Full Circle

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Meredith

We are home again from our vacation, and I’m still processing the photos of our trip and trying to get back into the normal swing of things. It took me a few days to want to venture into my garden — I admit to being afraid of what I might find. But this morning, a view of birds on my ever-amazing sunflower plants drew me into the backyard. And what I found there was that I had left behind a garden and come home to a jungle. In two weeks, my garden grew two feet or more in height, and the majority of plants seem to be taller than me. I guess I should assume that just maybe perhaps it rained a wee little bit in my absence?

As an example, take a look at the Exotic Love Vine that has become my own little Cousin Itt. There’s a lovely trellis hidden deep within that overgrown vine.

I’m going to have to give up on the tomatoes. They are just a big mess, and I don’t think I’m going to have the time to salvage what’s left, despite the fact that there’s still a lot of healthy greenery there. Best to just work on cleaning everything up. I was too wary to check out the other veggies — the tomatoes were bad enough.

But the real story to share is that of the sunflowers, officially full circle. When I planted my Cinnamon Sun Sunflowers, I really had no clue what to expect. But they prospered from the get-go, those that germinated, and we had great fun watching them soar to gigantic proportions, and then the blooms just blew us away in sheer wow power. But that excitement was short-lived, because immediately Bordered Patch butterflies chose to lay hundreds of eggs on the plants, which meant that in short term hundreds of Bordered Patch caterpillars decimated my plants.

Just before I left on vacation, the caterpillars disappeared, and I could only assume that either they’d continue nature’s cycle as chrysalises or as food for other wildlife.

Now that I’ve returned, I am happy to report seeing Bordered Patch butterflies fluttering about — not tons, mind you, so it’s indeed probable that some of the caterpillars became bird munchies.

The fiery red blooms of the CinnSuns are gone, but the remaining seedheads are attracting hungry winged granivores, who perch on the stems and happily devour seeds one by one. Even my ever pesky doves with their big chubby bodies land on the sunflower stems (which go dwoooooooooop), trying hard to stay balanced while grabbing a seed or two. But the cheery go-get-em birds are the finches, completely at ease on the wobbly stems, thanks to their lighter weight.

The spent plants have another use now, too. The passionflower vine has reached out to the tall stems to gain further support for its beautiful blooms and thus additional dining areas for future Fritillary caterpillars.

And just as I started to walk back inside, I saw that there’s a new batch of caterpillars on one of the remaining sunflower leaves. I’m not sure how well these guys are going to do — their parents, aunts, uncles, and “first cousins once removed” pretty much finished off the last leaves.

The sunflower experiment has been a complete success, and they’ll be on my list of must-have plantings every year. I’m going for numbers next time!

As to the jungle, I’ve got major weeding in my future, and I guess I’ll have some pruning, too. A ton of e-mails to sort through, laundry to do, pictures to process, projects to finish up… the list goes on, but I’ll stop now, lest I overwhelm myself further!

Bird Brains

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Meredith

I wouldn’t have thought it, but doves are smart.

They have been determined to find a way past the cage we put around the birdfeeder –pretty much since the very moment it was first up there.

The cage is there because the doves had flocked to the feeder between 20-30 at a time, all grabbing as much as possible from the feeder before the next birds shoved them off. We just couldn’t afford to fill the feeder twice a day, which is what was starting to happen. And the little songbirds couldn’t get through without a pause in the dove line-up.

The cage worked beautiful, and the doves struggled to find a way in. They had trouble landing, and they weren’t keen on putting their large bodies through the cage “windows.” Instead, they had to accept the food we sprinkled on the ground for them. And suddenly we weren’t having to fill the feeder more than once in 3 days. Heaven.

But the drive for the treasure of seed inside the cage kept those persistent doves trying. They’d observe the other birds patiently. And finally some figured out how to land just right to get their body through an opening. They could either hold onto the cage precariously, stretching their neck through to grab some seed…

or if they landed just right, they could hop through the window and walk on the tray below.

Well, now they are used to it and we are back to two doves at a time sometimes on the feeder. Still better than the 20ish that would fight over the feeder — at least the cage prevents that!

The thistle feeder is getting plenty of use now. Lesser goldfinches must be living nearby, because several of them visit regularly now.

And of course, our lovely resident house finches enjoy the thistle, though they go for the big feeder whenever it’s available.

Which it mostly is, except when these bird brains show up — squirrels.

But the squirrels don’t eat a lot, so we mostly enjoy watching their agility and cleverness.

Sometimes birds will share the space with the squirrel… usually on the opposite side of the feeder. The squirrel never seems to care.

And the cage has really been amazing — it’s a constant show of songbirds now, all sharing the feeder and taking turns. Chickadees, Cardinals, Finches, Titmice, and more. They all gather up.

Clever birdies.

So I guess if someone calls you a bird brain, you should consider it a compliment — because these birds are smart!

When Thieves Act Like Thieves

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Meredith

Have you ever noticed that those birds and animals we’d prefer not to visit our feeders and yards are the ones that are also the most skittish? They act like thieves, and it’s possible that this contributes to our perception of them, as well.

In my case, the thieves are whitewing doves, squirrels, and recent arrivals, some house sparrows. The moment anything moves even slightly around them, they startle and zip up into the trees. To some extent this also includes the blue jays — they are more like bullies sometimes than thieves, but they too startle easily (I don’t mind them, though). Deer, too — they seek plants from people’s yards but are usually quick to dart away at a potential threat (unless the population is so large that they become accustomed to humans, as is the case in many neighborhoods).

The other birds that frequent the feeder don’t mind my presence. The cardinals, chickadees, titmice, finches — they might chirp at me, but they’ll keep eating while I’m near. They act like they belong there. Not at all thief-like.

Lately I’ve been having a problem with whitewing doves again — the numbers had jumped to 20-30 at a time. Obviously they didn’t all get on the feeders at once, but they’d line up and take turns, forcing another one to move off the feeder if it sat there pigging out too long. Sometimes they’d even attempt to sit on birds already on the feeder tray. The rest would hang out on the ground going for leftovers. The seed was being depleted at a crazy rate, and truth be told we can’t afford for the gluttons to just sit there downing the whole feeder’s worth of seed in one fell swoop (pun intended).

And so even though it seemed like I had just done this a few days ago, I had to go buy birdseed again today, all the while wondering whether it was going to have to be replenished again next week. But as I tell the kids all the time, “If you have a problem, find a solution.” (I also tell them, “Don’t just fuss or complain or skip a task or wait on Mom,” but that doesn’t pertain to the current topic, haha). Solve the problem.

So while I considered once again whether to buy a new feeder with a cage or a weight-sprung closure to keep the doves and squirrels out, I once again pushed the thought away because I really didn’t want to spend a lot of money to replace a perfectly good feeder, and we couldn’t afford it anyway. Have you seen how much those anti-dove cages cost?

And then the lightbulb came on — why not use some leftover cattle panel to create our own cage around the birdfeeder? Surely cardinals and other birds would be able to get through, but the larger doves would be kept out. If the cage was wide enough, we’d be able to refill the feeder as normal, simply lifting it off the hook and guiding it out of the bottom of the cage. So my older son and I grabbed the cattle panel and some wire, and it only took a few minutes to create the cage.

Within moments, it was already working. The doves tried their hardest, but at best they could land on it only for a few seconds.

You could see them really trying to *solve*the*problem*. Their moms must have taught them well.

Only THIS mom thwarted them!

Enter the cardinal. Would he be able to get through the cattle panel?

Yep. No problem. In fact, he seemed to love that he was all alone in there.

The doves watched to see how the cardinal did it.

So the next test was the blue jays. I was concerned that they might not be able to get food, because they are fairly large birds. One jay watched the doves’ failures for awhile before his own attempts. And sure enough, the cage presented a bit of a challenge at first. He managed to awkwardly snag a peanut and then fly off.

But two then easily got through the cage and happily ate their peanuts. Chickadees of course barely even noticed the cage and slipped right in.

Success!

So the doves acted like thieves, and the smaller songbirds got the prison cage. But so far it seems the songbirds like it a lot. They get to sit in there and do all the feasting for a change. The pictures won’t be quite as pretty with the cage in the way, though. Perhaps it can come down from time to time.

And I’ll keep sprinkling seed on the ground for the doves — only this time I’ll get to control how much they get. They’re supposed to be ground feeders anyway. The sparrows haven’t been much of a problem, and their chirps are kind of cute, but I’ll keep an eye out for future feeder obsession. I don’t mind the squirrels — they can get to the other feeder and are sure to figure out a way to get into the cage of the revised one. And all of them can get seeds off the ground.

By the way, I was thrilled to see an female Goldfinch visiting the thistle feeder.

And here’s a pretty House Finch, before the cage was added.

I’ll miss the direct view of the birds. But to save the money for birdseed and reduce the dove numbers, the cage is worth it.

How the Finch Stole My Heart

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Meredith

The birds have been putting on a colorful show, as well as a musical one lately. There is constant activity at the feeder, and the songs warm my heart from dawn to dusk.

Even the blue jay is learning to share a bit, sort of. It was hysterical watching him circle step by step with another small bird around and around the feeder tray. The little bird was playing hide and seek, always stepping just out of sight around the feeder tube, and managing to eat all the while. The blue jay seemed torn between wanting to act on bullying instinct and wanting to eat. I was mesmerized by the scene and forgot to take a picture of the pair of them, unfortunately. But here’s one of the blue jay.

I don’t think I ever knew how bright blue the ring around the eye of a white-winged dove can be.

The cardinals are almost always willing to share. They like to chirp at me while I’m nearby, but they don’t seem too worried and just keep eating in between chirps. Here’s a picture with a companion — from a distance I thought she was a house finch, but close-up I don’t think so. Any bird watchers able to ID her?

Today while taking pictures I saw a mockingbird giving chase to a cardinal. There must be a nest nearby. Again, the photographer was too mesmerized to get an action shot.

And the chickadees are all about the warning chirp, be it at me, other birds, cats, dogs, or the squirrels.

This afternoon we also enjoyed watching a young squirrel dangling by one foot off the dome of the tube feeder, stretching as far as possible to steal a bit of food from the opening. I tried to snap a picture, but he was young and more easily startled than the older squirrels around. The older ones know how to just sit on the tray and munch.

But the House Finches are the ones who have been winning my heart lately. They are here in quite a flock, and I hope to capture a picture with several on the feeder at once. Something keeps startling them while I’m off getting my camera.

But their songs are beautiful, and one even sang just a few feet above me today — a pretty song, not a warning chirp the way the chickadees and cardinals and titmice will sometimes do.

And like the cardinals, I typically see the male and females hanging out together.

Would you like to hear their song? Click their page at All About Birds and scroll down to “Typical Voice” and push play.

As for the bird seed I use, I mix my own seeds, rather than buy pre-mixed kinds that often have seeds I don’t want to provide, like millet. Plus it saves on cost. Here’s my little recipe:

Black Oil Sunflower Seeds

Safflower Seeds

Cracked Corn

Peanuts

Nyjer Thistle Seed

Dried cranberries, raisins, and other fruits (sometimes)

During the winter I put out suet, but the rest of the year I just have the seed feeders, including a thistle feeder, and, of course, the hummingbird feeders. And I’ll drop tomato hornworms and grubs in the feeder when I find them. So far they always disappear fast. Happy birdies!

Eight Legs and Three Beaks

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Meredith

A bit of camouflage today.

This spider was not happy with the photographer. Bad hair day? Most likely mine.

And hidden in our shed, a nest with at least three baby birdies. The nest was just out of reach of any decent light (had to use a flash), and I really didn’t want to disturb the babies for too long just to try to get a better picture. They’ve grown so fast — I wish I had documented the stages.

If you look really closely and use your imagination, there’s evidence of three baby wrens in the nest. That big one on top is playing mama and keeping the other two warm, I guess!

Speaking of Mama Bird, she also was not happy with the photographer. Bad hair day strikes again!

I suppose technically that this post should have been Fourteen Legs and Three Beaks. Or Sixteen Legs and Four Beaks if you count Mama Bird. Papa Bird was around, too — now we’re up to Eighteen Legs and Five Beaks. Then there’s the photographer… Twenty Legs and Five Beaks and Two Lips. There ya go.

Screech, Screech! Seeing Double

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Meredith

Correction to my last post — it’s official — both our owlhouses are occupied. Camera in hand, I ventured back into the yard at dusk to see whether I could get any shots of a more active owl. Well, this time Mrs. Owl made her appearance at the front owlhouse. For confirmation that it was a different owl, I checked the other house in the back of the yard. Sure enough, the owl I photographed earlier was still there. We have two!

I’m guessing this is an owl couple, given the size difference between the two birds. Mrs. Owl really filled up the doorway.

If this really is an owl couple we’ve got occupying our two owl houses, then it supports the idea that having two houses is more likely to attract owls sooner. It sure worked in our case.

Mrs. Owl didn’t seem to mind me too much, until I apparently took one step too close. She’s a beauty, though. My favorite is the side view of her. She’s big for a little thing!

Screech! We have owl!

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Meredith

As I headed out to the driveway this dark early morning, I saw a dark flying shape land on the side of a tree nearby. I could tell by its outline that this was no dove or songbird, and after a few moments it flew off in the direction of one of our screech owl houses. Oh, I could scarcely stop myself from running after it! Alas, I had to go.

But I called my husband from the road, and he took a peek in the backyard. Sure enough, there was an owl watching him from the owlhouse near the front fence.

This afternoon I got home and rushed to grab the camera. But alas, I couldn’t find the owl in the owlhouse. That was because it had apparently selected our other owlhouse as its main choice of resting/nesting spot! I can’t believe we already have a resident in one of our owlhouses. We just put them up three weeks ago! And I’m excited that both houses have been found and tested out by one or more owls. ***Edit: See next post for updated occupancy info.

I wonder whether the house has appealed quickly because it a) is cedar, b) was skillfully made my husband and the owl has very sophisticated tastes :), c) had ideal dimensions (according to the Audubon site), d) happened to be put up just at the right time, or e) is paired with another owlhouse a few yards away. Somewhere I read that two houses are more likely to be attractive to owls, because males and females use separate cavities. At the very least, two houses doubled our chances!

I also wonder whether the owl my husband saw this morning is the same owl I took pictures of this afternoon. If so, it seems to like having two houses to choose from and use at will. ***Edit: See next post.

I rather prefer it in this location, in the back of our yard. It keeps it farther back from our birdfeeder. However, the titmouses and chickadees who nest in the back woods probably do not care to have the owl back there either.

In fact, while I was out there, a titmouse bravely landed on a branch right by the owlhouse and proceeded to squawk and threaten and otherwise fuss about the presence of said owl. It clearly was trying to do its best to warn that owl that it was not welcome in its social group or home at any time. Can you see it in the lower right corner of the picture below?

I look forward to monitoring owl activity over the next several weeks or months. Whooo’s happy? We are!

Spring Forward, Winter Back

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Meredith

Despite the Daylight Saving Time change last weekend and the first day of spring arriving yesterday, a bitter wet cold arrived in Austin this weekend, giving us another freeze to delay the planting of many veggies and the possible demise of newly budding trees, shrubs, and flowers.

It was so cold and wet yesterday that the Hill Country Water Gardens annual Garden Sale, usually having long lines of customers waiting to check out, was virtually empty, and doorbuster sales were being extended.

But today the sun is back, and though the wind is exceptionally gusty and cool, the plants look happier. I know my husband will be happy to stop having to move plants into the garage with more cold weather.

Our new birdfeeder is a hit with the birds. The dome is adjustable, so in theory I can set it to make it difficult for doves and squirrels to reach it.So far it’s been fairly successful.

— Carolina Chickadee

— House Finch couple

— Northern Cardinal couple

Titmouse

I’ve only seen one dove make it in, and it didn’t seem very comfortable. Mostly the doves have been content to search for extra seeds in the leaves below.

The pictures are dark and grainy because I’ve been using a zoom through my study window. My cats have been joining me at the window, hovering and staring and going through all the motions of tail twitching and stalking, probably wishing 600% that there wasn’t a big pane of glass between them and said birdies.

I’m not sure why the birds seem to love this feeder so much more than the other feeder, which still gets frequent visitors, just fewer. Maybe it’s the style of the tray feeder, protected by a dome. Maybe it’s because of its location near a birdbath, which also gets much more attention now. Maybe they like the tree it hangs from. Maybe they like that the doves can’t use it as easily.

A squirrel has been a little more ingenious, so I’ll tweak the height a little more after I enjoy the comedic activities of these larger seed-feasting gluttons.

Hey, Bud

Posted on March 14, 2010 by Meredith

Spring is definitely here in Austin, even if the date hasn’t officially declared it so. Around town, peach, plum, pear, and dogwood trees are already gorgeously flowering. And buds of other trees and flowers are peeking out to see what’s around them, and soon there will be many more blooms and greenery to delight passersby. At home, I’m delighted to see that many of the trees and shrubs we planted in fall and winter made it through the freezes and are beginning to bud.

Goldenball Leadtree:

Chinquapin Oak:

Mexican Redbud:

We even have Salvia blooming. They, along with Gopher Plant and a variety of unknown plants (some might call them weeds), are the first official bloomers of the Great Stems garden.

You can’t really count the hanging basket I planted a few days ago. It came with blooms. It’s my first real attempt at a container garden — I need to go check on the names of two of the plants, but the chartreuse one is sweet potato vine. I’ll enjoy watching what happens.

Hey, cat — get off the birdbath!

Lacey Oak:

A plant I put in the ground on a whim during the fall thrived all through the winter despite freezes and snow. It’s growing at a very rapid pace, too, and I need to help it climb up instead of out: coral honeysuckle. I think its new growth is very beautiful.

Cat! Get out of that birdbath, too! Gah!

It’s a good thing I bought a hanging birdbath on a whim, I guess — the cat won’t be able to use that one! It’s a grocery-store purchase, all of $14.95, so cute that I couldn’t resist. I added a twig as a perch (not visible in this picture).

Looking out the study window (with the cat safely back inside), I see two birds at the mosaic birdbath and am happy to report that birds have also discovered the new feeder I put out there. Chickadees, finches, cardinals, and titmice so far… I’m taking pictures — I’ll share them in the next day or two.

In the back I’ve got an overgrown but wildly successful vegetable garden in one bed and weeds taking over the unused beds. Must get out there and get the new garden planted… In another area, I see a strawberry bloom… and wow, there’s a broccoli head forming! My first broccoli!

Rogue pumpkins are showing up where I left an old pumpkin out for too long. Now I’m going to have guilt when I pull them up and not let them take over the garden bed again… Maybe I’ll just move them to an open spot in the yard and let them shade out the bermuda…

Off in the wooded area, the wild yaupons are producing fantastic new growth.

It looks like we lost two in-ground citrus trees, but the container lime and lemon trees are suddenly growing like crazy. I better give them some yummy organic fertilizer soon. Maybe I’ll see our first fruit this year. The two pomegranates we planted bare root are also starting to bud. Yay! Lime tree:

I planted several Rusty Blackhaw Viburnums this fall. Two came from a local reader who was so wonderful to contact me when she needed to thin out some of the babies below her mother tree. These “babies” were much bigger than most of the ones I purchased! I’m happy to report that they survived their transplant and are budding right now.

Another Rusty Blackhaw that I purchased took some damage over the winter, and we thought it might not make it. I saw that its main trunk was split, presumably from dog damage. But I was shocked to discover after having left it in its container as is for a couple of months that it was budding. I quickly got it in the ground, and now look at it:

Incomplete list of trees and shrubs we planted this fall and winter, all budding or leafing:

Anacua
Chinquapin Oak
Anacacho Orchid
Evergreen Sumac
Fragrant Sumac
Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum (several)
Mexican Plum
Carolina Buckthorn
Flowering Senna
Mexican Silk Tassel
Canyon Mock Orange
American Beautyberry
Wax myrtle
Pomegranate (two varieties)

Lost to freeze and/or dogs:

Lime tree
Possibly Satsuma Mandarin Orange
Kidneywood (one of two)
Barbados Cherry (one of two)

Jury’s still out on:

Mexican Anacacho Orchid, transplanted
Toothache Tree (very small)

All in all, that’s not a bad record, given the amount of damage my dogs did last year! I see that some of our perennials are coming up (among the weeds that went crazy). I’ll start assessing those soon.

Hey, bud. It makes my heart happy to see you!

(Mexican Redbud)

Giving a Hoot

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Meredith

Just in time to meet our February goal, we finished making the screech owl house and even hung it up in the tree. It was also completed just in time for me to grab a picture before the sun completely went down, though it was a little too dark for a decent picture. I’m questioning whether it was done just in time for any owls to find it this season, but I’ll just cross my fingers.

My husband is making a second one for our yard (I read somewhere that it’s good to hang two up), and he’s also making one for a silent auction at our school’s big fundraiser next weekend. And friends from our neighborhood put in a request as well when they saw him putting it together this afternoon. Ok, little owls, now it’s your turn!