Favorite Memories of Summer 2014

Today - the traditional ‘last day of summer’ - I am savoring the memories of the past 3 months. It has been cooler than usual in my area (Maryland, near Baltimore) so the outdoor activities have been especially pleasant. Here are my top 5 memories from this summer:

The Deck Garden. The plants on the deck are a daily draw to go outdoors. There is always something changing - new flowers blooming, a tiny tomato forming, sweet potato vines spilling over the edge of the pot then the deck…and blooming, and all the associated insects and birds enjoying the plants (sometimes causing some damage) and the water in the birdbath and the pot saucers. I may change some of the plants next year - but using every available pot for something is definitely something to continue from now on.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. The place made my list because it was a new experience. I still enjoyed places I have been many times this summer (Brookside Gardens and the National Arboretum and the Howard County Conservancy Mt. Pleasant Farm) but the lotuses at the aquatic garden with the dragonflies that abounded were a high point of the garden visits this season.

Josey Ranch Lake. What a pleasant surprise it was to walk around the small lake near the library in Carrollton TX! It hosts such a variety of resident birds (although I did wish the nutria were not there).  It became the high point of ‘sights’ for the two weeks I spent in Texas this summer.

CSA Veggies. This was my first participation in a Community Supported Agriculture farm and I’ve enjoyed the enhanced flavor of fresh-from-the-field vegetables. I will do it again next summer!

Classes. I become more aware all the time of just how much I enjoy being a student. Whether the classes are online (Coursera and Creative Live) or ‘live’ at the Howard County Conservancy…classes have the effect of broadening my horizons and tweaking what I do. It may not be healthy to grow larger physically but growing mentally is always a good thing.

Happy end-of-summer 2014!

A Juvenile Swan

There was a bird at the Josey Ranch Lake (Carrollton TX) that was between an ‘ugly duckling’ and a beautiful swan. On shore the bird looked as large as the adult swans.

Both parents kept watch as the juvenile took to the water with the ducks.

On a longer swim on the lake, one of the parents kept close while the other stayed further away on watch. 

The big excitement of the outing we witnessed was the juvenile chasing a duck - almost running over the other bird. Afterwards, the duck bobbed about looking stunned while the young swan made a lazy loop around the fountain in the center of the lake as if nothing had happened.

Then the young swan followed the parent at a sedate pace and distance to the far end of the lake for a snack of lake greens. It was easier to see that the young bird was somewhat smaller than the adult…but not much.

Green Heron

My topic for today is another bird I saw at Josey Ranch Lake in Carrollton TX: a Green Heron.

The first time I saw a Green Heron was at Brookside Gardens many years ago. I didn’t know what it was. It didn’t look like a heron as it moved along the shore and shallows of the pond.  The same was true in Florida last fall and in Carrollton last week.

Having learned to identify the bird from that long ago experience - I have not been as surprised recently when the bird extends its neck and begins to look much more like the heron that it is!

I’ve always wondered what the bones of the neck look like for this particular bird. Do muscles pull the neck vertebrae further apart when the neck is extended or are there a lot of folding of the vertebrae when the head is held close the body?

Gardens in the Hot and Dry

The plantings that look the best in Texas this August are ones that thrive in the hot and dry.

There were several desert willows planted around Josey Ranch Lake. Their blooms look at lot like delicate orchids. I had not seen them in the Carrollton area previously; they are popular rest stop plants along the route through New Mexico to Tucson.

There are many types of sage that thrive in high heat without a lot of water.

My favorite is the red yucca: the deeper color of the buds, the delicate flowers, the seed pods forming, and the muted green of the leaves….and they grow best under relatively adverse conditions.

The image below is a 10x magnification of the flowers.

This trend of transitioning gardens to plants that tolerate heat with less water is a positive one given the water challenges Texas is experiencing.

Walking at Josey Ranch Lake

Generally walking in Texas is a morning activity - before the hottest part of the day. The lake near the library in Carrollton TX is a popular and easy hike. The birds are accustomed to the walkers so it is a great place for photography. There were a few pigeons; it seems like almost all city parks has pigeons.

There was a Little Blue Heron that I saw both days I walked the loop. It appears to be a bird that likes to fish in isolation.

The great white egret likes to company of the ducks. Both days the bird was surveying the lake from about the same place and with the same company.

There was a pair of swans in the same group.

A juvenile swan was also nearby. Another walker commented that there had been 4 ‘ugly ducklings’ but this was the only one from this year’s nest to survive (the turtles in the lake are the probably predator for the very young swans). The one that is left is clearly large enough now to be in no danger from turtles. The juvenile will stay with the parents until the feathers are all white later in the summer.

In another pond we had seen two swans the first day. On the second day we saw only one and there were a lot of feathers on the duck-weed coated pond. We were relieved when we saw the second swan - obviously a little ruffled from a round with some predator (maybe a dog?).

There were several nutrias around the lake - an invasive rodent that most states are trying to eradicate. We saw three but another walker said there were probably 8 or 9 round the lake. They seemed to be as acclimated to people being around as the birds. I wondered why they had not been trapped and taken away.