Right On Cue ...

Like many folks these days, our visits with friends are virtual. And on one such 'visit' we somehow got on the topic of Eastern Towhees*, and how they are rare visitors to the yard.

This is a photo from the very next morning.

Next call, I'm gonna mention how rare penguins are in our yard.

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* As everyone on the call was a birder it was not really all that strange the conversation turned to yard birds.

Bird Food

One recent morning as I was getting dressed I noticed a Cooper's Hawk on our front walkway.

I was to slow getting the camera and it moved behind the vegetation.

It is in the highlighted area. It then hopped over into the Golden Ragwort in the Mini Meadow.

It did not appear to have caught whatever it was hunting, and eventually flew off, never coming into clear view.

And later, while I on a conference call in the living room (Patty was on one in our home office*) the hawk came back. Zooming past the living room windows, other birds scattering.

One did not scatter fast enough.

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* Patty heard the swoosh of the bird as it flew past the microphone of our outdoor in speaker.

Parkinson's Law

Now, in year one of Covid-19, I finally have time to weed my deck.

Curiously, this is the first time I've ever needed to weed my deck.

🌱  🌱  🌱  🌱  🌱

I'm also removing a bunch of non-native Irises from our back pond, which have overgrown around the pond. A bit more difficult than dealing with the deck.

~~~~~~~~~
The Wikipedia page for the law.

Violets

I blogged about our system for listening to the sounds outside while we are inside. And for the past few days we've been hearing a Barred Owl calling in the middle of the day. While not unheard of it is unusual. And when it happened today, I went out to try to find it,

I was not successful.

But I found a little patch of violets.*

As far as I can tell these are Viola primulifolia.

Boyd, in his excellent Wildflowers of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, treats this plant as a full species. But the USDA views this plant as a hybrid of lance-leaved violet, Viola lanceolata, and small white violet, Viola macloskeyi or Viola blanda.

Now we have Lance-leaved Violet in the yard. But Small White Violet is nowhere to be found.

And my friend and Uber Pinelands Plant Geek (yes, that is a thing) Russell stopped by today. And he noted that he's not seen Small White Violet anywhere in the vicinity of Lance-leaved Violet.

Which begs the question, how are they hybridizing?

Inquiring minds want to know.
~~~~~~~~~~
* I also took some pictures of Nuthatches ...

Dinner Date

We've a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches courting in our yard.

And then they both flew off.

I think they were going back to his place ...

Oases

This is the view as I sit on the deck, looking out over the aptly named fish pond.

A relaxing view as I enjoy coffee in the morning or a stronger libation in the evening.

And this is our back pond. Another place to sit, relax, and 'get away from it all'.

And in this year one of Covid-19 having such spaces does wonders for my mental wellbeing.

I hope you all have a special place you can retreat to.

Stay well.

Webs

It is the time of year when migrating birds start showing up, either at the end point of their journeys or just passing through to parts further north. Not coincidently, it is the time of year we visit local birding 'hot spots'. We visited one such spot yesterday, the now inappropriately named Bear Swamp at Red Lion Preserve.

And while we saw neither bear nor lion, we did see (and hear) some nice birds, although not as many as we had hoped. Still a bit early it seems.

What we did see was spider webs.

Lots of spider webs.

We awoke to a very foggy morning, and knowing we'd be in the woods I took my iPhone as my only camera, reasoning shooting small, quick moving birds in the tree top would be a frustrating endeavor. Alas, I out thought myself as while the iPhone is a capable camera, I was wishing for a more versatile device.

This is the creation of the Bowl and Dolly Spider, Frontinella pyramitela, a critter we have in our yard. To me they look like the dishes of radio telescopes.

But it was these domes that really had us wondering what was going on. Despite having visited this trail on numerous occasions over the years, as well as other similar locations, we'd never noticed them before.

The work of the Filmy Dome Spider, Neriene radiata, one of which can be seen just under the apex of the dome in the image above. These webs were seemingly everywhere throughout the woods.

This is where I really could have used a camera with more manual controls.  Look closely and you can see strands of spider web entangling the understory vegetation.

There were plenty of the more traditional, Halloween style webs as well. Our friend Sandra, who joined us for this outing (and who maintained proper social distancing throughout) led our walk down the trail, waving her arm to knock away the spanning strands.

🕸  🕷  🕸  🕷  🕸

The Bowl and Dolly Spider is active from spring until late summer, as is the Filmy Dome Spider. The  latter is common in the forests of the eastern US, while the former is common in peat bogs. Yet it takes the right conditions, a wet foggy windless morning in this case, for them to make their presence known. And a significant presence it was.

Good thing I'm not afraid of spiders.

The World Series Is On!

Of Birding that is.

And I'm participating this year.

I've done this before ... but is has been a while.

It is a completive birding event (yes, that is a thing!). And a major fund raiser for many nonprofit conservation organizations. My team, the Uncommon Nighthawks, is raising money for New Jersey Audubon's Research Department. If you want to donate you can do so via this link. I know that it is not the best time to ask for donations, so do not feel obligated. But thank you if you do.

It is a very different event this year though. Year 1 of Covid-19.

Whereas in prior years the field of play was the entire state of New Jersey, this year it is a 10 mile circle centered on one's home. And it is not limited to homes in New Jersey.

So, if you live in one of the following states you to can be a World Series Participant!

The 2020 “Special Edition” of the World Series of Birding invites teams to form in New Jersey or in any of the following states, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

If you are interested in joining my team, email me and I'll send the instructions on how to sign up! All  you need to do is keep a count of the different bird species you see on Saturday May 9th.

Although be forewarned, you'll be nagged to pay your $0.00 registration fee!

Wish us luck!

Squeezin'

Because the interwebs likes cat pictures.

And cats like tight spaces.

Bloom Time - Golden Ragwort

This is a view of the Mini-Meadow as it looks today.

Golden Ragwort in full bloom, covering the northern half of the Meadow. An excellent native early spring blooming ground cover.

I like it as it is less for me to mow, it looks nice, and as a native it requires no extra fertilizers nor other chemicals. Nor does it need any more than the rain, barring a drought (for which all bets are off). Plant it and forget it.*

The native bees appreciate it as well.

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* Ok, you'll need to put barriers around it, lest you want it to take over your yard.

Not Useful

So, sometime between 4:00 and 4:30 this afternoon our power went out. The fourth time in the last seven days.

And I walked over to the horse farm to get cell service and report the outage. And the good people at JCP&L reported, via their website, that power would be restored at 5:30 pm.

Nope.

This voice mail is from the second call I received from JCPL. The first told me that power would be restored at 7:45 pm.

Wrong and wrong.

Here is a screenshot of a text string between Patty and I:

6:30 is when power came back on. And when I fired up the oven, (oven fired chicken and roasted broccoli, very yummy).

Perhaps JCP&L were channeling their inner Comcast*?

~~~~~~~~~
* It took three visits from Comcast service techs last week before they got our service fully restored, Comcastic!

Hints ...

... Of other halos.

The 22° Halo is pretty obvious. But much more subtle is the 9° Halo.

Even more subtle is the 18° Halo.

But they may not be real. Oh, those halos are real. But they may be only artifacts in my image. Alas, I didn't have a chance to get more shots. I'll just have to keep looking up.

And I have no idea what the square grid pattern is.

To learn more about these halos visit Les Cowley's excellent Atmospheric Optics site. But you knew that, right?

Butterbutts

We had an invasion of Yellow-rummped Warblers in the yard this afternoon.

They just kept coming and coming.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

They were in the top of the trees.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

They were on the ground.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

At one point I had ten in view at one time. And that was at the tail end of the invasion.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

There was a point where literally* every bird I put my bins on was a Yellow-rump.

Cool, yet odd there were now other migrants passing through. Especially since the day before we had a nice little fallout in the yard.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

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* Yes, I know what "literally" means.

Sometimes ...

The critters are not cooperative.

As with this Falcate Orangetip butterfly.

Two of them were flying about as I was doing yard work (yanking out invasive shrubs).

I had only may phone as a camera, and it blended in quite well with the leaves.

Perhaps you can see the orange wingtip now?

This was the best image I managed. Not very good, but enough to document the species in our yard.

Although perhaps not quite blog worthy.

🦋  🦋  🦋  🦋  🦋

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Sometimes ...

They are.

As with this Spring Azure. I'm not sure why it landed on my glove. I don't think there are any salts to be had there. But maybe.

And cool.

Spring Azure is actually a complex of species and subspecies all across the United States. As this comment from the link above notes, "All it takes for a spirited argument are 2 taxonomists and 1 azure."

So even when the butterfly lands on me there are still questions to exactly what species it is.

🦋  🦋  🦋  🦋  🦋

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Feeder Warbler

It's not every day that a warbler will come to your feeders.

Especially since warblers are by and large insect eaters.

But I guess suet is easier to catch than insects.

And this Yellow-rumped Warbler has figured that our.

Or maybe two, as  a pair has been around for several days now.

Dusty Water ...

... plus Physics ...

... equals Colors!

Quételet Scattering.

Alistair ~2005 - 2020

Bold

Bright-eyed

Inquisitive

Fearless

Pushy

Friendly 

Rest In Peace Stinky. 

And Stay Warm.