Grasshoppers – Tendrils

Winter Arrival of the Hermit Thrush

Seems every day I’m seeing another of my winter birds. This one, my treasured Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus). A medium sized bird with a magical, flutelike song which it doesn’t bring along on its winter visit. It saves those lovely notes for summer, choosing to blend in and not make too much of a noticeable presence while in the black and white landscape of winter.

Out of necessity it also changes its diet, going from being an active hunter of yummy crawly things such as beetles, ants, caterpillars, true bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, and earthworms to what winter offers up to birds of winter, berries.

You can see in these pictures that the Hermit Thrush enjoys Smooth Sumac berries to dine on. Other berries they enjoy include Elderberries, Pokeberries, Serviceberries, Grapes, and Mistletoe berries. These are plants that I have in my yard or would certainly consider adding, just to invite more winter birds to come visit for the winter.

Yellow Garden Spider

Eye catching in its size and coloring, eye catching in its web design. Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia). A pretty large spider. The body of the female, the larger of the sexes, is about an inch in length, up to three times the size of males. Add those long legs and that is indeed a sizable spider.

Not a worry for us humans though. They are quite docile. Just be gentle and respectful. But they do have venom that they use to paralyze their prey which get caught in their webs. Yellow Garden Spiders dine on aphids, bees, wasps, grasshoppers, flies, moths.

There is no sure answer as to why they have that distinctive zigzag on their webs, but some scientists believe that it is to allow birds to see the web and avoid flying through it.

Seen across North America and Central America.

Eastern Fence Lizard

A cute little creature that I see climbing on the cinder block foundation of my cabin on occasion. An Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus). With golden eyes that stare back at me wondering what I am.

Fence Lizards grow to be between four, and seven and a quarter inches long. Usually females are gradations of gray and males are various shades of brown, both with keeled scales. Their native range is from New York to northern Florida west to Ohio and Arkansas.

Predators of Eastern Fence lizards include snakes, birds, cats, and other reptiles. When confronted they will seek a tree, running to the opposite side circling to stay out of sight.

Eastern Fence Lizards dine on invertebrates including beetles, ants, moths, grasshoppers, spiders, and stink bugs. Oh little lizard friends, please eat lots of those Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs!

Yellow-rumped Warblers

An occasional visitor to my bird bath, in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. A Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). Fondly called Butterbutts by birders. If you don’t have a bird bath, I sure recommend one equipped with a water warmer to keep the water from freezing during the coldest that winter can throw at you.

These warblers don’t partake of the beautiful bird buffet that I put out for them but I’ve read that they do enjoy suet, sunflower seeds, peanut butter and raisins at back yard feeders. AND down at my Mom’s feeder in Citrus County, Florida, they enjoy her suet. Maybe I should ask my sister for her recipe. They don’t seem interested in MY recipe.

When they’re not at a feeder during the winter they will feed on the berries of juniper, poison ivy, poison oak, greenbrier, grapes, Virginia creeper, and dogwood. Butterbutts also eat the seeds of grasses and goldenrod.

During the summer while they’re up north they eat spiders, and many insects like beetles, caterpillars, gnats, wasps, aphids, and grasshoppers.

Best of luck at getting to see Yellow-rumped Warblers and don’t forget, if I didn’t have a bird bath equipped with a water warmer I doubt I’d get to see these sweet little birds.