But now I know if I'm to plant moon flower vine, I have to do it much earlier in the season so I see more then two blooms. Poor thing worked hard, climbed the pole not once but twice, reached out to the surrounding plants, put out so many buds...only to be killed off before it reached it's potential.
The one tree in my yard is finally turning color and shedding it's leaves, though most others seem to be nearly finished. Not sure why this one is late. Guess there'll be some cold weather raking going on! Being into energy conservation, maybe I'll just wait till the wind blows, as it invariably will, and pushes most of the leaves onto the corner of my patio. :) With so much rock in my yard now, the colored leaves make it much more pleasant to look at.
I am pleasantly surprised to see how pretty my gro-low variety of fragrant sumac is in the fall. Next year I hope to plant more along the stream to help save whats left of the bank. Though the plant is still very small, I can better envision how a few more will look. Sounding very hopeful for someone that doesn't know if she'll still be living here in a year, and who's overtime at work has been cut. Love that my OT allows me to splurge on some plants!
Speaking of saving the bank, a young lady from the county conservation office did come and look at the problems here, and took some photos. Unfortunately her office takes care of farm run-off, and building issues as it affects streams, creeks, etc and this is more of a water run off and drainage problem. (though I disagree a little since it there is more to it then that) However, she understands that it's a real problem here and will pass on the photos and info to someone that may be able to help. Though she's not sure what can be done, since grant money has dried up.
So talking about dying plants, bare trees, falling temps and eroding banks seems so sad doesn't it? But it seems that mother nature doesn't take away without giving something back.
After a couple slow days at the feeders, today was much better and has brought some of our winter visitors back! As I think I mentioned in the last post, I hadn't seen any dark eyed junco's yet. That's changed and I saw one today.
But the best thing I saw was a white throated sparrow. Two of them actually. Not great photos but I was taking it from inside the house. The striped crown really got my attention when I looked outside.
Right after I saw them the first time, I saw one dark eyed junco. When ever I see a bird I'm not familiar with I like to look it up on the Cornell lab of ornithology's site, all about birds, and it came up with this interesting little tidbit.
"Although they look nothing alike and aren’t particularly closely related, the White-throated Sparrow and the Dark-eyed Junco occasionally mate and produce hybrids. The resulting offspring look like grayish, dully marked White-throated Sparrows with white outer tail feathers."
Who knew! (OK I guess real bird experts know...but I didn't know and you probably didn't either!)
Another upside to the changing weather is that birds become more visible. As their natural food supply dwindles more birds to the feeders and not as skittish since eating becomes more important then flying off every time I so much as open the door.
An interesting list (I like lists!)
Pennsylvania’s Top Ten: Birds Most Commonly Observed at Feeder and
Percentage of Species feeders visitedDark-eyed junco 97
Mourning dove 94
Tufted titmouse 93
Northern cardinal 91
Blue jay 89
White-breasted nuthatch 89
Downy woodpecker 88
House finch 88
American goldfinch 87
Black-capped chickadee 77
I've been putting out some peanut butter in a log feeder. The Carolina wren really seems to be enjoying this as well as the woodpecker and chickadee. Seeing as peanut butter isn't cheap I should make this recipe to make it go further...and the winter birds do need their fat!
Recipe for Marvel Meal
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup vegetable shortening
4 cups cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 handful of sunflower seeds
(optional)
So I've been seeing more of the Carolina wrens. They are one of my favorites.
The titmouse seems to be much quicker getting the peanuts I throw out, rather then hanging back timidly and watching the blue jay get most of them.
I like these seed bell holders. When I hang the bell openly the birds tend to peck near the top and before the bell is half gone it falls to the ground and you get a better view then those plastic mesh covers some bells come with. They were reasonably priced ($6.95) for something that you can use over and over again. Plus, even when the squirrel does manage to shimmy up over it, they can only get a bit at a time with their paws, instead of biting big chunks off.
Speaking of squirrels, they finally seem to be getting fat and fluffy in their winter coats. This squirrel though doesn't seem to be one of my regulars, and I've not seen them for a couple days. Yea I know they all look alike, but this one freaks out and takes off when I'm around, even when I'm offering peanuts. And my usual ones will stop in their tracks and come running if I ask them if they want peanuts. Anyhow, I find this a bit unusual.
Maybe some of it is because the hawks have been a little more active lately. I haven't seen them as much as hear the birds and ducks in particular squawk and scatter all at once.
That and the crows have been around. I LIKE crows. They are the early warning system for every other creature when it comes to a hawk. Plus they are intelligent. I recently watched a show on Nature, on PBS about crows.
They have the full episode available at
Lately the goldfinches have been eating more sunflower seeds then the nyjer seed. Which is nice since they are less expensive!
Last but not least, a mourning dove.
I was saddened to read about you uncertainty with your accommodation. There are enough things to worry about these days without wondering where you will be living in a year or so.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of your visitors. It was interesting to read about your Goldfinches as those in my UK garden never go near whole sunflower seeds though they will eat sunflower hears but still prefer the nyjer seeds.
It's always sad to see the last of the garden shrivel up with the cold, but you're right about the birds. In the winter time I enjoy watching them at the feeders, and my dog loves her own "bird television" from the living room window:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting me; I'm sorry to hear about your uncertainty with your home--I hope everything works out for you.