This is probably a greater black-backed gull. Thursday Challenge theme is FLIGHT (Birds, Insects, Kites, Helicopters, Jets, Boomerang,…). Nature Notes is brought to us by Michelle of Rambling Woods. I didn’t include the nature note button this week because the colors conflicted with the photo and upset the mood.
We visited the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge this morning. My kids basically rushed through the whole trail walk, eager to be finish what their mom looked forward to viewing the most on our little vacation. But at least they were good sports about it. I would have enjoyed having you, my blog readers, there, so you could help me with photography tips and identifying the birds and the flowers. And just generally enjoying looking. Lots of beautiful scenery.
So, please raise your hand if you know what kind of butterfly this is. Please raise it even higher if you can name the pretty purple wildflower (to me it looks like purple ageratum). Stomp your feet on the ground if you like looking for butterflies. Or photographing wildflowers.
For more Nature Notes, please visit:
And now for a bit of Lewis Carroll (whole poem is here):
The sparrows on my block are quite a joy, both in sight and in sound.
A critter I do not love: my daughter and her friend said this was a beaver, but I believe it is a groundhog. We still have one living in our backyard. I installed a “solar pest repeller” (I’ll have to take a picture of the this gadget), but yesterday I discovered my marigolds had been newly chomped despite the new repeller. Next step is a havahart trap, in which we trap it, and my husband promises to drop it off at Johnson Park on his way to work. New meaning to carpooling?
Echnicacea, rudbeckia (those are in front of my home), and white hydrangea are in bloom on my block, all in front of different homes.
For more nature notes:
Michelle at Rambling Woods writes: “I am going to challenge myself and hopefully you to take a look at nature. What is going on in your area? Is it spring in your part of the world or are you heading into cold weather. Take a little walk….. look at something you might never had paid attention to..a flower…a plant..an animal…What changes are taking place?..Is your garden starting to come to life again?..Step outside and close your eyes. What do you hear? …take a deep breath…What do you smell?”
Each month I post a listing of birds sightings in Highland Park. I don’t do the bird sightings; I just set up the page way back in 2001 and post the data. This month I noticed a lot more X’s in the May column. Joanne Williams, who gathers the data from other local birdwatchers, explained to me:
Lots of birds come here to breed in the summer and some just fly through to points farther north. It is one of the reasons that the World Series of Birding (yes, there is such an event) is held in New Jersey in May.
I have been seeing a lot of gray birds in our backyard. It turns out these are called gray catbirds. Michelle sent me this link about catbirds. And if you look at Joanne’s list, you will see that catbirds don’t show up in Highland Park until late April. Here are some photos I took of the gray catbirds:
Do you see the little brown patch near the tail? The bird is not all gray.
What’s going on in your area? Birds, flowers, animals, trees? Visit Michelle’s Nature Notes for more natural wonders.
I look forward to making pesto with all the basil I have in my tray. I put in some oregano seeds, too; I do not know what I am going to do with this much oregano. I am working on converting all of my front yard into perennials (with some annuals each year, some shrubs already there) and doing away with trying to establish grass without weeds. Maybe I’ll plant some of the oregano there. Some of my neighbors have no grass at all in their front yards (and instead have ground cover and perennials); others dutifully maintain the green, bright strips of lawn.
Michelle at Rambling Woods writes:
I am going to challenge myself and hopefully you to take a look at nature. What is going on in your area? Is it spring in your part of the world or are you heading into cold weather. Take a little walk….. look at something you might never had paid attention to..a flower…a plant..an animal…What changes are taking place?..Is your garden starting to come to life again?..Step outside and close your eyes. What do you hear? …take a deep breath…What do you smell?
I’d really like to know how my blogger friends feel about what they observe in nature. Post a photo..a poem..artwork or a even few words about what you see and how it made you feel…
I finally got a 75-300mm zoom lens for my camera, and I can photograph…BIRDS! I sent my “exotic” bird photos off to Michelle, and she told me I had captured a robin and a sparrow. Well, at least now I know what an American robin and a house sparrow look like. Thank you, Michelle, for your inspiration! And a local birder expert just informed me: “The house sparrows are both males. Females don’t have that black in front.”
Michelle at Rambling Woods writes:
I am going to challenge myself and hopefully you to take a look at nature. What is going on in your area? Is it spring in your part of the world or are you heading into cold weather. Take a little walk….. look at something you might never had paid attention to..a flower…a plant..an animal…What changes are taking place?..Is your garden starting to come to life again?..Step outside and close your eyes. What do you hear? …take a deep breath…What do you smell?
I’d really like to know how my blogger friends feel about what they observe in nature. Post a photo..a poem..artwork or a even few words about what you see and how it made you feel…
Focusing on trees that are changing in the spring, here’s a photo of a cherry blossom on my neighbor’s tree. I love the green, yellow and blue that I achieved in the background of this photo.
Another photo of a cherry blossom is presented.
My little bald cypress tree is growing and thriving. The leaves are now green, but last fall they had a bright orange brown hue (bald cypress is the tree in foreground):
You may recall that I initially thought this tree in Donaldson Park was a red bud tree, but in fact it was identified as a red maple. The photo above shows a red bud tree that is growing in front of my neighbor’s home.
The red bud tree looks so pretty in the spring; I think the red is of a purplish shade.
Some birds have built a nest in our air-conditioner. We don’t know why or how they fit in that tiny space, but we sometimes hear them tweeting in there during the day. My neighbor thinks they are sparrows.
Michelle at Rambling Woods writes:
I am going to challenge myself and hopefully you to take a look at nature. What is going on in your area? Is it spring in your part of the world or are you heading into cold weather. Take a little walk….. look at something you might never had paid attention to..a flower…a plant..an animal…What changes are taking place?..Is your garden starting to come to life again?..Step outside and close your eyes. What do you hear? …take a deep breath…What do you smell?
I’d really like to know how my blogger friends feel about what they observe in nature. Post a photo..a poem..artwork or a even few words about what you see and how it made you feel…
For my second nature note I decided to concentrate on buds:
Top row: red maple tree in Donaldson Park, parsley in my garden (not really a bud but “budding”), my daffodils on the first day of spring after a surprise snowfall
Bottom row: magnolia bud from N. 8th Avenue (avenue has a strip of trees down the middle), my neighbor’s tree (maple?), forsythia bud in my backyard
Please click each thumbnail to experience the photo fully. Thank you.
Michelle of Rambling Woods started a new meme called “Nature Notes.” I really like the idea. So I decided to divide “nature” into a few parts: flora, fauna, weather, and … everything else natural? water, dirt, air? I think her plan is for us to post on a Thursday. But I’m thinking about this now, so here goes:
I hope you will join in the Nature Notes meme. Even if you live in the city, there are still plants, animals and air! Right?