The Birds and the Bees and the Flowers and the Trees

The view from upstairs. You can still see the skunk damaged lawn.

We had a hard freeze last Sunday night. When I woke up on Monday morning, the thermometer was at 20° and everything in the garden was covered with frost. The few things I was able to cover made it through okay, but some things were damaged. The kiwi vines took the hardest hit. Their leaves were just emerging and they froze solid and fell off. The vines were not killed, they’ll just have to start over again and that will delay or prevent them getting ripe fruit this year. The apples, pears, and lilac are okay.

The forecast predicted rain all week but they were wrong and I’m glad. We had beautiful spring weather and only a little bit of rain. I was not called in to school all week until Friday, a thing that rarely happens, and I got a lot done at home, indoors and out. Indoors I had barn quilt orders I needed to work on and I also got a bit of spring cleaning done. Outdoors I spent a good amount of time weeding flowerbeds.

Because the weather has been so mild, I took the next Big Step garden-wise. I moved my potted geraniums, rosemary, and angel’s trumpets outdoors onto the back porch stairs. I needed to get them off of the back porch because I needed room for the other part of the Big Step – I moved my tomato and basil starts onto the back porch. I’m a bit nervous about it. The weather could and probably will turn cold again. If it does I can always move all of them onto the porch and turn the electric heater on again.

Pots on the back porch steps.

Tomatoes and basil on the back porch.

My big outdoor project of the week was expanding the chicken yard. I was given some rolls of wooden snow fence and I used them to double the size of the chicken yard. The chickens love having new ground to work over. Now that their yard is so big, I closed off a section of it and will plant grass. That way I can rotate the chickens onto rejuvenated ground.

The extended chicken yard.

Miriam's peacock chillin' with the chickens.

We had a blessed event down at the barn. Lola’s eggs hatched. I discovered one chick on Thursday while I was collecting eggs. Another hatched on Friday. Lola is a good mother. This the third year in a row that she has hatched chicks. Both times before she only hatched one. This time she managed two.

Lola and one of her new chicks.

Out in the garden, things are progressing nicely. After Sunday night’s freeze, the temperature rose and we haven’t dropped below freezing since. We’re in prime tulip time now. I planted new bulbs last fall and I’ve been anxiously awaiting their flowers. Usually the deer eat my tulips before they can bloom, but this year they didn’t. I credit the concoction I sprayed on them, my homemade mix of garlic, cayenne pepper, and Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap.

Tulips.

And more tulips.

Most of the early spring flowers have faded now. The snowdrops, crocuses, chiondoxa, early daffodils and most of the hyacinths are gone. The late daffodils are at their best right now. And soon there will be bluebells and lily-of-the-valley. After waiting through what seemed an endless winter, the flowers are a pure delight for me. They revive my spirit.

Some of the late daffodils.

More daffodils.

On Thursday afternoon, Miriam and I took a walk up to the woods. We hadn’t been up there in a long time. But the day was warm and sunny and the warblers are back, so we went to see what we could see. Warblers are elusive birds. They usually stay high in the tree canopy and they never hold still. Quite a few warbler species come through here during migration and several stay all summer. The only species we saw were the two most common ones, Yellow Warblers (Setophaga petechia) and Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). What we now call Yellow-rumped Warblers used to be considered two different species called Myrtle Warblers in the east and Audubon’s Warblers in the west, but a while back the ornithologists changed that and lumped them into one species with the not-so-glamorous name Yellow-rumped Warblers. Now it turns out their DNA shows they are two distinct species so I’m hoping they'll change the names back again. Yellow-rumped is too crude a name for such a lovely little bird. We’re hoping to see more species as migration progresses. At the top of our want-to-see list are Blackburnian Warblers and Hooded Warblers.

These are not my photos. The top two, Yellow and Yellow-rumped Warblers, we've seen. The bottom two, Blackburnia and Hooded Warblers, we want to see.

While we didn’t see many birds in the woods, we saw lots of wild flowers. Along the edges of the woods there were a few Red Trilliums. The Dutchman’s Breeches and Wood Violets haven’t started to flower yet, but we saw patches of leaves where the flowers will appear soon. The Mayapples are unfolding their umbrella leaves and will bloom shortly. There were still some Spring Beauties here and there, but their peak season is already over. There were hundreds of Dog-tooth Violets scattered across the forest floor. Dog-tooth Violets (Erythronium dens-canis) are known by several different names. Most people around here call them Adder’s Tongues, but most other places they call them Trout Lilies or Dog-tooth Violets (they are not really in the violet family. You can buy them in plant catalogs and then they are usually called Erythroniums). Every year their little spotted leaves come up in their thousands, but most of them don’t bloom. Even in my yard, the leaves come up everywhere, but we seldom see a flower. This year however, the woods are full of their pretty yellow blooms.

On our walk through the woods: The view from the hill, Dog-toothed Violets, the path, Mayapples.

There is a lot going on with the birds right now. Besides the warbler migration, it’s nesting time. We have a robin that has built a nest on the roof by one of the dormer windows. The nest is a mess and I’m not sure it’s stable. A heavy rain might wash it down. Yesterday I cleaned out all my bird houses hoping to get some desirable tenants. I’ve given up hope that bluebirds will move in. They sometimes come and check out the houses, then move on. If not bluebirds, then tree swallows are my next choice, but usually I just get house sparrows – the trashiest tenants of all. Speaking of sparrows, the White-crowned Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows have returned. I see them at the feeders all the time. And yesterday I looked out the window and saw a strange sparrow – one I’d never seen before. I grabbed the camera and took some photos so I could identify it. It was a Harris’ Sparrow (Zonotrichia querula). They are rare in this area.

Birds at the feeders: Red-bellied woodpecker, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, White-crowned Sparrow, and Goldfinches.

The Harris' Sparrow.

The Harris' Sparrow.

It’s been two years since I stopped tending honeybees. I miss it, but I couldn’t risk getting stung anymore. I don’t see many honeybees around, but I do see lots of bumblebees. The honey berry bushes are in bloom and the bumblebees love them. Standing by the bush one afternoon last week, I counted at least fifty bumblebees working in the flowers. Last year a bumblebee decided to make its nest in an old birdhouse I keep on the back porch for decoration. I’m hoping she moves in again this year.

Bumblebee in the honey berry bush.

We’re home from church now. Stacey and I are the only ones home. Miriam went down to the Thayn’s house for the weekend. Today is Fast Sunday and Cinco de Mayo. If I wasn’t already hungry enough, Stacey is making a Mexican Fiesta and the smell is making me salivate as I sit here. I’d better go see if she needs some help or maybe a taste tester.