Tonight has me looking through photographs. Mainly snow pictures. I’m thinking perhaps I’ll come across an image that will be the perfect Christmas card.
I’m not sure about this one, though I love it. It’s from February 6, 2010, part of my favorite winter, 72 inches total during the season. In this image, mighty deep snow building up at the garden gate, and that great shadow.
Maybe the card will be with this image. Undecided at this point.
During the winter the American Robin (Turdus migratorius), here in Virginia changes its diet, eliminating invertebrates and switching to fruits and berries.
Roaming, flocking, together with many other Robins, sometimes Cedar Waxwings joining in, looking for winter fruits, such as Holly berries, Juniper berries, Crabapples, Hawthorn berries. Emptying one location after another of those fruits. Always roaming, hunting for another store of fruit.
As spring arrives, each member of the group goes their individual way, switching back to invertebrates as their main food choice, and defending their territory during the breeding season.
Such a comfort to go for a walk and find the soil is moist, after receiving 2.93 inches of rain yesterday. After being so dry for so long. I expect this is just an aberration, like the 2.12 inches of rain that fell from the sky on September 10th. An absolute tease. Who knows though. I sure don’t. I doubt that it is known by anyone.
No more dried up patches of soil that have become like puzzle pieces, shrinking and raising at the edges. Except for the empty space between those puzzle pieces, fitting together perfectly. Just nice dirt in the garden that looks like it’s all set to receive some seeds.
Happy trees. Happy plants expressing their joy in their own plant ways.
Rain drops on Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens).
Severe drought. A sad situation. But today, at long last it has rained all day. Still coming down steadily. I’m watching as the inches slowly creep up. As I write this the rain gauge tells me 2.89 inches. A bit of a dent in our 18 inch deficit.
Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa). White berries, not red, as we would normally expect on another member of the same genus (Cornus), a Flowering Dogwood tree.
Those white berries, sitting on bright crimson pedicles, that to me look like miniature trees. Those pedicles lasting through the winter.
Gray Dogwoods send out suckers from their rhizomes, creating dense thickets. They make great nesting sites for birds, and shelter for birds and small animals.
Another part of Mother Nature’s world that is pure pleasure to watch as each season goes by.
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Spring finds the plant reaching tall to the sky. Summer brings blooms of pale mauve, brownish-pink.
Autumn’s cooling temperatures welcome horn-shaped seed pods filled with flat brown seeds. Fluff called milkweed floss are attached to the seeds, ready to send the seeds wherever the wind may take it.
Much like making wishes on Dandelion’s bright yellow flowers. Away the seeds go, with the wind.
They’ve been here a couple weeks now. Some of the winter residents. They’re thoroughly enjoying the seeds and suet that I’m putting out for them. White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis).
Come spring, they’ll be heading north again, to Canada and New England.
Maple-leaf Viburnum berries (Viburnum acerifolium) ripen in early autumn, providing food for many animals, including deer, rabbits, ruffed grouse, wild turkeys, songbirds, skunks and mice.
A small shrub, Maple-leaf Viburnum joins in with great colors in autumn.
A painting of an Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus), which I did for my Mom and Dad many years ago.
The Eastern Chipmunk is a very entertaining little creature who has quite the expandable set of cheeks, great for stuffing with seeds, peanuts, and acorns, and transporting them to their den. Storing them for their winter slumber.
Notice I used the word slumber. They don’t actually hibernate, but sleep for extended periods of time during the winter, waking every few weeks during the frigid months. They’ll munch on what they’re stowed away in the various rooms of their den, even perhaps stepping outside for a short stroll when the weather has a tiny bit of warmth to it. Their winter meals consist of things that won’t spoil from extended time, mostly nuts and seeds.
Their den is a two level series of rooms with food in the bottom level and sleeping space, lined with grass and leaves on the top level. This living space is more than ten feet long and three feet deep. Pretty nice for the solitary chipmunk.
Wondering if they are already in their dens or still scurrying about. Probably not. It’s still pretty warm.
