It wasn’t the signature hoot of a Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus, that alerted me to its presence in a neighbor’s big, beautiful Live Oak tree early this morning, but instead, the vociferous complaints of a mob of Blue Jays, Cyanocitta cristata.
I think this gorgeous bird is a juvenile Great Horned Owl, most likely last year’s hatch. It could be an adult, as our neighborhood has sustained at least one pair of nesting Great Horns for years.
Just after I returned from visiting stunning Costa Rica in November, for several weeks each day, I heard a call that I couldn’t identify, even with the Merlin app sound feature. In time, my neighbor (and sister-in-law) discovered that the call is the ‘begging call‘ that young owls use for catching the attention of their adults. Once they’ve left their parents’ tutelage, young owls use that call for a time to let their parents know where they are located in the wider world.
Handsome Bird stayed in the tree for at least an hour, with its Blue Jay back up screamers serving as annoying company.
Blue Jay nemesis perches on the branch just above the owl, cawing nonstop.
As I snapped photos, the big, beautiful bird turned southward, spread its magnificent wings, and flew to a quieter spot. Maybe it’ll get some rest today, before hunting commences at sundown.
Winter placed its chilly hands on the garden these last two days, including gifting a thin layer of ice in the backyard birdbaths this morning. But the weather pattern is in flux with each passing day as the march toward winter’s end and spring’s beginning commences here in Central Texas. Later this week, the forecast is for high 70s, possibly warmer. Even without that warm smooch, the plants in my garden are raring to go and ramping up for the 2024 growing season.
On a cloudy day last week, I noticed (as yet uneaten) fruit on the Possumhaw Holly, Ilex decidua, keeping company with emerging new foliage. I like this great example of seasonal transition period. Blue Jays, Northern Mockingbirds, and Grey Squirrels are feasting on the fruit, but I’m waiting for a flock of Cedar Waxwings to swoop in and render the fruit a sweet memory.
Four-nerve Daisy, Tetraneuris scaposa, never stops blooming, though some of mine were freezer-burned in January during a very cold week. Now? The sunny yellow blooms are spring-bright and open for pollinator business.
This small (maybe?) native Halictidae bee found a sweet spot for nectar sipping and pollen gathering one afternoon. I didn’t disturb its hunt for the sweet stuff as I puttered in the garden.
Four-nerve Daisies are barely damaged by most freezes, but in the above photo, on the right side, you can see a bloom stalk that would have flowered in late January, except for that one deep-frozen week. The other bloom stalks emerged post-hard freeze.
On another day, another, different native Halictidae bee, busily works a daisy bloom.
Some of the earliest blooms in my garden (and occasionally some of the latest) are Spiderworts; a handful have emerged from green foliage to grace the garden and feed hungry pollinators. A favorite early flower for many types of bees, from mid-March until mid-May, my garden will be awash in an array of purple-to-pink blooms.
Those plants whose blooms appear later in spring and summer are flushing out with verdant foliage, like this rosette of Blue Curls (also called Caterpillars), Phacelia congesta.
A couple of young Blue Curls accompany a robust rosette of American Basket-flower, Centaurea americana. Both promise plenty of flowering and pollinator action later this year. The rich green foliage is a welcome change from winter’s muted tones.
This potted American Century Plant, Agave americana, enjoys some foliage friends in the form of one European Poppy (right), a Blue Curl (left), and a front-n-center Carolina geranium, Geranium carolinianum.
I grow five Desert Globemallow shrubs, Sphaeralcea ambigua. This gorgeous plant is a cool season bloomer here in Central Texas and requires full, blasting sun and decent drainage. Ruffly, sage-green leaves pairs beautifully with Dreamsicle orange blooms.
This globemallow withstands hard freezes, but if the temperature falls in the the teens–or lower–damage will occur. My shrubs experienced some freeze damage in January’s freeze, but all are producing blooms on the healthy stems–much to a variety of bees’ delight.
Honeybees are out and about, collecting for the the hive!
I fed the honeys during that cold week, but there’s been enough flowering (I think…) during most of this winter, plus both hives had honey stores. Our first hive check is on the to-do list for this next week to assess how the ladies are and how much honey, if any, remains from last season.
I’ve been engaged with winter pruning of the garden, but I’m nearly done. I let leaves remain on the ground, further protecting and nourishing life, and eventually decaying for future growing seasons.
The garden has awakened, its inhabitants ready to live and reproduce. Plants and critters are in sync with their companion life-cycles.
Throughout the seasons, it’s fun and educational to watch backyard birds. Winter-to-late spring brings a wider variety of feathered friends and with each day marching toward spring breeding season, avian activity ramps up. Over-wintering, migratory birds have settled in, as much as they will do, until their need to breed becomes so demanding that the birds set forth northward to their nesting sites.
This season there are at least three Orange-crowned Warblers, Leiothlypis celata, visiting my garden each day. Sometimes, all three are perched in bare shrubs and trees, sometimes they’re chasing one another, and sometimes one–or all three–are at the feeders, gobbling up the good stuff.
I’m not sure whether this cutey is a male or female; it never turned just so, to allow me a good enough look at a possible masculine orange dab atop its little head. But it ate contentedly, the seed cylinder being a popular spot for many birds, including all three of the Orange-crowned Warblers.
So far this winter, only one female Yellow-rumped Warbler, Setophaga coronata, has visited the garden. She likes peanuts and the offerings from the seed cylinder,
…but she also forages along the ground. The yellow rump has not presented itself for a decent photo, but stay tuned, because at some point I’ll get a chance to document that butter butt.
This Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Corthylio calendula, bopped along the bare limb of one of the Red Oak trees, pausing just long enough for me to snag a shot. These are tiny, flitty birds, which I see only in winter. They don’t visit feeders often, but enjoy nibbling small insects on trees and shrubs. Males sport a truly ruby-red tuft of feathers which they’ll show when flirting with females or mansplaining to other males. I don’t know if this one is a male, its ruby feathers weren’t visible. The kinglet’s tiny size and wing bars, not to mention its endearing face, are other reliable identifiers of this bird.
Red-winged Blackbirds, Agelaius phoeniceus, are spring to early summer visitors, but a crew with a couple of males and several females have been hanging around the garden. This attractive female sat still for a moment, taking a break from her meal of seeds and nuts.
White-winged Doves are ubiquitous in Austin’s urban settings, including my garden. They’re here. Lots of them. Year-round. Maybe because they’re so common, I’m not interested in them, but I’m also not particularly fond of them; I refer to them as rats with wings. But during winter Mourning Doves, Zenaida macroura, like these two sweethearts, hang out in the garden on warm, clear days, sunbathing and pecking at what has dropped on the ground from the trees and feeders. These rarer (to my garden) birds are most welcome.
Black-crested Titmice, Baeolophus atricristatus, are year-round resident birds, singing melodically and favoring the peanut and sunflower seeds.
In winter, after leaf drop, it’s easier to spy these diminutive, darling birds. There are not many critters more charming than a titmouse.
Woodpeckers have returned; they’re scarce during autumn, after babies are raised and fledged. Parents need a break, I guess. Recently, I’ve enjoyed the antics of three Downy Woodpeckers, Dryobates pubescens: two females (like this one) and one male, who sports a bright red hat. I often hear the Downies well before I spot them in the Red Oak trees.
The Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Melanerpes carolinus, are also around this February. This pretty boy, and sometimes a female, enjoy the peanuts I offer. They’re particularly shy around me, but once they’re on the feeders, they defend their meal-time munchies, even from bullying Blue Jays.
You’ll notice that the head is red, but the bird is named after its belly–where there is a blush of red, not seen in this photo. There exists a Red-headed Woodpecker and it lives in this area, though I’ve never seen one in my garden. I’m still waiting and watching…
This ruddy male House Finch, Haemorhous mexicanus, peeks around the safflower feeder at me, while the sunshine yellow male Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria, glances shyly away from the camera. Lesser Goldfinches come and go in my garden throughout the year. They enjoy the seeds of Plateau Goldeneye and common sunflowers, but they visit the safflower or sunflower seed feeders if they fancy a less foliaged dining spot. This Lesser, along with his ruddy buddy House Finch, certainly add cheery spots of color in the otherwise muted winter garden.
It’s easier to notice male House Finches, though not because they’re more common than the females, but because they’re more colorful. That said, I think the females are adorable, if more subtly colored.
Look at that winsome face! House Finches are some of my favorite birds, and fortunately for my backyard bird watching, always around. They’re social and chatty birds, visiting with one another as they eat. Honestly, they never shut up!
Other birds have come into the garden, too. The neighborhood Cooper’s Hawk and Red Tail Hawks swoop through from time-to-time. Sadly, my Eastern Screech Owl(s) are gone and I’m disappointed; I’ll miss (yet again!) their beautiful early morning trilling and their enchanting chicks, but there are other Screeches in my neighborhood who are settling in to their nest boxes. Hopefully, I’ll be able to observe their families.
European Starlings and Monk Parakeets have visited, neither of which I’m crazy about. I like the Monks: they’re beautiful and entertaining–total clowns–but they hog the safflower feeder. They’re not bullies like the starlings, but they scare all the smaller birds due to their size and their refusal to leave the feeders once they’ve started eating. The also make a bit of a mess…
With each passing day, I’m adding more seeds and peanuts to the feeders. I’m hearing more calls and bird son, and witnessing more bird activity. Winter is still a thing, but it’s clear to me that spring is not too far away and I think wildlife knows that too!
My Gardener Says... 