A bird with lovely, lengthy songs. A mimic like Catbirds and Mockingbirds. A Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum), a bird that comes ’round for the birdbath and the berries.
I miss the Mockingbirds up here. I’ve never seen a single one at this elevation. They seem to prefer the lowlands. And I do miss the Catbirds too, though I’ve seen one a time or two up here. Certainly though it is an extremely rare event. If I didn’t have photos of it I would think my memory was playing tricks on me. I do indeed love their songs.
But I’m very pleased to have Brown Thrashers come into the yard. I put out the birdbath even in winter to attract birds that would otherwise not drop in. That would be the case with this bird as well except . . . . . .
except for the blueberries. Like many other birds, Brown Thrashers love blueberries, surely as much as I do!
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Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). An elusive bird that most often is found in dense bushes, brushing its long beak back and forth in leaf litter searching for a meal of insects.
Most frequently I see Brown Thrashers while blueberries are just ripening. And timing was just perfect today. Many bushes with berries turning from soft green to deep dark blue covered in their beautiful bloom.
Berries to please this Thrasher and a birdbath perfect for a warm June day. All this brings it out into the open, for me and my camera, to get pictures of a bird that I’d unlikely see otherwise.
Eastern Towhees are here in the mountains of central Virginia year round. Their diet is primarily insects, seeds and berries and during the summer they tend, of course, to eat more insects. True bugs, beetles, ants, caterpillars, moths, millipedes, spiders and snails are all on the menu. But there’s something special to me, which I share with them. Those blueberries. This fellow is watching over them. Watching how they are growing. Watching and waiting for them to ripen. Just like I am. I wholeheartedly enjoy sharing the blueberries with the birds. For me, the berries mean pies, pancakes, muffins. For them it means breakfast, lunch and dinner. Glad to share.
Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). Quite the handsome bird. It makes me think of a Roadrunner with its very long tail and long curved bill. They’re here during their breeding season but are year round in the deeper Southeast. The feeders here at my cabin don’t tempt them, not even the suet, but they love my blueberries. Down in Florida at my Mom’s feeders they are constantly eating the suet at her feeders. Omnivores, Brown Thrashers eat insects, berries, seeds and nuts, earthworms, snails, and an occasional lizard or frog.
Silver-spotted Skippers (Epargyreus clarus) are thoroughly enjoying collecting the nectar and pollen from blueberry blooms. In the upper left corner of this photo you can see little blueberries just beginning their growth.
Special occasions call for special things to happen in the kitchen. That’s why there’s blueberry pie just out of the oven. For dessert after dinner tonight.
I make my crust from scratch. I think I could make the crust in my sleep. It’s very simple, very easy. For me anyway. Here’s the recipe.
Pie Crust for a 9” two crust pie or two 9” crusts
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
4 or 5 tablespoon COLD water
Blend together flour, salt and shortening with a pastry blender or two knives.
Add 4 tablespoons COLD water and continue blending with knives or pastry blender. Add additional tablespoon water only if needed.
Divide dough into two balls and let sit for an hour. Then line your pie pan. Freeze the other ball of dough for another pie in the future.
Like the crust, I have the recipe for Blueberry Pie memorized. As a matter of fact you may have seen my blog post about Apple Pie. It’s nearly the same. Only difference is the fruit. And I occasionally put in a bit of lemon juice on top of the apples before the crumb topping goes on. Here’s the blueberry pie recipe.
Blueberry Pie
Oven temp. 425° for first 20 minutes. Lower temp. to 375° and continue baking for an additional 40 to 45 minutes.
1 – 9″ crust, unbaked
Blueberries, about 5 cups, or enough to fill your 9″ crust
1 stick (1/2 cup) softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Fill pie crust with blueberries.
Cream softened together butter, salt, cinnamon and sugar. Add flour and continue blending until crumbs are a uniform size and are well blended.
Top blueberries with your crumb topping.
Bake at 425° for 20 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 375° and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes until blueberries are bubbling. Cool and serve. Vanilla ice cream makes a perfect topping for the pie.
All my blueberry bushes are in bloom as I’m typing this, bringing many bees that will pollinate the flowers.
Soon the bushes will be loaded with green orbs that look like they’ve got little crowns.
Perhaps by the end of May I’ll be able to harvest a few of the berries. By the middle of June there will be plenty of berries to make me, and birds like this female Scarlet Tanager, very happy.
I’m watching both the progress the blueberry blooms are making as well as the calendar. Watching the blossoms grow and mature. Watching the weeks go by on the calendar. Right now in early April there are only tight buds on the many bushes.
And it’s hard to say since this is weather related and as we all know the weather can be extremely capricious. Hard to say when the blooms will be open.
Hard to say when the butterflies and bees will be called to the blueberry flowers. Called by the nectar and pollen. Called to pollinate the blooms that will become delicious morsels of goodness.
It will seem like forever to me. Going from compact buds to petite orbs. Forever and still not exactly what I’m waiting for.
Slowly slowly those petite orbs will swell. And go from apple green to a lavender blush to finally deep blue. But I’ve learned over the years I can’t be too quick. Those first berries looking so luscious blue are still lavender blush on the other side. The far side hidden and waiting to fool me. Be patient. They will turn totally inky blue with a white bloom with time. That’s what it’s all about. Patience and waiting.
I’ll be waiting. All this time. Waiting to pull out simple ingredients.
Waiting to turn those berries, those luscious inky blue with white bloom berries into blueberry pies. Other things too, but oh those pies!
At my cabin there are so many blueberry bushes. So many, if I had to guess, that guess would be maybe twelve mature bushes. Maybe.
By the Fourth of July every year my freezer is filled with quart sized bags of berries to provide muffins, pies, pancakes, toppings for ice cream, scones and more pies. To last throughout the entire year.
Cedar Waxwings with such panache. They love to come by to help harvest the berries.
And I sure don’t mind having them here. I wonder how they know that I’ve got blueberries growing here. Does word get around? Can they SMELL them? Do they just pick up blueberry vibes?
Whatever magic they may use to find these berries, I sure am glad I get to see them as they wolf the berries down. And here, a perfect picture of panache.
