in the dirt which makes prints look bigger anyway. Ugh. I am not sure how I feel about this. I hunt deer. Granted, I've yet to wax one, but I am a hunter. Come December, deer = venison = stocked freezer. Even now, in July, I am considering them a pest and trying to keep them out of my vegetable garden. But the thought of this little fawn...argh...it just tugs on my heart. Can I be angry if I lose sunflowers to Bambi? I need to think about this some more...and see what other damage Bambi inflicts in the next few days. Let me just say this...if Bambi takes down my giant sunny...there will be trouble! Bambi...you've been warned!

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

Lessons from a Wild Weekend and Garden Updates

2008-07-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

Chris and I spent the FOJ weekend camping with his parents at a local state park. Saturday morning, we ventured down to the beach house for an "early bird coffee walk" and it turned out that we were the only two lame-Os in the park to want to go on such a walk. So we headed out with the park naturalist and a park volunteer to listen for and spot a few birds. The walk lasted about an hour. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but we did hear a Black-throated Green Warbler (Dendroica virens). That was a new bird for me. I wish we could have seen one, but I'll settle for the pictures on the Cornell site (www.birds.cornell.edu).

During our walk, we stopped at the park's butterfly garden. What an amazing garden! It is filled with aster, purple coneflowers, and milkweed. My lesson from this wild weekend - I need milkweed in my butterfly/hummingbird garden! There were no butterflies in the garden Saturday morning when we stopped by during the bird walk; however, when we visited Sunday afternoon when it was very warm and sunny, the garden was full of dozens of butterflies. How exciting! I can only HOPE that my garden will be that successful one of these days. I stopped at a garden shop on the way home from camping on Sunday and bought a new purple coneflower. I previously planted on in the hummingbird/butterfly garden, but something kept eating it and it wasn't growing very well. This new one has two blooms and numerous buds, so Chris dug up the old one (which is coming back quite nicely, although it is still quite small), and we planted the new one in its place. We replanted the old one in a different location in the hummingbird/butterfly garden. I think both of them will do well in their new locations.

Sunday night when we got home from camping, we walked out to the vegetable garden. I was astounded at the growth in the three days we were gone. To think about what that garden looked like one month ago...heck...one WEEK ago...and to see it now...it is so exciting!!! A few stalks of corn are already four feet tall and the rest are at least three feet tall...definitely "knee high by the Fourth of July!" The tomatoes are going like gang busters...when they all come in, we are going to be inundated with 'maters. Everything else is growing well, too. We have quite a few jalapeno peppers that could probably stand to be picked in the next few days.

Out in the Suzie/sunflower garden, the Black-eyed Susans all have buds and a few look ready to burst into bloom any day now. The sunflowers continue to grow, although I lost three to "something" while we were gone. A deer? Our resident groundhog? I am uncertain. I also lost two sunflowers that had popped up near the hummingbird/butterfly garden...total decapitation. How depressing! I hope now that Oscar is back on the prowl around the yard, the culprits will stay away. We'll see...

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...

What a Pain in My Crabgrass!

2008-07-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

Between Saturday morning and last evening, I have spent a total of six hours weeding the vegetable garden and more often than not the culprit is Digitaria sanguinalis - crabgrass! Thankfully we have had rain just about every day for the past week, so the garden soil - though seemingly dry on the surface - is still very moist underneath and has made pulling all of the weeds much easier. Chris logged some time in the garden on Saturday morning as well and we made some really great headway on the tomato and pepper plants areas. Between my weeding by hand and Chris' hoe and rake method, we were very pleased with our accomplishments Saturday morning. We were also stiff and sore as hell come Monday (my adductor and hamstring muscles, especially)!

Last night, I weeded while Chris mowed the lawn. I worked on the squash plants, the peas, and the green beans. I have to say I think I did a great job and overall, I am quite pleased with our weeding progress. We knew that weeds would be an issue in the garden this year. We took a previously lawn-ish piece of our property and turned it into a garden! How could weeds not infiltrate this first year? Especially the crabgrass...from what I have read, when it seeds, it puts out tons and tons of seeds!

I guess we'll just keep plucking this year and try to stay on top of it now that we've pretty much gotten most of the weeds out. Our hours spent weeding should mean that soon we will only have to go out for 15-20 minutes each evening to check the plants and puck a few random weeds here and there.

We put a lot of money into the vegetable garden this year - we rented a tiller for the weekend to turn the soil, we got three truckloads of compost and one truck load of sand, we put up a fence, and we bought the sprinkler and the 250' of hose it took to run from the house out to the garden. Next year, when (hopefully) the only cash outlay will be plants and seeds, I think we will invest in a weed control garden liner to help cut down on our manual efforts.

All complaints about weeds aside, everything in the garden looks amazing! Well, wait...there is one exception...the broccoli. I spotted a small Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floradinus) in the garden last evening, which ran off as I approached. When I got into the garden, I noticed he or she had been munching on the broccoli. Perhaps it might be time for a faux owl on one of the fence posts! But other than the broccoli, everything else is just growing, growing, growing...and pretty soon we're going to have vegetables come out of our ears!!!

I'm really gonna need that pressure canner and that chest freezer...SOON!

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders!

The First "Take" from the Garden

2008-06-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I was able to harvest our first vegetable from our garden - a sweet banana pepper. While it may not seem like much, from what I can tell, it is just the first of many, many veggies to come from that garden. Our Early Girl tomato plants have fruit growing and almost all of our other tomato plants (37 total) have buds. Yes, I said 37 tomato plants. And no, I don't can. Yet. And no, I don't have a stand-alone freezer. Yet.

Most of our other plants are doing well, also. Most, if not all, of the pepper plants (15 total) have buds on them and there is at least one super chili pepper growing already. The zucchini plants have doubled in size since Monday and there are many little zucchinis growing! The yellow squash and cucumbers do not yet have any blossoms, but continue to grow. The peas and green beans are putting out squiggly feelers, so this weekend we will run string back and forth for the vines to attach. I estimate we have 120+ stalks of corn and that is after Chris thinned them out to every 12". The melons (musk and honeydew) are both looking good, as are the broccoli, cauliflower, and celery.

I am sad to report that the cabbage and cauliflower that I planted outside of the fenced-in vegetable garden have fallen victim to the neighborhood Eastern Cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus). However, the black-eyed Susans have taken to their new garden quite well and the mixed variety of sunflower seeds that I planted there are growing like crazy. So far, nothing has disturbed the sunflowers and I am hopeful that remains the case as they develop their heads. I think the garden is too far out in the open (and well within our dog's patrol range) that squirrels will not be a problem...but then again I thought that too about the rabbits and the cabbage and look how that turned out!

Bird activity remains constant with added visitors to the new finch feeder - a male and female Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus). As usual, the male is much more colorful and attractive compared to the female; however, they have both been fascinating to watch. They both seem content to sit on the edge of the feeder and eat the seeds that have collected in the bottom tray rather than pick at the feeder the way the Goldfinches do. I have witnessed them picking at the feeder, but they appear to prefer "the lazy way" to eat.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders!

Ducks in a Row

2008-06-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

The following event did not occur in my backyard, but it is worth mentioning...

So usually, "get your ducks in a row" means get your act together. Last evening, I got my ducks in a row...on a busy four-lane road between Home Depot and Lowe's! As I was driving home from school last night, I approached a red light at a very busy intersection near Home Depot and Lowe's. I happened to look over at the driver next to me, who I was sure would "floor it" as soon as the light turned green because the lanes merge past the traffic light. Her face was one of wonder and awe...I looked up just as the light turned green and I looked ahead to see what I was she was ogling.

It was a mother duck and approximately eight little ducklings crossing the aforementioned busy four-lane road from the storm water retention pond at Home Depot over to the one at Lowe's. I have never seen so many little webbed feet move so quickly! I could not help but laugh out loud in amazement and wonder. THANKFULLY, Momma Duck and all of her babies made it safely across all four travel lanes (traffic was light) and were headed toward the pond at Lowe's in my last glance in the rear view mirror. What a sight to behold!

Finally, before I go, I am going to test inserting two pictures of Fredrick and see how that turns out. If it works, I will try to incorporate photos into my posts when possible.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders!

Yikes! It's Been Two Weeks Since an Update!

2008-06-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

How did this happen?!? There has been so much activity in the backyard over the past two weeks and on many different occasions, I thought to myself, "I need to blog this!" And yet, here it is...two weeks since my last post. Dear readers, know that I am ashamed and I will make every effort not to allow such a long lapse in writing again!

Now...on with the show!

I guess I will work backwards somewhat and start with the updates for today. Chris and I went to Tractor Supply Company today (I really love their bird feed and feeder selection) where I bought an eight pound bag of Nyjer seed and a nice metal finch feeder. Previously, I had a sock feeder; however, it was both unattractive and quickly becoming less and less full which meant fewer and fewer American Goldfinches (Carduelis tristis) could feed at the same time. I replaced the sock feeder with this new metal feeder and within minutes of hanging the new feeder, both a male and female Goldfinch arrived to feed. Excellent!

Chris sat outside for a while this evening while I fixed dinner and managed to capture some excellent shots of both the female and male hummingbirds as they visited the feeder in the hummingbird/butterfly garden. I was telling Chris that I read that the male will defend the feeder even against females until they have mated. I assume since she is "allowed" to feed now...and the fact that I have witnessed the male perform his courting flight for her on at least a half dozen different occasions now...that they are a mating pair, which is incredibly exciting! The male courtship flight is a very cool sight to see...she sits in a tree and he flies back and forth for her in a pendulum motion chittering and chirping the entire time.

Yesterday I was weeding in the hummingbird/butterfly garden very close to the feeder and on three different occasions, a hummingbird buzzed my head! The first time it happened, I really thought the bird brushed my head/hair, but I realize it was more likely the downdraft created by its wings. Before I got into that garden to weed, there was some grass growing under the feeder. When a hummingbird would arrive to feed, you could see the grass blowing back and forth because of the downdraft from the bird's wings. Amazing!

I am also happy to report that the nest of eight baby Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapilla) have fledged from the box at the far left edge of the mowable yard (it butts up to the "wild" portion of our second lot). That was a fascinating experience to watch the activity in that box progress from nest building to egg laying to Momma Bird tending the eggs to hatchlings to feathered fledglings. I really love Black-capped Chickadees ("chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee") and am very happy to know that the BCC population around our house has increased by eight. I read that the fledglings will stick around Mom and Dad for about three weeks, so I suspect they are all hanging out in the trees of the wooded area on our lots.

Fredrick Von Hoppenstance has been out and about quite a bit lately. Fredrick is, in fact, Fredrick and not Freda. I was able to confirm this by taking a few photographs and reading about Green Frogs in our National Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians. Fredrick's yellow throat indicates he is a male. I was able to capture several pictures of him yesterday as he sat at the edge of one of the rocks in our pond and later when he was swimming in the pond. One shot very clearly shows his webbed back feet as his leg was stretched out as he "hung out" in the water.

Something...I am not sure what...has been "going to town" on the dried ears of corn that I have been placing on the "squirrel feeder" on one of the trees in the wooded area of our lots toward the front of the house. Just this afternoon I placed a new ear of corn on the feeder at approximately 3 PM and by 7:30 PM this evening, it was completely stripped of all kernels. I need a trail camera to see what is eating that corn so quickly! I have, on occasion, seen both Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) and Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) at the squirrel feeder, but I have never observed either bird at the feeder continuously. This is going to warrant further dedicated observation.

By the way, in case you were wondering why I include the Latin name for the animals I observe and about which I write, it is because I am making a conscious effort to learn them myself and thought I would help to educate my readers as well. Also, I wanted to point you toward one of my favorite Internet sites for bird information and it is none other than the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. One of these days, I wouldn't mind working at Cornell in some capacity just to be so close to and have access to the vast knowledge of the folks in that Lab. I would even love to volunteer there someday! The site is http://www.birds.cornell.edu.

I know there is more that I am forgetting, but that will just mean that I will need to post again tomorrow and in the coming days as I remember stuff and as new observations occur.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders!

Hungry, Hungry Hummy!

2008-06-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

A ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) continues to visit the feeder in the hummingbird and butterfly garden off of the deck, just outside of my office/craft room. He visits in the early morning and late evening. This evening, he visited frequently between 8:30 and 9 PM. He displayed territorial behavior, fending off another male at the feeder with a little mid-air tussle and a few squeaks.

I have never seen this behavior before in a hummingbird, so I researched it and sure enough, males will defend feeding areas. Each hummingbird will police about a quarter acre. I'm happy that my little guy picked my garden as part of his territory. I refilled the feeder yesterday and exhausted my supply of nectar so I will have to whip some up tomorrow.

In case you are wondering, the ratio for nectar is 4:1 water to sugar. You should bring the water to a rolling boil and allow it to boil this way for two minutes. Then add the sugar, turn off the heat, and stir to dissolve the sugar. You can store the excess in your fridge. Just beware that your color blind spouse may mistake it for lemonade, mix it with iced tea to make an Arnold Palmer, and serve it to you! SUPER SWEET!!!

Yesterday afternoon when I was taking the feeder back to the shepherd's hook, the hummingbird buzzed my head twice! I felt like the Air Boss on Top Gun being buzzed in the tower! The humming from the bird's wings is crazy loud, especially when the bird is about a foot from your head!

Speaking of the loud humming from the wings...the sound definitely gets my dog Oscar's attention. He is a German Shorthaired Pointer (Deutsch Kurzhaar) so he is naturally interested in birds. This evening as I sat on the deck and listened to the various bird songs, "Hummy" (yes, I know I need a better name for him) buzzed in and out to the feeder. The whoosh caught Oscar's attention and he sat, transfixed, watching the bird float in and out to the feeder. As quickly as he would arrive, he would disappear...and this seemed to fascinate Oscar!

I'm considering an additional feeder for the front garden outside of the living room. I read that additional feeders need to be out of sight of existing feeders so more hummingbirds can feed. Knowing there is another hungry male in the area makes me want to do what I can to make sure he's taken care of. I bought my first feeder at Tractor Supply Co. I have the day off tomorrow...I think I will go there in the morning and see if they have any more in stock.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders!

Fredrick Takes a Dip!

2008-06-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

This evening I stepped out onto the deck to take care of the evening's watering chores - this included refilling the pond some, watering all of the plants on the deck, those in the butterfly and hummingbird garden, those out in the blackeyed Susan garden, and turning on the sprinkler for the vegetable garden.

I started the hose flowing into the pond and stepped back into the house get the food to feed the fish. It was - as usual - a feeding frenzy as soon as the food hit the surface of the water. However, I noticed a large splash as I turned away from the pond to put the food container on the grilling station. I turned around and saw an odd swirling of the water. I just thought that was due to the crazy fish, but then I noticed him!

Our resident green frog (Rana clamitans), Fredrick von Hoppenstance. There he was swimming across the pond without a care in the world. He stopped in the middle of the pond for a minute and I was able to get a good look at him. He is quite handsome...as far as frogs go. He swam to the far side of the pond and under a rock. I am not sure if he was eating the fish food as well, or just happened (hoppened?) to take a swim at the same time. Whatever the case, it was nice to see Fred this evening.

I should note before I go that we had a great day of rain on Wednesday and everything...EVERYTHING...has really perked up with the natural watering. The vegetable garden looks great. We have corn popping up in rows...so exciting! The plants on the deck, especially the two peppers and the Mr. Stripey tomato, look really healthy and vibrant as well. I swear the one pepper plant has grown four inches in the last two days!

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders!

It's an Official Hummingbird Garden!

2008-06-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

Great news! The area I designated just off the deck and outside of my home office/craft room as a hummingbird and butterfly garden is, in fact, a real hummingbird garden! We have spotted a male ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) at the feeder each day since Sunday.

This morning, as he has on several occasions already, he was sitting on the top of the shepherd's hook that hold the feeder in the garden. This time, however, he was actually facing my office so we could see his vibrant red throat and his face. I hadn't put my glasses on yet this morning, so I had to rely on the binoculars I keep by the windows to get a good look at him.

His throat was so bright - it was almost a neon color. His face is adorable even if he looks like he is scowling! He took off from the hook and drank at the feeder for a minute before another hummingbird swooped in. As quickly as the second one flew in, it flew right back out. We think it was another male. The first male returned to the top of the hook and remained there.

Also of note this morning - the giant groundhog (Marmota monax) that lives under our shed was out for breakfast this morning. He waddled his way around the yard this morning in the thick fog as he munched the dewy grass. Closer to the house, just under the birdseed feeders, two Eastern Cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) fed in the grass.

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders!

Welcome to My Blog!

2008-06-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings and thank you for stopping by my new blog which will contain my observations of flora and fauna around my house. The house is situated on 2.19 acres in a rural township in central Pennsylvania. There is a state game land nearby and approximately 0.75 of our 2.19 acres are forested.

This spring, I put in a butterfly and hummingbird garden off of our deck which is also located right outside of the windows in my home office/craft room. In this garden are flowers like dahlias, salvia, coneflowers, butterfly bush, balloon flowers, an obedient plant, Russian sage, bee balm, and candy tuft. I also have a small shepherd's hook and a red hummingbird nectar feeder.

About 20 feet further into the yard are the two lids to the septic tank, which the previous owners of the house cleverly disguised (as best they could) with flowers and mulch. In this "septic garden" I have a large double shepherd's hook with a bird feeder filled with wild bird seed and a seed sock filled with Nyjer seed. I also have a small shepherd's hook with a suet feeder.

On the outskirts of the backyard, we have placed two bluebird boxes approximately 100 feet apart. At the very edge of our backyard, we have put in a 29' x 33' vegetable garden that contains corn, tomatoes, peppers, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussell sprouts, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, peas, and lima beans.

The previous owners appear to have attempted a butterfly garden midway out in the yard. I recently ripped everything out of this garden, turned the soil, transplanted some blackeyed Susans to this new location, planted some sunflowers, and planted some of the leftover vegetable plants that didn't make it into the big garden (cabbage and broccoli).

Just off our deck, we have a small pond that is home to about a dozen goldfish and one green frog (Rana clamitans) whom we have named Fredrick von Hoppenstance, or Fred for short. On the deck, we are growing a Mr. Stripey tomato plant, two super chili peppers, lettuce, spinach, and a pot of herbs (basil, cilantro, Italian flat leaf parsley, and mint). I also have several pots with annuals around the deck for color.

This gives you an idea of what we have where and what might become topics of later blogs. I can say that very soon I will be writing about the myriad birds that have been visiting the backyard feeders. This has been a great source of entertainment and enjoyment so far this spring and I cannot wait to share it with you!

Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders!