Fluffed up against the cold, this is a Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis). A little bird with the nickname of Snowbird. It spends its winters here in the southern United States.
They eat grains and seeds, including the seeds of spent flowers that filled your gardens during the summer, that is if you’ve left the seedheads for them!
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Here’s a Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) enjoying my gardens which have not been cleaned up. All the seedheads are still out there, making those seeds available to birds that are searching for a meal.
Another thing that doesn’t happen in my yard – I never rake leaves. Butterflies, moths, lightning bugs, bees, salamanders, frogs, and even some bats are in the leaves, seeking shelter until spring arrives. Leaving those leaves undisturbed will give those creatures a chance to live through the winter to emerge in the spring.
So much to consider for the sake of Mother Nature. It is my pleasure to help her.
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This time of year American Mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum) sometimes comes to mind. It is often seen around here, in a Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) in our tiny town, or up here in the mountains in our native trees. Many places. There’s another one that I’m familiar with.
This one a Juniper Mistletoe (Phoradendron juniperinum) found at Zion National Park in Utah. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. And like American Mistletoe it is a parasite, living on their host plants taking water and nutrients from them to survive.
And there are oodles of species (1300) known worldwide.
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About the size of an American Robin (Turdus migratorius), 10 inches long. A Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) coming in for some suet. This one is a female.
And this is the male, with a bit more red on his head.
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During the snow yesterday, at a slow moment with very few flakes dropping from the sky, I was pleased to see several Bluebirds (Sialia sialis). Most of them were further up in a tree out of my range for getting a photo without disturbing them. But I did manage to get this one sitting in a Flowering Dogwood tree (Cornus florida).
While preparing to write this post I had thoughts of using the word for a group of Bluebirds. After all there is a murder of crows, which is 3 or more crows. Not 1, not 2 but 3 or more. Or a parliment of owls. And many other interesting words for describing a group of one species of birds. But for Bluebirds, what did my search provide me with? A flock.
What a disappointment that was. But all the various birds that showed up on a wondrous snow day, pure pleasure!
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What a terrific day for me. It snowed the majority of the day. Coming down fast and furious sometimes with huge flakes. Other times it was slow and gentle. The snow didn’t stick very well. I’d say that there was just a hair short of an inch when all was said and done. So lovely!
While this was going on there was much bird activity including this pair of Northern Flickers (yellow shafted phase)(Colaptes auratus). The one above is male. See his mustache?
This one, here and below, is a female. Notice she doesn’t have a mustache.
And here she is showing off the patch of red at the back of her neck, called a nuchal patch, which is something that both male and female have.
Snow and many birds today. Excellent!
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The Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) is an impressive creature. Nearly the size of a Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos). I have fond memories of one landing, and working on, a tree within a few feet of my bedroom window when I lived in North Arlington many years ago. It sounded like a human, up in the tree, pounding on it with a heavy hammer.
This Woodpecker is the largest Woodpecker on our continent, unless of course, you still consider the Ivory Billed Woodpecker to still be alive and well.
The ivory-billed woodpecker is a woodpecker native to the bottomland hardwood forests and temperate coniferous forests of the Southern United States and Cuba. The US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing it as extinct September 29, 2021.
As you bring in the Christmas tree, a word of caution. This is the egg case of a Chinese Praying Mantis (Tenodera sinensis). Check your tree for it before you bring in the potential to have up to 400 tiny Chinese Praying Mantises wandering around in your house. If you happen to discover the egg case after the tree is set up and being decorated, clip the egg case off and destroy it. Chinese Praying Mantises eat many good insects as well as our native Carolina Praying Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina).
This egg case, called an ootheca, is attached to a beautiful red stem of a Blueberry Bush (Cyanococcus). It’s a tiny bit smaller than a ping pong ball.
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A picture from October of a unique looking caterpillar, a Crowned Slug Moth caterpillar (Isa textula). This little one grows to be 1/2 inch long. They eat the leaves of Oaks and Cherry, Maple, Basswood, Elm and Beech trees.
I’ve made it my practice to avoid picking up most any creature that I find in nature. This is a good example of why. See those hairy spikes sticking out all around? This caterpillar’s sting results in itching and great pain. I’m sticking to my policy!
It sure is fun to find unique creatures of nature. I just won’t pick any up.
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It’s that time of year, when the wind whips like crazy and temperatures drop from 57º in the early morning to a chill of the 30s as the sun goes down. At least that’s how it was here today.
Time to think about mincemeat pie, made with many more McIntosh apples than are called for. That’s how I prefer it.
A bit of extra crust for the top, cut into the shape of holly leaves with tiny berries, sprinkled with green and red sugar, makes it perfect.
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