Mating Monarchs

This is not a photograph you see everyday.  In fact it's amazing that I got this picture at all.  Ed was mowing the area  by the bluebird houses that I can see from my kitchen window.  He noticed a pair of mating Monarch butterflies on a milkweed plant.  He stopped mowing and  called me so I could see the coupled pair.  Over the years he has seen this many times back where we have acres of milkweed growing, but this was my first time!  I thought it might be rude and insensitive to get the camera to record this event, but I went back in the house to get the camera deciding if they were still there I would give it a shot.  I slowly approached being respectful and quiet but when I got almost close enough, they flew away.  I snapped a picture anyway pointing the camera in their general direction.  Ed had been watching me and was positive that I got a blurry picture of nothing. I  can't believe my luck!  This is not part of a video!  It has not been enhanced, cropped, centered or in any way altered.

Wildlife centered gardening can be a bit tricky.  We leave the milkweed so that the mating butterflies have plenty of leaves on which to lay their eggs.  However Bluebirds and Tree Swallows like to be next to an area of short vegetation so they can fly directly into their nest.  One box that can't be seen in this picture is currently empty.  Nearly grown  Tree Swallow babies  are in the box you can see.  Frequent  feeding trips need to be made by the adults.  I watched and they swoop around the milkweed plants and into the hole in the nest box with ease.

Milkweed flowers are buzzing with  bees.  The scent of the plants is intoxicating!  I guess for the Monarchs it all comes together to put them "In The Mood"!

Hot To Trot

Today was promised to be clear and warm with temperatures climbing into the mid fifties F.  Overnight was clear and cold.  We found heavy frost and frozen ground early on.  A group of turkeys working across our mowed field surprised us.  Previously we had seen only a single bird that appeared to be suffering as a possible result of the deep and lasting snow cover.  These seven birds were doing what turkeys do at this time of year.

Two of the males were in constant display for the several minutes that it took for the group to cross in front of us.  Fanned tail feathers, foot drumming and stiffened body feathers must require a great expenditure of energy over an unbelievably long period of time.  The top of the males featherless head appears swollen and bright blue.  His snood hangs down over his beak and is red.  A careful look at the first picture will find both of these bright colors.

Birds have made a number of adaptations in order to make flight possible.  Their sexual parts shrink and remain dormant for most of the year.  Extended courtship rituals are necessary to wake up the sleeping bits and get them ready to function.  Unlike many mammals, male turkeys are usually devoid of seed.  They need time to prepare for mating.  While these two males were shaking their tail feathers, the girls were simply feeding apparently ignoring the show around them.  Actually their parts were also waking up but the girls need tremendous amounts of nourishment in order to fuel the huge egg output that is soon to follow.  We were amazed at how quickly this breeding behavior followed  the melting of the snow.

A group of deer were also heading toward the rising sun.  The presence of the deer was closely watched by the hen turkeys but it caused them no alarm.  The deer mated last fall and are now feeding heavily to support their growing fawns.

Becky thought that she saw tree swallows flying about.  That meant that it was time for me to clean out the nest boxes.  Despite the continuing presence of snow, this bird has already claimed her home.  I could have disturbed her and cleaned out the old nest but decided to leave her alone.  There is plenty of room for her to build a new nest on top of the old nest.

The lower grass nest was started by bluebirds.  Our early drought last year interrupted their food supply.  They left our area in search of a better place to rear their young.  Wrens built their stick nest above the abandoned bluebird nest.  How those small birds cut and move all of those comparatively large sticks remains a puzzle.  It must be quite a chore to work the sticks through the hole in the nest box.

When I first found the beady tan fluff in a nest box, I thought that it was insulation pulled from the walls of our old beat camper.  Soaked with a winters worth of mouse urine, it did not invite close inspection.  We have since determined that milkweed parachutes are the actual source of the material.  The mice may eat the milkweed seeds before rolling up the parachutes for bedding.  Here again the effort expended to move all of that material up the post supporting the nest box is impressive.

The day was every bit as pleasant as forecast.  All but one of the nest boxes are ready for new tenants.  We go to bed tonight tired, a little sore and happy.   Garden cleanup continues and spinach will be planted tomorrow weather permitting.

My Garden Delights

Wednesday in the garden was sunny and hot. We have been having lots rain so the sunshine was welcome.  But when the thermometer heads above 80, I head for a place to work in the shade.  I weeded everything I could reach around the edge of the shade garden.  When I came around to the Partridge berry, I noticed its tiny twin flowers.  I nearly missed seeing them this year.

Most of the flowers were past.  This pair of flowers have dropped off .  The green base of the flowers you see here will result in one red berry with two "belly buttons".  That berry has always fascinated me.  The berries are edible but rather bland.  I usually leave them for the critters.

Today is sunny, but much cooler.  I headed out and decided to weed the onions.  Sometimes I really love to weed where I can just pull everything except the intended crop. It means I have to pull catnip, pink poppies Johnny Jump Ups, dill, fennel  ..., but I also pull grass, purslane, mustard, nightshade , bindweed...  I can only reach just so far along the edge of the bed.

It's a great feeling to finish weeding this long bed of onions.  For me the job is done.  It will be up to Ed with his longer reach to finish.  If he doesn't get to it, I guess we will find out if onions grow better with or without weeds!

I have to say it was a pleasure to be in the garden today.  The air is filled with the fragrance of pink dianthus.  Its spicy aroma is delightful.  I watched  a blue jay sit for a moment on a fence post near where I was working.  In a flash the tree sparrows who have a nest box nearby were on the attack.  Blue jays are beautiful blue birds, but they are raucous and kind of pushy.  It was fun to watch the smaller birds swoop at him and chase him from the garden before he could even squawk.  I'm glad they don't feel that way about me.

I picked some arugula to make my favorite arugula and nectarine salad for dinner and came inside for lunch.  It really is a lovely day!  I think I'll go back out later and deadhead the Robin's plantain.

Here You Could Smell The Earth Day

Today was one of those days when you could smell the spring rain.  I guess not everyone knows what I mean when I say that, but  if you do then you know exactly how delicious an aroma it is.  This picture of my pink trout lilies was taken yesterday.  The whole garden was just waiting for this nice gentle Spring rain.

What a difference in less than 24 hours.  Spring ephemerals really grow at an amazing rate.  Rain  worked like magic.  Grass that looked brown yesterday was bright green this morning. Early this morning I watched the tree swallows  swooping around the garden doing their best to break up a  ruffled grouse tryst that was going on in the bushes just beyond the garden.   I hope the happy couple found a more private spot to continue.

Behold my first two daffodil flowers.  I thought they were going to have short stems, but the rain is doing wonders.   With such color and scent, wet as they are, they are perfect for Earth Day!

Bluebird Housecleaning And Eviction Service

This morning there were robins all over the grass that is  now uncovered by the snow.  More thrilling than that, I noticed two birds perched on a cage and a post in the garden.  I thought they looked like bluebirds so I got my binoculars to check.  Not only were they bluebirds, but they were a male and a female. Time for procrastination is over.  The bluebird boxes needed to be cleaned out today.  After lunch Ed  headed out with two buckets, one for the contents of the houses and the other with the necessary tools to make repairs to the houses if needed.  I tagged along with the camera.  Sometimes we clean the boxes out in the fall.  The two in the garden down by the road were still empty and ready for use.  The rest of our 15 nest boxes were anything but empty.  Bluebird nests are made of grasses, tree swallow nests are sticks and feathers, chickadees use moss, wrens fill the nest box to the top with sticks.  White  fluffy stuff is chewed up pieces of milkweed and it means just one thing....MICE!

"Don't look at me like that with those black eyes or wiggle your whiskers and cute little pink nose. This is a bluebird house and you have got to go."  Of course I talk big, but furry little critters make me  go  EEEK!  It is Ed's job to actually evict them from the houses.  He deftly flicks the sticks and fluff into the bucket and whisks the mice onto the ground.  They scurry off into the tall grass in a hurry. I don't ever remember a year when there were mice in almost all of the boxes.  This year some of the boxes were filled with fluff and had two or three mice.  One could hardly expect the bluebirds to select a house under those conditions.  Now all the boxes are empty of old nests and mice.  One house in particular smelled way too much like mice to my nose.  I hope it will air out.  Certainly today's sunshine and brisk breeze should help.  While we were working a pair of red tail hawks circled overhead. It's great to have them back.  We invited them to catch as many mice as they could find.  Moles, voles and rabbits are on the welcome back menu as well!

In the bed down by the road the icy snow is finally retreating.  Lemon thyme and my King Alfred  daffodils are now making a welcome appearance.

Tiny tips of my Dutch iris are now pushing up through the mulch.  Beautiful flowers won't be far behind.   The garden is still slightly chilled, but Spring is here !

Garden Friends

We had  a frost this morning, but after the sun warmed thing up, Ed and I decided to go  to work on the bed down by the road.  We loaded up the tractor cart with all the tools we thought we might need.  It is a somewhat long walk back up the lane to the house from here.  Up by the house the garden is dust dry.  Here with the different soil there is still some moisture.  We worked at weeding and cleaning up the Siberian iris.  Ed transplanted some King Alfred daffodils.  There were lots of dandelions to dig out.  While I love to see a field of dandelions instead of a pristine grass lawn, I hate to have them growing in my flower beds.  It's a good thing successfully digging them out taproot intact brings such a joyful feeling of conquest.  Ed and I  had a great morning working together!

You can see that we have bluebird boxes located here.  Just the other day I took a peek to check on the residents of the bird house.  Sometimes I feel a little guilty about disturbing our house guests, but this time I was so glad  I did.  The box contained a dead tree swallow.  Ed removed it for me and as you can see the tree swallows are back.  They let me get very close to take a picture.  I was pleased since I have often watched these birds attack the neighbor's cat.  They are not afraid to buzz people either, but they paid little attention to us today. The second box is empty. The bluebirds seem to have moved on.  It is their usual pattern.  The insects that they need to feed their babies are scarce when we don't get much rain.  Last year when the drought period ended they came back.  Perhaps this year will be the same!