In the Box

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Lookee who’s here! Ms. Screech has been in our nest box for a week, poking her cute head out just after sunup and just before sundown. As well, I see her and her mate perched in my small trees or on the wooden fence if I’m outside near sundown. She seems comfortable with me, never skittish and hiding herself when I offer her a cheery ‘Hello!’.

Since it appears that she’s chosen this box to nest in, we recently wrapped the tree with a sheet of vinyl flooring.

We used this vinyl sheet in 2024, after the previous year’s clutch of Eastern Screech Owl eggs were snatched from the box, most likely by either a raccoon or a grey fox. Our original plan was to wrap sheet metal around the tree, but the vinyl proved easier to handle and less expensive. Two weeks ago, when I’d noticed that the owl seemed intersted in the nest box, I also saw on our wildlife camera one night that a grey fox showed great interest in the tree, walking around it and looking up to where the nest box sits. As the owl has settle in the box, I figured it was time to wrap the tree. We’ll leave it on the tree until the owlets–if all goes well–fledge sometime in May.

Raccoons have formidable claws for climbing and our local grey foxes can jump up to 6 feet. The bottom of the vinyl sheet starts at 3 feet off of the ground and the sheet tops out at about 7.5 feet. The vinyl should be too slippery for the crawlers and is placed too high for the jumpers. The nest box is not in the photo; it’s placed about 4.5 feet from the top of the vinyl piece.

The year after the lost clutch of owls, we wrapped the tree and that Screech couple successfully fledged three darling owlets. The camera in the nest box captured the entire nesting process and you can read about that here. Alas, our nest box camera stopped working last summer and was never fixed or repaired. We’ll have to observe the chick-raising the old-fashioned way: from the ground at night and early morning. We’ll observe any goings-on by the tree through the nighttime wildlife camera. I’ll be watching for confused raccoons or foxes as they attempt to climb the (hopefully) un-climable tree.

You’ll notice a strip of black tape on the right side of the tree. It turns out that the tree has widen its girth, like so many of us! The tape closes the small gap admirably, but in the future, we’ll need to purchase a wider swath of vinyl.

All the best to you, little Screeches!!

First Spring Wildflower

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Riffing on first Texas wildflower blooms profiled at Portraits of Wildflowers, I noticed that my garden’s first wildflower is abloom. This wildflower is a common weed according to some, but I love the pretty, purple, pollinator magnet and so do the bees and butterflies. Insects were tucked in this morning, owing to the chill and clouds, but they’ll find this rich source of nectar and pollen when the sun returns and the temperatures warm.

This Spiderwort, Tradescantia, sp., has popped up from last years’ roots at the base of a winter-tawny Big Muhly, Muhlenbergia lindheimeri. That splash of green has been a colorful companion to the muted grass since early December. Now, the green will be topped by rich purple to augment its beauty.

The spiderworts couldn’t have chosen a tougher place to plant themselves. Facing west, these two clusters sit at the curb, not even in the garden-proper. I never water this area, it only receives what bounty the sky delivers. There will be more spiderwort blooms in the coming months–from these two and many others throughout my garden–then the foliage will disappear, the roots in hiding from the long, hot summer. The muhly will provide some coverage, as new growth drapes over the curb and spiderworts’ spot, but this area is hot and dry most of the year.

It has begun, this renewal of life. Birds and squirrels chase their potential partners and rivals; flirtation as the rule of the first kind of chase, establishing territory the point of the second. The main winter clean-up work in my garden is finished, or nearly so, and change in the garden will be a daily, if not hourly, occurrence. Game-on, Spring!

February Backyard Birds

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Temperatures are mild, days are lengthening, and February is nearly half over. My back garden birds have increased in number and appetite as they await and anticipate Spring’s renewal.

This lovely Pine Warbler, Setophaga pinus, is a regular in the garden this winter. Austin is just barely in this warbler species’ nonbreeding range and it’s only in the past couple of years that I’ve enjoyed their company during winter’s dormancy. This year, two of these warblers hang in the garden, though I typically see just one at a time, mostly this pretty boy.

He’s easy to spot in trees and shrubs as he present himself as a dash of rich yellow, foraging busily for insects. In my garden, he favors peanuts, offered from a feeder and hopefully a decent substitute for Pine Warblers’ preference for pine seeds, which my garden lacks. Pine guy works the branches, the peanut and suet feeders, but also spends time on the ground, hopping through fall planted iris straps and December fallen oak leaves.

There’s usually a lucky piece of peanut found among the leaves, twigs, and ceramic armadillos, and this little bird is good at finding the nummies.

Downie and Red-bellied Woodpeckers are year-round daily visitors, but a new-to-my-garden bird is this Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Dryobates scalaris. Austin is clearly in the nonbreeding range for this handsome guy, but I’ve only seen him visit my garden in recent months.

I’ve noticed in walks around my neighborhood that I’ve seen him, or another of his kind, flitting around Live Oak trees, so clearly there’s probably more than one Ladder-backed bro. I don’t know if this is a new population, but I’m chuffed he’s joined the bird gang that includes my garden as their place to dine and socialize.

I like this patient Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, who perched, surveilling his realm, while I snapped some shots. I’ve noticed territorial chasing between birds; it’s that time of year, I suppose. The Red Bud tree where he perched grows in a garden with evergreen shrubs and where Mocks have previously built nests and raised chicks. I hope this site will host another family or two of these cheeky, charming birds.

I couldn’t resist the bum shot of this cute Carolina Wren, Thryothorus ludovicianus. I’m seeing more action from the couple that lives in this area and enjoying the male’s song, always the early-bird first of each morning.

Another bum shot, but of the Carolina’s cousin, a Bewick’s Wren, Thryomanes bewickii.

Last Spring and for the first time ever, my garden hosted a darling Bewick’s couple and they fledged three equally darling chicks, which you can read about here. In recent days, the two adults are once again checking our their birdhouse and chastising me if I’m lingering too close. I look forward to more beautiful songs, some annoyed-at-me chittering from mom and dad, and observing the remarkably devoted parents as they raise a new family later in April and May.

I’m deep in winter pruning, the garden transforming from the remains of a year’s growth, full and lush, to a decidedly minimalist look. Spring wildflowers have emerged and will act as colorful, pollinator feeders until the perennials rise up again, to settle into their important roles in the garden as food sources and protection for wildlife, as well as aesthetic sustenance for the gardener.