Finally some sun

Happily, it was sunny and dry today. Yesterday, too. Cloudy with intermittent sun was a lot better than the rain that was predicted for yesterday, and today was just plain nice late winter weather (for the Southeastern US), with a high around 50°F.

I saw a downy woodpecker foraging for breakfast on my morning walk.

It was definitely nice enough to find me tidying the garden shed, poking around the beds, and doing some weeding.

Amazingly, the squirrels had left just enough radicchio to harvest and try roasting with garlic, olive oil, and herbs. Yum. It was totally different than the bitter leaves of warmer weather, and well worth trying to protect from herbivory in future seasons.

I also saw a flock of robins mobbing the fruits of hollies this morning. There are lots of holly fruits this year, and we're seeing robins in exceptionally large numbers.

The newspaper yesterday had an El Nino story as well as a piece about how we've exceeded rain records for December and January. Hmm, that was obvious!

And just as I was about to finish doing a post yesterday evening, the power went out (with a sudden 'snap'), leaving us to find our bed by candlelight.

Power returned sometime after 11 pm; perhaps a tree fell, or a line broke. It reminded me to make sure we have more backup candles and matches...

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Robin flocks

A sign that winter is progressing are the flocks of robins, descending on berry-laden hollies. They're not unlike the cedar waxwing flocks, taking turns swooping down on the hollies and back up to branches on the bare oaks. They're both sociable winter birds: a nice piece from Journey North that I just found describes their behavior.

The birds I heard and saw today outside my office in the Garden had a melodic murmur; without my (regular) glasses or binoculars, I couldn't see them clearly, but based on the sound, they may have been cedar waxwings (also from the Journey North site courtesy of Lang Elliot) rather than the robins I saw at home recently.

Both are welcome signs that winter is moving towards spring.

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A New Year's Day

More typical winter weather greeted us (Mocha and me) on our morning walk. A skim of ice covered the small frog ponds (actually retention pools) at the Garden and bare soil crackled underfoot. The perfectly blue sky reflects the low humidity this time of year; the mountains are sharp in the distance without the haziness of damp air.

After refilling the feeders, a parade of Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice are stocking up, along with Northern Cardinals; why not take advantage of easily foraged seeds, after all?

I caught a glimpse of a downy woodpecker moving up one of the dogwood trees, perhaps after a visit to the suet feeder.

And groups of American Robins are getting a drink at the bird bath and water dishes.

Best wishes for a New Year of nature watching and gardening!

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Three bluebirds and a hummingbird

I just saw a mother bluebird and two fledglings at our feeders (not eating anything, but stopping by on top of the shepherd's hooks) -- and now two of the fledglings are taking a bath-- and one just went back to the top of the hook. Way cool.

I figured the chances of my getting out there with the camera were nil, of course, so I kept watching them splash around, and hang out. The young ones were very spotty and attractive, with bluish tail feathers, and still looked like they wanted a handout from Mom. One poked around in the mulch, and hopefully found something.

I've only seen a bluebird in our yard once before, last spring, so these are presumably dropping by from somewhere nearby. There are some open grassy areas nearby with bluebird boxes.
(An addendum: I just read that bluebird parents and fledglings usually move somewhere away from the nest box that has abundant food -- this group appears to be hanging out in the dogwood trees behind the feeders)

A blurry shot through the study window had me trying to sneak out on the porch; my reward was a robin poking around -- I'm seeing them again now --and, oh, Mama bluebird is back on top of the shepherd's hook, and now there's a phoebe -- it's been a parade today.

But a young male or female hummingbird was leery of me on the porch, but came in to visit when I stayed very still.

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Brown thrashers, robins, and evening

Spring evenings are lovely in the garden -- the songs and calls of birds as they settle in for the night accompany my puttering around checking plants, mulching, pulling the odd weed. It's often a magical time, when suddenly it's almost dark, or it's time to cook dinner. Yesterday, several hours vanished as I planted, dug, and tended.

The brown thrashers were busy protecting their nest; a fledgling, fully feathered, was on the ground, but the parents were protective and attentive. I had seen them yesterday up in the old redbud.

The nest must be in one of the Viburnums or maybe in the butterfly bush. They were watchful again this evening, so hopefully the fledgling on the ground is under cover.

Early this morning, on a rain-drenched (and shortened) birding excursion, we watched a pair of robins doing their courtship ritual, a remarkable display. We also heard song sparrows and saw them foraging for seeds in the lawn.

A nice way to spend the beginning and end of the day.

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