Birds – Page 4 – Tendrils

At The Watering Hole

Yellow-shafted Flicker, *Colaptes auratus*

It was surprising to me, the popularity of the old watering hole, just outside my kitchen window, when the temperatures dropped. I’ve had a cool little dripper device hooked up there, for years, which has brought a nice population of birds to entertain me, wet their whistles and satisfy their thirst.

White-throated Sparrow, *Zonotrichia leucophyrys*

We had a impressive cold snap last week, which brought to my yard, temperatures in the teens and a dusting of snow. Made me so happy. It did have me scurrying around though. Where in the world did I put the water warmer? Of course, right where it should be in the outside storage.

Eastern Bluebird (female), *Sialia sialis*

An easy switch from the dripper to the water warmer. Now, I just need to remember to keep the water level high. A simple task, since I’m constantly looking out there to see who my customers are! This Eastern Bluebird and several others showed up on Thanksgiving morning, making it an extra special holiday.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, *Sphyrapicus varius*

The surprise though, was the sharp increase in visitors to the bird bath. It was like I had the only saloon open in all the wild west! That was during the coldest of the cold temperatures.

Now that the temperatures have warmed back up, just a tiny bit, the visitors to the bird bath have dropped to their normal numbers many a day rather than herds and herds of critters, quenching their thirst.

I’ll keep the water warmer out there, rather than having to switch back and forth. They know where the water is!

I’ve added to the temptations. I’ve put out black oil sunflower seeds, and smeared some peanut butter onto the top of one of the fence posts. I don’t have a formal feeder.

Crow—we have both American Crows and Fish Crows, not sure which this is!

I live in Black Bear country. Black Bears are very curious creatures. Having a bird feeder out invites a bear to come in and dismantle it, just because they are such curious animals.

This guy, walking out my lane, is dripping wet, after taking a dip in my little pond. He can search and search, but he won’t find any bird feeders to devour here at my cabin!

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, *Regulus calendula*

From huge Woodpeckers, to tiny Kinglets, these are the visitors to my yard and my old watering hole.

Robins, Cardinals, Crows, Thrushes, Chickadees, Titmice, Sparrows, Wrens, all are welcome.

Northern Cardinal (male), *Cardinalis cardinalis*

I’ll even put up with an occasional Squirrel, since he’s a great one for helping to regenerate the forest, as he goes about gathering acorns, nuts and seeds, promptly forgetting where he buried them, becoming a tree farmer. Plant those trees, Mr. Squirrel!

Eastern Gray Squirrel, *Sciurus carolinensis*

In the meantime, I will be waiting for more cold temperatures and snow!

Snow!

I’m easily entertained. Give me a little snowfall and I’ll be elated for hours. I’ll become the little girl from so long ago. The little girl who grew up on the best sledding hill in Prince George’s Co., Maryland. Other things take me back to my childhood. Bicycling does it too. But snow provides the best trip back in the time machine!

Today I got snow. Today I’m thrilled! Today I’m a little kid again! Take a walk with this little kid, as I check out the beauty of the snow .. .. ..

This is Blue Spruce. It’s my favorite species of tree for Christmas. It’s got sturdy branches for all those heavy ornaments, a gorgeous color, wonderful shape. Unfortunately it is not user friendly. Its needles are very painful to work with. Yes, painful to work with, but its beauty is well worth it. My husband and I grow Blue Spruce trees here on the mountain so that we can cut our own tree each year. And they are spectacular when they have snow on their branches!

Look at those snowflakes! Aren’t they wonderful! How could anyone not want snow? And no, I do not have my Christmas lights up already. Tonight these lights will be Thanksgiving lights. Just a few weeks ago they were Halloween lights. During the summer they were 4th of July lights and when I am expecting someone special to arrive at my cabin, on any evening, they become Welcome Home lights!

Continuing on our walk through the winter wonderland, we come upon brilliant, crimson berries of the Smooth Sumac bush. These berries are saved as an emergency food supply by many birds and will be consumed when there is much more snow cover and very little else to eat.

Providing a cup to capture the snow, the fused leaves of Coral Honeysuckle create a Christmas palette of scarlet, rich holly green and snow white. These berries attract Robin, Hermit Thrush, Goldfinch, Purple Finch and Quail.

This plant is a Yucca. Its flower is the state flower of New Mexico and the national emblem of El Salvador. The Yucca is also a native plant here in Virginia. The little kid in me loves to see this plant totally covered with snow, looking like a big igloo.

This plant is one that Thomas Jefferson grew in his gardens at Monticello. The berries often form a cluster that looks much like a blackberry, which is how it got its name, Blackberry Lily.

The snow I got today was enough to let me time travel back to my childhood, but certainly not enough to go snowshoeing or sledding. I got less than 1/2 inch. Tonight I’ll be dreaming of the winter of 2009-10, the best winter ever, when I got 72 inches of snow up here on Snow Mountain. Something dreams are made of!

P.S. The bare branch, with fire engine red berries at the top of this post is Winterberry, another native to Virginia.

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A Beauty Of A Berry

Color Me Disappointed

Nearly all the time, when I create a blog, it is the result of research. I’m learning new things, right along with you. Tonight I learned that the bushes I am pleased with – being beautiful and native, are actually not native. Well, that certainly is a surprise!

The Impostor Revealed

The telling detail which revealed the impostor to me, is the berry clusters that are held on stems away from the main stem. In the native, American Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana, the berries are grouped in clusters right on the main stem, looking like poufs on a French poodle. All these photographs are of my Purple Beautyberry, Callicarpa dichotoma, native to the Far East. In any event, these beautiful bushes provide the same sustenance to wildlife that the natives do.

Purply-Pink

In the spring, the Beautyberry bush is covered with diminutive, purply-pink flowers which attract many bees and butterflies. Being so small the flowers create a soft wash of pink, over the green of the shrubs.

Pollinators

Those bees and butterflies are happy to have the blossoms, and I’m happy that they get attracted to my gardens.

Apple Green Berries

As the summer marches on, the flowers fade and turn to tiny apple green berries.

And The Beauty Of The Berry

By early October, the apple green berries have turned into glowing magenta clusters of fruit.

For Emergency Only

Song birds put off eating the Beautyberries until there is nothing left to eat. Perhaps these berries are the Brussels sprouts of the bird world. Once they are faced with nothing but the Beautyberries, they will flock to the bushes and eat every single morsel.

Snow Cover

Once snow covers everything, and all the dogwood berries, spicebush berries, and sumac berries are gone, the songbirds are happy that I’ve planted Beautyberry bushes for them!

The Museum Of Autumnal Color

The Flatlands

Over the weekend I was down in the flatlands. The truely flat lands of Maryland and Delaware, way out on the coast. The flatlands where there is not much going on tree-wise, autumn-wise. Just occasional farm stands filled with lovely orange pumpkins and garden mums. That’s autumn for the flatlands. While away, I missed the screaming-school-bus yellow of the Hickories, and the reds, and golds and lime greens of autumn in the mountains.

Raring To Go

This morning I was chomping at the bit, all set to get my fill of autumn in the mountains again. But wait! There’s a seldom spotted critter at the bird bath. A critter that reminds me of the New Mexico state bird, the Road Runner. A Brown Thrasher,Toxostoma rufum, was splish, splashing in my bird bath. Stop everything! I’ve got to get a picture of him! Fortunately he was slow enough, that I could put the camera onto the lens that is mounted on the tripod. I got him splishing and splashing, but not so much in focus. When he came out to preen and dry, I was able to get him, almost crisp and sharp. Mission accomplished. Now on to gathering up that camera and another one for the trek.

Blue Skies

I was lucky today. The brilliant blue skies, perfectly accented the rusty browns of the White Oaks as I climbed higher and higher, up the mountain.

Backdrop

The azure skies provided the perfect background for the scarlet of the Red Maples. A background that made the reds just pop! And see that wisp of a cloud? That is all there was up there in the glorious blue – just a wisp.

A Family Favorite

There’s one tree up here that I think I can safely say is a family favorite. It’s the Black Gum, which has red leaves that really beat the band. The leaves have a slight gloss to them that just adds to the appeal.

A Slow One

One of the slower trees to change into their autumn garb, the Sugar Maple is one that I love to watch for. A winner up in Vermont. I am lucky to have some here in the Blue Ridge Mountains as well.

My Happiness Tree

The one tree that provides me with more happiness than any, here on my mountain, is the American Chestnut. Their leaf, so beautiful with its ocean wave edge, turning yellow-green, then yellow, then on to a warm soft brown. I see these trees and know that I am home, where there is so much color, everywhere, I look I feel as if I am walking through a museum of autumnal color!

Berries – For The Birds

Open Season For Dogwood Berries

Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida, is perhaps at its high point in popularity at this time of year. As I watch out my kitchen window this rainy afternoon, in just a matter of perhaps five minutes, I see three tufted titmice, a pair of cardinals and a sprightly squirrel all gobbling down their mid-day meal.

Colorful Times

As the leaves of the Dogwood are turning from many shades of rich green to burgundy, crimson, purplish red, and rusty red orange, its berries have already turned to a Christmas cheery red, inviting birds and all critters of the woods to come, feast.

No Reminder Needed

This is an invitation, to come feast, that creatures of the woods do not need repeated! As far as favorites go, I believe that Dogwood berries are near the top of their list.

Leaf Peepers

While we humans are enjoying the brilliant display of autumn leaves, before they fall to the forest floor, Dogwood berries are quickly being devoured. So quickly that I hardly have time to get photographs of berries covered with an early snow. If I am extremely lucky, a snow will fall before the hungry critters are done with their “shopping trip” to the Dogwood Eatery.

Red And White

Only if I am extremely lucky will a get a shot of crimson red against cloud-soft white.

Sometimes

You can see though, that on rare occasions it does happen.

Who

Some of the critters that I must stay one step ahead of for my early snow shots are cardinal, junco, tufted titmouse, robin, bluebird, bobwhite, wild turkey, tree swallow, crow, woodpeckers, grackle, starling, red fox, chipmunk, squirrel, beaver, skunk, white-footed mouse, and deer. What an amazing list! It’s no wonder the berries disappear so quickly!

What?

And here we have Mr. Squirrel saying, “It wasn’t me eating all those berries!”

Blackhaw On The Mountain

Buds and Snow White Flowers

From mid-April through mid-May the Blackhaws, Viburnum prunifolium, are in bud and bloom up here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Blackhaw is a shrub or small tree that gets its name from the inky black of the fruit, that develops during the summer, and ripens in the fall.

Fruit or Drupe

The floral display turns to fruit in June. This fruit, which, seems to me would be called a berry, is actually called a drupe. They start out apple green and oblong.

Blushing

As the summer days pass, the apple green gains a blush of dark pink and then crimson as the sun shines on the drupes.

Overnight Changes

Each day as I hike the mountain, as summer turns to autumn, I see changes. I’m surprised at how quickly one little drupe will turn from its crimson red to inky black. It just takes one night and presto! there is another one, blue-black and ripe.

Preserves And Wine

There are sites on the internet that mention Blackhaw preserves and wine. Sure would take a large amount of these drupes to make anything at all. Though tasty, they are mostly a single, large seed. Birds and wildlife enjoy eating the Blackhaw fruit. I think I will leave the drupes for them!

Sap Wells

Dots Dots Dots

Ever notice lines in the tree bark? Lines of little dots, little holes, made in thoughtfully placed rows?

A Message?

These rows of dots, look to me like someone is trying to tell me something. Or that someone has a brand new drill and has to try it out, decorate something with this new tool, new toy. Haven’t we all had some new something that we just couldn’t put down?

But Who?

Who in the world would be doing something like this? I see these holes often in the woods up here in the mountains, but I’ve also seen these holes in trees on the rolling hills of James Madison’s Montpelier, and so many other places as well.

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

These holes are called “sap wells” of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius. A medium sized woodpecker with a brilliant patterned face of black, red and buff white; a black and white striped back; and red forehead. The male also has a red throat. The white of his striped back is an off white which looks a bit dingy to me.

The Sap Wells

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drills these sapwells and laps up the sap and insects that are attracted to it. They complete their diet by also eating fruits and berries. And they provide me more patterns to be attracted to.

Sumac For Autumn Color

Blossoms Of Winged Sumac, Rhus copallinum — Blossoms Of Winged Sumac, *Rhus copallinum*

Pollinator Pleasing

In mid-summer there is quite a draw at my wood’s edge. The Sumac is in bloom and pollinators are buzzing all over the flowers. I have two types of Sumac — Winged Sumac and Smooth Sumac, supplied by Mother Nature.

Fruit Of Smooth Sumac, Rhus glabra — Fruit Of Smooth Sumac, *Rhus glabra*

For The Birds

From blooms to fruit, pleasing different critters. The fruit of the Sumac attracts birds throughout the winter.

Common "Yellow-Shafted" Flicker, Colaptes auratus — Common “Yellow-Shafted” Flicker, *Colaptes auratus*

Welcome Food During The Snowstorm!

With blinding snow coming down, this Yellow Shafted Flicker was able to find a meal at one of my many Sumacs. This picture was taken in February 2010. We had 72 inches of snow here on the mountain during that winter. It was wonderful!

Winged Sumac, Rhus copallina — Winged Sumac, *Rhus copallina*

And Now The Season Of Color

Sumacs turn brilliant shades in the fall. A little bit at a time. I’m enjoying taking pictures of just one branch or two, dressed in an outstanding scarlet set against the rich emeralds of its past summer finery.

Or . . .

Or tropical shades of limes and lemons, set against the warm colors of papayas.

Smooth Sumac, Rhus glabra — Smooth Sumac, *Rhus glabra*

More Color To Come

In the next two months Sumacs will be turning on more scarlet, making the wood’s edges sing. A song I look forward to!