What a year and I am bloggin again, must be February!! Seed catalogues, nursery catalogues and other remnants of trade shows and mail box findings are at my feet. Honestly though, I have had time only for the nursery catalogues. I need to go through my seed orders and see what I want to plant for next year. . . I have saved some gourd seeds, Cinderella pumpkin seeds and other that I liked from last fall. Also a lot of native flower seeds. This year I am continuing on my trend here to plant for the pollinators, butterflies and birds. As they are struggling still.
A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to visit The Owl Foundation in Vineland. It is not open to the public and I only got the opportunity because Audrey Wilson was taking an injured Barred Owl to Kay McKeever's centre.
Showing posts with label BiRds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BiRds. Show all posts
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Fresh AiR
The tasks today were filled with the essence and lift of spring. First I had to go photograph a Witch Hazel in bloom at a friends garden. We had put it in I would guess, 4 years ago now and it is starting to really take hold. It's gorgeous and now I want one!
This plant is much prettier in real life, I have to work on that! The red petals transform to orange red tip and are really wonderful! We placed this shrub outside a bathroom window which helps shield the lower window from outside viewing and yet it makes a nice view while inside looking out. You actually get to see your witch hazel blooming!
This is Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane' a truly gorgeous Witch Hazel.
This is Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane' a truly gorgeous Witch Hazel.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Talk the Walk and Walk the Walk
Yesterday, I started my collection of recyclables and garbage for The 2nd Annual Mayors' "Keep the County Clean" Challenge.
This was not my intent when Bo and I left the house, but it was the broken up computer keyboard glaring at me from the ditch that made me realize that just because I don't have my 'kit' from the County should not stop me from starting to Clean Up. I must have anticipated my intentions as I was wearing my stretch gardening gloves instead of my usual driving gloves. I decided that since we were only 5 minutes into our walk I would just start piles to be picked up and get them with the car later. Really, last year I was dragging home bags of garbage and recyclables. I do not want to do that again, it was too heavy.
So Bo and continued down the Old Danforth, here is Bo on the summer road that starts just after Purdy Road. He is off leash at this point and revels in the ditches and scents that he can check out on his own.
That is Bo on the right side of the road, barely visible, nose down doing what he loves to do, check out the stink in front of him!!
This road is part of the original Danforth Road that ran from York (Toronto) to Kingston, Surveyed by Asa Danforth who was hired by The Crown in 1797. What I like about this particular section of the Old Danforth is that if I let my imagination run wild, I can place myself into another time. Although, I am sure that the flora was much different in and around 1797, no European Buckthorn, no dog strangling vine and the trees would have been all native and much larger. Too bad the Crown insisted that the landscape be raped of trees as a prerequisite to settling on the land. Along here, you can see huge erractics that have been rolled down the side of a drumlin that allows the farmer to create a field. The course of the road has not changed, but the sides of the road has, with invasives' and total disregard by those who seem to think this road is a dump site.
This was not my intent when Bo and I left the house, but it was the broken up computer keyboard glaring at me from the ditch that made me realize that just because I don't have my 'kit' from the County should not stop me from starting to Clean Up. I must have anticipated my intentions as I was wearing my stretch gardening gloves instead of my usual driving gloves. I decided that since we were only 5 minutes into our walk I would just start piles to be picked up and get them with the car later. Really, last year I was dragging home bags of garbage and recyclables. I do not want to do that again, it was too heavy.
So Bo and continued down the Old Danforth, here is Bo on the summer road that starts just after Purdy Road. He is off leash at this point and revels in the ditches and scents that he can check out on his own.
That is Bo on the right side of the road, barely visible, nose down doing what he loves to do, check out the stink in front of him!!
This road is part of the original Danforth Road that ran from York (Toronto) to Kingston, Surveyed by Asa Danforth who was hired by The Crown in 1797. What I like about this particular section of the Old Danforth is that if I let my imagination run wild, I can place myself into another time. Although, I am sure that the flora was much different in and around 1797, no European Buckthorn, no dog strangling vine and the trees would have been all native and much larger. Too bad the Crown insisted that the landscape be raped of trees as a prerequisite to settling on the land. Along here, you can see huge erractics that have been rolled down the side of a drumlin that allows the farmer to create a field. The course of the road has not changed, but the sides of the road has, with invasives' and total disregard by those who seem to think this road is a dump site.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Spring, I LOVE IT!
Everyone is writing about it, walking it and watching it, it's spring out there folks. Yes it is, step right up and enjoy! Buds are swelling and so are the feathers of the boys flying around outside the house and on my feeders. The loud, rambunctious Grackles have arrived and along with the Red Winged Blackbirds they can make quite a racket!
It, in my mind so far, this is a good spring. Forget that warm spell we have had all winter, this is now and it's spring. I like the fact that Toronto is 2 to 3 days ahead of us in the landscape, they are my harbingers of spring. Keeping it cool here means a longer more enjoyable spring only to finalize this season with some of the best lilacs in eastern Ontario. Lanes, roads, side roads and hillsides of lilacs out for a long spell and for that we need it cool please. For now it's the birds that give the clues to where we are in the season. Bo and I saw this swan with a Canada Goose at Keewatin Nature Sanctuary pond with a Canada Goose. The ice was still on this pond last week.
It, in my mind so far, this is a good spring. Forget that warm spell we have had all winter, this is now and it's spring. I like the fact that Toronto is 2 to 3 days ahead of us in the landscape, they are my harbingers of spring. Keeping it cool here means a longer more enjoyable spring only to finalize this season with some of the best lilacs in eastern Ontario. Lanes, roads, side roads and hillsides of lilacs out for a long spell and for that we need it cool please. For now it's the birds that give the clues to where we are in the season. Bo and I saw this swan with a Canada Goose at Keewatin Nature Sanctuary pond with a Canada Goose. The ice was still on this pond last week.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Crows
Something positive.....
Now is the time to start watching the crows in your neighbourhood. They are staking out their 'home turf' and if you are lucky enough to have some tall pines or other very tall trees close by keep an eye on them.
The other day Bo and I were out walking and a small group of crows followed us on our walk. They were noisy, loud and would gather just ahead of us. There was some squabbling between them and I think this is about sorting out who is who and where they are in the group. Another group of crows tried to join in with this group but they were having none of it and pushed them out. It seemed this job was delegated to 3 of the 5 crows following us. After half an hour Bo and I neared the pond and all 5 crows were with us again cawing at us. Then a Red Tailed Hawk appeared, this set the crows off on another mission to rid this Raptor from their area. All of a sudden another Red Tailed Hawk appeared and the two hawks were soaring higher and higher, it seemed as if they were trying to check each other out while getting rid of the crows with their altitude. I was thinking how beautiful the sky was with the hawks, how right the light was, I could see their markings without my binoculars, it was an awe moment. It was then I was thinking how silly the crows were because they were still trying to get the hawks but their altitude was no where near the hawks. The hawks suddenly split, one east and one west and the crows were alone circling in the air. One finally caught on and headed east after one hawk, the rest decided that was enough and followed Bo and I the rest of the walk home.
The crows are keeping an eye on the neighbourhood, they have been here longer than me and want to know what I am up to because they are going to start the nest building process soon. I have seen this before and it is an amazing thing to watch. Once they start building the nest, they are quiet, they have a secret and it's the location of their nest. If you see a crow in the next month with a large twig or gathering large twigs watch where it goes with it, try to stay still. Apparently they will build several nests called preliminary nests, practice is what I call it. Also, both male and female will build the nest and the yearlings will help. As they will help when the nestlings arrive. When I lived in Port Hope crows nested right next door, every year I watched them build the nest, but the nest was in such a cluster of pine branches that I never saw the actual nest, it was hidden so well in a well thought out pine branch. The last year I was there this site was a 'preliminary' site and they laid their eggs somewhere else.
I really enjoyed watching them breaking branches from the trees to build the nest. I have lot's of photo's of this process, not one of the nest though, just the thicket of the pine branch. Here is a photo of a
one crow taking a branch to the nest site.
Now is the time to start watching the crows in your neighbourhood. They are staking out their 'home turf' and if you are lucky enough to have some tall pines or other very tall trees close by keep an eye on them.
The other day Bo and I were out walking and a small group of crows followed us on our walk. They were noisy, loud and would gather just ahead of us. There was some squabbling between them and I think this is about sorting out who is who and where they are in the group. Another group of crows tried to join in with this group but they were having none of it and pushed them out. It seemed this job was delegated to 3 of the 5 crows following us. After half an hour Bo and I neared the pond and all 5 crows were with us again cawing at us. Then a Red Tailed Hawk appeared, this set the crows off on another mission to rid this Raptor from their area. All of a sudden another Red Tailed Hawk appeared and the two hawks were soaring higher and higher, it seemed as if they were trying to check each other out while getting rid of the crows with their altitude. I was thinking how beautiful the sky was with the hawks, how right the light was, I could see their markings without my binoculars, it was an awe moment. It was then I was thinking how silly the crows were because they were still trying to get the hawks but their altitude was no where near the hawks. The hawks suddenly split, one east and one west and the crows were alone circling in the air. One finally caught on and headed east after one hawk, the rest decided that was enough and followed Bo and I the rest of the walk home.
The crows are keeping an eye on the neighbourhood, they have been here longer than me and want to know what I am up to because they are going to start the nest building process soon. I have seen this before and it is an amazing thing to watch. Once they start building the nest, they are quiet, they have a secret and it's the location of their nest. If you see a crow in the next month with a large twig or gathering large twigs watch where it goes with it, try to stay still. Apparently they will build several nests called preliminary nests, practice is what I call it. Also, both male and female will build the nest and the yearlings will help. As they will help when the nestlings arrive. When I lived in Port Hope crows nested right next door, every year I watched them build the nest, but the nest was in such a cluster of pine branches that I never saw the actual nest, it was hidden so well in a well thought out pine branch. The last year I was there this site was a 'preliminary' site and they laid their eggs somewhere else.
I really enjoyed watching them breaking branches from the trees to build the nest. I have lot's of photo's of this process, not one of the nest though, just the thicket of the pine branch. Here is a photo of a
one crow taking a branch to the nest site.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
For The BiRdS - Again!
Since birds are under attack so often, yes attack. Crows were blamed for the spread of West Nile virus, buildings and windows are constantly 'popping up' and smacking our winged friends. I have decided today will be about making your property 'bird friendly'. There are many things you can do for the birds. You can plant flowering trees and shrubs that either have nectar or berries for the birds. Look under my 'pages' sidebar for a list of things to plant for birds in Northumberland. Different species of birds will nest at different heights, so it is important to have varying woody plants in your landscape.
Hazel Bird, who was totally dedicated to birds and all forms of wildlife had a bluebird line that she started in the 1960's. She noticed a sharp decline in the bluebird population in Northumberland and started bulding bluebird houses because of this decline. At the peak of her programme there were over 400 boxes in Northumberland Forest. She was awarded the prestigious Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society Conservation Award. Now, because the bluebird population has been re-established thanks to Hazel, it is no longer needed here.
So one person can make a difference......
Hazel Bird, who was totally dedicated to birds and all forms of wildlife had a bluebird line that she started in the 1960's. She noticed a sharp decline in the bluebird population in Northumberland and started bulding bluebird houses because of this decline. At the peak of her programme there were over 400 boxes in Northumberland Forest. She was awarded the prestigious Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society Conservation Award. Now, because the bluebird population has been re-established thanks to Hazel, it is no longer needed here.
So one person can make a difference......
Scarborough highrise a death trap for birds - thestar.com
When I saw those towers going up, I knew this would be a problem. We are on Lake Ontario, birds migrate across the lake, they are exhausted by time they cross and then they fly into a huge building because it looks like sky.
Scarborough highrise a death trap for birds - thestar.com
Scarborough highrise a death trap for birds - thestar.com
Monday, March 8, 2010
It probably was the Mosquitoes NOT the Birds
A study just released from John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health states that it was probably mosquitoes and not birds who spread West Nile virus.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Orion it's stars & The Backyard Birds!
Globe at Night is happening now, it started March 3rd and continues until March 16. You don't have to do it every night, so don't get tied up in knots about it. Me the nut-bar, I am doing it every night. You can observe the stars at night from your location and record what you see or don't see. This is all in aid of recording light pollution in our skies. Within an hour of posting your observations you can view your record on the map. It gets you outside and looking up;-)
I just checked my posts for The Great Backyard Bird Count and what you submit is shown by lists (birders luv lists) and also a map. I looked at the lists and my records were much the same as everyone else's, except the morning I had over 100 gold finches at my feeders all at once, talk about a party. The cat flew in the door! It was interesting and wonderful see on the map how many people in Ontario that actually did participate in this count. Check it out even if you did not participate, it's fun and interesting, in a birders sort of way........
I just checked my posts for The Great Backyard Bird Count and what you submit is shown by lists (birders luv lists) and also a map. I looked at the lists and my records were much the same as everyone else's, except the morning I had over 100 gold finches at my feeders all at once, talk about a party. The cat flew in the door! It was interesting and wonderful see on the map how many people in Ontario that actually did participate in this count. Check it out even if you did not participate, it's fun and interesting, in a birders sort of way........
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Finches drinking water
This morning we have snow on the ground, it snowed small flakes last night, in fact it sort of looked like a fog outside from my windows. This morning, Francis was plowing my driveway for the second time this winter. A cause for celebration, the celebration seemed to be taking place at my bird feeders. The robins are hanging out with the starlings in the juniper tree (Juniperus virginiana) eating the berries, the starlings are hanging off the suet feeder gorging themselves. Meanwhile, the American Goldfinches are swarming the nyjer & platform feeders. While Boots was watching them I was able to get a shot of him trying to be bad, but he is trapped in the house and the window is his television! It was then I saw a small Goldfinch drinking drops of water from the branch of the Salix out front. He just worked his way along the branch drinking all the drops hanging in a neat row!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
BiRds
If you want to know all about Birds, then one site to go to with your Sibley's guide or whatever guide you use is Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This site is wonderful for someone like me who has been watching birds for many years, but I am terrible at identifying their songs, calls and vocalizations. Now, I can go to this site, and click on All About Birds and explore each species complete with sounds and photo's! Also, if you have any questions, you can ask an expert. You can also scroll down to the bottom of the page and join their eNews Group. In the section News at the Lab, you can join WeLoveBirds.org to share photo's, videos & thoughts on an interactive site. Good luck, I am going back to listen, so I can maybe hone my skills!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Hedge Rows
I was speaking to my friend Kathryn McHolm this morning and we started off talking about computers, but as usual when talking to Kathryn the conversation soon travels to other areas. Kathryn and I both share an avid interest in the environment, flora & fauna and art. Both of us work in these interests in our lively hoods.
This morning the conversation soon came to roost on the importance of hedgerows in our landscape and how they are at risk because of huge mono culture fields. These fields are huge and it is so sad to see miles of corn growing which only supports more Canada geese, which, because of these practices are becoming a nuisance and are staying here all winter. As well, there are reasons in which to save a hedgerow, they support a whole eco-culture of insects,mammals and birds that actually do help to maintain an environmentally friendly control of unwanted pests and diseases.
So with all of this in mind I will soon be adding a new 'page' on hedgerows and it will list what you want in your hedgerow, like hawthorn and what you do not want such as the invasive European Buckthorn.
Right now I have to get to work on my copper and driftwood.
This morning the conversation soon came to roost on the importance of hedgerows in our landscape and how they are at risk because of huge mono culture fields. These fields are huge and it is so sad to see miles of corn growing which only supports more Canada geese, which, because of these practices are becoming a nuisance and are staying here all winter. As well, there are reasons in which to save a hedgerow, they support a whole eco-culture of insects,mammals and birds that actually do help to maintain an environmentally friendly control of unwanted pests and diseases.
So with all of this in mind I will soon be adding a new 'page' on hedgerows and it will list what you want in your hedgerow, like hawthorn and what you do not want such as the invasive European Buckthorn.
Right now I have to get to work on my copper and driftwood.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
eBird
Check this out! eBird is an online resource for keeping track of your bird sightings! This is what I consider great news, as I usually fail to participate in National Bird Count Day, but I do the Great Back Yard Bird Count and thought that there should be a place online to make my everyday list usefull! eBird does that and does it well.Set up by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society you add to their data resource base for studies of birds. This the benefit of networking online. So sign up and start making your interest in observing birds really count. Check out the side bar 'How can I make my checklists more valuable?' This helps you in collecting and submitting your data.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Great Backyard Bird Count !!
The Great Backyard Bird Count is on for February 12, 13, 14 & 15th, so stock up your feeders and get your pencil & paper in hand to count the birds that you see. You can count for as long as you like, anywhere that is convenient to you, such as your window feeder or just out your window. This information you will post on the Great Backyard Bird Count web site and you can follow the counts coming in from across United States and Canada. All of this information is used to look at winter birds and their numbers, where they are and watch for declines. All good, easy to do and fun! Boots my cat is already practicing, he sits on my desk and counts the birds at the front feeder....
Boots counting finches
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