Twigs2Fledge™ the Sequel

My kitchen windows overlook the backyard where the blue bird nesting box is set up. Currently I am monitoring the progress of brood number two of the 2010 season.  There were four eggs and incubation has be ongoing over the past couple of weeks.  I've pretty much been ignoring the box so that momma is not disturbed as she was spending many hours cooped up "cooking" the eggs. 

 

Today, after finishing up breakfast I noticed momma exit the box and my camera was within reach, so I quickly headed out back, grabbed the step ladder and took a quick peak.  Based on the timeline I have been following, I knew that they should hatch sometime this week.  I was thrilled that I caught the event when a single baby has hatched.  Pappa has been checking in pretty regularly today...and I hadn't seen him in quite some time.  Now I will check again tomorrow and see if we have progress with the other three eggs.  Stay tuned!

Batting a thousand!

A few days ago I noticed a mockingbird quietly leaving a groundsel bush in the front corner of my yard.  They are usually so noisy that I decided I needed to go check what was up.  Lo and behold, I discovered a nest.  Now mind you, I couldn't see into the nest, I could barely see the nest as they are very adept at disguising and blending in.  I reached my point and shoot camera in between the leaves and took a shot.  I checked the camera and saw that there were four eggs inside the nest. 

 

Since Momma chose to build it in the "dog area", instead of the back where the dogs are fenced out, I figured I better put up a temporary fence so the setters don't have wings for lunch. I did that early yesterday. Today, as I passed by to see if mom was keeping the eggs warm, I noticed a small beak sticking up.  Again, I stuck my hand in between the leaves and clicked.  Looks like 4 healthy babies.  4 for 4. 

 

I'm a little amazed that I only found the nest a few days ago.  It has to have been there for quite some time.  Nature certainly knows how to protect itself.

Lacking common "scents" or how I learned from nature

I was walking around the backyard taking pictures like I do every day. The batteries had just gone dead so I wasn't looking too closely at things because I hate missing a "once in a lifetime" photo. I passed by a small sapling that a bird planted a year or so ago. I always assumed it was some sort of holly since it retained its leaves through winter and there is a dahoon right close by in my neighbors scrub area. I really never gave it much thought until today, when I was surprised to see a large caterpillar resting square in the middle of a leaf. Now, I've learned to identify some caterpillars and this one obviously was in the swallowtail family but I thought...what the heck is it doing on a holly? I ran inside to get the spare set of rechargeables when suddenly........... DUHHHHHHH! A lightbulb went off in my non-working brain. I returned to the tree and immediately snapped off a lower leaf. I was intoxicated by the spicey smell brought forth when I crushed the leaf between my fingers. The tree is a RED BAY! Florida native persea borbonia with it's lovely smell and leathery, glossy leaves. Mind you, the tree is not even my height (about 5 foot) and is one of the "bloom where God planted you" additions to my yard bought on when I I had little luck in buying and planting things around my yard.

Since that time I learned about the Florida Native Plant Society and joined the Pine Lily Chapter (Osceola County). I studied up on ecosystems, "right plant, right place", the importance of choosing native over exotic and about two years ago I started letting various sections of my yard just grow to see what had been chopped prior to my buying the property. Once again I have been rewarded by my new "garden addition" attitude. I also learned today that I should snap a leaf off of the things I'm not sure of the identification and take a whiff.....or maybe I'll just wait to see what creature of nature can clue me in. In this case, I initially thought spicebush butterfly, but a check on the internet clued me in to its relative, the Palamedes Swallowtail (Papilio palamedes) this guy will grow up to be.

Embrace your bugs

Most gardeners love birds, butterflies and the like. A lot of gardeners think they are doing their part in offering a habitat for these beautiful critters to enjoy by providing annual flowers, trimmed landscapes and bird feeders.

Unfortunately, sometimes they do quite the opposite. If you use pesticides to kill grubs well, you are poisoning a food source for birds. If you spray your plants to remove what is eating them, you are poisoning a food source for birds. You probably wouldn't consider spraying insecticide on a butterfly, yet, if you spray caterpillars, you are doing that very thing. You wouldn't put fertilizer in a bird bath yet if you put too much weed and feed on your lawn and it runs off into a culvert or storm drain, somewhere down the line you are poisoning a water source that birds use.

Monocultures (vast expanses of the same plant) can wreak havoc by enticing one type of feeding insect resulting in an esthetically damaged looking garden. Avoid the problem! Diversify! Plant several different types of native plants. Like the look of all one color? Match up native plants of a similar color but different species to avoid the potential of having a damaged looking landscape. Different insects feed on different plants so if you have a lot of diversity, chances of an area being bare due to insect feeding will be lessened. Insects play a vital role in helping birds rear their young since insects provide better nutrition for fledglings which can't be found in all the store bought seed or berries you can provide. A bird feeder full of seed is nice so you can get a good view of what passes through your garden and is a great help in supplementing natural food sources during times of cold and snow, but the fact is, if you'd plant a landscape of native wildflowers and grasses and just not mow toward the end of season, the plants would go to seed and feed the birds naturally. Nature tends to provide what the local wildlife thrive on so think about stopping the fight against mother nature and embracing what she had done so well for years before we began tinkering and deciding "what looks good". Personally, I look at a yard with a manicured, green lawn and think it is just plain mean. No food potential for wildlife!

If you are unwilling to provide plants for caterpillars to eat, you are selfish if you call a spread of nectar plants a "butterfly garden". To only provide nectar source without providing plants used to rear their young is again....just plain mean. Relish in the fact that you are providing a continuation of a family when your plants slowly get eaten by the caterpillars. Consider the resulting chrysalis and the beautiful butterflies as the price for a little chewed up area of the garden. If you aren't crazy about seeing your plants with some insect damage, well, hide them in a far off corner of your property. I personally love watching the process of life as it was intended and chances are that area of your garden would be my favorite.

No where in nature do I ever see carefully manicured lawns. Insects are an integral part of biodiversity. Pristine green lawns were created by humans....probably those with control issues. Nature wasn't designed that way, so design your garden the way mother nature intended...the resulting wildlife will be your reward for taking a different garden path!

Twigs2Fledge™

It's been just about a month since the bluebirds were scouting the nesting box. Construction of the interior is well underway. I'm putting up a picture or two each day at Twitter under the hashtag #twigs2fledge...sort of a mini-blog...so you can see the progress from...well....twigs to fledge...when the babies leave the coop. I've decided to name Momma and Poppa "Twigs" and "Fledge", respectively.

I got involved in monitoring my bluebirds when I first moved here in 2006 and saw an article in the local paper by one of our extension agent experts. She wanted people to report where we saw bluebirds. I had them in the yard and was surprised that they were a rare occurrence. I reported in that they were always flitting around my yard and Eleanor Foeste (the extension agent) inquired if there were nesting boxes in the area. I never heard of a nesting box so I looked it up on the Internet, read up quite a bit on how bluebirds are dwindling in numbers due to habitat loss and decided that would be the perfect gift for Santa to bring me for Christmas 2006.

I put up my box in February/March 2007 and was surprised to have residents almost immediately. It is of cedar construction and was purchased at a local big box store. I had read that it can sometimes take years for the bluebirds to find and be comfortable enough to use a nesting box. I guess because I maintain a good deal of my yard as a natural landscape which is in a semi-remote rural location, the birds were happy to move in quickly. That first year I had two broods. In 2008 I had four broods (the last a mere two babies) and in 2009 I had three broods. I follow the tips I found on http://www.sialis.org/ and I do check the babies for parasites and last year provided meal worms to help momma when she had a rather large brood (6). It is a well written and informative site and I even asked a question one time and received immediate (less than a day) answer when I thought I had an early loss (apparently they were older than I had initially counted and fledged on time--I need to go back and relearn arithmetic).

Bluebirds are fascinating and fun to watch. They are tolerant of human help (although they will dive bomb your head...without making contact).

I hope, at the end of this first brood of 2010 venture, to put together a video slideshow containing all the pictures. You can follow along as I go by searching twitter.com for the keyword "twigs2fledge" or Google it...both Twitter and TwitPic feed the keywords into Google search. I hope you all enjoy the journey! I know I will!

Survivors

I just had someone ask what plants I have seen in bloom or green in our area (Central Florida) since their yard was hit hard by the freeze. I dashed off some pictures of my St. John's Wort (Hypericum tetrapetalum), Fetterbush (Lyonia lucida) and Shiny Blueberry (Vaccinium myrsinites) which I had just taken a day or two ago.

St. John's Wort

Shiny Blueberry

I was pleased to report that my Blue Curls (Trichostema dichotomum), though not in bloom, were green and they are considered an ANNUAL. As a matter of fact, I had remarked to the local nursery operator how nice they looked in the sea of brown that was my mowed area.

I suggested Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera) and Dahoon Holly (Ilex cassine), both of which reared their heads at the freeze and laughed loudly. The birds are feeding off of the berries of these two choices regularly.

As a side note, shortly after the freeze I headed out to Maple Street Natives in West Melbourne, Florida (http://www.maplestreetnatives.com/) to shop for a tree to be planted in honor of Florida Arbor Day which was January 15th this year. I purchased a Red Cedar and planted it the next day (January 16th). I also bought some Twinflower, Ironweed and Horsemint all of which looked healthy enough at the nursery, so appeared to make it through the colder times. They are in the ground and seemingly happy.

My Bidens alba (Spanish Needles) are not cold tolerant and died back completely, but have already started to show signs of renewed life from the vast amounts of seeds they spew forth. Not every native is cold tolerant, but if they are recommended for your zone, they will come back. The Fogfruit (or Frogfruit) (Phyla nodiflora) was unaffected and I already saw Phaon Crescent butterflies fluttering around. These tiny beauties use it as their host plant, as do White Peacock Butterflies.

Another native, often considered by some to be a weed, hasn't bloomed yet, but the green and red tinge of its leaves indicates that it won't be long...that is Wild Geranium or Cranesbill (Geranium carolinianum). The butterflies will use this low grower for nectar.

There still is a smattering of goldenrod (Solidago sp.) that is in bloom and I spotted some Yellow Stargrass (Hypoxis juncea) and Toadflax (Linaria sp.) beginning to blossom so the Little Metalmark, Common Buckeye and Sulfur butterflies who are already making an appearance have some nectar sources.
Life is returning after our dreaded hard freeze...and the native plants stood up boldly to it.

How a Bluebird House Hunts

I got a new camera which has a decent zoom to take photos of birds.  I captured a few bluebird pictures that I was satisfied with and was in a "fun" mood, so I put together this 1 minute video slideshow with some tips on attracting bluebirds.  Hope you enjoy!