South Englishtown Gazette

2012-01-19T20:18:00.000-06:00

The day dawned with a pink and grey softness.

Allen is just visible in his canoe as a little speck to the left of mangrove trees on the right of the photo. He paddles over from Monkey River Village at day break to work at our place with landscaping and handy man projects.

In the few minutes it took Allen to arrive, the day has brightened a bit. You can see Allen beaching his canoe at the south end of our lot.

Our cabana looks serene and sleepy in early morning light.

It is almost too beautiful to leave, even for a day trip. But there is an auction calling us, so off we go with Sue and Chris on an adventure in Mennonite country near the inland village of Armenia. Sue had seen ads for an estate auction; everything, including livestock, household goods, and farm implements were on the block. How could we resist?

The estate being auctioned is at the end of this road. You can see some vehicles already parked there. Look at that fabulous tree in the mid-ground! In the grey, drizzly day it glows as if it is afire.

Close to a hundred folks showed up for the auction, and with the exception of 4 (you know who those 4 are), all were Mennonites. The Mennonites were very welcoming to us and explained the auction process. This particular event was to sell off all the worldly goods of a recently deceased elderly couple whose decendents had their own households. The auction was to turn the assets into cash which could then be easily split between the decendents. Dennis and I had quick look around and then left Sue and Chris at the auction while we went to the town of Belmopan, which is actually the capitol of Belize, to pay our land taxes, an adventure in itself. When we returned to pick up Sue and Chris, they had not bought anything, but enjoyed watching the bidding. Apparently the woman of the house was well-known for her canning abilities; her canned vegetables and fruit (even canned pineapple!) were all sold at high prices.

This fine fellow was roped to a fence post to graze along the road near the auction. Look at those horns!

The mountainous countryside is beautiful with pastoral scenes check-by-jowl with wild jungle. All in all, it was a fine day in spite of the drizzly greyness.

Kayaking in Englishtown, Toledo, Belize

2012-01-17T20:28:00.000-06:00

The weather was so incredibly wonderful when we were in Belize back in October. The seas were mirror flat almost all day long every day we were there; perfect for kayaking. I spent at least 30 hours kayaking, most of it by myself, although Sue and I had a nice morning out one day. We set out from Chris and Sue's place in central Englishtown, since they had the kayaks. We had started to head north along the coast, but soon decided to head east over to Great Monkey Cay (pronounced "key"). I took my snorkel gear and was able to get in a little snorkeling while Sue relaxed in the sunshine and recaptured my kayak when it drifted off. ;-) The water was flat enough to take a route to the outside of Great Monkey Cay and loop around to the south to visit Little Monkey Cay. Little Monkey Cay is a rookery for assorted egrets, pelicans, and frigate birds that settle down there every evening. Throughout the day you can find bird activity there. Little Monkey Cay was almost demolished by Hurricane Iris in 2001. It has slowly been coming back, although it is still nowhere close to its former glory.

Sue and I heading off to the north.

The sea was flat enough that I felt comfortable taking my cameras with me in the little "sit upon" kayak.

The map below shows the routes of the trips that I took. The three thumbtacks mark the three households in Englishtown with full-time residents. Note that the map is oriented with north to the right so that I could get more coastline in the image. Great Monkey Cay is at the bottom in the center and Little Monkey Cay it to the left. The route that Sue and I took is in red. Right above little Monkey Cay is the entrance to Black Creek which runs behind our place marked with the leftmost thumbtack. That kayak route (yellow) is a good one when the open sea is too rough for a little kayak.

Monkey River Village (labeled "town" in Google Earth, but at only 250 or so inhabitants is barely a village) is at the mouth of the meandering Monkey River at the left of the image. Howler monkeys give the river its name. You can see the Monkey River Road leading inland. This dirt road is frequently impassable during the rainy season.

Two other kayak routes I took followed little creeks or dredged canals back into the marshes. I spent hours nosing along in these little creeks. Incredible birds, wonderful plants; never saw another person - my idea of heaven.

Belize from Above

2012-01-09T20:35:00.000-06:00

We flew into the international airport in Belize City and from there caught a little puddle-jumper prop plane to head south to our place. With the exception of the last few shots, all were taken out the window of the little plane. Most of the time the plane is flying at an altitude shared with vultures and frigate birds.

This is the Belize River flanked by thick jungle .

Toward the middle of the photo you can see a little homestead at a sharp bend in the river.

The water at the bottom of the photo is Caribbean Ocean. Inland are Quashi Lagoon and the large Southern Lagoon. Behind the Southern Lagoon are the Peccary foothills and then the Maya Mountains.

The coastal village we are approaching is Dangriga. You can see the Maya Mountains in the background.

Notice the reflection of the pilot in the window. That straight tan line perpendicular to the coast is the airstrip we are banking to land on as one of 2 stops along our way.

Back in the air after Dangriga, we can see the Sittee River with citrus groves and banana plantations on either side.

Now we are on the ground, well, actually on the water in our boat. to our right is the airstrip. If you look really, really carefully, you will see a little speck in the air.

The speck is bigger...

bigger ...

and about to touchdown on the airstrip.

This is the same size plane we flew in on, although it ours Maya Island Air.

Stay tuned for more.

Back to Belize

2011-10-22T20:56:00.002-06:00

Seems life has been conspiring to keep me from posting a blog entry recently. Computer issues, mainly. But also getting ready to go back to Belize. In a couple of days, we'll be at our beachfront jungle for a couple of weeks, seeing sights like that pictured below.

See you there.

Seeing Red

2011-10-02T08:56:00.000-06:00

I'm in Georgia now, visiting my Mother for a bit. Most of the summer, the weather in Georgia was monstrously hot and somewhat dry. But now the weather is perfect with highs in the 70s and 80s and lows in the 40s and 50s. We have been taking advantage of the warm, sunny days to go out to Sutton Park, a city park here in Elberton, to walk the trails.

The trails are smoothly paved, making navigation easy. The occasional benches are perfect for stopping to observe the flora and fauna.

We spotted this beautiful Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida, loaded with clusters of red fruits.

Hard to resist photographing the red and green against the bright blue sky.

Flowering Dogwoods are understory trees that are native to this area. Many birds eat the fruits.

This cluster of fruits is from a cluster of flowers surrounded by 4 showy white bracts that serve as the petals. You can see the bud for next springs flower right next to the fruits.

Flowering Dogwoods are native to this region of the US. Other Cornus spp. are found throughout temperate forests of the world, but this one is my favorite. Its 3 inch white flowers open early in the spring, the red fruits are attractive in the late summer and autumn, and the autumn leaf colors are orange and red.

We also saw many specimens of another favorite tree of mine - the Southern Magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora. I don't have any photos of the trees to show you, but I do have shots of their cones with bright red seeds peeking out.

The 4-5 inch long cones are fuzzy and split open to reveal the bright red seeds.

Botanically speaking, these aren't really cones; they are fruits. But they are commonly called cones because of their shape. Makes sense to me!

The lovely red seeds are eaten by squirrels, turkeys, quail, opossums, other animals.

The Southern Magnolia is native to the southeastern US, but is cultivated in many parts of the world. It grows to great heights (90ft, 27.5m), has glossy, evergreen leaves, and magnificent creamy white flowers in the summer.

Today is yet another lovely day; I'm sure we will make another trip to the park. Wonder what we will see this time?

Colorful Birds

2011-09-26T20:19:00.001-06:00

This spring we were fortunate to have a number of Indigo Buntings pass through and make a stop at our bird feeders.

Here is an English House Sparrow at the feeder with an Indigo Bunting. The Bunting is somewhat smaller than the sparrow.

And then they hung around all summer long, a first for us.

There were at least 3 adult males.

I'm not sure how many of non-descript females were around.

I believe this is a female Indigo Bunting.

But I am not certain.

The females often have some blue on the wings, and I don't see any blue on this one.

The males are unmistakable with their nearly solid blue color. The heads are often darker, almost purple.

Their nearest relative, the Lazuli Bunting, has a white belly and orange chest. The Indigo Buntings breed in North America and winter in Central America. We may see these birds or their relatives in Belize.

The cardinals are another colorful bird that show often at the feeders.

The Cardinals live here year round. They sure can brighten up a dull winter day.

Big Chipping Sparrow Baby

2011-09-24T22:55:00.000-06:00

Chipping sparrows were frequent visitors to the feeders all during the summer.

They are quite small, but very dapper with their chestnut cap and white stripe just across the upper eye.

Their high-pitched vocalizations have been the background noise all summer long.

But all is not right in the chipping sparrow world ...

It has been fooled by the brownheaded cowbird into rearing the cowbird young. The cowbird juvenile is screeching for its food so loudly that it startled the chickadee.

The parasitic brownheaded cowbird added its egg to the clutch laid by the chipping sparrow. The resulting baby bird is accepted by the chipping sparrow as its own, resulting in the incongruous scene below.

"Feed me now!" It is so much larger than its chipping sparrow "parent".

"Hey. Where did you go?"

Although the chipping sparrow adult didn't look rundown from all of its efforts to feed its big baby, the cost was in the loss of its own young for this season. Other chipping sparrows were successful, though, and we saw many real families at the feeder. They will be leaving soon for their winter home not too far to the south of us.

Dragons of Autumn

2011-09-20T18:40:00.000-06:00

The sun came for about 90 minutes on Sunday and that brought out hordes of dragonflies. I was able to get a few digitally immortalized and even managed to put names to them, although I stand to be corrected by anyone who knows better.

Meadowhawk, Sympetrum species. Not sure which one.

Meadowhawk, probably Sympetrum internum - the Cherry-faced Meadowhawk

Aeshna umbrosa - Shadow Darner. At 7.5 cm, this is a huge beast of a dragon.

Green Darner - Anax junius - female. Also a beast at 6.8-8.0cm!

Can you see it there toward the bottom?

a cropped view of the image above. Looks like the common green darner again, impersonating a drone bomber.

The sun disappeared and with it the dragons. I hope to see them again in a few days when the weather warms briefly and the sun reappears.

Pileated Woodpecker Visits the Suet Block

2011-09-17T19:54:00.000-06:00

Back in June, I saw a Pileated Woodpecker fly into the hickory tree next to the patio.

The pileateds are probably the largest of the North American Woodpeckers. I say "probably" because there is a slim possibility that the larger Ivory Billed Woodpecker is, in words from Monty Python's Spamalot, "not dead yet!"

You can get an idea of how large she is in the photo below of her on suet feeder. They can reach almost 20 inches in length.

I say "she" because she lacks the red moustache and forehead seen on males.

She looks rather ungainly on this suet feeder. I have seen suet feeders made specifically for woodpeckers with a vertical board located below the suet block that serves as a tail brace.

The lack of a tail brace didn't deter this bird from feeding.

We hear them in the woods behind our house with their distinctive call and slow, deep hammering. They prefer large trees in which to excavate a cavity for nesting and there are plenty of large trees in our woods.

If you double click on the photo below you can get a glimpse of her tongue sticking out. Apparently they have long barbed tongues that they use to pull ants and termites out of tunnels.

Here in southeastern Minnesota, we are near the western edge of their range and we don't see them as often as we did in Georgia. But no matter when or where we see them, these birds are a favorite.

Monarch Migration

2011-09-16T21:27:00.000-06:00

Night before last, a big cold front was scheduled to move through and bring us the first frost of the season. Dennis and I moved a lot of our potted plants inside and covered all the others that we left out on the patio. It was a lot of work, but worth it because I doubt we will have another frost for a few more weeks. I'm just not ready to see the outdoor growing season come to end just yet!

Yesterday, which dawned bright and clear, was pretty chilly - the low temp was a degree or so below freezing, so we were glad that we had taken care of the plants. In the afternoon I was sitting at my desk at work in my north facing office on the 12th floor and was treated to the start of the monarch butterfly migration. In less than one hour, I saw at least 20 monarch butterflies heading south past my window in downtown Rochester, Minnesota. The cold front had initiated the big migration.

Nectaring on purple coneflower.

and Liatris (blazing star) back in July.

It is amazing and awe-inspiring that these butterflies will wind up in Mexico for the winter. Not a bad plan.

Finches, Frogs, and Flowers

2011-09-11T20:04:00.000-06:00

I haven't taken any bird photos lately, but I found this series of Goldfinch shots from back in May.

The breeding plumage is so vibrant.

Usually they feed at the nijer feeder, but they seem to enjoy the table feeder just as much.

A chubby little fellow, isn't he?

They eat the sunflower seeds and the millet.

They are a real joy to see in the spring, like a mini yellow sun.

Moving back to the present, one of the at least 3 frogs that hang out in our little pond was being especially cooperative today.

This is Rana pipiens, the Northern Leopard Frog.

It was sitting on the edge of the slightly submerged stone bridge that is also a frequent spot for bird baths.

A princely looking frog, just waiting for a kiss.

A few hours later when I walked by the pond I saw a movement in the bushes. Can you see it? Right there in the center of the photo.

The gold, black, and green make a pretty camouflage

Today was perfect, high of 82F (28C), low humidity, a light breeze, and the very occasional puffy cloud. I managed to finish the path in the lower garden and weed the shade garden. Next week we may get low temps cold enough for a frost, so I also made time for some flower photos while they are still here.

A close up of a cluster of small blossoms on a begonia. Each blossom is barely a cm across.

This is the showiest of the canna lily flowers I managed to overwinter. Each flower in the cluster of about 8 flowers is at least 5 inches across. This flame color is fabulous; it could warm you on a cold day.

Moths in the Garden

2011-09-10T08:31:00.000-06:00

A flash of emerald green caught my eye as I was walking though the garden last month (when it was still summer...sigh) and it was this beautifully colored moth resting on a Liatris flower stalk.

Fine, straight vertical white lines drop down from the roughly horizontal zigzag line to the bottom edge of the wing.

I have tried to identify it and I think it may be Chlorochlamys appellaria, one of the emerald moths in the US.

The underparts seem to be either white or pale green, although I did not try to move the moth to get a better image. At any rate, I can't see any flashes of orange or yellow that some green moths have.

I submitted an ID request to BugGuides which you can see here. I hope to get a response soon. They are very good at providing IDs and have a superb website for North American insects, spiders, etc.

If you double click on this image you can see the fine green fur on the thorax.

In July, in lovely, warm late afternoon light after a thunderstorm, I saw this fuzzy caterpillar denuding before my very eyes an appletree shoot that keeps coming up from rootstock of a tree we removed several years ago.

There are rain droplets still caught in the hairs of this caterpillar.

This is probably a yellow woolybear caterpillar of the Viginian Tiger Moth. I found an adult moth about 3 weeks later.

Hard to tell if they are coming or going until you see them eating (or pooping, I suppose). This one has eaten the leaf right down to the petiole.

I believe this is the adult Virginian Tiger Moth that may have come from that caterpillar or one of its siblings.

Taking shelter on the underside of a butterfly weed leaf.

It is mostly white with a dot or two of black on the wings.

It has a mane of white fur on the thorax.

Again, I didn't disturb it to get a better view of the underside.

The legs are white with some black markings.

The eyes look quite dark.

To wrap things up today, is a shot of the first of the milkweed seedpods in our garden to explode into a mass of dazzling cotton to carry the seeds to new territories.

In this sign of autumn is the promise of spring and summer yet to come.

Swallowtails and Mimics in the Garden

2011-09-07T20:36:00.000-06:00

Back in August I featured the gorgeous Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio glaucus. They have been more numerous this summer than I recall them being in past years. A result of global climate change? I don't know, but it surely could be. I can't resist posting a few more photos of these beauties.

A female with the blue on the hindwing that males lack.

She is focused on nectaring on purple coneflower. The blue shows on the upper and lower hindwing.

The 2 shots below are views of the underside and topside of an individual butterfly that looks quite dark.

It is a little tattered, but still most obviously a swallowtail of some sort.

Turns out this is a female dark phase of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus.

It seems that there are only female dark phase specimens, there are no male dark phase individuals. When viewed from the right angle, you can see hints of the yellow stripes on the forewings. These can be confused with the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes), except the blue on the black swallowtail is almost fused into 1 large blotch.

Below is another dark swallowtail. It is the Giant Swallowtail (cresphontes).

Not very colorful from above, but the underside makes up for it.

I was not able to get a shot of the underside, but if you follow the link above, you can see that the underside is more colorful. These are the largest butterflies in North America.

What about the underside of the dark phase Eastern Tiger Swallowtail? You can see some nice orange spots along with some yellow and blue on the dark background.

This one is missing one tail and other pieces, too. Amazing how well they can fly when tattered like this!

The butterfly below also has orange and blue on a dark background. But this one, a Red-Spotted Purple, Limenitis arthemis astyanax, lacks tails. This is a subspecies of a White Admiral and can hybridize with White Admirals. It is considered a mimic of the toxic Pipevine Swallowtail.

This one was so intent on drinking on the damp mulch I had uncovered while working on the garden path that it allowed me to move a piece of mulch that was stuck to its wing without even a flick of an antenna!

With its wings open, it is easy to see how worn it is. Don't you love that blue iridescence of the hindwing? I wonder if the blue looks more purple and the orange more red in fresh specimens?

Hummingbird Moth Caterpillars, the Garden Path, and an Unexpected Avian Visitor

2011-09-04T20:29:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago I blogged about the Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth laying eggs on a little honeysuckle plant that had volunteered in the garden. Some of the eggs have hatched and i have tried to follow the little caterpillars.

This just hatched caterpillar was so small that I didn't know it was there until I looked at the photos Of course I ran back out to find it and photograph it on purpose. Tiny little thing, isn't it?

Here is another fresh one. You can see a clear eggshell in the background.

The little black "tail" makes them look like dachshunds.

I took these next 2 photos today. This one is growing larger; you can gauge its size in comparison to the tip of my index finger.

It still has a long way to go, size-wise.

My project for today and tomorrow is to finish the garden path section that had been removed 2 or 3 years ago when we put the patio in. I got a fair amount done today. First I weeded that section of the garden and spread shredded bark mulch that had been sitting there in a pile for 2 or so years. I know, I know - I put the "pro" in procrastinate. ;-) I rough-prepped the ground and was able to get about 15 feet of stone positioned and settled in place.

Here is the part of the path I did today starting from the patio and going toward the side to meet up with the path that goes around the side and across the front to the driveway.

I have about 7 feet left to do. It will be sort of like the meeting of the Union and Pacific railway lines. No one to blame but myself if they don't line up.

That was hard work because most of the stone was in the back yard and I had to haul it up the steps to the side yard. I also spread 7 wheel barrow loads of mulch, which Dennis very kindly loaded and wheeled to me, and did a lot of weeding. But prepping the ground for the path was the hardest. I was inside taking a break while reading my favorite blogs when I heard this loud commotion outside. It sounded sort of like the blue jays when they imitate a red-shouldered hawk, but much louder and really carrying on for some time. I ran outside to see what it could be and saw this in a tree in the woods behind our house:

A bald eagle!

These are huge birds - up to 40 inches tall with a wingspan of up to 90 inches!

It is not unusual to see eagles soaring overhead around here, but I have never seen one in a tree except along the Mississippi River or one of the other rivers around here - certainly never in our woods!

Too bad the light was against me, but with some tweaking - OK, a lot of tweaking, the photos aren't too bad. And what a thrill!

It was not spooked by me and the camera or even by me calling to Dennis to come and see. It hung around for about 10-15 minutes (enough time for me to take 93 photos, most of them too poor to keep) before flying off. I tell you, it made my day.

A Sign of the Times

2011-09-02T21:05:00.000-06:00

Finally, and six months later than we had hoped, our house is on the market. We have spent a lot of time (not to mention money) getting it as perfect as possible in hopes it will sell in today's uncertain financial climate. We would love for it to sell before the end of the year, but are prepared to wait longer if need be.

Nymphalis antiopa - Mourning Cloak Butterfly AKA Camberwall Beauty

2011-09-01T21:42:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I saw my first Mourning cloak of the summer.

It seems to be licking the petals of the coneflower.

So many butterflies are attracted to coneflower.

Bug Guide tells me that it is known as the Camberwall Beauty in the UK. It is a beauty, sure enough. Don't you love those blue dots along the wing margins?

It is in the genus of Tortoiseshells. The adults mostly feed on tree sap and rotten fruit. Occasionally, as seen here, they do partake of nectar.

It has an odd life cycle, at least in my limited experience. It overwinters as an adult, quite a feat for an insect in this climate. Eggs are laid on young twigs of host trees like willow, river birch, and cottonwood that are found along rivers. The caterpillars live in communal webs and eat the young leaves of the host tree. The first generation adults emerge in early summer, feed briefly, and then estivate until autumn. I am pretty sure that the individuals I have seen are the re-emergent adults trying to fatten up before over-wintering. They may even have a short migration south to over-winter in a less drastic climate than what we have here in Minnesota. Not a bad idea at all. ;-)

Yellow Parasol Mushroom, Lepiota lutea

2011-08-31T20:42:00.000-06:00

In mid-July, a flush of these lovely yellow parasol mushrooms, Lepiota lutea, came up in a pot of fragrant Jasmine that I have on the patio. These come up fairly frequently in a number of pots and don't seem to harm the plant they share the pot with.

I like the combination of yellow and blue.

You can see the annulus (ring) left around the stalk. The annulus is the remnant of the veil that covered the gills before the cap expanded. The shape of mushroom in the foreground definitely lives up to its name.

I think this is a record for the number of mushrooms in one pot.

I googled Lepiota lutea and learned that is very common in flower pots and does not affect the green plant, which did relieve me since it is in many of my pots. This particular pot has had several flushes of mushroom this summer. You might see little yellow egg-shaped mounds for a day or so that then rapidly expand to the mushrooms in these photos. By the next day, the mushrooms have withered and collapsed into what looks like a dried mushroom. In another day or 2 even those will have disappeared. I look forward to them as an unexpected flash of color.

Reflections on Light and Shadow

2011-08-29T19:31:00.000-06:00

The shots of the Question Mark butterfly with its reflection that I posted here a few days ago reminded me of some pictures I took in 2009 at Victoria Bryant State Park in Georgia. I took these photos while standing on a dock in a lake, looking down into the water. I was fascinated by the way the depth of the slightly turbid water was illuminated by shafts of sunlight shining down between the boards of the dock.

If you double click on this image to enlarge it, you will be able to see some small fish in the upper right-hand corner. Along the bottom of the picture are the boards of the dock and then the reflection of the dock and me. Along the top of the photo is the shadow of me and the rail of the dock. But it is those parallel planes of sunlit water that I was trying to capture; the other things were by accident.

In this simpler image below I cropped out everything except the shafts of sunlight, my reflection and the reflection of a vulture soaring high above.

I call this one "Self-Portrait with Vulture".

Libellula pulchella - Twelve-spotted Skimmer

2011-08-28T15:02:00.000-06:00

I took these photos on July 31. This dragonfly was in the garden and let me get pretty close to it with my camera.

It is a Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Libellula pulchella.

The 12 spots are the dark spots of which there are 3 per wing. Both males and females have the 12 spots.

Only the adult males have the powder blue spots on their wings and the bluish coating on their abdomens.

It is holding onto a Liatris flower stalk (blazing star).

I think it is just soaking up the sun, giving me a nice photo op!

All the descriptions of this dragon refer to the white patches on the wings. They sure look blue to me, even in the photos where they are referred to as white.

I have seen several females during the summer, but they were never still enough to photograph.

Beautiful thing to behold, unless you are its dinner target.

Reflections on a Question: Polygonia interrogationis, the Question Mark Butterfly

2011-08-27T20:44:00.000-06:00

I was working on my computer at the kitchen table yesterday and a saw a small shadow appear on the outside of the window. Just a few weeks ago I had seen a butterfly on that window, so I grabbed my camera and went to the sunroom which has a view of the kitchen window. It was a butterfly sitting on the windowglass. I was able to open the window in the sunroom to have an unobstructed view of the butterfly and took the following pictures of a beautiful Polygonia interrogationis, the Question Mark butterfly. I rotated the images so the butterfly seems to be oriented horizontally, when it was actually going down the window, head first. I took all of the photos showing the beautiful reflection off the windowglass. The window blinds provide the diagonal stripes in the reflection, giving the photos a geometric rakishness. ;-)

Here, you can see the white question mark from which the butterfly gets its name on the underside of the hindwing.

The orange color of the hind wing indicates that this is a winter form of the question mark that will stay here all winter and then breed in the spring. The summer form has much darker hindwings.

There is a trail of lick marks on the glass visible between the bottom edge of the rear wing and its reflection.

You can see the violet tail tips and outer margin of forewing.

The underside of the wings can be seen in the reflection.

Look at how the tip of the proboscis is flattened against the windowglass.

Upon reflection, the question is clear.

Wonder what the answer is...

A Garden in Bloom

2011-08-24T20:46:00.000-06:00

Our garden has been more beautiful this summer than any of the other 18 summers we have lived here. I suppose that is not unexpected since we have been dabbling in the garden since day 1. It hasn't all been forward movement; some things we have done have been more successful than others. But then experimenting is half the fun.

This is the front of the house. We have a stone path that leads from driveway across the front and around the side to the patio in back.

From the right perspective, the coneflowers make it look almost prairie-like.

But that illusion disappears when you stand up and look in the other direction.

The asiatic lilies were prolific. This bed is behind the garage and my office window overlooks this scene.

We went crazy one year and planted a border of asiatic lilies around the entire front and side garden beds. The orange lilies are in bloom in this photo. A few weeks later, the pink star gazer lilies that were inter-mixed began to bloom.

I managed to overwinter the canna lilies and they made a beautiful comeback once they got back onto the patio.

This is the front of the house. The front door is tucked around to the left of the garage. Most of the plants are herbaceous perennials that have self-seeded.

We started with 3 liatris plants, 6 moonbeam cosmos, 3 purple coneflowers, 3 black-eyed susans, and 3 butterfly weed plants.

The back garden is shadier and on the north side of the house. We have ferns and hostas in the lower garden, which is the shadiest. In the upper part we have astilbes, more hostas, lilacs, hydrangeas, bell flowers, balloon flowers, lungwort, speedwell, and lots more.

The trellis separates our yard from the neighbors' yard. The hummingbirds love the geraniums and begonias in the hanging baskets. For some reason, the clematis (at the left end of the trellis) was more interested in growing bushy than in climbing the trellis.

I'll end this post with a backlit view from underneath a crane's bill geranium. This little plant has blooming its heart out all summer and shows no sign of slowing down.

We have gotten so much pleasure from creating it and watching it progress from spring, through summer, and into autumn for 18 years. With any luck, this is our last summer here in this house; leaving it and the garden will be bittersweet. Hope you enjoyed the tour; we certainly enjoyed our time here.

Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth, Hemaris diffinis

2011-08-21T18:26:00.000-06:00

Dennis and I were in the garden yesterday to hook up the garden hose so we could replenish the water in in our little garden pond. I noticed this insect flying low with an erratic path. When we got a decent look at it we could tell it was a hummingbird moth. A little smaller than what we have seen before and it seemed to have clear wings, also different from the others. It was flitting around very jerkily, so none of my photos are very sharp, but that is the nature of this beast.

Its wings beat so fast that is hard to even see them.

It, or rather she as it turns out, has found a plant that she likes.

You can tell here that the wings are clear.

She is getting in position to lay an egg.

Looking for another spot to lay an egg.

She tucks the tip of its abdomen under the leaf.

Off to find another good spot.

Here we go ...

I didn't want to disturb her any more, so I let her be.

I came back the next morning to check for eggs and found 3.

Tiny, glistening, green globules.

Two were very round.

And one seemed to be a little flat on top.

They should hatch in about 3-4 days.

I'll keep an eye out for hatchlings, but they will be very small and also green - hard to see on the green leaf. I think this plant is a honeysuckle, which is one of their preferred plants. It came up as a volunteer in the garden and I almost weeded it out. Glad I left it.

By the way - this post is for Dean who reminded me recently that there are clearwing moths. :-)

Monarch Butterflies

2011-08-20T22:22:00.002-06:00

These butterflies are a marvel. Amazingly, they are migratory! They overwinter in Mexico and southern California, and in February start to migrate north. They breed and lay eggs in the southern USA. The progeny from those individuals fly farther north and the process is repeated , with monarchs coming as far north as southern Canada. In August, they turn around and head south. The generation that overwinters lives up to seven months, while the others live only 2-3 months. This is explained much more clearly in Wikipedia at this site. Please click on the images to see the details.

Monarch Butterfly nectaring on purple coneflower

This large butterfly feeds mostly on milkweed, Aesclepias spp.

Aesclepias spp., especially this A. tuberosa, have toxins that the Monarchs accumulate in their tissues.

Most butterfly predators are sensitive to the toxins and have learned to avoid these brightly colored butterflies and their equally brightly colored caterpillars.

Look at this impressive wingspan - 4 inches and then some.

This female is trying to find the perfect spot to lay her eggs.

They always lay them on butterfly weed.

You can see the tip of abdomen just starting to curl inward.

Curling even more.

curling so much that she tips forward almost onto her head!

Whatever it takes to squeeze out an egg.

Here she lays one on the bud of butterfly weed florette.

I came back later to get this photo.

And here is an egg laid on a leaf.

With a close up look here you can see stripes and even the hint of a caterpillar face at the tip of the egg.

A face like this one.

After munching on butterfly weed leaves, they get bigger.

and bigger (double click to see it REALLY BIG!).

Finally they will form a chrysalis, but I have not been fortunate enough to find one.

We specifically planted the butterfly weed to support these butterflies. It has been such a great pleasure to see and photograph the monarchs at the northern extent of their range. Butterfly weed has been included in many wildflower projects in these parts of the US, so on this end of the migration, things are pretty good. Unfortunately, on the southern end where they overwinter, deforestation is putting monarch butterflies at risk. It thrills my soul each year to see the monarchs arrive and further the species for at least another year; and this year has been a banner year indeed.

Butterfly and Moth

2011-08-12T20:08:00.002-06:00

After a slow, cool start to summer here in Minnesota, our garden came into its own in late July and early August. The flowers, birds, and insects have been a delight to watch in their splendid glory. Even though we have been busy getting the house ready to sell, I have managed to take lots of photos of the flora and fauna. But I haven't been able to manage posting a blog entry, until now.

One of the lovely insects that has been flitting around is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). This female is feeding on butterfly weed; in fact she was holding on for dear life as the wind blustered around. The blue on the hindwing is seen only on the females.

I have seen her or other females in the garden for several weeks now. They are quite

large with a wing span of around 6 inches (165 mm) for the females and a little smaller for the males.

These swallowtails have lovely colors on the upper and undersides of their wings.

The blue (first photo)is more visible from above and the orange is more visible from below.

I find the Eastern Swallowtails to be one of the most beautiful butterflies in North America.

On the other extreme is this moth, Palthis angulalis - Dark-spotted Palthis. It is in a subfamily called the "litter moths", which reflects their usual habitat.

It is fairly small; that is an oregano leaf it is on in the photos. And at first glance, it seems drab. But look at that structure sticking out from its head! What is that?

From a different perspective, you can see the interesting shape of its wings.

From above it looks to me like an F16 fighter plane.

In fact, that was how i keyed it out. I did a Google search on "moths that look like F16s" and found the genus in the 3rd item.

That took me to http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740, a great site that I use pretty often.

Now if I could only figure out what is going on with that funky schnoz ...

Daffodils and Wildflowers

2011-05-22T19:07:00.001-06:00

You may remember last autumn I wrote about digging up the daffodil bulbs at the front of the house and then replanting them at the back along the edge of the woods. It was a huge success.

Daffodils at the edge of the woods on a southeast facing hill. I love how the late afternoon sun shines through the still-bare branches of the trees to illuminate the blossoms from behind.

View from the woods toward our neighbors' house a week or so after the previous photo.

View toward "The Grove", a large house owned by Assisi Heights Convent.

I had dug up about 8 bushells of bulbs from the front to move to the back. I though I had recovered at least 80% of them, but look at was is left in the front! I think I will let them stay where they are. :-) I seem to have plenty at the edge of the woods.

Lots of bulbs were still in the bed at the front of the house. They are such a welcomed sight in early spring.

The bumblebees were all over them.

They just glow in the spring sunshine.

There have been lots of wildflowers out, too. I was too late to catch the bloodroot flower.

The lovely single leaf of the bloodroot plant, one of my favorite wildflowers.

Last spring I looked high and low for trout lilies in bloom, but did not find a single flower. I did find a seed head late in the fall, but that was it. This spring I found quite a few with flowers.

These are the white trout lilies. They also come in yellow.

These lilies mostly propagate vegetatively. The first year plants have a single leaf. Older plants have 2 leaves and may flower.

If you look in the background, you can see that the forest floor is almost a uniform carpet of trout lilies.

Mixed in with the trout lilies are loads of blue violets.

The ramps are doing well. Unlike their European relative, rampsons, they will not flower until after the leaves have died back.

Some of the jack-in-the-pulpits have a dark spathe that surrounds the spadix, and others have green spathes. Not sure what the difference is.

These early woodland wildflowers emerge long before the trees begin to leaf out. They get in almost an entire year's worth of growth in the weeks before they get shaded by the trees. Their foliage often dies back even though flowers and seed heads develop and mature in the later months of summer. They rely on energy stored in corms, bulbs, and roots.

This photo of the jack-in-the-pulpit is from 2008. It shows the very colorful developing seeds and exposed surface of the spadix where the seeds have fallen off.

Amazingly beautiful, isn't it?

Odd and Ends: Deer Ears, Book Ends, Book Beginnings

2011-05-20T21:05:00.000-06:00

A number of weeks ago, I had a post about the deer with the shrinking ears and I promised that I would give an update if I learned anything. Well, my inquiries bore some fruit and the consensus is that it was probably frostbite, although there is a possibility that it could be nematode larvae Elaeophora (arterial worm). The nematode larvae are a big, often lethal, problem with sheep, elk, moose, and goats to the west of us. But infected white-tailed deer usually do not have symptoms. I do hope that it is frostbite, because there shouldn’t be any lasting problems. Since our weather has gotten warmer, the deer are finding natural food instead of raiding the bird feeders; I haven’t seen them for a while. She may show up again with her latest fawn in a month or so.

Speaking of getting odds and ends out of the way – I am ecstatic that I have gotten rid of 300 books! Tracey, who does my hair (yes, it is true that hairdressers know everything!) , gave me the name and email address of a person in town who has a business selling books on eBay. I sent her an email and 4 days latter she (actually her husband and father-in-law) came and picked up all the books. A weight off my mind. ;-) I had roughly 350 books of fiction. Originally I had packed up about 150 of them to take to Belize. But I had second thoughts about the expense of shipping them and the practicality of keeping them in such a humid climate when we will not have air conditioning. So I tried a little experiment – I bought my self a Kindle to try out. I got it about 2 months ago and love it! I had to make a deal with myself, though, so that I don’t spend too much money buying eBooks – for each book I purchase and read, I have to find at least one free eBook that I download and read. This makes me explore lots of options rather than solely relying on Amazon. And Amazon also has tons for free eBooks. So far I am reading far more free books than books I have to pay for. So, I unpacked 3 boxes of books and selected only 50 to take with me.

The reject pile: 300 hardback, paperback, mysteries, historical fiction, chick lit, science fiction, oldies, post-modern - a little bit of everything.

Most books I read just once and then try to pass along to another reader. But somohow they keep finding their way back to me! I hope that through the eBay site they can find their way to new readers.

50 keepers: they all have special meaning to me.

If you look at the titles in the photo above, you can see that my reading taste is fairly ecclectic. One of my favorite new finds is the author Neal Stephenson. He wrote a series of 3 novels (almost 1000 pages each) plus a related novel that I keep trying to get my friends to read. So far, none of them have been as taken with these books as I have been. Please let me know if you like them! Another author whose works mean a lot to me is the enigmatic James Tiptree Jr, the nom de plume of Alice B. Sheldon. She took a masculine pen name to get her science fiction published in the 1970s. Most of her writing is incredibly thought provoking with a somewhat sad yet optimistic undercurrent. As a young woman coming of age at that time, her writing struck, and still strikes, a deep chord in me. One other book that resonates with my up-bringing in the deep south of the United States is "Praying for Sheetrock". Anyone who has a desire to understand the people of the southern US in middle to late1900s would benefit from reading this book; I know because I am one of those people. "Last Chance to See" is the only book of Douglas Adams, who also wrote "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", that I have. He is one of the most remarkable authors, with a fresh perspective on life and being human. He was also quoted as saying that he loves deadlines, especially the whooshing sound they make as they zoom past him. I can sure identify with that! The world is a sadder, poorer place for his early death. Armistead Maupin is another author represented in my pile of "keepers". His series "Tales of the City" was made into a public TV series. It loosely revolves around misfits who find their place in a very bohemian San Francisco and is funny, endearing, uplifiting, and sad. But mostly, it, too, is thought provoking. Gregory Maguire wrote a series of books that are alternative takes on "The Wizard of Oz" and other books written by Frank Baum. The most well-know of his books is "Wicked"; it was a long-running play on Broadway. He explores different ways of thinking about things and how context differentiates between wickedness and goodness, uglyness and beauty, bravery and cowardice. And how could I get rid of Monty Python's "All the Words"? If there ever was an alternative way of looking at things, the Monty Python crew showed us how to do it. Rounding out my keepers are books of historical significance in science fiction and mystery. As I looked over my collection of keepers, my first thought was how diverse they are, but after reflection I can see that they all illustrate alternative points of view that bring us out of ourselves and into a bigger, more versatile, less constrained, and richer world. Even if I never actually read these books again, for now I will be a more contented person if I know that I have them. There may be some point in the future that I will be able to let them go, but for now having them in my possesion is symbolic and fills a need that I cannot deny.

Wow - that was a boatload, wasn't it. ;-) On to more typical things, I was happy to read Midmarsh John’s blog the other day because he had an entire post about a site with free eBooks; what a find that site is! I found 34 old texts on Belize and Central America; the three I have looked at so far are down-loadable to my Kindle. This is great. I can see lots of rainy days happily filled with exploring this online library.

Is it spring yet?

2011-05-14T12:01:00.000-06:00

Well, the emergence of the Great Southern Brood of periodic cicadas that I featured in my last post has made headlines here, here, and here. But there were other things of interest happening outside too. One of my favorite small trees, the Grancy Greybeard, (aka Fringe Tree, Old Man's Beard, Chionanthus virginicus) was in bloom in my Mother's back yard.

When we moved to Minnesota 18 years ago, we brought a seedling with us. It has survived and even blooms here. It stays small because it gets severely "pruned" by deer each winter; of course the shorter growing season also comes in to play.

Yes, those ~3 foot tall sticks are the Grancy Greybeard. The photo of the flowers in Georgia was taken 3 weeks ago and the photos above and below of this one in MN were taken just minutes ago! That is how delayed our spring is relative to that in Georgia - I would guess at least 6 weeks, maybe 8. You can see the Lily of the Valley leaves around the base of the Grancy Greybeard and also the first new leaves of Christmas fern unfurling.

So far our Grancy Greybeard only has green buds showing with the promise of good things to come.

I have no idea what this plant is.

It is a vine of some sort that was growing wild at the back of a neighbor's yard. A very pretty flower, whatever it is.

There were also some weeds/wildflowers (depending on your point of view) in Mother's front lawn.

I'm glad I took these shots when I did because the next day they were mowed down. :-(

This Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius ) was also in the neighbor's yard. As an invading, non-native species, it is considered a noxious weed. It was introduced from Europe in the 1800s. Here in the yard, it behaves itself fairly well and adds some welcomed color in the spring.

Meanwhile back here in MN, there are more signs of spring that lend themselves to another posting. Here is a taste of things to come ...

Ramps

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Ostrich plume ferns

Once Every Thirteen Years: The Great Southern Brood of Cicadas

2011-04-28T21:21:00.000-06:00

I am visiting my Mother in

Georgia

this week. Spring here is verging on summer; the azalea blossoms have already come and gone. While I am sorry to have missed them, I did arrive for an event that happens only once every 13 years – the Great Southern Brood of cicadas is emerging! The first clue of the emergence that I saw was a large number of exuvia along the trail I was walking with one of my oldest friends and her sister. Amazing that I noticed them at all because it was dusk and we were busy catching up on each other’s lives. But, as often seems to be the case, once my eye caught one, there were exuvia everywhere. The next few days I was ready with my camera and took hundreds of shots. Lucky for you, I ruthlessly culled them and am presenting only the best of the best here. ;-)

First up are the exuvia, or shells, of the last larval stage from which the adult emerges. When I was a kid we would hook them on our clothes as decorations. Using their specialized front legs, the larvae dig their way out of the ground (where they have lived for the last 13 years) and climb up vegetation or the occasional handy fence post and latch on.

The exuvia are very tough.

Look at those front legs!

Then the case splits open and the adult emerges pretty quickly. They are a pale cream color when they first emerge and their wings are small. Sometimes they don’t manage to emerge all the way, but when they do, they usually hang from their exuvium as they their wings unfurl and their exoskeletons harden. This one just below hadn't latched on securely enough and it fell to the ground almost at my feet, the exuvium popped open, and the adult flopped out. I moved it over to the grass and it quickly crawled away.

"Hey! What happened?"

"This is not my beautiful home."

"This is a little better."

I love their big red eyes. They also have 3 small red eyes that are most obvious before the exoskeleton darkens. Their wings are gorgeous fairy wings while they are still pale. They wear their small, dark, wing covers as epaulets.

Folks around here call these cicadas “locusts” although they are not at related to the grasshoppers. Cicadas are more closely related to flies. As I mentioned earlier, this is part of the “Great Southern Brood” in the genus Magicicada. Each cicada brood is synchronized for the year of its emergence. The Great Southern Brood is the largest in North America. It emerged last in 1998.

They do cause some damage to trees and shrubs because they lay their eggs in slits they make in young stems. But what gets most people’s attention is the deafeningly loud noise they make; the hotter it gets, the louder they sing. Only the males sing. As I was out walking today, someone asked me what that loud noise was. I told them it was the cicadas and they looked at me blankly. When I said locusts, they knew what I meant.

The trees and shrubs are covered with cicadas.

There are thousands and thousands of them in a single residential block; you can hardly take a step without crunching a cicada or its shed case. They are a feast for some birds, and in many part of the world, the larvae are considered a delicacy for human consumption.

See you again in 2024.

2011-04-17T21:18:00.000-06:00

In our continuing efforts to make our house salable, Dennis and I undertook the “Great Closet Makeover” this weekend. We ordered the kit from a company called EasyClosets. They have a website where you can enter the dimensions of the closet and choose the components you want to use, then they ship it all to you. Our closet kit arrived less than a week after we ordered it. It came in 13 boxes with a total weight of over 400 lbs. We took out the old shelves and rods on Thursday, patched the holes, and put up one coat of paint. Saturday morning we started with the kit. The kit has vertical pieces that hang off a horizontal rail. Dennis was excited because he got to use his new laser level for the first time.

You can just barely see the red laser line on the wall and Dennis' hand.

It is a little easier to see the laser when it is stationary.

The level worked like a charm and we soon had the marks on the walls to get the rails mounted at the right height. Once we figured out how the parts worked together it went quickly – until we got to the longest wall. I had measured that wall 3 times before we ordered the kit, and each time got 101.5 inches. It may be 101.5 inches at that spot, but the walls aren’t perfectly plumb and we had about a quarter of an inch too much shelving to fit along that wall. It should be a simple matter to just cut some off, but this is a pretty complicated system with cam screws that tighten adjacent pieces together. But we were able to substitute one of the 3 sections along the long wall with a section that was an inch or so shorter and it worked well.

Tightening the cam screws.

Adjusting the troublesome shelves on the long wall.

Dennis had to use a hacksaw to cut 2 hanger rods a bit shorter.

Notice the lovely wheelie bin worktable.

I seemed to spend a fair amount of time on the floor getting the cams on the bottom shelves tightened up.

Then we were able to use the longer section with a few adjustments. I think Dennis was secretly pleased that we had to make the adjustments because that gave him an excuse to use his fancy new Forstner drill bits to create new holes for the cams I mentioned earlier.

The Forstner bit ...

Drilling out the hole for the cams. A factory-made cam hole was drilled out to use as a template. The black line on the shaft marks the desired depth.

On the floor again ...

Dennis also had to shorten the cam screws used on the top shelves that link the corners of the room. This was due to poor planning on our part, but we got it to work in the end.

Dennis wore out one hacksaw blade on this project.

With some creativity and adaptability we got the closet installed and it looks great. I love the shoe shelves. We even got some of our things back in the closet.

We put a little piece of carpet on a shelf for Max.

Dennis has the righthand third and I have the lefthand two-thirds.

Not a bad weekend's work at all.

Almost Earless

2011-04-11T19:59:00.012-06:00

(again - apologies to Christine for messing with the title of her blog Almost Fearless)

Back in February, we noticed a white-tailed doe that had one ear shorter than the other among the deer that come to raid the bird feeders. Then last week I saw this one with 2 bobbed ears. What is going on? Were they injured? Is some crazy person taking deer ears as trophies? Is there a mutation generating bob-eared deer? Finally it was still light enough when I got home from work for me to get a couple of barely passable photos. She looks kind of sweet from this vantage.

The light was fading, so the shots are not sharp. But if you click to enlarge the photo below you can see sore spots on the ears.

I believe what I had thought were 2 does is really just one slowly losing bits of her ears. Perhaps her ears were badly frost-bitten during those bitter cold weeks we had and the dead parts are falling off. Otherwise, she looks healthy. Has anyone else ever seen anything like this? I will keep an eye on her this spring to see how she fares.

Almost Ironic (with apologies to Christine)

2011-04-10T18:49:00.000-06:00

Ten loads of wash, 8 big boxes of clean and neatly folded clothes, 3 boxes of “rags”, 1 bag of trash, and 2 trips to Salvation Army were yesterday’s culmination of an ongoing effort to get rid of unnecessary clothes prior to getting our house ready to sell so we can move to Belize next year. I didn’t realize I had so much. I had filled at least 30 feet (!) of hanging space with my clothes; some were 20 years old, some were older. Most things from the 2 spare bedrooms were pretty musty, so I washed and dried everything before I sorted through it all. I was heartless; my wedding dress – into the rag bag! That slightly too-small silk blouse of the most beautiful blue – into the box. The lovely long green skirt my sister made for me that matches the skirts she made for my other sister and herself one long ago Christmas – into the box. The black satin dresses that were my grandmother’s – into the rag bag. The Santa Claus suit that was hand made for my Father when we lived on Okinawa in the early sixties – into the trash bag (sniff). The gorgeous, semi-formal dress hand made for my Mother when we lived on Okinawa – into the trash bag. Well, I did salvage the fabric from the skirt; 3x10 ft of a beautifully hand-embroidered fabric that I entertain a notion of making into pillow covers if it isn't too rotten. The “keepers” still occupy 8 feet of hanging space, but some of that is taken up by winter cloths that I will need for next winter. Anybody need any clothes hangers? ;-)

This morning the title of an older post on Christine Gilbert's blog Almost Fearless caught my eye “10 Unexpected Costs of Owning Things”. I read it and some of the comments it had elicited. Still in the heady post-cleaning out state from yesterday, it resonated strongly with me and I resolved to rethink the many boxes of books I was planning on taking to Belize. But before I reviewed the book inventory on my computer, I made the mistake of reading my emails first. Oooh - here’s one from Amazon. There are some 400 thread count sheets at a very good sale price and lots of good colors to choose from. Quickly -- delete, delete -- no more stuff! It was a close call, but I managed to resist the temptation and decided to write this post instead.

Nearly 2 yards of embroidered tafetta, more than 50years old that I will try to salvage.

Never Say Die, Part Two

2011-03-13T19:49:00.000-06:00

But an attempt to fly off with the squirrel proves that the hawk doesn't have it after all.

Looks at those wicked talons! Very impressive, even if they didn't hold on to the squirrel. If you double click on the photo you can see a little blood on one of them. Hmmm, hawk or squirrel blood, I wonder?

And there the poor squirrel lies in the snow where it was dropped by the hawk. The hawk perched in tree only 15 feet away to keep an eye on the squirrel. And that is how things stayed for an hour ...

I wondered why the hawk didn't go back for the squirrel. I still wonder. I fully expected to look out and see the hawk back on the squirrel eating it before it froze. But instead I saw that the hawk stayed on its perch and the squirrel

manages to get the tree it tried for earlier and climb to the lowest branch. You can see the wounds on its head and shoulder.

By this time the temperature was dropping from the high of 5F (-15C) to 3F (-16C) on its way down to -9F (-23C) during the night.

The next morning, when I put out the birdseed, I fully expected to see the frozen carcass of the squirrel still in the notch of the branch. Or perhaps on the ground at the base of the tree, but that was not the case. I walked up to the site of the original capture and saw only a few drops of blood on the snow. The site of the second capture and the drop had no visible blood at all.

Three weeks went by with no sign of an injured squirrel showing up at the bird feeders (which could just as accurately be called squirrel feeders.) I assumed the worst of all possible scenarios -- a squirrel dying a long drawn out death and a hawk going hungry.

I left the country (for Belize, but that is another series of posts) on February 14th and returned February 26th. Back into the weekend routine of armchair birding on Sunday February 27th, I was watching the usual assortment of birds and squirrels at the feeders when I saw a squirrel dive off the bird feeder and head for a tree faster than I have ever seen before. Then all the birds and squirrels flew, hopped, or ran for cover as a red-tailed hawk flew over and landed in the neighbors' yard. I kept an eye on the fast squirrel as it made a false start or two to come back to the feeder. It seemed to have some injuries.

There is an area on its head with some puncture wounds. Made from talons? Maybe.

Is it the same squirrel?

i would like to think that it is, if only to have some symmetry to this tale. But even if it isn't, this squirrel never said die.

Never Say Die, Part One

2011-03-13T18:25:00.001-06:00

Here in upper Midwest of the

, we will remain snow-covered for at least the next few days. I sincerely hope all the snow disappears as the temperatures warm next week. But before we ease into spring, I want to share the following mini-drama that unfolded outside our windows in the cold, cold, heart of winter.

January 22 dawned a cold bright day. During the night the temperature had dropped to -22F (-30C). As usual, I had ventured out soon after waking up to replenish the birdseed at the feeders. When the air is this cold, each inhalation freezes the moisture on your nose hairs -- not a very comfortable sensation; I try not to breath at all when I go out. The official snow depth at the airport weather station was 18 inches. Being a child of the south and more suited to the tropics, I am a real wuss about winter; it freaks me out that you could die just from being outside too long. I don’t know how the wildlife manages to survive the winters here in Minnesota.

Anyway, Dennis and I were cozy inside with a fire in the fireplace, relaxing on this Saturday afternoon. My camera was handy for my usual winter weekend armchair birding. Dennis got up to do something and I heard him calling from the bedroom which looks out onto the hillside behind our house for to me to grab my camera and come quickly. A hawk was manteling over its prey. It was a red-tailed hawk, but we couldn’t see the prey. The view from the bedroom window was partially blocked by shrubs, but the hawk was also visible from the den window. That is the window I fixed for photography by removing the screen and also the mini-blinds that are situated between the double panes of glass. This window looks out directly over the side yard, but I could manage shots of the hawk with the camera aimed through the double layers of glass at an extreme oblique angle. It doesn’t make for the best optical setup, but it is what I had to deal with. Here is what we saw:

It sat there, motionless for a bit, then rearranged itself, bent down toward the prey and came back up with

something dangling from its beak. Whatever it had was struggling to escape. Now we can see that it is a grey squirrel. If you enlarge the photo below you can see the talon around its head.

The squirrel is not going to give up easily.

Meanwhile life goes on as usual, with deer passing through the yard, oblivious to what is happening 30 feet up the hill.

The hawk, however, is vigilant and surveys the surroundings frequently.

It seems to hear the ultrasonic focus on my camera, and gives me a good stare.

All of this has happened in only 5 minutes. I took a break from the window, and when I returned 2 minutes later I was surprised to see this:

The hawk has let loose of the squirrel and fluttered to the side. The squirrel is motionless in the cold snow.

The hawk stays focused on the squirrel, at the ready to make a move.

Looks up at me as if to say "Got it!"

End of Part One

A "Wintry Mix" ;-)

2011-01-09T20:05:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I took a few photos out the window because it was just too cold to venture out. The high temps have been in the mid-teens F (~-12C) or colder, with lows below zero F (-18C). But the sun was shining brightly for part of the weekend when I took these shots.

Male, Red Bellied Woodpecker

Male Downy Woodpecker

The woodpeckers have discovered the "Finch Lovers Blend" that I been putting in the Nyjer feeder. I have seen red-bellied, hairy, and downy woodpeckers all spending alot of time at the feeder.

A red-grey hybrid?

Smaller than a grey squirrel with a wash of red over its back and tail.

These little squirrels are bigger than reds and smaller than greys. They have a fair amount of red on their backs and tails, but have the overall shape and demeanor of a grey squirrel. Not sure if they are hybrids. I will have to do some research to find out if that is possible.

Blue jay on the new tray feeder.

These last pictures are of 3 white-tailed deer bucks that seem to hang out together. Normally bucks are fairly solitary, but these guys seem to be buddies.

8 point buck

3 amigos heading back up into the woods

The buck on the left has 8 points and the one on the right has 10 points>

I didn't get a good picture of the buck whose rear end is showing, but it had 3 points on one antler and 4 on the other.

A final look across the yard before disappearing into the woods

It was coming on dusk when I took these photos, so they aren't the best. I have seen the bucks together several times in the evenings. As the days begin to get longer and it is actually light when I get home from work, perhaps I will have better opportunities for photos.

White Christmas in Georgia

2011-01-01T20:56:00.000-06:00

We went to Georgia to visit my Mother for Christmas. The 4 of us (Dennis, my brother Arnie, my Mother, and I) stayed for 3 nights at a cabin in the Richard Russel State Park on the backwaters of the Savanah River. It snowed while we were there, giving the region its first white Christmas since 1831!

Snow falling heavily.

I took lots of photos of the snow clinging to the plants, transforming hillsides and verges into wonderland.

Snow-covered weeds become works of art.

The white snow sets off the red leaves.

The pine trees were splendid in their cloak of snow.

My brother and I hiked along the Blackwell Bridge Trail, with some very steep terrain providing a good view into the snowy woods.

Here is the Blackwell Bridge, an old train bridge that used to span the Savanah River. It was moved to this spot as part of the trail system after Russell Dam was built on the river.

Arnie on Blackwell Bridge.

The trail through the woods is just ahead.

Here, the trail is overlooking the backwater stream that Blackwell Bridge crosses.

A small footbridge crosses the stream.

How appropriate - Christmas Fern in the snow.

Frozen drops of water on the tips of beech leaves catch the light.

Little robots we constructed from a kit sent by my sister in California. The box said "for kids 7 to 97" so we qualified. ;-)

Dennis, Mother, and I in front of her snow-covered house.

View of the neighborhood from Mother's front steps.

Star of birdseed that we hung outside the cabin. The juncos and sparrows loved it.

Christmas dinner of Cornish gamehen, mushroom rissotto, asperagus, cranberry/orange relish, cabbage/apple/fennel slaw and sparkling prosecco. Cheers!

A little more pepper?

We drove around my hometown of Elberton to see the Christmas decoration.

Pretty lights and greenery with red ribbons.

Reindeer made of lights graze on this lawn.

We had a lovely time, made all the more special by the snow. I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas.

Peace on Earth

2010-12-23T13:23:00.000-06:00

Good will to all,

Wilma

Crows in the Snow

2010-12-08T20:37:00.001-06:00

Very busy at work, several looming deadlines are keeping me from posting. I hope to get back to it shortly. I still have a number of Belize Birds lined up to write about.

More Belize Dragonflies

2010-11-24T23:56:00.001-06:00

Back on October 25^th I posted some

Belize

dragonfly photos and asked for help with IDs. Doug Taron of Gossamer Tapestry kindly used his expertise to ID some of them as tropical dashers and a great pondhawk. Thanks, Doug!

After that post, I continued to take photos of the incredible dragonfly activity and got a little more experience in sneaking up on them. Below are some of the later photos.

Here is the great pondhawk again. I just love that green.

This one has some pollen on one of its wings.

They seemed to like to perch on the clothesline.

When you enlarge this image, the wing patches seem to be a dark green color.

Is this the same kind as the one that has the pollen its wing?

So many dragonflies in the air almost made me feel that I was suffocating.

This one has a purplish thorax and mauve abdomen. Never seen one like it before. Randy Emmet has suggested this is a roseate skimmer and after looking at on-line references, I am inclined to agree. Thanks, Randy!

Additional ones can be seen in my Belize Dragons 2010 Picasa Album. I am hoping for more help from Doug. ;-)

Belize Birds of the Week #13 and #14– Black and White Warbler, Mniotilta varia and Yellow-throated warbler, Dendroica dominica

2010-11-21T17:21:00.007-06:00

These appealing little warblers both winter in Central and South America after breeding in North America. I have never had the pleasure of seeing either of them in North America, but I will sure be on the look out for them. The yellow-throated warbler is found mostly in the southeastern US while the black and white warbler is found throughout most of the US and into Canada.

The black and white warbler was a little shy when we sw it in the jungle near our casita at DuPlooy’s Lodge; I got only a couple of pictures.

It is accidental in n. Europe, usually in fall and has even been seen in Iceland (1 record, Chris – another vagrant for you to be on the lookout for!), also in Faeroe I. (1 record, Jul 1984), Britain (9, Sep–Dec, once in Mar), and Ireland (1 record, Cape Clear, Co. Cork, Oct 1978; 1 record, Loughermore Forest, Co. Derry, 30 Sep–2 Oct 1984). (source – Birds of North America, Cornell Bird Lab).

The yellow throated warblers were a little more visible and I took these photos of one foraging on the door to the generator shed at our place in South Englishtown.

So this is very, very cool -- I am posting this using wifi onboard a Delta airlines flight from San Jose California back to Minnesota. There has been some frustration with losing connection frequently, but not too bad. I will probably come back and make some edits later because my laptop is almost out of juice. My first post while airborn!

Belize Bird of the Week #12 –Eastern Kingbird, Tyrannus tyrannus: Just Passing Through

2010-11-19T19:37:00.000-06:00

The sea grape trees we can see so well from our veranda always seem to be a magnet for bird activity and this past October was no exception. This time of year, however, the birds are attracted to the insects that in turn are attracted to the sea grape flowers. The acrobatics of the Eastern Kingbirds were a joy to watch as they hawked insects in the sea grapes trees. The views were often obscured by the large leaves, but I did get a few shots of the activity. Below is a series showing some of the moves. Keep an eye on the bird in the background, too.

Kingbirds aren’t flashy, colorful birds; they are essentially monochromatic with white below, dark grey to black above. White wing bars and a white terminal tail band are about as fancy as they get. Though they aren’t colorful, they are handsome birds.

They reportedly do have smallish crests that show a little red or orange, especially the males, but none of them displayed crests during the hours of time we spent watching them. That may be because they are just passing through on their way from their breeding grounds in North America to their long winter vacation in South America. Their scientific name (Tyrannus tyrannus) denotes their fierce, aggressive behavior that is conspicuous during breeding and rearing. They tend to be isolated as mating pairs; and some pairs are lucky enough to have a helper. Other than that, they don’t tolerate others of the same species or even other species.

When they are migrating they don’t have to attract mates or defend territory and once they arrive in South America they tend to travel and forage in flocks. Another difference in their holiday behavior is that their diet switches from primarily insects to fruit. Just like people, they seem to have a more relaxed, gregarious take on life when on holiday and go for the sweets instead of the protein. :-)

Belize Bird of the Week # 11 -- American Redstart, Setophaga ruticilla

2010-11-14T15:54:00.004-06:00

As shown below, my first views of the American Redstart were the classic “bird from behind” perspective.

Here you can see the white underparts with the yellow tail feathers characteristic of a female or a 1st year male American Redstart.

But for the American Redstart, that BFB view is the best way to ID it as it forages for insects. It leans its head down, puts up its spread tail, and waggles it – all in the space a second or two.

The darker male has orange instead of yellow.

The spread tail feathers really catch the light.

The wings have yellow or orange bars.

When they shake their tails, they also spread their wings. And yes, this one is standing on a dog turd to do its dance.

This little warbler that winters in Central America after breeding in North America feeds on the ground and in low underbrush. It is so much fun to watch as it prances and dances with quite a shake of its tail feathers. Knowing full well where you are, it often works it way very close you, especially if you don’t make sudden moves to startle it.

From this perspective you can see that the orange feathers are only on the sides of the tail.

The orange wingbars on the male are dashing.

Here you can see the yellow patches on either side of the chest, just in front of the wings on this female. The yellow tail looks like band that goes from one side to the other when the tail is not spread.

This next picture should be the next to last one, but somehow it jumped ahead of where I tried to put it. Can't seem to get it to stay put!

More obvious from here.

Here and below is a female with only half her tail yellow.

Here she is again.

Apparently no worse for it.

When I go back to Belize in February, they may still be around, getting ready fly back north in early spring.

Special Post -- Please help the Belize Zoo recover from Hurricane Richard

2010-11-13T22:13:00.001-06:00

You may have read about Hurricane Richard hitting Belize while we were there last month. Our place in the sourthern part of Belize escaped Richard's wrath, but the northern part of Belize was not so fortunate. The Belize Zoo was hit especially hard. To those of you who usually give me a Christmas present, please donate to the zoo instead. You can do it on a link on the blog site above.

A little over a year ago, we went on a night tour of the zoo that was wonderful. You can see my blog account of the visit here. The Zoo is (was) one of those very special places and I admit I cried when I saw the photos of the devastation. Dennis and I are giving what we can to help; it would be such a loss to Belize and to the world if this little gem of a zoo doesn't recover.

November Snow

2010-11-13T21:31:00.000-06:00

The English House Sparrows think so.

"What is this stuff?"

A very wet female English House Sparrow.

A bird's got to eat.

So do the grey squirrels.

Not only wet, a few patches of fur are missing from this guy's back.

the house finches and the goldfinches

Look how much smaller the gold finch is than the female house finch.

Didn't know the house finch was a wader. ;-)

If you look cloesly, you can see the drops being slung off by the female house finch.

The little goldfinch seems to shed water a bit better than the house finches and sparrows.

and the cardinals.

A little rain doesn't make the female cardinal any less lovely.

Even the American crows agree that it is a cold, wet day.

The crows were a little subdued. This one even looks a little pensive.

The snow is still on the ground with more to come. :-(

But what did we expect, it is November after all.