Charming God

Yellow is capable of charming God. ~~ Vincent Van Gogh

 Certainly, Van Gogh knew his colors!

Our first charmer of the day is this lovely little yellow flower that grows on a shrub. I believe it's a potentilla of some sort, but don't depend on my identification - and there are way too many varieties for me to be sure which this might be. I liked both the delicate blossoms and the tiny leaves that are the perfect backdrop to show off the blooms. Any experts out there?

Next up is Yellow Goatsbeard. Perhaps not such a charming name, but this late bloomer deserved to be recognized for extra effort outside its usual season.

I happened to catch a couple of Cloudy Sulphur butterflies on a sunny day, despite their name.

The first picture shows the wing markings better, but I also liked the brilliant yellow-green of its eyes against the fine yellow hairs on its face, not to mention the marvelous antennae! 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I can say that I was charmed.

Counting 1-2-3... 13

Baloo would have found this walk particularly exciting. The chirp of an alarmed thirteen-lined ground squirrel sounding a warning for all its friends always caught his attention, sending him on a wild squirrel chase. He was usually frustrated by these little teases, which it seems can reach a top speed of about 8 miles per hour - zigging and zagging to avoid capture as they dash for their tunnels.

 

So, first there was one checking out the area for danger before venturing out into the field for more food.

At this time of year, they're fattening themselves up to burrow in for a long winter's nap. I looked up a few facts about these guys and it seems they eat far more than just seeds and fruits. They're true omnivores, munching on everything from the aforementioned seeds to insects, mice and even birds.

Then, there were two monitoring my progress along the trail and scoping out the predator situation.

It's no wonder they're so alert all the time - I also learned that about 90% of each year's young get eaten by the predators they watch for before they go into hibernation for the winter. Hawks, snakes, weasels, foxes and other hunters depend on these prolific little creatures for their food.

Finally, three watchers kept me in view as I continued on my way.  My favorite collective name for these guys is "scurry" - it's perfect. A scurry of ground squirrels! Baloo would certainly have agreed, as they definitely scurry in all directions when threatened.

Precision Proboscis Probing

Hummingbirds weren't the only butterfly bush lovers visiting the flowers in my back yard. This monarch (full disclosure: these pictures are a couple weeks old, but I didn't get them onto the blog in a timely fashion) took great delight in sipping a little from each bloom.

I enjoyed watching the play of light and shadow on its wings.

I was also fascinated by the accuracy and dexterity of the proboscis. The picture above shows an almost ninety degree angle from the butterfly's face to the flower blossom.

And, of course, I love the action photos, even if they're a sometimes a little bit blurry. Once again, the flexible appendage made me smile, as it's all curled up for traveling safely to the next nectar receptacle (which, incidentally, is the proper word for the stalk that bears the floral bits of a flower head - who knew??). 

As always, if you want to inspect the smaller details, you should be able to click on the pictures for a closer look.

 

Spotted Bees?

Sometimes, I take pictures of things I want to learn more about to remind me to do a little research. I have noticed these plants for a number of years and wondered about them, so it was past time to become acquainted. 

Monarda Punctata. The proper name of this plant sounds rather regal, don't you think? It's also known as Spotted Bee Balm, although I can't remember ever seeing a spotted bee - they usually wear stripes! Levity aside, I don't tend to notice these unobtrusive little plants until the pink blossoms start to creep upward along the stem, making them suddenly stand out against the surrounding greenery.

The flowers surround the entire stem with dusty pink petals and purple spotted yellow centers. It seems they are fairly hardy plants in the mint family and are quite popular with pollinators. 

I also learned that, while bees, butterflies and hummingbirds are fond of these flowers, deer and rabbits tend to find them unpalatable. I'm thinking I might need to introduce some of these in my gardens, since the bunnies and deer have ravaged the poor plants this year and I need to reconsider the landscaping a bit!

The flowers remind me of miniature orchids (click on the picture, if you want a close-up look). 

So, there's my new friend for the day with a formal (and informal) introduction - I'll just have to keep my eyes open for the spotted bees.

Humming Along

An absolutely beautiful butterfly bush grows rampantly right next to the back of the house. I'm not sure it was intentionally planted there, since no sane landscaper would have chosen that spot, but since it is flourishing, I just try to keep it healthy. After all, it's very popular with favorite backyard visitors. I have often wondered if I could take a cutting and get another one established somewhere more open. Are there any horticultural green thumbs out there that can give me a few pointers?

I kept trying to capture a good picture of this female ruby-throated hummingbird as it inspected blossom after blossom. Needless to say, she was almost always a blur of movement, probing each tiny flower in every cluster she visited.

The speed with which she collected nectar was a little dizzying and often, by the time I started to get focused on her position, she moved on to the next course of her meal.

I did manage to get a few pictures that were at least recognizable, which was something. The hummers are traveling through on their way south again and the ones I am seeing now are the last stragglers of the season.

She does look a little bit frazzled from her long flight, doesn't she? I like to keep the feeders going until October, just in case somebody got a late start or got blown off course by an unexpected storm. Birding experts say that they are usually gone by mid-September, but this sweet girl was still refueling today.

Prior to the Pesto Project

I posted about the kitchen portion of the pesto project a couple days ago, but I forgot about the little beauty I discovered while harvesting the aromatic leaves.

  

It wasn't a moth I was familiar with, but I thought the rusty orange coloration against the brilliant green of the basil was very striking. It was pretty unperturbed by my taking cuttings from the plant it was resting on, so I took a couple of pictures while holding the harvested sprig before resettling it on another plant.

The second picture has the antlers extended, since I had disturbed it when I moved it to a new resting place, but it seemed happy enough to stay put.

It took some time to discover who had taken refuge in the herb garden, but I was finally able to identify it as a scalloped sallow moth. Their host plants are deciduous trees like poplar or cherry, but they apparently rest in leaf litter (or basil patches) during the day. I always enjoy meeting someone new when I'm out in the world.

Culinary Capers

I am finally out of quarantine, caught up on a couple of Stampeaz orders that came in while I was down with the evil plague (thank you for your patience!!) and have gotten busy with some of the garden's bounty. 

My brother and I planted two different kinds of basil this year and, while it had sort of a slow start, it finally caught on to the whole growing and flourishing concept and gave us a pretty good harvest.

Quite a lot of the basil has been used for fresh caprese salads, featuring home grown tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinegar. However, we were falling behind with the basil consumption and something had to be done!

Pesto to the rescue! Sadly, my whole family suffers from pine nut induced dysgeusia syndrome, so we can't use the traditional recipe, but toasted walnuts are a very credible substitute and are delicious in their own right. So, here are my before and after pictures.

 

A two ounce container is about perfect for making one of my pizzas or a lovely side dish of pasta (we can break out more than one, if we need to dress a full pasta dinner!). 

I also had a little basil left over and I'm trying an experiment. I read somewhere that you could simply blend it with plain olive oil and freeze it. I made a few containers of that, too, just to see - sometimes you want plain basil instead of pesto - I'm thinking Thai food here.... I'll let you know how it goes.

More Babies in the Bean Patch

I came down to the family homestead for Labor Day to sing in a benefit concert with my brother and along the way, we downloaded some more pictures from the trail camera in the bean patch. There are some more great bird pictures.... And more babies!

This song sparrow loved being front and center. I downloaded and saved dozens of fun pictures of it foraging right at center stage. I thought I would prepare and share just a few today, since I haven't posted for a little while. (I ended up contracting the evil Covid and have been unfit for much of anything this past week, but at least I have very good company - my brother ended up with rebound Covid, which is how I caught it. I can't believe he came back for a second helping - it's not that much fun!) 

Sometimes, the sparrow was joined by a youngster or two that begged for delicious tidbits. You can see the little, short tail feathers that haven't grown to their full glory yet.

Being undersized and awkward doesn't slow this little one down much. It can still keep track of its food source and follow along quite handily. 

I love it when there's a really good action picture. I can just imagine mom wanting to escape junior for just a little while, achieving liftoff and preparing to fold in the landing gear.

Here's the other end of the spectrum, with landing equipment fully extended, getting ready for a gentle touch down. 

 And this one was just darling. The little guy zeroing in to claim a grasshopper reward for a well executed flight plan. Once again, the nearly nonexistent tail makes me grin. 

Then, just for extra smiles, I had to include this earnest little dove that stepped in front of the camera for a soft focus close-up. Very Hollywood. 

Baby Blues

We put the trail cameras in the north garden to see who was eating all the beans. And I do mean *all* the beans. Whoever it was ate both the beans and quite a lot of foliage in the bargain. We didn't catch the culprit, but we got some other delightful pictures.

 

 It took a minute to figure it out, but this is a baby bluebird.

 

There's a second one in the picture above, but it was almost entirely out of range and the camera only caught a little bit of its breast.

The bluebirds were enjoying the both the water and the bugs on the mulch plastic.

Here's Dad in the foreground (and out of focus). 

There were some other fun pictures captured by the trail cameras that I will share another day, but these were the very best of the garden patch photos. 

(Oh, and happily, there were two other bean patches, so we still had a pretty good harvest.)

 

Spots Before My Eyes

I know! More deer! But, you'll soon see why I could not resist another post...

I walked into the living room, as I usually do when I get up and going in the morning, and looked out my window to see what was happening in my little world. A doe was standing in my back yard stomping her feet and making chuffing sounds. I wondered what was upsetting her, because that behavior usually means the deer sees or hears something that puts it on alert and also lets other deer in the vicinity know that something is afoot. I looked around to see what might be causing the disturbance, thinking there could be a coyote or dog or another person in the area.  Well, in this case, it turned out to be a call to alert her fawn that it was time to come have some breakfast.

This little spotted cutie came dashing out of the brush, across the yard and directly to the food source in a flash!

He was so excited that he kept moving his feet, dancing and flicking his tail as he nursed. Mom stood imperturbably watching the world go by, as if she wasn't experiencing a small energy eruption just beneath her!

The doe finally decided that she (and junior) had had quite enough and she backed away from him to browse around the yard, leaving him to do the same.

I watched him munching on weeds for quite a while (my yard has a lot to choose from in the weed category - I don't have anything like a golf course lawn). And yes, this young fellow is a buck. If you click on the picture for a larger view, you can see the little button antler bumps starting to emerge above his eyes.

Also, I now know exactly who is eating my gardens (I knew it was a deer, but now I know exactly which deer). I normally have flowers and foliage growing abundantly in garden beds around the yard and I keep finding favorite plants mowed to the ground and flowers nipped off at the bud.

Mom eventually wandered off, leaving Junior behind and when he finally noticed she was gone, he meandered on his way to join her - and probably take a nap with a nice, full belly.