Harbingers of spring

Thursday I spotted a redwing blackbird at the sunflower seed feeder. They normally avoid the feeders except in spring when pickings are slim. They are much better signs of spring than robins. Ditto vultures and crows, both of which are back.

(Not a very good photo, as I had to use my camera phone from inside.)

The Home and Garden Show is in progress; we went on Thursday. I purchased another piece of metalwork that I may hang on the front porch, after shifting the current fair weather piece to the back fence. It is time to remove the (plastic) winter wreath, before the sparrows start nesting in it.

I also purchased some seeds at the show: Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), Giant Zinnia Mix (Zinnia elegans), Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia speciosa), and Black Hollyhock (Alcea rosea nigra), from a company called Circa Seeds. The black eyed Susan needs to go in the ground NOW, as a cold period is necessary for germination. I was going to buy plants, but seeds are cheaper and easier than hunting down this particular variety. I like giant zinnia because they grow three feet tall. Mexican sunflower is on my list, as it is very attractive to pollinators. And the black hollyhock (which won't bloom until next year) will be for dyeing yarn.

The fact that there were no native plant nurseries at the show was disappointing, but perhaps not unexpected. I'm sure booth rental is expensive.

Fall clean-up continues. Most of the frontyard looks clean(er). The forecast for the next week looks like lots of rain, so I'm not sure how much will get done then.

Powdered sugar

I frequently gripe about the lack of snow in this area, but I can complain no more, at least this year. It started snowing last night and is still at it. Just lovely.

The best neighbor in the world lives across the street from me and clears my driveway and sidewalk with his snowblower, but the snow is so light and fluffy that I could not resist doing some shoveling myself.

Clio doesn't get that the weather is bad until we've slogged through the snow for a few blocks. When we finally make it back to our house, she is more than willing to call it quits. She didn't even want to hang out in the backyard for more than a few minutes while I filled the bird feeders.

Later, I fetched the skis, poles, and boots from the garage and skied up and down the block. I don't have the stamina I once had, plus I had to "break trail", so I was not at it very long. I just wanted to be able to say I did it.

The temps promise to stay cold for the next ten days or so. There is not much on my agenda this week, so maybe I will actually make it to a county park for a little slippin' and slidin'. The roads need to be plowed first, though.

My SO offered to get me a new camera, but after perusing what's available, he decided a better option was one from his collection. (Newer cameras are meant for vlogging by influencers, with pricing that is a bit steep.) This one is a Sony DSC-HX80, which still has more features than I know what to do with. Much better than by phone camera, though.

With such cold temps, the snow cover is a good thing for the ground and the plants in the ground. I still have not ordered anything for spring planting. It just feels too soon, but soon it will be too late.

Hope you are safe and warm wherever you are!

Hunkered down, part II

We are experiencing more weird weather, with more to come. Today it's snowing and the temps are dropping to the single digits. Later this week the prediction is for warmer temps and rain. Ugh. But maybe then the ice will finally melt off the roads.

To safely walk the dog on said ice, I purchased some Yaktrax. How this came about is I noticed footprints in the snow that were obviously from a jogger and that included an odd tread pattern. A trip to Dick's Sporting Goods resulted in my leaving my own odd tread pattern. These things really work, too!

I have seen only two(!) starlings at the bird feeders so far this year (knock on wood), but they are in the area, so I'm sure their absence won't last. From on high, sandhill cranes have been migrating, uttering their odd gargling song. They fly very high, barely visible on a clear day, invisible when there is cloud cover.

A neighbor's cat has taken advantage of the unused-but-full-of-straw doghouse in my backyard. Better a kitty than an opossum or - gah! - a skunk. I love wildlife... but not too up close and personal.

Bird wars

The sparrows have not lost interest in the bluebird house yet. I read here about how the male sparrow is more attached to a nesting site than he is to his mate. The bluebirds have tried to oust him (bird fight!), I've cleared out the bit of nesting material he built, and I've left the door to the box open to discourage him, all to no avail. Meanwhile, the bluebirds have tried every other birdhouse in the yard, but can't fit through the entrances.

I moved the cat birdhouse to the backyard, hung the flamingo birdhouse where the cat one had been (but took it in for the interim because of high winds), removed the metal plate around one of the wren houses so the sparrow could use that (I never get more than one nesting pair of wrens at a time), but so far that booger maintains his ownership of the bluebird box. Jerk.

While not watching the backyard birds, I've been puttering in the yard. A stop at Home Depot yielded some supplies for one raised bed. I'm going to build the filling from scratch (more or less) per this site, then top it with the bagged soil. Since some settling will occur, I wanted to get it started as soon as possible.

I tried locating the bed near the oak tree, but didn't like it there. Now it is next to the "meadow" near a redbud, where I am building the dead hedge. It still really stands out - all that *white* - so I will probably plant something or position some containers to block the visual glare.

Speaking of the dead hedge, I don't like it. For some reason, scattered piles of yard debris don't bother me, but the big pile of branches does. I'm letting it grow on me, but all that is growing is irritation. Expect to see it relocated in the near future.

Inside, the lettuce has sprouted, so the boxes have been relocated to the top of the freezer where they are happily reaching for grow lights. The germination was a bit spotty (probably due to gardener error), but there should be plenty just the same.

The vultures are back, the "Tommies" (Crocus tommassinianus 'Roseus') are up, but the grass is still khaki colored. This is a weekend of high winds and thunder storms, so even the pets are hunkered down inside.

Dead hedges

Sometimes random stuff pops up in my FB feed. One recent post was by a gardener who had created a "dead hedge". Basically, a dead hedge is a tidy version of a brush pile. After erecting some vertical posts to retain the mess, one fills it in with downed limbs, prunings, etc. It gives wildlife a place of refuge while the contents slowy decompose.

There are still a lot of leftover trunks and branches from the removed arborvitae, so I could easily get a dead hedge started. I just need a half dozen fence posts and for the ground to thaw.

Yes, a substantial amount of snow fell like powedered sugar yesterday afternoon and last night. Not quite enough for cross country skiing (although I doubt that will stop some people), but enough to cover the grass and make everything look pretty. It should stick around all week, then we are promised a "frozen mix" - ugh.

The snow cover has upped the bird presence in the backyard. Not only are the wintergreen shrubs and hawthorn tree stripped of their fruit, even the flowering crabs are looking picked over. Usually the bluebirds politely take turns in the mealworm feeder, but I've seen as many as four crammed in there at one time. I even spotted a Carolina wren in there and at the birdbath.

And starlings. Can't forget about the starlings. There was a tub of Bark Butter in the cupboard, so I ripped the cover off that and put it out with the feeders. After seeing a photo of a feeder with a jar of peanut butter strapped on, I decided I didn't need to bother with actually applying the Bark Butter to anything. The starlings love it.

Rough trip

A week ago we visited the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area to view the sandhill cranes. There were plenty of cranes, but no dancing, not even much feeding going on. They just stood or sat there. Maybe it was naptime or something. If you want to watch a video of their dancing, check this one out.

My son and his girl friend were supposed to meet up with us there, but they spent most of the day in the ER (all is okay). Then the restaurant we wanted to eat at is closed on Mondays. At least the rest of our plans panned out: a visit to the Chesterton Art Center and coffee at the Red Cup, where my son and girl friend caught up with us. So not quite what we planned but an okay day.

On the homefront, I saw a mute swan fly overhead on Sunday, probably heading for Eagle Marsh. I heard it before I saw it: the wingbeats "sing". Check out this short vid for a sample.

In my own front yard, signs of spring: Crocus tommassinianus 'roseus'. The snowdrops are popping up, as well as some regular croci. It's hard to not get one's hopes up for an early spring.

Friday Clio has a "temperament check" with a local doggy daycare. She will be so excited. Meanwhile, Finn, my 13(?) year old cat has been diagnosed with stage 2 kidney disease. I had noticed excessive drinking and peeing lately. Once I determined that it was him and not Beau, off we went to the vet. All we can do right now is feed him a special prescription food, which fortunately he likes and Beau does not. Otherwise, Finn seems fine. I hope he sticks around for a while.

Backyard habitat

That's how I think of my backyard: as a habitat for wildlife. I'm sure the wildlife find it wanting at times, especially when the dogs are keeping an eye on things, but without the dogs, it might be overrun by rabbits, squirrels, and opossums.

This joey popped up in the yard the other night; I was able to get a pic between its bouts of playing dead. Only later did I notice that the creature's back leg looks injured. I hope my dogs did not inflict the injury. The guy crawled into the drain pipe from the downspout for temporary protection; I assume it left during the night.

For some reason, I get a kick out of this series of photos:

I thought the male wren at the house in the backyard had not found a mate because all he seemed to do was sing. Well, I was wrong, as there are screaming babies in the nest now. Such little birds, such big voices! And a couple seems to be moving into the wren house in the front yard.

This is the time of the year when not much is blooming other than one viburnum. Even the few annuals I planted are not very enthusiastic. We did get an inch of rain last Tuesday, which was very welcome, but now we are in another dry stretch. At least I don't have to mow much, which leaves more time for hand-weeding and spraying.

Right before my very eyes

I use one of the spare bedrooms as an exercise room. Per usual, I was standing by the window, watching the birds while shrugging my shoulders, thinking about scaring away the starlings, when all the birds in the yard fled. A large hawk swooped through and grabbed a mourning dove. (Mourning doves fly fast but are a bit slow to get off the ground).

My first thought was, Why couldn't the hawk have grabbed a starling? Maybe they don't taste very good. My second thought was at least the mourning dove was a single, not one of a pair.

Mourning doves look so soft to me. Guess what? Their feathers *are* soft.

Sean from Santuary Native Landscapes stopped by on Wednesday, before the subsequent rain proved my point by providing some standing water, to discuss installing a rain garden. We have a tentative plan to move forward.

The only other exciting thing to happen this week was the riding mower going in for its annual servicing. That's just how wild and crazy it gets around here. Have a stimulating week.

Guardian of the mealworms

Instead of modifying the starling-proof mealworm feeder, I put it out with the other nut feeders and filled its bowl with bark butter bits. Bluebirds like them, as do just about every other bird that visits, plus the squirrels. (Now that I think of it, I bet a red squirrel could squeeze into that feeder, if it could get past the baffle on the pole.) The "old" mealworm feeder is back in its original location. I moved the recliner in the den closer to the window, so when the starlings mob that feeder, I can rap on the window and scare them away. Interestingly, the bluebirds are not so rattled by my anti-starling efforts and stick around to take advantage of the situation.

We received even more snow - 6-8" - and I had to shovel the driveway myself. :-( The neighbor who usually clears it with his snowblower is out of town, leaving all of us on the block who depend on him out of luck. I started working on the snow, figuring if I couldn't finish it, I would ask another neighbor for help. But I did it! My left arm did most of the work.

While the bluebirds have been ignoring the wintergreen holly berries, this one robin has not. I keep wondering if it is the same robin who in the spring hangs out under the mealworm feeder and chases other robins away from the hawthorn tree in the front yard. Very territorial.

Today for lunch I fixed myself a club sandwich - turkey, bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes. It was delicious! Now I am back on the tomato wagon, so I guess I'll grow *one* plant this summer, in a container.

Promises, promises

I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to stop raining, but this week promises to be dry and sunny, with high's around 80. The painters were a no-show last week, but I've been *promised* that they will be here on Tuesday, the carpenter on Thursday. We'll see.

Bird observations continue. Robins built a nest under the eaves by the dining room window, behind the Japanese maple. This is a great location for them, as when the fledglings leave the nest, they can perch in the tree, hopefully safe from my indoor/outdoor cat. Finn is getting arthritic, but I bet he would overcome the pain if a baby bird were easily in reach. I saw the robins mating yesterday.

Besides orioles, catbirds like grape jelly. A white-crowned sparrow visited the safflower feeder, probably on his way north. I *think* I've heard wrens - my birdsong identification skills are horrible - but still no takers on the wren houses. Redwing blackbirds visit the feeders occasionally.

The 'Perfect Purple' flowering crab looks wonderful this year. It lost its leader last summer, but it looks like there is a likely candidate poised to replace it.

Two (?) years ago, the Japanese maple did not leaf out very well, which I discovered was due to sparrows eating the leaf buds. Last year it looked better. This year it looks great. I credit my feeding the sparrows millet in the backyard. Now I'm wondering if the viburnum will fruit better.

Still no date on the landscape installation. My daughter has been digging up plants that are destined to go, for her yard, for her neighbor, for her mother-in-law. My son visited last week and planned to take some, too, but it rained, rained, rained.

Many years ago, I converted part of the garage into a laundry room, but I had the plumbers leave the old faucets which are in what I now refer to as the mudroom. The outside faucets are still on the well and spew orange-ish water; if I want non-well water for something outside, I figure I could run a hose from the old laundry faucets. I never tried it, until last week, and it worked perfectly. Now I'm thinking I need a power washer so I can clean the siding.

Just for the record, my SO *loves* his new EGO self-propelled lawn mower.

Returning snow birds

I recall the first time I heard the phrase "snow birds" - and it was in a derogatory manner as the speaker thought those who head south for the winter are weak - but I'm seeing the phenomonon in my backyard. This past week, a catbird landed on the safflower feeder, much to the consternation of the house finches, and a cowbird has been a regular visitor at the millet feeder. And I have at least one oriole who likes the grape jelly I put out for him!


I hung the wren houses, one in the backyard and one in front, but have yet so see or hear any wrens. I had to make an addition to one house, as last year a sparrow squeezed into it. I've seen the sparrows check out these houses this year, but so far, no one has moved in.

Still no progress on the front of the house. The one guy could be done in about an hour, just needs to install a railing on the porch and replace the shutters; the painter is supposed to show up tomorrow. Once the trellis is back up, I plan to make use of a new planter I purchased from Gardeners Supply. This is the first time I've ordered one of their "self-watering" planters. We'll see how well it works.


No takers on the "rainbow" shed yet. I may post it to Nextdoor, which is not one of my favorite sites. My daughter is getting a new shed, but I couldn't convince her to take this one. Something about it being plum ugly.

Snow joke

I hope you are not tired of snowy photos from the Midwest, as I have a few to share. It wasn't the same as the blizzard of '78, but we received a significant amount of snowfall, about a foot in my backyard. And we don't have to worry about a repeat of the flood of '82 because the city has since done a LOT to mitigate contributing factors to that flood. The kids don't even miss school now; my granddaughter spent a day here with me, diligently tackling her e-learning assignments. The assignments are available at 10:00 AM, so she could still sleep in, and she spent her "recess" outside, building a snowperson, so don't bemoan the lack of snow days.

Sean from Sanctuary Native Landscapes and I met via Zoom, to discuss final plans for the installation. My attitude now is, This is costing me so much, this is *exactly* what I want. While most of the yard will be stripped clean, a few things will remain, at least for now. I'm carving out a few areas for my own uses because I do like puttering around out in the yard. But for the most part, it will be a complete redo.

I haven't seen anything exotic in my backyard birdwise, but there are some surprises: a nuthatch at the mealworm feeder, a junco under the mealworm feeder, a lone male cardinal, a robin at the bird bath. This morning I saw quite a few robins feeding on the fruit on the trees by the library branch near me, so they are starting to come out of the woods for their winter feast; I expect my hawthorn to be stripped bare soon.

Everlasting strawflowers, birds, etc.

This is the first year I have grown strawflowers, also known as everlastings. One of its everlasting character traits is the ability to withstand a hard frost. So now I am thinking they might be a good substitute for the ubiquitous hardy mums that spontaneously generate each autumn. Just something to keep in mind for next year.

Try as I might, I just can't capture the reds in my yard. That doesn't stop me from trying. This pic has been edited to warm the colors and deepen the shadows and it still does not come close to the real thing. Of course, the skill (or lack thereof) the the photographer has a lot to do with this failure.

Silver grass

I read somewhere that sparrows really love cracked corn, so providing it may limit their ravaging the more expensive birdseed. Toward that end, I bought some cracked corn, which required another feeder, which lead me to also purchasing meal worms and a feeder for those. (I know that the meal worms are dead, but because they are also dehydrated, they shift around easily inside the bag, which makes them look all squirmy - ugh.) So now I am feeding black sunflower seeds, striped sunflower seeds, peanut splits, peanuts in the shell, thistle seed, cracked corn, suet (which always seems to contain corn, probably as a binder), and meal worms.

While I continue to try to outfox the sparrows, I think I have won the squirrel wars. I have not seen a rodent in the feeders since the last adjustment of the baffles. I do see them in the yard, though, or running along the fence or the telephone wire or laying on the shed roof. It looks like they are trying to figure out how to leap from one perch or another to the feeders. If the dogs spot them, much chasing and barking ensues.

The coneflower and rudbeckia look dead, dead, dead, but the goldfinch still find something to eat in their dried seed heads. There are titmice and nuthatches and at least one flicker who are regulars, but so far no cardinals this year. And occasionally a Cooper's hawk makes an appearance, not for birdseed but for birds.

Locally, we gardeners have been encouraged to not put dead annuals in the trash, but to either compost them or chop them up and leave the leavings on the soil. So that is what I have been doing, with the coleus and zinnias. The perennials will be left standing until spring. Instead of thinking of their desiccated presence as "weedy", I will view them through the lens of "winter interest".

Winter wonderland

We actually received several inches of snow the past couple of days. And the temps were cold enough for it to stick around. But not for long, as we will be in the 40's by Sunday. Then rain, rain, and more rain. So maybe spring is on it's way?

The weather is interfering with my yard clean-up plans, but just as well. I spotted several LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs - sparrows, finches, etc.) feeding on weed seeds. I've also seen fruit eaters going after the last of the pokeweed berries. So these plants are not weeds, they are organic bird feeders.

The other day I sorted through the leftover packaged seeds, tossing anything resembling a vegetable as I no longer grow my own food. I don't throw out old flower seeds, though, unless they prove to be unviable. The black hollyhock seeds I planted the last several years were purchased in 2004 and sprouted like champs. I'm still in the process of downsizing the garden, so I am not ordering any new seed this year. If there is something I feel I need (like more zinnias), I'l buy them locally.

One set of plants I will be buying is something to replace the coleus for the front porch. The mother plant I wintered over for many years finally bit the dust. I will probably get more coleus - they seems to thrive there - but will eyeball some alternatives, too. The spot gets some intense morning sun, then shade the rest of the day, so not just anything will do.

Despite - or because of - the weird weather we've had this winter, I am ready for spring. How about you?

HOT

The weather is not cooperating with my goal of getting all the plants transplanted by June 1. Yesterday the rest of the 'Torch' Mexican sunflowers and all of the 'Scarlet-Red' zinnias went in. The latter mostly filled the edges of the madder bed. I planted madder for its roots, which are used to dye fiber red, but it is not much to look at. Hence, the red zinnias. The balance of the zinnias and Mexican sunflowers went into a raised bed along with the surviving dyer's knotweed. Trays of seedlings have been sitting on the deck for about a month, undisturbed by the dogs, until one of them decided the chew up half the dyer's knotweed, plus a few empty seedling pots.

I have also been weeding. Instead of clearing a whole bed at one time, my MO is to pursue eradicating a particular weed all around the yard. Today, until the heat and humidity drove me inside, it was Canada thistle. This strategy is helpful in areas where I am growing something I am not that familiar with, at it helps prevent me from yanking the wrong plant. For example, while working in the "prairie" area, I was able to identify some lance-leaf coreopsis and asters that I might have pulled had I not been scouting for the thistle. Another easy to spot and remove "weed" is volunteer wheat that pops up where I have mulched with straw.

Speaking of mulch, the pile is shrinking. Despite piling it on thick, some plants like pokeberry and milkweed are breaking through. I let some of the pokeberry survive because I want to use the berries for eco-dyeing. The milkweed I have mixed feelings about. Part of me wants to limit it to the milkweed patch, but I hope the more I have, the more likely I will get monarchs that will lay eggs.

Yesterday I heard a wren singing in the neighbors yard, so I made a point to clean out and hang my two wren houses. Today a male wren started building a nest in one, loudly advertising his endeavors. Such a big voice from such a tiny bird!

Not your average sparrow

There are usually a lot of sparrows and finches hanging in my backyard, but one pair caught my eye. So handsome! So different! So shy! After a bazillion attempts, I finally captured a few decent shots of the white-crowned sparrow.

Blue Moon/The Birds/Baby, it's cold outside!/Feels like Sunday

I couldn't decide what to title this post, so I used all the titles I was considering.

First up, this isn't really THE blue moon - the skies were overcast last night - but I did think to take a picture on the last clear night we had.

For some reason, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of starlings hanging around this winter.

They descended on my yard this afternoon, but my feeders are such that they can't get much of a foothold (talonhold?)  I'm glad I haven't put out the suet yet because they would clean that up in a New York minute.

The curled up leaves on my rhododendron tell me that it is a bit cold outside today. Could be - and probably will get - worse before winter is over.

And even though it is not Sunday, I baked some Corny Banana Oat Bread today. The recipe is from Whole Foods for the Whole Family. Since I was running low on honey, I substituted agave nectar. I'm not sure whether that helped cause the charring, but the bread is still perfectly edible.

And here is one of my xmas gifts from my son:

The birds already like it.