Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birds. Show all posts

Monday, December 03, 2018

Nature and the Old Crabapple Tree




The old Crabapple tree laden with fruit in late summer... I would like to say Fall but Fall forgot to come this year... 

 snow came early and softened all that wonderful fruit... 


 yesterday and today the Cedar Waxwings came... a huge flock, chittering and tweeteling, having a feast of the little apples... they were very hard to see without a closer look, but then I saw them everywhere in amongst the branches...


as they ate being very sociable and sharing with each other, I saw and heard bits and parts of the apples falling to the ground, landing on the snow... it was littered with mushy red apple pieces.... 


 wasn't long before the deer knew about it and joined in... different size groups came and went ... sometimes 5... sometimes 7... sometimes just a mother and a baby...



 Snow began falling again this afternoon and looked so pretty... each apple with a little snow cap...



Nature...
 it was beautiful to see this ecosystem happening before me and I am thankful for it.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happiness

That is a happy dog if I ever did see one... smiling and kicking her feet up in the air.
.....................now what is that she is rolling in?

 and now a second happy dog rolling in the very same spot... 
guess that means that these 2 happy dogs will be sleeping in the garage tonight.

 I love it when the daffodils bloom.. it makes the garden look happy too.
I know it makes my spirits rise.

 After the dogs had satisfied themselves with their rolling we saw a flutter go by our heads up into  the trees. I searched the trees till I saw this little bird making herself very busy.

 As I watched I realized she/he was cleaning out a hole that a woodpecker had pecked in it.
She would peck away with her head in the little round opening and throw little slivers or splintered  pieces of wood out into the breeze.

 This is the first time I have ever seen this and I couldn't believe I actually was able to get some pictures of it.
I wonder if she is making a house or just searching for some insects that may have wintered there.

I love how Nuthatches face down the tree. So cute.
 She kept at her work without bothering with us at all. 

 She must have felt safe or maybe just very preoccupied...
 she is near the top part of this old dead birch.

 ... which is the tree in the center of this little grove. 
 It is always good to leave a few dead trees around for the wildlife. When Birch trees are young and growing they act as nurse trees for other seedlings and when they die they provide life for woodland creatures... it is good not to groom your surroundings too much.

 This Rhubarb pic was taken a week ago... it was big enough to pick some today... so I did.
 Spring tonic.
 Some daylilies that are naturalizing to a patch over by the old garden.

The  Mountain Ash buds are still swelling, but not leafed out yet.

 This young Spruce is still leaning over as a result of the Ice Storm at Christmas.  
I'll keep an eye on it to see if it stands up straight again.

 We always like to take a wander through this path  where the tree branches hang over head sort of like a tunnel.

 I was trying to photograph two Vultures that were playing on the sea currents but the sun got in my eyes...
 and I just got clouds.
 The Vultures would spiral round and round going ever higher and higher. They were so cool to watch... 
but I don't see them in this picture.

 I pruned the little Daphne bush a year and a half ago and it still looks a bit scraggly,
 but it is blooming more that it had been and the fragrance is out of this world.
 Of course I always have to linger over the finds from the seashore.  They make me happy...
better than rolling in the field.
 I see foliage from a few Violets, Forget me nots and and Cornflowers peeking out.
... and some of Toby's dog hair..
 After I trim his hair, I always toss it in the flower beds for the birds or even to supplement the soil. 

More new growth.
 Here is a little Lovage sneaking up in a new place near the patio door.

 ... the cheerleaders.

 The Lady's Mantle is spreading out..
 no chartreuse flowers yet but it is beginning to collect water droplets. I love when it does that.

 Looks like my garden is growing dogs too.  I swear she loves getting her picture taken.

 ...and more cheerleaders.

Hens and Chicks are such hardy little plants.. I really don't know how they survive.
... they are barely in any soil. They seem to flourish in just the pea gravel.

and last but by far not least even though he is the smallest, was the first Hummingbird to my garden just today. 
He has taken up his post.

******
A Friend Blogger Janice  from across the ocean, just sent me this really fun and very Happy Dogs video...
You have gotta watch it... it will make you happy for sure!!



Desideratum Art and Jewelry Studio, St. Martins, New Brunswick

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Nuthatch by Max

...click to enlarge...



The Red-Breasted Nuthatch has returned... to the feeder and to my wall...  I love these little guys... and I love this drawing.


Pencil drawing by Max Ackerson, my son......   showing the characteristic large head, short tail, sturdy beak, strong claws and the solid eye stripe of the  sitta canadensis...   total frame size 14" x 17"...


...link to a past post on the White Breasted Nuthatch...

.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Fall

Days become shorter...



The salt-marsh turns golden...


A Blue Jay surveys his cache...


Heavy dew on petals...



Fall berries ripen...



A few late blooming roses.... just so we don't forget...



The harvest is almost complete...



The sun rises later................



The landscape evolves...



But not these Rocks ...




All photographs taken from my garden on Oct.14. between 8:15 and 8:30 am...
Echinacea purpurea; Quaco Bay on the Bay of Fundy, NB; ripened fruit on Mountain Ash; late blooming Wild Aster; ferny Asparagus; slumbering fly on Rosa rugosa; Russian Mammoth sunflower seedhead and 9' stalks; looking past the garden towards the drifting fog at Roger's Head, Quaco; rockwall at front of the house

*** Note: the rocks and boulders that make up the rock walls around our home are from the wharf, removed  during a recent renovation and rebuilding.. before that many, many years prior, they were ballast on ships that had made their way across the Atlantic from the British Isles... I love this...







Saturday, August 09, 2008

The Spotted Owl



The wise old owl perched high up in a tree,
She pondered most everything that she did see,



Her claws gently held the rough branch where she sat,
When suddenly... she spied something that looked like a cat...




"I have always liked cats", she said, with a wondering smile...
"but you're fur and I'm feather"........... so she flew one more mile.




Whooo-Whooo-....... Whoo-Whoooooo!!!!!!!




This simple little rhyme was written this morning but the watercolor/pen and ink, I did back this past spring, when things are slower 'round here... I almost wrote the line "you'll be lunch in a while" instead of "so she flew one more mile".... but I just didn't have the heart to have that cat on my conscious. Which line would you have used?

We don't have Spotted Owls but other species of owls fly through the night-air and sit on the roof-tops and in tree-tops, hoo-hooing to each other when we go for walks at midnight....

......fog, stillness, gentle waves and owls ............. sheer magic...

I can't resist returning their call... But I sure wish I knew what we were saying..


***



A beautiful owl skull I discovered online...




The Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis... Long lived... nocturnal, woodland owl... average length 18"... weight 1 1/2 lbs. ..... round head... brown plumage is heavily spotted with white on the breast and belly...

Roosts in deep shade during the day... Hunting is done mainly at night, usually beginning just after sunset and ending a half hour before sunrise... They use the "sit and wait" approach...

... The Spotted Owl lives in old-growth coniferous forests in western North America....They prefer shaded mountain slopes and canyons over flat plateau areas..... is generally non-migratory...

Spotted owl pairs mate for life... They nest primarily in stick nests, on clumps of mistletoe, in large tree cavities, on broken tops of large trees, on large branches, or cavities in banks and rock faces.... Timing and success in producing offspring are strongly linked to the availability of prey, and not all pairs breed every year.... Old nests tend to be reused year after year... clutch size averages 2-3 eggs...



approx. 3" x 4"... watercolor, brush, india ink and crowquill pen on 140 lb. CP Arches watercolor paper.