Tag Archives: Wildlife Gardening

Hermit Thrush

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As summer wrapped up and autumn commenced, the neighborhood birds quieted their activities. They’re around–nibbling here, noshing there–yet have been infrequent visitors to the sunflower and safflower feeders that hang in the garden. I do see plenty of bird activity midst the seed and berry producing perennials–that’s why I planted them! As I stroll through, rustling in the underbrush produces a flight of feathers to higher perches, but it’s difficult to catch good glimpses or clear photos of these winged wild things.

Autumn’s migratory season is a memory. I observe fewer birds in both number and variety during autumn migration compared with during spring migration. This autumn there was a quick look-see of a Baltimore Oriole, Icterus galbula, and brief barely-there view of a Yellow-breasted Chat, Icteria virens. Smaller, muted-colored birds are always a challenge to watch, but they were here, in limited numbers: Nashville Warblers, Lincoln Sparrows, Common Yellowthroats, and the like. Some moved on to winter homes south of Central Texas, but others remain, settling in for winter, before spring beckons to recreate their families. There’s at least one Orange-crowned Warbler, Leiothlypis celata, and one Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Corthylio calendula, in my back garden on a regular basis. Whether these two are males or females, I have yet to discern.

The migrant who stayed long enough for the watcher to watch was this handsome Hermit Thrush, Catharus guttatus. What a sweet little face it has and how about those breast/tummy spots?

It mostly hunted and pecked along the ground, looking for seeds and small insects as its busy beak swept back and forth along the ground and through mulched areas. After a while, it took a break from its meal-finding to splash in a bath. Here, resting, it shows off its rufous backside. Hermit Thrush’s tails show a redder hue than other thrush tails.

September through November is a quiet time, an empty nest time, for the resident birds and I miss their feathery antics and calls. During this time, they rest, their adult bird needs minimal. As the days grow shorter, then lengthen, the birds become more active, preparing for the territorial-defending and calorie-consuming seasonal mating and chick rearing responsibilities revisited on an annual basis in spring and summer. The increased attentiveness in the garden, coupled with winter-visiting migratory birds, will make for interesting bird watching in the coming months.

Lesser Goldfinch Feeding Frenzy

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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!

A Flutter of Butterflies

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Sightings of migrating Monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, have been few and far between this autumn. I’ve observed one or two, here and there, the burnished beauties’ wafting through my garden, wings wide open, brightened honey-colored by the sun’s rays. By late September and early October, despite ongoing drought and heat, some of the Monarchs’ favorite blooms were in full, flowering mode, ready and waiting for brief visits from the passing butterflies.

Frostweed, Verbesina virginica is always a favorite.

Gregg’s Mistflower, Conoclinium greggii, is another autumn blooming Monarch magnet.

Pollinators, including Monarchs, love Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii.

Though it was heartening to see the Monarchs, a few passing through doesn’t suggest a migrating group.

That changed a wee bit this past last week. For a couple of days, I counted 14-15 Monarchs working the graceful flowers of my Mexican Orchid Tree, Bauhinia mexicana.

Here, there’s one in the foreground and two in the background; there’s also a little dab of umber in the left background. That brown beauty is a Queen, Danaus gilippus, a cousin to the Monarch.

These two Monarchs worked the orchid tree flowers, while in the blurry background, False Willow or Poverty Weed, Baccharis neglecta, hosts its own party of pollinators. The willow attracts many native bees, honeybees, and some of the small skippers. It’s alive with movement.

I probably should have shot a video of the fluttering butters rather than trying to capture photos. The darned things continually moved from bloom to bloom and when they were bored with that, played hide-n-seek behind the ungulate-shaped foliage. I’d focus on one or two, then whoosh, they wing out of the camera’s sight. It was nigh impossible for this picture-taker to capture the glorious activity around the flowers.

This small group, welcome though it was, doesn’t come close to the numbers of Monarchs that have graced my garden in the past. But given the survival challenges that Monarchs face, I am pleased that there were so many for a day or two, and that I had ready for them nectar-rich food sources. Recent research has suggested that the migrating Monarchs are losing the will to migrate, due to a host of factors. For more information about this sad, but perhaps evolutionary trend, check out this article from Texas Butterfly Ranch.

I’m not sure if the group I observed constitutes a flutter of butterflies–a term that refers to a mass of butterflies, but I do love the use of the term flutter, along with the other words used for butterfly gangs, like the following: a flight of butterflies, a kaleidoscope of butterflies, a rainbow of butterflies, a shimmer of butterflies, a swarm of butterflies, and a wing of butterflies.

Many or one, Monarchs are a joy to witness, a balm for the soul.