Back Again!

    Well, I haven't been here for a bit. Spring came really early- it was almost as if Winter never got here. Our total snow for the entire Winter was less than an inch. That was good for driving, and things got so warm that I've been out on the bike a lot more than in previous years. We've had quite a few summer like days with temperatures in the eighties. What hasn't been good about it is that the snow we get in Winter usually soaks into the ground and keeps things a bit more moist. That barely happened. We've got about a 5" rainfall deficit for this year- but the heavy rains rolling in tonight and tomorrow will help quite a bit.
     Lots of things coming up early in the garden- the Columbine, both cultivated (the blue) and the native (the red/yellow) are in bloom early. The native looked like it was struggling a bit last year, with three small clumps. This year it's looking very healthy and is spreading. There's also a large patch of double Columbine up at the top of the hill that's going to be spectacular this year, when it finally does bloom.
     Various Milkweeds are sprouting here and there in the yard- we have Butterfly Milkweed, Swamp, Purple, Eastern Purple, Common and Indian milkweeds sprouting.  When the Monarchs get here later this year they'll have both nectar to feed on and food plants for the caterpillars.

Click on the pictures for a better view.    

Frozen Squirrel

As I was doing some dishes this morning I thought I spooked a squirrel that was acquiring a peanut from the deck- he jumped up on the deck rail and then froze. Hmm. Let's take a look around. The reason he wasn't moving was sitting in one of the ornamental plums looking for breakfast. Watched the Coopers for a bit and several Chickadees and Titmice flew in to scold the hawk (this called "mobbing"). The first Chickadee that flew in apparently didn't see the hawk, landed on a branch about three feet away from it, and left a lot faster than it arrived when it realized what was sitting on the branch.

The hawk finally left after hanging out in the yard for over an hour.

Newsflash: Hawk came back. Looked out the basement door and it was sitting in a bush just above the stairwell, five feet away, looking back at me.

Disappearing Birds

As I was in the dining area this morning something a little larger than the usual avian and mammalian denizens on and underneath the bird feeder flew in and landed on the deck rail. Everything else at the feeder vanished immediately. This is a juvenile Coopers Hawk looking for a meal- you put bird feeders up, and sometimes what you attract becomes a meal itself. The juvenile Coopers have a low survival rate- while they're learning to feed themselves they miss on about four out of five attempts.

THIS is a Woodpecker!

I always thought the Red-bellied Woodpeckers were a fair sized bird until this morning, when one of their relatives landed on the suet feeder. This is a Pileated Woodpecker, who makes the other woodpeckers look a little small. There was a Downy on the other feeder that looked about as big as this one's head.

Fall Color

Migrant ducks finally started appearing at Huntley Meadows Park not too long ago- this is a male Pintail, one of my favorite ducks. I think this is a very classy color scheme. I hadn't even realized that they have a very pretty green marking on their wings, which can be seen if you click on the photo. The female Pintail is a little drabber.

Progress Isn't Always Wonderful

It's been a while since I've posted- I've been traveling a lot. This week has been pretty wild weather wise- lots of rain and temperatures in the 60's early in the week and temps in the low 40's today. Running some errands in Tysons Corner Tuesday and had a surprise land on the windshield as it was pouring rain- a Red-banded Hairstreak like the one pictured. A little late for this species- they're normally gone by September.

In other news, the yard has been put to bed- dead growth pulled up, a nice blanket of shredded leaves put on various beds, a native wildflower bed with various Monarch attracting flowers has been planted, a packet of Purple Milkweed seed (I tried raising some from seed this year but one species didn't germinate, so we'll give Winter a chance to give the seeds a nice freeze) has been put in
nearby, and a few more Crocus and Daffodils have gone in in various spots.

The bad news is that an overgrown and abandoned area near us that was a haven for various sparrows and Goldfinches is now under construction, so we'll see what that does with the feeder population this Winter.

Nature Ride

An interesting ride on the Western Maryland Rail Trail yesterday- started by seeing a Box Turtle walking across the trail, got to the west end of the trail and rescued a Wooly Bear caterpillar (it was probably safe, but I moved him anyway) and then on the way back to Hancock on our first leg we almost ran into a flock of seven Wild Turkeys. We couldn't have been more than five feet away from them, which for Wild Turkeys is pretty amazing. I suspect this was a bunch of juveniles, born this year, so they haven't smartened up yet. Right after that I moved a small Black Rat Snake off the trail- it was probably absorbing a bit of warmth from the nice warm asphalt. Didn't even try to bite (I've been nailed by a few of them- it draws blood) but seemed to think my nice warm hand was a good thing. The icing on the cake for the day was when I had a Mink run across the trail after we had lunch- this was a first for me.