Category Archives: Birds

The Dark Eyed Junco is Back

Posted on October 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

I know the seasons are changing when the juncoes return to my yard. We saw the first one this morning. Not the one in the picture below, because it disappeared too fast to capture. They become less jittery when it really gets cold and even my coming outdoors doesn’t bother them while they feed. Here is one very inquisitive bird from last winter.

dark eyed junco

They feed on the ground, and wander around under the bushes and the feeders. The chickadees and finches push the less desirable food out of the feeder to get to their favorites, and the juncoes get the leftovers that drop. Their return reminded me to look and see if the Centennial walks are up on the Howard Bird Club site.

It is fall birding season and yes, the Howard County Bird Club is again offering their weekly walks in November in Centennial Park. It is where we first learned to identify new birds, by sight and sound. It is also where we are learning more about waterfowl, as a change from the birds that visit our yard feeders.

These easy walks good for beginning birders start at 8 am. in the west area parking lot, entered off Centennial Lane. They are the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th of November. Club members bring scopes to let you get really good looks at the birds. It is 2-3 hours at a leisurely pace, and a great way to spend a November Sunday morning.

Some pictures from two years ago. The trip reports, available on the web site, show you what we found that November day in 2010.

great blue heron over Centennial Lake

3 male and one female mallard on a pond off the main trail

Oh, and when we go off the main trail, we often flush out other inhabitants of the park, like this young buck.

The buck, mallard and heron pictures were from the 14th, a day we did not see the cedar waxwings that were there on the 7th.

cedar waxwings

This is fall migration season. It is interesting to see what birds will stop at the lake on their semiannual flights. The bird club does these walks every spring and fall. Put them on your calendar and join us.

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A Typical Day at the Conservancy

Posted on October 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today I had an entertaining and interesting day at the Conservancy, with lots to see and do. After my first hike with the second graders, I had a slow group and got back after all the others had been assigned. But, that was good, because, I got to take pictures and record what naturalists do when we lead field trips. Today’s topic was “It’s Not Just Dirt”.

I checked out the students down at the soil pit. they were learning the layering of top soil. Seeing how things change as you go deeper into the soil.

They were also seeing the local “products” like black walnuts, that grow on trees in our region.

black walnuts

And, milkweed. A wondrous plant that attracts monarch butterflies. Our milkweed is splitting open and sending seeds over the land to hopefully land and create new plants in the future. We had students sending seeds aloft to float over the land to come to rest.

milkweed

We took them to the Master Gardeners historic gardens to show them what good soil will do. Like the wonderful greens in the salad table.

And, we taught them why good soil is important, and why compost is black gold.

The second graders loved their day in the grasslands, following naturalists around learning about what helps their favorite plants grow. This second grade, from Dayton Oaks, knew all about what grows around them. When asked, they knew carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, beans and fruit. Smart, aren’t they? They really enjoyed learning about science in a fun place. And, loved saying hi to Ranger, the owl.

When they were all done, after hand washing from the well water, they got to go off for a picnic lunch.

While I was out there, I caught at least a half dozen bluebirds wandering around looking for insects. These four on the fence were watching the ones on the ground. Stalking them was a little difficult.

Fall at the Conservancy. What could be better?

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That First Hint of Fall

Posted on September 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

Fall is definitely coming. We will hit lows in the 40s sometime this week. I harvested all the tomatoes left in the garden.

the last of the heirlooms

One lonely ripe red fig. A few yellow plums from the ground, where they fell. All the others were green, and will become one more dinner of green tomato pesto pasta, for the little ones. The larger ones will be cut, cored and sliced to freeze. Deep in the winter, I will do my fried green tomato dinner. They fry best when taken directly from the freezer, coated and fried.

The leaves are starting to fall. The wet weather yesterday has them glistening on the deck. Won’t be long until we are sucking up leaves and turning them into compost.

the cherry tree drops leaves earliest

I filled the hummingbird feeder with lots more nectar than normal. I have three hummingbirds that regularly visit. Mom, Dad and a baby girl. The baby was there again this morning, as usual when the camera was inside. She nails that nectar.

The trees and shrubs are full of berries, and acorns on the oaks. You can’t walk in the yard without crunching acorns beneath your feet. The animals are gathering nuts and the birds are feasting on the berries. The crab apples will keep the berries all winter, and attract flocks of cedar waxwings.

Fall is my favorite time of year here, even though I will be busy cleaning up the yard and filling bags to use in our compost, with the extra going to a master gardener that we connected with. We used the rake and take program in the county to do this. We make bags of leaves and bags of grass clippings, then mix the two to get the green/brown ratio. Using the bags over and over until they finally fall apart makes this a fairly less back breaking exercise. We rake everything into a long snaky line, then efficiently and quickly vacuum the yard under our oak, maple and cherry trees.

Vacuuming leaves to turn into compost

I am also keeping an eye on the herbs. The thyme and rosemary will hang in there for quite a while. The basil is giving up the ghost, so to speak and all will be harvested today. I saw the last of the plants drooping over this morning while I was collecting acorns for the Conservancy to use in their critter creations at the Christmas craft fair. I have a carpet of thyme on the ground. I may cut it back and cover the rest, to see how long it stays viable.

Let’s just hope we don’t get snow for Halloween like we did last year.

October 29, 2011

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Sunday Morning Ramblings in the Garden

Posted on August 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

It is a cooler Sunday morning, with the heat finally abating in the area. I was out this morning filling the hummingbird feeder and checking on the status of the garden. The tomatoes are making a valiant attempt at a comeback, but it seems now the stink bugs may be winning, and also the weeds and the morning glories.

The hummingbird feeder is a simple design that uses wine bottles, and as we all seem to know around here, I certainly empty my share to make their feeders. I keep them in the small refrigerator in the laundry room after I make a quart of nectar. Hopefully, no one goes in there and mistakes them for wine.

Hummingbird nectar ready to use

The nice thing about this feeder is the ability to just recycle the empty bottles and minimize what needs cleaning. The birds love it and one came up immediately after I went back in the house. Of course, the camera wasn’t near me. Trying to photograph our hummingbirds is difficult.

I wandered out and checked on the herb garden, which now has marigolds all around it. They didn’t bloom in time for the fair, but are putting out a nice amount of flowers that I can cut and use on the table.

Now, the garden. The garden is a mess. I found that weeds are growing rampant between the backs of the cages and the deer fence. I can’t easily get to them to pull them out. Only weed whack them from outside or try cutting them off by reaching through the fence. Not working. And, the morning glories are out of control. At least the bees love them.

Morning glories

I have three different colors growing all around the fence. I like the delicate blue ones best. They are also finding a way to climb my husband’s ropes that anchor antenna wires.

On the back side of the garden, I did find one of my wandering cucumber vines trying valiantly to make a comeback. We shall see if these slicing cucumbers make it to an edible size.

I did find another of those monster pickling ones hidden deep down between the bunny fence and the deer fence last week. Another one of the same size as this one photographed earlier.

As for the tomatoes, I am still getting lots of the little ones, and the larger varieties have small green tomatoes all over them. But now, the stink bugs are out in force. They dig into the small crevices and pretty much destroy the fruit.

I wish we could find a reliable way to erase these pests from our gardens. Every year there are more of them here. We need to find a natural predator to release that will feast on all the eggs laid by the bugs, before they hatch and crawl everywhere in our plants.

But, thankfully, they don’t seem to like the blue basil, like the batch I harvested last week to make pesto.

African blue basil

I got six cups of basil last week. There is at least enough out there to do this again sometime this week. I need to buy pine nuts, or maybe use the walnuts left from the rhubarb walnut bread I made. The basil is now creeping in all directions around the bird bath and under the wildflowers in the back of the herb garden. As for the rosemary, I may need to trim it back. I am going to be drying rosemary this fall, as it has reached a point where the three bushes are becoming small trees.

Rosemary

The rosemary, basil and cotton lavender were the three herbs that got my first blue ribbon in the fair. The cotton lavender is in a planter, but the others are in the garden. I want to dry some of the lavender too.

Cotton Lavender

Enough wandering in the garden. I think it’s time to wander somewhere in west county, like maybe to Larriland to pick peaches.

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A Window Full of Sunshine

Posted on July 18, 2012 by AnnieRie

Varieties of tomatoes ripening on the sill

This is my favorite view in the kitchen. Dozens of almost perfectly ripe cherry, grape and pear tomatoes all reaching their peak of ripeness in the morning sun.

And, yes there are larger ripe ones these days.

Orange Blossom Tomatoes

Caspian Pink

The Caspian Pink is a new one for me. It looks wonderful, but I did have to pick it a bit early because it was cracking and I didn’t want a storm to water it down.

Detail of small cracks forming on top

I don’t have any chocolate stripes ripe yet, but they are getting close. They have the most tomatoes on each plant so far. I have three plants of them. Crossing my fingers that they ripen before that forecasted four or five days of rain late next week. The rains last year really watered down the flavors of the heirlooms.

Two weeks from this coming Saturday, the Howard County Fair starts. I will be picking which heirloom has the best taste. That is what I will enter. Taste, not looks, does better in the heirloom category.

The sweet olive is my most productive small tomato so far. They are predominant on the windowsill picture above. They also have a wonderful flavor, but cherry and grape tomatoes are judged on looks alone.

Have you ever entered anything in the fair? This year, besides tomatoes, I will again enter herbs. Definitely the basil, but haven’t chosen the other two yet.

African Blue Basil

This year I am also considering entering some of my photographs, particularly my little feathered friends, like these.

Bluebirds Rule the Bath

Put the Fair on your calendar for something great to do. It runs August 4th through 11th. We get a $20 pass for the entire fair and go almost every day. If you want to see a real hoot, go watch the zero turn mower competition. If you want to see something amazing, go watch the 4Hers show their animals.

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Breakfast Al Fresco

Posted on May 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

My favorite time of day. Early mornings before it gets hot outside. The birds are singing, the squirrels and rabbits are running around, and my neighbor’s dog comes by to say Hi, before fruitlessly continuing his rabbit chasing in the meadow.

This week the Kousa dogwoods are blooming.

They are heavy with blossoms and I baby those trees to keep them from having breaking limbs. We have them pruned, along with the Japanese lace maples, and the crepe myrtles every other year, in order to keep them healthy. They are my privacy screen from my neighbor’s driveway and they allow me to sit out in the morning in peace and solitude.

Friday I went out to have coffee and fill the feeders.

No, that isn’t wine for breakfast. It is hummingbird nectar in a wine bottle. My feeder uses a recycled bottle as the vessel with a copper wire and a cap. A little tricky to assemble but easier to clean.

The empty messy feeder. Pop off the cap. Rinse and throw the bottle in the blue bin. Clean the cap. Reassemble with a new bottle and you have happy hummingbirds.

Notice the double sided sticky tape ant trap. I have to get a permanent ant barrier, but so far this works. We have a hummingbird family who comes every summer and hangs out in my flowers, and my next door neighbor, too. We both have feeders for them.

As for the squirrel log, and the suet, we try to keep the squirrels from the bird food, and it usually works. I give them one of these logs and one unprotected suet but keep the high protein good birdfood away from them. The birds are busy feeding babies, and they are very active. I have a couple of feeders full of nuts, safflower and sunflower chips and cracked corn. It goes fast this time of year and then slows down once the trees and bushes start getting seeds and berries.

While there, one of the younger chickadees came to visit.

There was also a very young house sparrow hopping everywhere, but too quick for me to capture. Two days before, a very young sparrow was unsuccessfully trying to fly high enough to make it to the feeder. Unsuccessful then, but eventually they get the hang of it.

I did wander down to check on my garden and found my first blossoms on the yellow plum tomato.

The tomatoes have survived their planting shock and are doing well. I cluster plant them along the fence, with small cages and then use string and poles to keep them aloft. I find that the support system works better than really huge cages. At least in the area where I plant.

I also noticed while sitting out there that the sage and rosemary bushes are spreading so much they are no longer separate. They have been there three years now. They somehow survived snowmageddon in 2010. I am getting huge beautiful sage leaves, big enough to look really nice as fried sage to decorate gnocchi.

Breakfast on the patio. A lovely way to start the day. Cheers!

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A Typical (?) Day in West County

Posted on April 29, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today started out with lovely weather. I uncovered the plants, fed the blue jays and squirrels their peanuts, put the tomato plants out to get some sun, and cleaned out the bird bath. This afternoon I want to plant some more herbs and finish prepping the vegetable garden.

That was all before this little visitor showed up, at 11 am.

Right outside my kitchen window, and chasing the birds and squirrels. Yes, it did get something.

Took it around behind the garden, then heard me and took off north from behind the pine trees and our shed.

Now I have to worry about what I put outside. Usually the fox hunts at dusk. There must be hungry babies up in a den somewhere on the undeveloped land north of us. There are about 11 acres of natural habitat north of us, that is the home for many of the animals that live here. I need to tell my neighbor to keep the kitties in, or stay out with them.

Well, since the weather improved, it’s back to putting plants in the herb garden and working on cleaning out the vegetable gardens for transplanting tomatoes next week. With the weather looking to stay close to normal, I might have the tomatoes transplanted the week before Mother’s Day, which is the traditional day that there is no longer a possibility of frost.

I may also head out later to Sharp’s to finish buying plugs of cucumbers, and some flowers for around the patio and along the front pathway. The greenhouses are open on Sundays from 12-5, and now that I have figured out the vegetable layout of the garden, it is time to pick up plugs of flowers to put out. They have plugs for 65 cents a piece, 55 cents each if you purchase two dozen or more. It is the most economical way to put in splashes of annuals all around your property.

Just a typical Sunday here in West County. What is your Sunday like? Any grilling tonight? Enjoy the great weather, in spring, the reason we don’t want to move from Howard County. Love this season of growth, warmth and anticipation. Might have to repeat this meal. Get out the steaks and wrap some Boarman’s bacon around some asparagus. Break open a bottle of local wine. Sounds like a great Sunday to me.

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Art Reception This Week, and Earth Day

Posted on April 18, 2012 by AnnieRie

Two events this week at the Howard County Conservancy. The art reception and auction is tomorrow evening starting at 6 pm. I will be working the event, and who knows if I will get something to finish off the foyer. Lots of good stuff to bid on, particularly these pieces done on reclaimed wood by SOGH.

I keep hearing there is nothing to do in HoCO. For $12, come drink wine, hear entertaining judges, have some My Thyme appetizers, and maybe go home with interesting art for your place. If you have never heard Rebecca Hoffberger, you are in for a real treat. What is showing here is similar to what they are showcasing at the American Visionary Art Museum, or AVAM. All Things Round.

Then, for more to do, this weekend is Earth Day. The Conservancy has a full day planned. For singles, couples, families, retirees, whatever category that fits, there is something to do. Winter is hard on the trees and streams. Sprucing up the property in spring time means lots of little things to do. Easy to hard. Pick your pleasure. Stream cleanup, for example.

Some of us are going birding at 8 am. We may be out for two to three hours, depending on what we hear and see. We have recorded sightings of rare birds, and we have two very talented leaders. Even if you are just getting interested in what is singing in your yard, they are great to walk with. They bring the high powered scopes and generously share the sightings. We have seen eagles on the property, lots of raptors, rare sparrows, and it is spring. Can you say Orioles? We see them often. Baltimore and Orchard orioles. Here is a link to the bird club page with photos of Mt. Pleasant, the farm where the Conservancy is located.

After the bird walk, there are lots of activities that the staff are organizing. Clean up tasks, crafts for children. Check the web site if it rains. Come spend some time outdoors.

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It’s Sunday Morning and Everybody’s Dining Locally

Posted on April 15, 2012 by AnnieRie

The bunnies are.

So are the finches.

So is my red bellied, but he decided to run up the tree when he saw the glint of the camera. Can you find him up there?

He also decided a little later to sit higher and make enough noise to let me know I was interrupting his meal. Once I went inside he came back down to his nuts and seeds. The little woodpeckers won’t run when I come out, but the red bellied is still skittish enough that he hides in the trees.

As for us, a true local delight for a leisurely breakfast.

My CSA eggs, sunny side up, from Zahradka Farm, made with Trickling Springs butter, and served with buttered Atwater’s olive bread toasted. You can get Trickling Springs butter all over the place now, the organic markets as well as at Atwater’s in Catonsville. I thought I still had sourdough bread in the freezer but only olive bread left. Time for a trip to Catonsville to get a few more loaves to freeze. They work great that way. Get them sliced and put them away wrapped in foil. Pop in the toaster and enjoy.

I have perfected my sunny side up skills by using the trick of putting a lid above them to just set the yolks without them getting hard.

With yolks this orange and the eggs so fresh, it would be a crime to overcook them. Although I did break one putting it in the pan, and my husband graciously chose that one. He likes his over easy anyway.

Gradually working our way through the eggs in the fridge. Time to make some egg salad for sandwiches this week, or a frittata with that spinach from the CSA last Friday. Two more weeks of home delivery.

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Smarter Than the Average Squirrel

Posted on April 10, 2012 by AnnieRie

Sometimes I feel that the squirrels are winning. No matter how hard I try, they figure out most of the squirrel proof solutions. The latest is one of those feeders that they are managing to empty by hanging a certain way on it.

We have gone to great lengths to keep them from the bird seed, giving them corn and peanuts but trying to keep them from the woodpeckers’ favorite treats.

This arrangement gives them the cheapest suet I can find, and they have to work for it. They get corn, but if you don’t wedge it in, they run off with the entire ear of corn. My neighbors find the entertainment of a squirrel trying to carry an entire ear of corn to their nest in the old oak trees amusing, but it is expensive to put corn out there every few hours. I usually only feed the squirrels in the winter, and let them fend for themselves when the ground is full of nuts and seeds.

This feeder is truly squirrel proof. The good seed goes here, with the vitamins and minerals the birds need while raising their young. I have had to move it twice, though. Once, it was too close to the bird bath. The second time it was too close to the yucca and deck seats. Squirrels will jump quite far to grab that bar and get the good stuff. Even risking impalement on a yucca tree.

The squirrels do provide entertainment to us too. They know how to descend a ladder quite quickly when startled.

Even the hummingbird feeder isn’t safe.

They scrounge around where the birds push unwanted items out of the feeder on the pole, at least keeping it somewhat clean, but I usually get volunteer plants and weeds coming up where I don’t want them.

When we moved in, we had a lovely cedar feeder out there. The previous owners had dogs, so no squirrels. It lasted just a few months before they chewed through the wood. They will chew on the plastic too, so now we have metal feeders with metal lids and as many baffles as I can manage.

The double baffle works, as does the witches hat over the nuts for the woodpeckers.

Of course, the woodpeckers go where they want, and not always to their little feeder.

I now cram two small suet holders into the large one. Put them at an angle to minimize the area that the squirrels can reach into and grab suet. It doesn’t totally stop them but it slows them down considerably.

I have created a habitat here to keep the birds that assist us in having my garden lush and relatively bug and flying insect free. They have coniferous trees for nests. Water, heated in the winter. A constant source of food, including insect suet when they are feeding their young. We have lots of trees and bushes that produce berries. I leave the pokeweed in the meadow so they can feed from it.

We have lots of worms, good for the soil and for the robins (and their allies).

Of course, they also need to learn how to play nice around here. Looks like a little mom and pop spat going on here.

At least the robins and cedar waxwings get along.

So I put up with the squirrels, knowing that a dog will keep them away, but also impact the birds. Who needs the Discovery Channel when all this excitement goes on, right outside the kitchen window?