Lesser Goldfinch Feeding Frenzy

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Tina

After the massive autumn flowering of Plateau Goldeneye, Viguiera dentata, and pollinators, especially honeybees, have taken their cut of the action, flowers segue to seeds, and birds replace bees.

In the last few weeks, each time I walk outside or come home from elsewhere, there’s a whoosh of wings upwards–with accompanying chirps–to the relative safety of nearby taller trees and shrubs. Tiny Lesser Goldfinches, Spinus psaltria, are come-and-go visitors in my garden throughout the year. In October and November, their numbers increase, along with their appetites, as they favor the seeds of the Plateau Goldeneye shrubs.

This little male doesn’t look frenzied, but he and his crew energetically work the shrubs, nibbling delectable goldeneye seeds as they bop along slender limbs, stopping only to munch. .

These little cuties are also contortionists, noshing right-side up, up-side down, and sideways. Their determination to pluck available seeds is hampered only by limitations of wings, claws, and beaks.

Bum’s-up, little fella!

While it’s impossible to count how many goldfinches are feeding during the frenzy, the flock(s) are made up of both male and female, and there are a also plenty of juveniles in the mix as well.

I never got a good photo of a pretty, but sedately colored, female, but they are just as active and hungry as their male counterparts. Here’s a shot of one, in early summer of 2021, enjoying the bounty of a different sunflower plant.

Often, a goldfinch couple feeds together, either on the same branch or near one another. As winter approaches and the seed sources disappear, I’ll see Lesser Goldfinches visit my feeders.

Until they’ve vanquished this year’s goldeneye seed crop, I’ll hear their song and enjoy their frenzied antics!

Berry Brunch

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Tina

This arching, medium-sized shrub, an American Beautyberry, Calicarpa americana, is laden with luscious purple berries, though the berries won’t be on their stems for long.

Beautyberries are food for a host of critters, but in my garden, it’s mostly mammals and birds who love these ridiculously purple fruits. Recently I watched as a couple of young, peckish male House Finches spent time enjoying the fruits of the shrub’s labors.

As I observed their brunch munching, I didn’t think they were particularly messy eaters, but I guess berry parts and juice will get stuck on beaks.

I like this shot. It looks like the berry is speared onto the bottom of the bird’s beak. Well, who hasn’t had that problem?

Late summer, moving toward autumn, many berrying native plants here in Central Texas reach their zenith in food production and beauty. I grow only one beautyberry shrub, but two Roughleaf Dogwood trees, Cornus drummondii, have their homes in my garden. The older, larger tree’s berries ripened in August and were quickly made into meals, stems now reaching out as if they miss their spherical hats.

The younger, smaller tree still offers a few clusters of creamy fruits.

I find it challenging to get clear photos of birds as they dine at the dogwoods. Birds tend to stay in the center of the trees, reaching up or out to snatch the fruits. Plenty of foliage for hiding and nervous bird movements mean that the trees have their fruits stripped, while birds are relatively safe from prying eyes (and cameras) as they eat. This year, Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, and European Starlings were the most frequent diners of the dogwoods’ treats

While it’s a win to catch decent photos of nibbling birds, I’m content to observe wildlife eating healthy, native berries from my garden. After all, feeding the wild things is why I plant what I plant!

Pollinator Week

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Tina

Hosted by Pollinator Partnership, June 17-23 is a week to celebrate pollinators in the garden. It’s easy to nurture a pollinator garden: plant flowers and the pollinators will come. Every season provides opportunities to grow plants that pollinators need for survival. Some pollinators are common throughout the growing season, while others appear only when certain flowers are available. Still others are migratory, showing up in the garden as they travel to other destinations to complete their life cycles. Pollinators add beauty and movement to a garden, and are indicator species of a healthy ecosystem; good gardeners always strive for a healthy ecosystem. Choose native plants in your garden, if available, but many non-native plants are excellent pollinator providers. Seasonal wildflowers, perennials and shrubs, as well as flowering trees will all attract and sustain pollinators of every stripe, wing, and kind. Pollinator insects include beetles, bugs, bees, flies, butterflies and moths. And don’t forget that bats and birds also pollinate.

So if you want something like this:

Gray Hairstreak, *Strymon melinus* on Zexmenia, *Wedelia acapulcensis* var. *hispida*

…or this:

Honeybee on Spiderwort, *Spiderwort* sp.

…or these:

Honeybee and Monarch Butterfly, *Danaus plexippus,* on Gregg’s Mistflower, *Conoclinium greggii*

…or this:

Red Admiral, *Vanessa atalanta* on American Basket Flower, *Centaurea americana*

…or these:

Two different native bees on Four-nerve Daisy, *Tetraneuris scaposa*

…or these:

Checkered White, *Pontia protodice* (R) and Dainty Sulphur, *Nathalis iole* (L) on Zexmenia bloom

…or this:

Queen Butterfly, *Danaus gilippus,* on Blue Curls, *Phacelia congesta*

…use native and well-adapted plants in your garden and the pollinators will come.

Insects and plants evolved together and form an interdependent partnership. Good gardeners accept that plants are eaten by beneficial insects, including those that become pollinators. So a little garden patience is required, understanding that some plants will show foliage damage–and that’s just fine. In particular, native plants are resilient and a little foliage munching by a pollinator juvenile won’t kill the plant.

Before they become jeweled and winged things, butterflies and moths are caterpillars, like this stripey beauty, an Eastern Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes, caterpillar or larva. It will eat and eat, then grows and grows. Yes, the very hungry caterpillar causes some damage to the foliage, as well as leaving some poop, but look at that fat, healthy caterpillar!

Fennel is a host plant for Eastern Black Swallowtails

In time, a nice home will chemically form for the transformation from larva to adult butterfly.

Eventually, the adult insect emerges and joins the throngs of other pollinators in the diverse and thriving garden, nectaring from a wide array of plants, for both its and the plants’ benefit.

Eastern Black Swallowtail on American Basket flower

Pollinator gardening is a win for everyone! Pollinator gardening is easy, rewarding, and will usher the gardener to observe and appreciate a whole new community–right on their own plot of the Earth.

If you plant them, they will come.