Happy Feet
Just in case you haven't already checked it out - have a look at the whorled leaves blog (linked also on my sidebar) where I'm a member and occasionally post. Whorled Leaves is a great community of thoughtful readers that look for inspiration from the natural world and from good books about the natural world.
Viburnums, like this Linden Viburnum (Viburnum dilatatum) are my favorite woody shrubs. I love the way they bloom and are smothered in a veil of creamy white. The tiny flowers attract a nice variety of insects and in a good year they are covered with bright red berries in the fall. Their habit is upright and somewhat stiff; mine are massed in a group of three along the property line.
We moved these as mature plants when we put in the pond and just this year they seem to be coming in to their own again in leaf and flower, although they are in a more shaded location. We also used to have a doublefile viburnum, which was drop-dead gorgeous in bloom (but sterile), unfortunately that one did not survive the move. In its place, I've repeatedly planted another favorite viburnum: Smooth Witherod (Viburnum nudum) that has gorgeous pinkish/purple berries, but I can't seem to keep them alive. Of the two planted last fall, one is clearly dead and the other is struggling and has only managed to put out a half-dozen leaves. I'll have to decide what to replace them with; I'm thinking about a Cranberrybush Viburnum (Viburnum trilobum) which has a more *wild* habit, but beautiful fruit that is loved by birds.
If there is room for yet another plant in your shrub border, there is sure to be a variety of Viburnum that will suit your site - and the birds and bugs will thank you. :-)
With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy. - Lope de Vega
Marine Park, Red Bank NJI went to the river today hoping for a breeze - summer seems to have arrived overnight. With summer in NJ comes overbearing humidity. Yuck. There was enough wind for a few sailboats to be out and many families were at the marina for probably the first time this season, readying for a day trip on the river to Sandy Hook or NY Harbor. A few kids were crabbing from the dock - seems a bit optimistic to me so early in the season. I was surprised to find barn swallows here, twisting and turning low over the water between the moored boats. I got only one pic before a swallow flew too close for it to have been an accident - it perched on the railing of the boat in the foreground and chittered at me for a moment. Once I backed off, it flew from the railing to the underside of the stairway leading down to the dock where it had made a nest over the water. Quite a surprise!
This story on NPR today made me chuckle - the things teenagers will do to confound adults! I know that I hear birdsong better than non-birders, simply because my ears are *trained* to hear what distinguishes one birdsong from another, but this story reminded me that not all birders are able to hear all birdsongs. As we age, our ability to hear high-pitched sounds decreases. In my mid-thirties, I can hear the very high and thin notes of a flock of cedar waxwings, but as I age I will likely lose this ability to hear their "seeeeeee" notes. The high upslurred notes at the end of a Blackburnian's song are also hard to hear if your ears are less sensitive.
I gave in and let my husband add a few koi to our pond last week. I'd been adamant about not wanting koi because I'd read that they'll tear up and root around in all of the pond plants. Yet, he convinced me to give it a go and so we did. I picked out a nicely-colored gold and yellow koi who has been hiding under the waterfall since we brought them home. This white butterfly koi in the photo, on the other hand, is a show-stealer! It swims on the surface showing off its lovely long fins and stealing your attention from the less fancy fish. Another of the koi seems to be slightly off-kilter or crazed; it swims along the bottom of the pond and twists itself against the creases in the liner and occasionaly jumps out of t
he water! 
enjoy munching on. I bought a small plant to provide some cover for the fish, knowing that it will grow and spread by mid-summer. It's an interesting plant in that the feathery foliage closes up late in the day. We've also attracted another frog to the pond. At least I think this is a different one than the one we found when we did our spring clean-up. This one seems a bit smaller and greener than the last one. Late in the afternoon I find him peeping at me from between the rocks under the hosta plants and mint that line one side of the pond. I'm not sure what he's finding to eat. I hope his presence isn't the explanation for a few fish that have vanished in the last few weeks. Very seldom do I find a fish floating; 
they just disappear. Last summer we had *issues* with a very large bullfrog eating our goldfish. I never would have believed his mouth big enough until one afternoon when my husband called me to the pond to see him with the fins of my husband's favorite blue ryunkin hanging out of his mouth! We were able to remove the fish from his mouth (ahem!) and relocated the bullfrog to the farm pond around the corner. That poor fish was never the same again, and I found him floating a few weeks later. Anyway, I enjoy this guy's company and hope he will behave himself here.
Missy is snarky even when half-asleep
Freckles is cautiously optimistic
Boomer's sleepy contended glance says it all
Cricket is ever watchful and alert
I'm going to spend this evening visiting all those blogs that I've been neglecting the last few weeks. I've missed all of you and am anxious to get caught up with all that's been going on in your lives. I offer in place of a nice photo today this *photoshopped* version of a pic I took the other day.
Cinnamon fern grows in wet woods and is good cover for small woodland creatures. Books say that hummingbirds sometimes use the fuzzy young fronds to line their nests. I found these growing on Saturday between visits to Dora at the vet's in a quiet county park.
s measuring cups this morning. Silly boy!
n.
veggie garden. My husband is so much like his dad, he has to do everything in a *big* way.As good a day after as I can ask for.
"Other migrants come and go, but the catbird comes with the violets and stays for the late asters, and virtually all the time he is here he contributes to the gaiety of his neighbors. He is here now, and he is in fine form, celebrating the sunshine, jeering at the rain, demanding attention and deserving it.
He is our northern "mocker," cousin of the brash mockingbird of the more southerly regions, and he has almost all the real mockingbird's talents. He seldom uses them all, however, particularly the talent for sustained song. For he is a clown, an unregenerate mimic with what might be called a keen sense of the ridiculous. A phrase or two of sweet song and he must pause, as though to say, "Pretty, huh? But now listen!" And he will make a complete mockery of what he has just sung, finally jeering at it. He has an operatic voice, but he uses it for scat singing.
And he likes an audience. He picks a nesting site near a house, by preference, and he will offer all kinds of vocal inducements to get human attention. Once he has it, he opens his bag of tricks. A show-off, no less, an adolescent with no self-consciousness whatever; a bird who seems to have the character of a party cutup. He is as capricious as the weather, and that may be why we like him.
The robin is sedate, the oriole is a serious fellow, the blue jay is a blustering egocentric. But the catbird is a quick-witted entertainer who seems to find life a vastly amusing enterprise. Nothing completely dampens his spirit, and his world never seems to be going to pot. The only time we resent him is when we can't rise to match his mood, and that, after all, is our fault, not his." - Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons, 1964
Missy, Peanut, and Freckles - Spring 2003This is an old photo, but a favorite and typical of how I used to find these three in mid-afternoon. Snoozing in a pile with little Peanut in the middle of his two *big* girls. Peanut passed away later that year and nowadays Missy and Freckles live apart, but share play times once in a while.
Dora has been back at the vet's since last Friday. I brought her back because she wasn't doing well at home. She's not doing much better there, but they are taking good care of her. I visit every day and bring her special things, like fresh raspberries and dandelion flowers, to tempt her to eat on her own. The vet says he is seeing a little improvement each day, but I can't see it. She seems to be having good days and bad, like a rollercoaster. I'm hopeful that there are many good days ahead for her. Enough of the bad.
A new yard bird today! I don't keep a written yard list, but am happy to add a new one to the *list* anyway! Lots of people get grosbeaks at their feeders, but what a surprise it was for me to pull into the driveway from work and see this guy feeding on stray sunflower seeds beneath the feeders. I've never even spotted them in the neighborhood before, but guess I could easily have missed them because their song is so similar to a Robin's. I called my husband on the cell phone and told him to come to the kitchen window to see it. I woke him from a nap, but he was excited to see it anyway. I love spring migration and its many surprises! I didn't have a chance to take a pic, but found this pretty one on flickr.com originally uploaded by RicKarr.
The air is like a butterfly
My brother calls this a *cheesecake* shot. I don't know when or where it was taken, but love this pic of my mom long before she was a mother. She loved the beach so I imagine this was taken with the ocean or a lake nearby.I was a little kid when my mom passed away and never had the chance to know her as anything other than my *mommy*. Sad really, when I see the friendships that my girlfriends have with their moms now that we've grown up. I rely on my brothers and old photos like this for glimpses into the person she was.
People tell me I look like her and my dad always said I had some of her mannerisms - one thing I know is that I could never look as good in a bathing suit!
Great Egrets and Black-Crowned Night Herons at Plum Island
SHBO Century Run Team at Plum Island
"The SHBO Sandy Hook Century Run today tallied 131 species between 5:30 am and 8:30 pm; much better than we anticipated given the rather weak migration this week and the dominance of easterly winds. Our day started off with a nice shorebird flight over Plum Island with 200+ Least Sandpipers, dozens of Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs & Short-billed Dowitchers, 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 8+ Solitary Sandpipers. Our only Little Blue Heron, Black Skimmers, and Black-billed Cuckoo of the day were here also.
Chestnut-Sided Warbler
The Locust Grove was quite active with passerines today, highlights including a calling Alder Flycatcher, Yellow-throated Vireo, numerous warblers with a female Bay-breasted being the standout. A vocal Least Bittern was calling from the east end of North Pond. Lots of diurnal migrants overhead with flocks of Eastern Kingbirds and Blue Jays predominating.
Dare ya to find the snoozing Nighthawk!
The Raccoon Alley area had a perched and oblivious Common Nighthawk, 6+ Blue-headed Vireos, Yellow-throated Vireo, Warbling Vireo (scarce migrant at the hook), Blackburnian Warbler, and Canada Warbler.
Scarlet Tanager
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows must have been migrating today: we saw 4-6 in the spartina marsh at Plum Island and there was another individual in the thick upland grass adjacent to k-lot. 
Magnolia Warbler in Poison Ivy. My favorite pic of the day.
After comparing notes at dusk and getting a sneak peak at the "Sandy Hook Platform Onlies" bird list, we have a preliminary total of 150 species for the hook today, including 23 species of warbler and a fly-by Mississippi Kite that passed the migration watch around 4:30 this afternoon."
Final standings and more info on the World Series is available here.
I missed a story on the way home from work on NPR about International Migratory Bird Day, but checked their website this evening and found a lot of wonderful links there. I've only been listening to NPR (WNYC 93.9) for the last year or so and wonder why I didn't start listening sooner. Love them! Their website is great, too. A wonderful diversion for a few hours if you have the time. The link to today's story and other interesting bird-related links can be found here.
A dear childhood friend passed along a recommendation for this new book written by one of his colleagues at Bank Street College in Brooklyn. It sounds like a relevant read for anyone who is a caregiver or is concerned with the issues of aging parents. Another one to look for on my next stop at the bookstore.
Boomer and Cricket enjoying late afternoon leftovers 5/9/06 
The black chokeberries (Aronia melanocarpa) are blooming beside the pond this week; the red variety is said to be attractive to birds, but the black certainly is not. Last year's dried up berries remain on the plant, uneaten. The small, pinkish-white flowers have the characteristic 5 petals of the rose family.
So. I brought Dora home from the vet this evening. She started eating some on her own and making pooties. The vet felt it was safe to let her continue to recover at home. His instructions were to give pain meds and gut motility drugs every 12 hours, encourage her to eat, and syringe feed her as necessary. Giving her meds is not easy and syringe feeding her is impossible - she stresses out too much. I have to sit on her and hold her down to get the meds in her. I'm spoiled by my other bunny who comes running for her twice daily meds, I think. I've forgotten how difficult this can be with a rabbit. I've put a smorgasbord of favorites in front of her, but all she will eat is carrot tops. Not much of the carrot itself, just the tops. She's turning her nose up at her old favorite - apples. She'll nibble politely at red cabbage. Romaine, green-leaf lettuce, endive, dandelions, kale, parsley, cilantro, dill, arugula - no go. Just carrot tops. So. I bought 5 bunches of organic carrots to get us through 'til the morning and am overloaded with carrots. I have a friend who makes a scrumptious carrot cake, I can add a few to chicken soup with matzo balls. What will I do with all these carrots?
I just can't seem to get enough beach plum pics - the dunes at North Pond are covered with it. Poison ivy grows like mad out there too and is just starting to green up some in this view from below the hawk watch platform. In the near distance is an occupied osprey platform and behind that is the Verranzano Bridge which connects Brooklyn and the rest of NYC to Staten Island.Today was my volunteer day at the Sandy Hook Bird Observatory; lots of people around, but few birds from what I heard. Quite a few of the visitors today were new birders who I love to talk with - their enthusiasm is great and spring migration is a perfect time to pick up binoculars for the first time.
Somehow I forgot to bring my camera with me today, so I missed the chance to photograph the white-crowned sparrows and the hummingbirds that are coming to the center's feeders. Chipping sparrows have been moving through my yard, but I haven't seen a white-crowned yet. I've also had my hummingbird feeder out for a few weeks at home, but haven't had any, yet. For some reason, I can't seem to attract them until mid-July.
Here's another shot of the Yellow Warbler from Friday. I heard one of these singing this afternoon, but he was hidden in the foliage of a hackberry tree.
Dora is still at the vet's and will be for a few more days. So long as she continues to improve, I hope to bring her home on Monday evening. My vet recommended surgery on Thursday because she hadn't shown any improvement overnight and wasn't responding to medicine. With other bunnies that have had bouts with GI Stasis, I've always been very conservative and waited it out. I was terrified of the surgery. Somehow with Dora I was brave enough to take my vet's advice and allowed him to perform the surgery, called a gastrotomy.
Yellow Warbler and Beach Plum
Dora is at the vet's tonight.
My ears are much better than my eyes at identifying birds. My distance vision is not good and I'm too vain to wear my eyeglasses other than when I'm driving. I find glasses especially uncomfortable with binoculars. Because I have trouble spotting the movement of birds, I've come to rely on my ears more than my eyes and have tried over the years to develop my knowledge of bird songs. It's a handy skill to have (and a good way to impress non-birding friends) and is easy to do if you're an auditory person like me. I've always learned best by listening and in school was often reprimanded for *daydreaming*, when in fact I was paying close attention with my ears rather than my eyes.
g I like to *warm-up* my ears to warbler song by listening to birdsong cd's. This way I avoid the frustration of hearing birds that I can't see while still knowing who's out there singing. I like to play the cd's at bedtime and usually fall asleep to their sweet seranade. I also make a *cheat sheet* that I carry with me when birding to help me distinguish between certain birds that I have trouble with. My favorites are the "Peterson's Birding by Ear" and "Peterson's More Birding by Ear".
When I was a newly-minted master gardener I went out and bought two great reference books so that I would sound smart when answering questions on the helpline or during community events where we volunteer. My dear friend Debbie likes to tease me that I am never able to answer any of her gardening questions. She says that my answer is always the same, "but I don't grow that." Which is true; she and I have very different tastes in plant material.
e fact is, most master gardeners are just people who have an interest in gardening and are willing to volunteer their time. We're trained in certain aspects of horticulture, but we're not expected to know everything. Most of us have a particular interest or area of expertise, but the rest of the time our answers come from books. Knowing where to find answers is important.
es, but these are the most popular. The first contains lovely glossy photos and minimal information on care; the second volume is much more detailed (and intimidating) and includes info on propagation, culture, pests and diseases, and landscape value. It also includes Dirr's personal comments and growing experiences with each species covered. His comments and growing tips are the most enjoyable part, in my opinion.
