Another (Small) Migrant

First Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the year appeared today at the hummingbird feeder- a male. This tiny little guy has just flown non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico, losing a good percentage of his body weight on the way. They feed on nectar and small insects. The feeder only went up yesterday.

Narrow Escape

This male Box Turtle had a narrow escape today. I was coming back from Home Depot and spotted him upside down right in the middle of a very busy Rt. 50. By the time I slammed the brakes on and pulled off to the side, the light in back of me had changed and both lanes of the road were filled with onrushing cars, several of which drove over him. By the time I ran back to where he was, waving one oncoming car over to the next lane (the driver looked at me as though I was insane), he'd been clipped and was upright again. Amazingly enough, he was untouched. He's in a box right now at home and will be released shortly in a safer spot.

First There's Blue

This is a migratory Columbine. We received a few clumps of Royal Lily Hostas a few years ago that had these blue Columbines mixed in with them. They happily lived amongst the Hostas for a few years until the Hostas grew thick enough to crowd them out. They have since moved sideways, and are now happily colonizing more parts of the yard. These are the first colors to come out- there's some pale pink ones just coming out, the smaller native ones are just budding, and the huge clump of double ones up on the hill are also just starting to bud.

Also poking their first shoots up are the Swamp Milkweed and the Butterfly Weed, both milkweeds. There will hopefully be three more varieties if some seeds I have in the refrigerator germinate when planted in two weeks, so the Monarchs will be happy. Ajuga, Creeping Phlox, and Violets are in bloom. The Monarda is up about six inches, and the bank of white Azaleas is in full bloom across the back of the yard.

On the fauna side of things, a new species of dragonfly paid a visit to the pond today- a Painted Skimmer.

Spring Migrants (Part II)

First Gray Catbird appeared in the backyard yesterday- heard it before I saw it. Catbirds like to sit in the middle of a bush and do imitations of other birds calls, as well as some weird chuckles and other sounds, including the trademark "Meow", from where they get their name. We had an Audubon at Home Ambassador visit today so we can certify our backyard as a wildlife habititat. One of the requirements is that you have to list certain species- as if on cue a Common Yellowthroat Warbler appeared during the visit and began foraging around in the yard, showing one of the target species (they don't normally hang around in our yard).

Saw another Catbird down at Huntley Meadows today, where Spring has exploded. Seen were: Common Yellowthroat (warbler) Gray Catbird, Swamp Sparrow, Osprey, Red-winged Blackbird, White-eyed Vireo (heard), Green Darner Dragonflies laying eggs, Green & Bullfrogs, Eastern Painted, Snapping (a pair mating), and Red-eared Slider turtles, and various other species.

Spots

Spent an hour at Huntley Meadows today on a glorious Spring day. A nice catch was a group of three Spotted Turtles sunning themselves within three feet of each other- they're not common so seeing three together is unusual. While on the observation tower watched this Carolina Chickadee feeding on new leaf sprouts for fifteen minutes or so. This was a new behavior to me as I thought they shifted over to insects at this time of the year. this one was really going to town on the buds.


In addition to the residents, heard two new arrivals- the familar witchedy-witchedy-whitch of a Common Yellowthroat (saw it moments afterwards), probably the most common warbler in the park, and heard a White-eyed Vireo making their odd call somewhere in the brush. Also saw the first dragonflies of the year yesterday at Huntley- six or seven Green Darners, usually the first of the dragonfly species to show up every year.

Spring Migrants & A Release

A visitor just arrived from the south- a Brown Thrasher. Saw something running around at the top of the hill that appeared to be too big for a sparrow, so ran and got the binoculars. Caught one of these (the picture is mine, but it's not the actual bird) foraging around underneath a bush, flinging twigs and leaves around. Most people take these for a Thrush of some kind- they're actually in the same family as Mockingbirds and Catbirds and aren't related to the true thrushes. They have the same tendency to sit in the undergrowth and mimic different birds, and thus are part of the mimic thrush family.

In other news, the little Brown Snake that was living in a plastic bin in the basement was released into the wild (our backyard) yesterday during an 85 degree day.

Morning Cacaphony

Sometimes it gets a little noisy in Annandale, especially on nice Spring mornings. A Cardinal was busy announcing his territory this morning at dawn, with a Barred Owl as a counter chorus in between. Song Sparrows, Robins, and Mourning Doves also adding to the mix.

Threw a handful of peanuts out on the deck this morning and two Blue Jays set a new arrival record- they landed on the railing as the peanuts were landing. We're not seeing as many Jays now- this Winter seven or eight of them would arrive and grab the peanuts. An amusing sight yesterday was a Chipmunk finding two whole unshelled peanuts. You could almost see a small lightbulb go on over his head when he stuffed an entire peanut into his cheeks, grabbed the other one, and ran off with it.

Well, after a trip to Missouri hoping that I wouldn't miss this in bloom, I didn't. This was a three foot tall single stemmed Redbud that sprouted up at the top of our hill three years ago. I decided to transplant it down to where our Yoshino Cherry once was in hopes of getting a little color back in that area of the yard. When I dug it up it came up with no soil around the few roots it had- where it was growing was in a sandy clay like mix. I thought that if it survived it would be a miracle. The similar size one that I left up there is now about 8 feet tall and bloomed last year. This one, growing in much better soil, is about two feet taller, has two trunks, one about 2" thick and the other a bit smaller, and didn't bloom at all last year. It looks as though it's going to make up for it this year.

In other news, all the Hostas have sprouted, Columbine of several different colors is sprouting all over the yard, and there's still Daffodils coming up. We discovered that there's a lot of the miniature ones coming up in the front plot. There's three small wild Columbine plants coming up in one spot where there were only two last year- looks like some self-seeding took place. Violets are in bloom here and there in the yard.

On the bird front, a Chipping Sparrow showed up yesterday at the feeder and a Towhee (also known as a Ground Robin) has been hanging around for a few days. I'm hoping the Towhee likes the brushpile up at the top of the hill. They like foraging around in brushy areas.