After a lovely 5 day weekend, I'm back with news of the wilds of upstate New York. Flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing and birds are hatching! Follow me below the orange nest for fantastic photos and dazzling commentary. ;)
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
May is the time of Iris, when flowers of all colors are in bloom. The early dwarf iris are already gone but the tall iris are just hitting their stride. I noticed that they seem to be doing especially well this year, no problems with borers, and I wonder if our bitterly cold, nasty winter actually did them some good. In no particular order, here are some of the beauties gracing my garden.
Skookumchuck (weird name, gorgeous flower)
Blazing Light
Bewilderbeast (bred by a guy named Kasperek; he's known for quirky names and broken colors)
Next, the things that flutter and buzz. Not much in the way of butterflies yet, but this little fellow hung around for a while.
A very fat bumblebee also spent some time sampling the various nectars. She seemed particularly enamored of the pulmonaria blossoms.
Moving on to bigger flyers, we had a lovely northern flicker hunting for ants in our driveway.
And an iridescent grackle raiding the feeder.
The tree swallows are still sitting on eggs, 5 of them at last count. A really neat thing about swallows is they use other birds' feathers to line their nests. Sorry the eggs are blurry - my camera really wanted to focus on the feathers!
The wren nest is still in egg mode and they like feathers, too.
And now what you've all been waiting for! Freshly hatched baby birds! First, the robins.They were more amenable to my photography than the others but they have built their nest in a very inaccessible tree. Here's the best shot I could get. The head is on the right and the skinny part is its neck. Still waiting on the other eggs.
Lastly, the bluebirds. Believe it or not, there are five little squabs in the box. Dad was NOT happy with my antics with the camera and divebombed me to show his lack of appreciation. I was only able to get one good shot before they had enough of me.
Hope everyone enjoyed seeing this little slice of life!
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" is posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time and Wednesday at 3:30 on the Daily Kos front page. It's a great way to catch up on diaries you might have missed. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.
