Kaseys Korner

breakfast companion

Just as we were sitting down for breakfast, the quick flitting of a small bird caught my eye out the dining room window.  I knew it wasn't the usual sparrow or finch we've had an abundance of lately ~ his behavior gave him away.  Also, instead of perching and dining on the black oil sunflower feeder, this bird would fly in swiftly, snatch a seed, then take off to crack & eat it someplace else.  Once I was able to get a good look at him, I realized it was a Mountain Chickadee ~ our first for this fall/winter season:

We don't normally see Chickadees in our yard during the summer months so his presence is definitely an indicator of the season.  More often we have the Black-capped Chickadees instead of the Mountain Chickadee that's pictured.  The latter can be distinguished by the white "eyebrow" versus the solid black head of the Black-Capped Chickadee.  It wasn't so easy to snap a photo because of his quick movements but luckily I got a few.  Maybe I'll have more chances over the next few months?  Ever so often he would fore-go the feeder to sample the contents of holes in the Aspen tree:

 

I'm not sure what he found in them, but it's good he's cleaning them out for me.  As quickly as he arrived, he was gone

and we were left to breakfast with the sparrows.  Oh well, that's what we were anticipating ~ he was the unexpected treat for the day.  Hopefully it won't be our last meal together.

Happy Veteran's Day

Just poppin' in to say "Happy Veteran's Day" and thank you to all the Veteran's for putting everything on the line to ensure our freedom.  We would not be the same country without you. I'm not sure one day is enough for that debt?

Photo from this AM ~ playing cat and mouse with the Blue Jays again....they're still getting the best of me.

and then there was one

Remember how I said I would be sad when the orioles were gone and the grape jelly feeder sat empty?  Well, now I have the opposite problem.  One little Bullocks oriole refuses to leave and has me worrying over him like a mother hen.  All of his siblings and parents left long ago on their migration south.  The adult orioles were the first to leave ~ I think I saw the last adult male & female around the first week in August.  This years young stayed for several more weeks, coming to the yard and feeder in groups until slowly their numbers dwindled down to one.  Orioles migrate at night, so every morning when I get up, I hope that I won't see him.  That he'll finally have started his journey.  But every morning, there he is.  I pulled the grape jelly feeder three weeks ago, hoping to move him along but that didn't work.

 

I keep telling him that I'm not going to buy meal worms to feed him all winter.  I am not (reinforces to self).  Even tho more and more migratory birds are opting to fore-go migration (especially in southern states where winters are mild) there's no way he could survive a winter in Colorado without a LOT of help.  Worrying over him and why he won't leave had me doing research on oriole migration late one evening.  It ended up being extremely fascinating so I thought I would share some of it with you.  Mind you, this is my non-scientific recounting of what I read.  Did you know birds are very in-tune with the stars?  Maybe they could even be considered the first students of astronomy?  All that time spent in the nest after hatching, gives them hours upon hours to study the sky.  As the earth rotates, the one star that remains constant is the North Star.  Somehow they know/learn to fly away from it in fall and toward it in spring.  Isn't that amazing?  They also are very auditory, preventing night time collisions by communicating to keep each other apprised of their whereabouts.  Maybe my little oriole, didn't do enough star gazing??  I find myself wondering (like in the movie Fly Away Home) how to get him moving along in the right direction.  I suppose I should quit worrying and let nature take its course...but somehow that's very difficult to do.   

it's a berry delicious

time in the garden for both the birds and me.  The viburnums (unknown variety) produced an abundance of berries this year:

in contrast to last year.  The branches are literally bent over from the weight of the profuse crop.  One of the benefactors of the bounty are the Robins who are harvesting the berries & gorging themselves almost to the point of not being able to fly:

Is there such a thing as getting "drunk" from too much berry consumption??  If there is, it's definitely happening in my yard.  They feast, drink then leave purple berry stains on everything.  It's good tho and makes me happy to see my yard offering sustenance to the feathered friends I enjoy watching year round.  While they are consuming the viburnum berries on the north side of the yard, I am busy picking raspberries on the south side ~ I think they're at the peak of their production right now:

 

Too bad my niece isn't here now to help me harvest them ~ she's always had a penchant for them and faithfully checked the patch every day while she was here.  Unfortunately it was just a touch early.  I guess I'll have to eat them all myself ~ hardship of hardships....

Something else delicious but not of the berry sort, is this 'Apple Blossom' dahlia:

 

Isn't it the most divine dahlia ever?  I am enthralled with the pale pink & yellow combination.  I saw a picture of it last year on the Internet and knew I had to have one.  So I ordered myself (and my Mom) one from Swan Island Dahlias.  It's taken all summer for it to develop a couple buds (thank you cool wet weather) but now the first bud has opened and it's every bit as beautiful as I remembered.  Needless to say, I will be overwintering this tuber!  Speaking of my Mom, she arrives today (for the weekend) so I will be away from my blog until Monday.  See you then and have a good one.

not in here, you don't

raise a family, that is.  I keep forgetting to share these cute photos of a very persistent barn swallow that insisted my garage was the best spot for him to build a nest. 

Every time my garage door was up, he was in.  He actually forced me to change my behavior patterns (I like the door up a lot in the summer because I'm always going in and out) to discourage his preoccupation with the interior of our garage.

He was very friendly and not skittish at all in our presence but still, there are limits on how far I'll go to accommodate the birds. 

Poop on my car is a deal breaker.  He finally got the hint and moved on...

they're here!

finally, a hummingbird!  and a chance to hone my photography skills on this flying wonder.  Zipping here and there in a constant flurry of activity, they are a real test for the camera & its operator.  I set the camera on "sports" mode and just snap like crazy, hoping something turns out.  Here's one or two of what I got but I'm hoping for more opportunities to practice before September (when they are usually gone for good).

 

The photo above has only the immature Rufous hummingbirds head in focus but I liked how it turned out anyway. Below is a full body shot where I had a little more success:

 

He/she seemed to prefer the Scrophularia macrantha blooms to anything else in the garden.  Returning over and over again to the cherry red buds.  Picking up on that, I moved closer to that grouping of plants and stood as still as possible for over an hour just to get these couple shots.  Least you think I only want to see them for photography purposes, I assure you that absolutely isn't the case.  Capturing one fantastic photo is just a side pursuit/challenge.  We only have them in our garden for about a month (or month and a half in a good year) so I definitely treasure a sighting.  This year I was beginning to doubt that would happen.  I'm so glad that wasn't true...   

always beckoning

me to come outside and bring my camera is the vintage wheelbarrow I am greatly privileged to now own.  I have it positioned in the backyard, framed by the arbor but also perfectly viewed from my kitchen window. It has certainly improved my attitude toward mealtime clean up.  How could anyone be grumpy with such a pretty sight before them:

 

It's breathtakingly lovely (if you don't mind my saying) and one of the few visions I had for this year that I was able to manifest.  It's definitely going to be hard to say goodbye when the frost comes.  I cannot even begin to count the number of photos I've taken from almost every angle (my camera cards can testify to that).

Front on, side to:

  

etc., etc.  I haven't found a bad angle yet.  I also don't have to worry about bugs while the orioles are around:

 

They regularly perch on the sides and inspect for insects a snack.  Note:  Above photo was taken thru my kitchen screen so please forgive the slight distortion.  A container, tucked snugly inside the wheelbarrow body, is filled with zinnias and three different lantanas:  'Cherry Sunrise,' 'New Gold' and "Trailing Lavender.'  The latter is very pleasing cascading down the sides and photographed with the metal wheel as a background:

  

Don't you agree?  It's the first year I've tried a lavender colored lantana and I have to say I like it.  A LOT. 

 

I just wish the butterflies did.  or maybe they would if any ever make it to my garden this year.  Once the frost hits, I will pile it high with mums and pumpkins until the Christmas holidays arrive when it will be carefully stored away for the next gardening season (unless I decide to adorn it with lights and holiday greenery).  Because it's so resplendent, an inanimate object brought to life, in no way could I keep it for myself.  I hope you'll enjoy the views this morning as much as I do...

Just in time

for the arrival of the hummingbirds, these plants are getting ready to open as if cued.  Agastache 'cana,' already in bloom, is always a favorite:

 

The more delicate Agastache 'tutti frutti' joining the smorgasbord:

 

and they are going to go absolutely nuts over the line of Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) flourishing in the overspill of the pond:

Not to mention Delphinium 'Red Caroline' who happens to magnetize humans and hummingbirds alike:

 

Of course these aren't the only blooms they'll be attracted to in the garden but they are the latest to open.  Texas Betony is also a favorite as well as Scrophularia macrantha, all the monardas, the lantana, etc. etc.  I can't wait.  We only see them in our yard in late summer, as they migrate south, so we have to enjoy every moment of those couple weeks when they're here.  The garden is ready and so are we! 

grape jelly protein supplement

Discovered quite by accident when I first dumped a heaping spoonful of grape jelly over top some yellow jackets inside the glass cups on the oriole feeder.  Ever since, I've been trying to do it on purpose.  Today, I buried the largest number yet:

 

I keep thinking if I sandwich enough of them between layers of jelly, I'll make a dent in the number visiting but it doesn't seem to work that way.  It's the only downside to feeding the jelly.  I seriously doubt any of my neighbors are having yellow jacket "troubles" this year as I feel like I'm attracting them all to my yard with this feeder.  The constant buzzing of yellow jackets doesn't seem to bother the orioles at all:

 

They gobble up the purple treat and the dead yellow jackets.  I've even seen them pick off a couple live bees that flew a little too close while they were perched at the feeder.  I wish I could just fill the cups at dusk to avoid getting swarmed but the feeder is such a popular attraction that the jelly is gone within four or five hours.  I've been filling it two to three times daily to keep up with their voracious appetites.  Look at the photo below of the male Bullocks oriole with jelly on his beak:

 

I sure am going to miss them when they migrate but I won't miss the yellow jackets who I hope will disperse as soon as the feeder is gone!

ups and downs of bird watching

who knew there could be so many flip sides?  Usually I try to focus on the positive not the tragedies (like having five mountain bluebirds freeze to death because of a freak June snowstorm).  Yesterday was a little of both.  On the up side, one Bullocks oriole pair brought their newly fledged young to our yard for a tour of the facilities (i.e. birdbath and grape jelly feeder).  They were the cutest and noisiest juveniles we've had in the yard for a while. 

 

Here's "Mom" on the right with two of the "babies" to the left.  They kept up a persistent chattering when she would leave (in search of nourishment for them) and even more chattering ensued when she returned, probably about who would be the lucky recipient of a meal.  This time the "baby" on the right won out:

 

Not to worry, there's more where that came from!   It's always fun to see the young come to the garden with their parents, isn't it?  I hope these two migrate safely & return next May to build nests nearby and visit our yard again.  Meanwhile, we'll enjoy watching them learn the ropes until it's time to leave. 

Now to the "down" side and a question.  How can there be so many mourning doves when they build such precarious nests??  It's most perplexing to me.  Almost every year I have a pair (or two) construct a flimsy nest and almost every year, the eggs (and/or nest) fall to the ground and all is lost.  This year is no different (although one pair is having some success in the front yard so far).  It's the nest belonging to the pair who built in the back yard that hasn't faired so well.  Yesterday I saw it hanging by a twig & gently swaying in the breeze ~ not a good sign.  I went out to inspect and found both eggs on the ground and cracked.   So much for that.  Never one to let things be, I carefully picked up the eggs and nesting material and arranged them in a corner of my tiered container:

 

With the cracks hidden on the underneath side of the eggs, you can't even tell this isn't an "active" nest.  Darn it all.  Why can't they just be better "carpenters??"