Water – Tendrils

Witch Hazel in Spring

American witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), my hero.

“The American witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is one of those plants that would like to have everyone’s undivided attention. You know the type: a bit of a rebel, marches to the beat of its own drum. This native shrub’s unwillingness to heed convention has made it popular among gardeners for hundreds of years.” Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Leaves emerging. Branches still decorated not with flowers, but what remains of the flowers that occurred at an unheard of time for blooming, October, November, some even into December. These are the calyxes of those strappy yellow blooms.

Folded up as vintage hand fans, growing daily, expanding.

Unfolding day by day. Adding rich green to the landscape.

Like other tree leaves as they open, the leaves begin working on their purpose, photosynthesis. Using carbon dioxide, sunlight and water they create sugars for the tree. Those sugars give the Witch Hazel energy to grow. Photosynthesis also creates oxygen which we animals need in order to breathe. Such a monumental task for these green leaves no bigger than six inches.

Autumn Color Change

During the summer months the trees around us are covered with green leaves. The green color in those leaves is thanks to a green pigment, chlorophyll, that the leaves use to capture the sun’s energy. That energy is used to change water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen, in a process called photosynthesis. Glucose is used by plants for energy and to create other materials such as cellulose, and starch. But how do we end up with the warm colors of autumn? The reds, yellows and oranges?

Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)

The principal pigments that produce color within a leaf are: chlorophyll (green); xanthophylls (yellow); carotenoids (orange); and anthocyanins (reds and purples).

During the summer there is an abundance of chlorophyll as the leaves work to provide energy for the tree, this gives the leaves their green color. As summer winds down trees will pick up signals that the seasons are changing. Those signals? Days that are becoming shorter and cooling temperatures. In response photosynthesis slows and the amount of chlorophyll drops drastically, leaving the other pigments within the leaf more plentiful, changing the colors. Yellows, oranges, reds and sometimes even purples. And we have AUTUMN.

Female American Redstart

She’s a faithful daily visitor. A female American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). Many times a day I’ll see her either patrolling the garden in her search for insects or more often splashing around in one of the birdbaths.

I can’t stress strongly enough, the birdbaths I have in my garden areas are used often. Right now, there are no feeders out but the birds congregate. And as for the American Redstart, site after site, as I pull information from the internet repeat, “They like to situate themselves near water.” This is the way to get birds to your yard. Birdbaths!

American Redstart

Hallelujah! More of my summer birds have arrived! A few days ago I mentioned that both male and female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have presented themselves. Now, this morning I spotted my first American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). A male, looking quite handsome in his striking black and orange feathers.

The female of this species is also quite the knockout but in a more subtle way, as is often the case with birds. Gray and yellow and sweet.

Since American Redstarts eat insects, and in late summer, berries and small fruit, they don’t visit my feeders. IF those feeders are out during the summer. So far so good. No bear sightings. So the feeders are still out. Don’t let the bears know.

Though the American Redstarts aren’t interested in what I offer at the bird feeders they really relish having water available. During the summer I have three bird baths out for all the birds and it is quite the popular place. Like the old watering hole.

More Eastern Phoebes

That bobbing of the tail and saying its name makes identification of the Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) mighty easy. Many bird songs baffle me, but this one is easy. Just think “fee-bee” (Phoebe) and you’ve got it.

I was delighted as I was refreshing my memory about what Phoebes eat to see that they not only eat flying insects which they capture in mid-air but they also eat spiders, millipedes and TICKS! Yay Phoebes! I can’t find a specific reference to it, but now I’m wondering if they also eat brown marmorated stink bugs. Too bad that they are such solitary birds. I’d love to have a big flock of them around.

Not as exciting as the Phoebe eating ticks and BMSBs but they do sometimes even eat small fish from shallow water. Such a talented bird.

As I look through my images thinking of which to include I see this photo of a Phoebe at one of my birdbaths. This reminds me to mention that as a pair goes through the process of selecting a site for breeding, one of their considerations is having a source of water nearby. That is something that I always try to provide in every season. You’ll get many more birds stopping by to see you with that birdbath set up. All four seasons.