More Feathered Friends

Mrs. Cardinal with woodpecker and sparrow

 

This pair of cardinals are shyer than the other birds--it's taken me a couple of weeks to be able to get some shots of them at the new feeder, but I finally managed it. Other birds weren't so shy, as you can see there appears to be a woodpeckers (perhaps a hairy or a downy woodpecker, or maybe two?) underneath the feeder, and a chipping or song sparrow also on the ground while Mrs. Cardinal takes her meal.

 

Mr. Cardinal, finally!

Mr. Cardinal finally landed on the feeder long enough for me to take some photos, while a sparrow scarfs up what falls on the ground. He's gradually gaining confidence--this morning I found him perched on the railing of the front porch! Sadly, after only a few days of this feeding frenzy, the fruit and nut block has vanished completely. I just ordered another five blocks--I hope this will last through the beginning of March, but at this rate, who knows?

Hairy woodpecker with goldfinch an d sparrow

Yesterday my front yard was full of birds, with one new species making an appearance--a hairy woodpecker. There may have been two of them, one I think was a juvenile, with a small red spot just above the beak, but I couldn't get a clear photo of that one. This  one above is an adult. 

 

Juvenile hairy woodpecker and cardinal

 

Red-bellied woodpecker male, with hairy woodpecker under the feeder

I wish I'd tried to take a video--the red-bellied woodpecker pair were back, perching on separate branches of the cherry tree, while one hairy woodpecker was on another branch, another small woodpecker and the white-breasted nuthatch were on the dogwood with the female cardinal, bunches of finches, dark-eyed juncos, chickadees, tufted titmice and sparrows flitted all around--on the branches, the ground, and the feeders. The male cardinal came to perch on the front doorstep a few times while this was going on. What an amazing show!

 

Five finches on the sock

Bird Feeder Frenzy

Female red-bellied woodpecker

 

I've been having such fun watching the birds at my feeders that I splurged and bought this wooden platform and more seeds for them. It took the birds a couple of days to get used to the new feeder on the ground, but now you can't keep them away! Yesterday the female red-bellied woodpecker came by for the first time. We believe there is a nesting pair living in our back woods--we've seen both creeping up the trunk of one of the old oaks in back.

 

She was much shyer than the male who had visited the week before--she made one pass at the seed and nut block and took something, but got spooked by another bird and scurried away a few seconds later. She must have been very hungry, because she came back some time later and stayed long enough for me to take these shots. She was back this morning, ready for more goodies.

 

Goldfinches on the finch sock

I filled the depleted finch sock two days ago and the finches and other small birds have been flocking to the finch sock since then. Lots of birds have been coming by: goldfinches and house finches, dark-eyed juncos, titmice, and chickadees. There must have been some twenty assorted birds in our front yard yesterday, in and out of the trees in front.

White-breasted nuthatch

One new visitor showed up--a white-breasted nuthatch. He's quite aggressive and seems to love the nuts and seeds. When other birds drive him away, he perches on the cherry tree and walks down the trunk head first--one of the few native birds that do this.

As you can see, my daffodils are starting to send up their first shoots through the mulch. Last night we had some icy rain, and this morning all the branches were glistening with frozen drops.

Late Summer Flowers

Red Dahlias.

Red Dahlia with hardy Begonia.

Late summer is a time of the year when most plants are finished with the season's growth, and setting seed. Fall bloomers are starting to show color in their buds, but in between, there are some plants that like to bloom. I bought this deep red Dahlia on sale a couple of years ago, and was so late in setting it out that it only produced a couple of flowers before the first frosts arrived. Last year I replanted the rhizome in a pot, hoping to be able to save it from early frosts, and it never produced any flowers--the pot was probably too small. So, this year I re-potted it in a much larger pot, and set it outside.

The Dahlia grew to handsome proportions, with several large stems, but these started to flop over. I tried staking it and succeeded only in breaking off one stem. You can't fight gravity after all, so I set it against the trunk of my cherry tree and allowed it to flop as it pleased; the reward is these two gorgeous flowers!

The hardy Begonias growing next to the Dahlia are now starting to bloom and will make a nice show in a week or two. My Begonia patch has been gradually expanding from one plant I brought from my garden in Columbia eight years ago and reliably re-seeds itself every year.

Clematis 'New Love'

Clematis 'New Love'

My recently acquired Clematis 'New Love' has put forth some flowering spikes. This is a new type of Clematis bred to form a small shrub rather than a vine, and has small bell-shaped purple flowers. It's not quite what I had expected, but very unusual and pretty anyway. We'll see if it manages to survive and continue to bloom in my garden.

Black cotton bolls

The black cotton plants are developing a number of large bolls that should be loaded with seeds for next year's garden. The coneflower seeds are ripe and the goldfinches have been having a banquet with them--they've been visiting regularly morning and evening.

Goldfinch on coneflower seedhead.

Goldfinch feasting on coneflower seeds.

Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue' and native mints

Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue' above, known as Blue Mist or Bluebeard plant is another late flowering shrub with feathery blue spikes. I combined my three plants with two native mints (whitish flowers on the right): hoary mountain mint (Pycnanthemum incanum), common mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum), and sea oat grass (Chasmanthium latifolium) in this bed.

Dog stinkhorn (Mutinus caninus)

The odd fungus known as Dog stinkhorn (Mutinus caninus) has made its reappearance in our yard recently. Herb came across these while he was mowing the lawn the other morning, and ran in to tell me about his strange sighting. I recognized it at once--we'd first encountered this weird fungus in Columbia, where it sprouted from a mulched flowerbed. Apparently the spores can be carried in the shredded bark mulch that is commercially available.

These strange mushrooms are members of the Phallaceae family, appropriately named as you can see. They attract flies and other insects that spread the spores. I find these weirdly fascinating--I may do a botanical illustration of one eventually.

Yellow Magnolia Blossoms

Yellow Magnolia 'Butterflies'

Finally, after waiting for three years, I've been able to enjoy my yellow Magnolia 'Butterflies' without having the flower buds blighted by frost. A few flowers that tried to open early on had their petals singed, but the majority of the buds held off. My tree is still fairly small, but it is such a lovely sight!

Yellow Magnolia in my yard.

Close-up of flowers.

Spring has really sprung this past week, and my front yard is full of daffodils and narcissi, with  patches of creeping phlox all in bloom. 'Mount Hood' and 'King Alfred' daffodils in the back yard are also blooming, and the grape hyacinths (Muscari armeriacum) seem to be cropping up in odd places as well as in the beds where I planted them. The squirrels like to dig these bulbs up and re-bury them as suits their fancy.

The front yard.

Back yard with daffodils, weather station on pole at right.

Mt Hood Daffodils.

The finches had emptied the feeder with the Nyjer seed, so I went to Lowe's and bought another mesh bag of seeds to hang from the cherry tree. This morning they were having a regular feast--I hadn't seen this many finches at any one time, and managed to snap a photo with seven of them!

Seven finches visit the feeder.

More finches came along after the first shift--they are ravenous, and at this rate the new bag will be soon be empty, but they are so much fun to watch! The goldfinches are just changing into their summer plumage. The cherry blossoms on the tree will soon open too--it will be beautiful.