Volunteering in December 2016

I always enjoy volunteering at The Howard County Conservancy’s Natural Holiday Sale in early December. This year was no exception.

I got to Mt. Pleasant about an hour before the event started at 10 and kept the refreshment table stocked with cookies, water, and Russian Tea until about 1 when the next shift came on. I enjoyed the food in the kitchen for volunteers and vendors too: scones in the morning and then a scrumptious lunch of white chili, salad, chips…and cookies for dessert.

It was a cool but sunny day and the turnout was the highest ever at just under 500 people. The vendor with wreaths and larger arrangements sold out by 1 when I left. The event continued until 3. The critter construction with natural materials and glue guns was going strong the whole time. I took some pictures of some of the materials and sample constructions before the event got started…and then got too busy to do more. Next year maybe I’ll make a critter myself. The activity started years ago for children but now it is popular with people of all ages (although still mostly children).

I’d planned to hike a little after my shift but it was cold and I was tired. I hiked past the farm house where a squirrel was active in the leaves

Because I wanted to see Ranger (the barred owl) in his new enclosure. He seemed calm even with all the activity of people constructing the goat house in the enclosure next to him.

On the way to my car, I couldn’t resist a picture of the flower pot people – in their December garb.

Now – I’m in the holiday mood!

Outside at Brookside – November 2016

On the day I went to photograph mums at Brookside Gardens, I also made my normal loop walk around the gardens. The first segment is the boardwalk between the conservatory parking lot and the Nature Center. The boardwalk was dusted with leaves. The ferns were still green but the thick undergrowth that blocked the view of the Cyprus knees further along had died and they were visible again as they will be until next spring when the skunk cabbage grows again.

I was there early enough that the sunlight cast a warm glow on the stones of the scent garden.

There were robins – looking a little scruffy – looking for food in the leaves.

I took pictures of single leaves on the ground all along the way and they are included in the slide show below. Can you identify the maple, several oaks, tulip poplar, redbud and gingko?

A gingko was dropping its leaves quickly and there were drifts of them along the path.

The Japanese tea house overlooks the pond – this time without geese or turtles around.

There were some surprise bulbs blooming - perhaps a fall crocus.

Many of the leaves had already fallen but there were some swaths of color.

Here’s a path that has an ‘icing’ of leaves (mostly maple) to top of mulch.

Some oaks have leaves that look very red in bright sunlight but brown on the ground. The light was bringing-out-the-red on this tree.

On the path – within sight of the conservatory again – a squirrel made enough noise in the leaves for me to notice and was still while eating an acorn….I took the picture.

The gingko near the conservatory seemed to have more leaves than the one I’d walk by earlier. Some were still tinged green.

In a pot – someone had stacked a small pumpkin on a larger white one…a little cairn like we saw a few weeks ago in State College.

There was some lantana blooming nearby and a skipper was enjoying a meal.

There is always something new to see at Brookside.

Photographs Through a Window – November 2016

November has been a good month for photography through my office window. The crows come to look for things in our gutters.

House finches come for water (this one is a male).

There was a purple finch (female) that visited too – seemingly very nervous.

There were bluebirds too – two days in a row. The second day was colder and the feathers are fluffed to keep the bird warmer.

The Carolina Wren is still around. The noises it makes in the fall are quite different than the spring song.

The bird I got the most excited about was a Northern Flicker (yellow shafted) that was in the maple tree long enough to get several pictures.

The blue jays have been around (very noisy)…but have not settled for long enough for me to photograph.

The squirrel has visited our deck several times and I suspect that the bird feeder is the attraction. It is supposed to be squirrel proof and – so far – has not been dumped. One squirrel figured out how to do it last spring….but so far the area under the feeder has remained free of large amounts of seed.

Usually we do have leaves on the roof --- but the leaves are swirling and it rained, so we have a few that are temporarily stuck: tulip poplar and maple. They dry out soon and be blown away (hopefully not into the gutter).

Zooming – October 2016

I got a new camera this month and have been doing some experiments with the increase optical zoom (that also translates to increased digital zoom. I’m sharing some of my favorites in the Zooming post for this month. There were two pictures of milkweed bugs from early and late in the month. There are at least 4 instars of the insects in the ‘leaf’ picture and fewer in the second picture. Maybe it is getting late enough in the season that there are not new milkweed bugs hatching from eggs.

I like the zoom for photographing insects because I like not disturbing them. It’s even more important for insects that sting like the bee on the asters

Or the wasp that seems to be looking underneath the milkweed leaf.

Sometimes it just works better because the insect will fly away more quickly if I get too close – like this bumble bee.

Sometimes there are items that catch my eye because they seem to be spotlighted – like this fall leaf stuck in other vegetation that seems to glow in the morning sunlight.

One morning before I was scheduled to hike with first graders I heard a noise high in the tree above me and I finally spotted the noise maker – a squirrel gnawing on a black walnut; it takes a lot of work to get the nut inside.

I don’t photograph my cats very often. They don’t like cameras….but staying further away and using the zoom was effective – once.

Photographs through a Window – June 2016

The wildlife has been active at the bird feeder and bath on or deck this month. The squirrels empty the seed bowl so quickly that I am not filling it very often. They still come to sniff around periodically – looking for the small windfall from the birds dropping seeds to the deck as the feed at the squirrel-proof hanging feeder.

I like the chipmunks better and cheer when they find the seed first when I fill the bowl. I think the chipmunks have their home under our deck since I see them in that area almost every time I am in the back yard.

The gold finches made a few appearances.

But the house finches are the frequent visitors

As are the chipping sharrows.

I had to be quick to catch the Carolina Wren. This was one was looking for nesting materials so there may be a second brood starting.

There was an occasional white breasted nuthatch on the roof and at the feeder. They are easy to identify at the feeder because they almost always are head down – not on the usually perch.

Not filling the bowl means that the cardinals and the mourning doves don’t get seed as much either since they are too big for the feeder. That caused a particular problem for the cardinal parents. Their baby was very demanding. The male brought it to the deck under the feeder first.

He was looking frazzled from the constant begging by the time they flew away.

The female brought the young bird as well.

The chick was as big as the parents – looked bigger with the fluffiness of the down that had not been quite replaced with ‘grown up’ feathers.

Finally – the young bird appeared on his own under the feeder just yesterday. Do you think it is a male of female? It will become recognizable in the coming weeks. I’ll include the follow up pictures of the bird next month – assuming the young bird keeps coming to our deck.

Mt Pleasant Farm – March 2016

There are signs of spring at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm but the trees still look very bare. Earlier in the month I posted about the Wood Frogs in the Honors Garden pool. Last week, the frogs (and their loud clacking) were gone, but the tadpoles were beginning to hatch. They were easiest to see on the rocks. They are algae eaters and the little pool has plenty for them to eat. Notice that there is also a tiny snail just above the water line.

The moss growing on the parts of the rocks above the water looks very green right now. Soon there will be a lot more tadpoles in the water below since there is a large egg mass that has not hatched near this rock.

I took advantages of the absence of leaves to capture a stump that is usually hidden by brush. It has shelf fungus

And wood pecker holes

And lots of moss growing on it.

It is near the spot where skunk cabbage grows (previous post is here).

The streams are gurgling (and the paths are usually muddy) this time of year.

The farmhouse is visible from the meadow with the deciduous trees still bare.

I stood photographing a mockingbird for several minutes. At first I thought the breeze was ruffling the neck feathers but then I realized that the neck moves a lot as the bird creates his sounds (mockingbirds have quite a repertoire).

Squirrels are still finding last season’s nuts – and eating them noisily. I would not have noticed this squirrel without that noisy munching.

The maple ‘tree within a tree’ is still one of my favorite stops along the stone wall. Theorizing about why it is that way….and looking for snake skin sheds which seem to be there frequently…are always a hit with hiking groups.

These shelf fungi caught my eye – like little steps up the large branch.

Last season’s dogbane still holds some of its seeds in the meadow.

So even at the end of winter – beginning of spring, there is a lot to see here. It is a calm before the riot of growth that comes in April and May.