The Zen Birdfeeder

My Living Rhododendron

When you walk near my rhododendron when it is in full bloom, you notice, "IT'S ALIVE!!"  Alive with American Bumble Bees!

At any one time, there are dozens of these bees moving from flower to flower, gathering pollen.  They seem unconcerned about my presence only 3 feet away. 

They are not aggressive at all, only hard to capture in an image because of their constant movement.

All the bees were about the same size; they were worker bees.  Then one huge bee came into the bush - I'm pretty sure it was the queen bee. 

The queen is larger than all the workers, and she's the only bee in last year's colony to have overwintered underground, surviving to start this year's colony.

These bees do sting, but they are not aggressive, so look for them this spring and keep an eye out for the big queen!

A Gift from Carol's Garden

This spring, our friend and WBU customer Carol C. gave us a gift from her heart: she dug up and shared some Cardinal flower from her garden.

Cardinal flower, or Lobelia cardinalis is a perennial with beautiful red flowers.  Their tubular shape makes them attractive to hummingbirds and as hummingbirds partake of the nectar, they serve as a pollinator for the plant. 

Cardinal flower can tolerate sun as well as part- to full shade, but with our sandy soil, I thought it was best to plant it in mostly shade.  It prefers moist soil (I have none!), so I added a good deal of organic material to the hole I dug, and I am watching it closely to make sure the plant doesn't dry out.  It looks beautiful underneath the plum tree just off the corner of my front deck.

It did bloom this year, but between the shock of transplanting and the relatively dry summer, I'm assuming nectar production was minimal.  I did see hummingbirds visit it occasionally, giving me an opportunity to share a picture or two with you.

Thank you so much to Carol for sharing this gorgeous plant with us.  We will always think of her when hummingbirds visit it!

And if you are lucky enough to have Cardinal flower in your yard, why don't you think about sharing some with a friend?  That's the fun thing about perennials: you can share them and still never seem to run out!

Wildlife Wednesday - Bee & Friend

A Late Spring Walk through my Yard

A couple weeks ago, I shared a spring walk through my yard.  So now that summer has set in, here's one last look at my yard from a late spring perspective.

This spring has been a good one for butterflies and moths.

 

Yellow Swallowtail on a zinnia in a window box.

 

Red Admiral

 

 

I'll go out on a limb and call this a Pale Beauty. If I'm wrong, let me know.

I just couldn't get this image to do justice to these fuschia-colored Dianthus

 

Sweet William volunteer. I love volunteers!

 

A Big Brown Bat in our bat box

 

No walk in my yard is complete without running into an Eastern Chipmunk....

 

...or Red Squirrels

 

A Little Spring in my Yard

I don't do a whole lot to fancy up my yard, it's really a mish-mash of stuff I did years ago plus volunteers that have stepped in during my 9-year absence.  (Everything in my life is categorized pre-store or post-store; my yard, gardens and greenhouse are a pre-store casualty).  But I still enjoy a little walk around the yard now and then, especially on a beautiful spring day.

Candytuft in myrtle with a little wild strawberry and hardy geranium on the side.

 

Blue Flax - one of my favorites. Flowers bloom each day and are gone by the end of the day.

 

Winged visitor on the candytuft

 

Early in a Blue Lupine's bloom

 

My "lawn" is about 60% Creeping Thyme. My goal is eventually 100%. Great to walk on and smell the thyme!

 

I love the look and feel of the new growth on conifers like this Blue Spruce

 

New growth shoots on White Pines are called "candles"

 

This pine's new growth wears a cap until it grows to big to wear it

 

Fritillary on last season's leaf

 

I always see smiley faces in my Johnny Jump-ups!

 

Wordless Wednesday - Blue Flax and Bee

Wildlife Wednesday - Red Admirals and Friends

Red Admiral butterflies were plentiful in my yard today, enjoying the bright sunshine and spring blooms.  They visited the plum tree and rhododendren bush that are just beginning to pop, but those flowers were far less popular than the nanking cherry (which is in full bloom but losing petals fast). 

They put on quite a show, but what I enjoyed most was seeing Red Admirals sharing the flowers with the bees.

Denver Botanic Garden in the Snow

Temperatures were in the 80s just two days ago in Denver, but today we ended up at the Denver Botanic Garden after 2-3 inches of snow had fallen and the temps were in the mid-30s.  It would've been easy to pass on a visit to a botanic garden in such conditions, but taking it in during a light snowfall was delightful.

We had a wonderful visit and hope you enjoy these images of our early spring visit to the Denver Botanic Garden.

Even Great Feeders are Second Best to Natural Foods for the Birds

As avid bird feeders, we'd like to think that with all we put out for the birds - all varieties of seeds and nuts and fruits and suets in all forms - the birds would always be at our feeders to fill their nutritional needs, 100% of the time, from dawn to dusk, 365 days of the year.

Well, that's not gonna happen!  Even with the best of offerings at our birdfeeders, when natural food sources are plentiful, birds will spend much of their foraging those natural foods.

Most birds will prefer natural food sources when available

It's coming up to the middle of January here in upstate New York, there's no snow cover out there and the temperatures are above freezing just about every day.  We had a warm summer and plenty of rain that produced an abundance of natural food supplies.  Birds have been foraging at those natural food sources and, for the most part, away from the feeders since fall.

American Goldfinch picking seeds out of Hemlock cones

American Goldfinches, that seemed to disappear from the area right after Tropical Storm Irene passed through, are back in good numbers.  They're feeding a little from the birdfeeders, but they're mostly taking advantage of natural food, like seeds from hemlock cones in back of our house. 

I've had some Pine Siskins come through the yard with goldfinches a couple times in the past month, but they, too, are feeding in the trees and not visiting feeders.

Until these natural food supplies are either depleted or ice covered, I guess I'll have to accept slower than desired goldfinch activity at my feeders.  And I may have to wait until next year for a winter finch invasion, maybe in the form of Common Redpolls instead of Pine Siskins.

My "Old Faithful" Birds

I start my Project FeederWatch counting today under less-than-ideal circumstances: bird activity at my feeders has been slo-ow! 

There's still an abundance of natural food sources out there that birds are feasting on - seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, bugs and insects.  The temperatures have not been consistently cold enough to kill off insects and we don't have any snow cover to hide fallen seeds and nuts off the trees and shrubs.  There's still berries on bittersweet and barberries, though the mountain ash berries were cleared off earlier in the fall. 

Blue Jay

I see birds around, but they're more likely foraging in the trees or on the ground than on my feeders.  They've been active at the birdbaths too. 

Nevertheless, I do have a list of birds I'm confident I'll be able to include in my two-day FeederWatch count.  They are my "old faithful birds" - birds that are just about guaranteed to make a quick stop at a feeder sometime during the day, no matter how SLOW feeder activity has been.

Black-capped Chickadees enjoying WBU Stackables

Here's my six Old Faithful birds who never let me down:

• Black-capped Chickadee
• Blue Jay
• Mourning Dove
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco eating Bark Butter® on
our new Double Decker Feeder

I love my old faithful birds; I really do count on them to be there, day-in and day-out, to add color and life to my yard.  They may not be here in large numbers, but at least one WILL show up.

I bet you have "old faithfuls" too.  Let us know who the old faithful birds are in YOUR yard!