Ice Arrives

Posted on January 21, 2025 by Tina

This winter has seen plenty of overnight light freezes in my garden, but only in the last few days were the conditions ripe for the formation of Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, ice sculptures. Two mornings ago, the day dawned cold, bright and sunny, with icy, exploded frostweed a new addition to the garden.

As I trundled around the garden, I observed many low-to-the-ground ice sculptures revealing themselves in light and shadow. Many plants produce ice sculptures during the first hard freeze of the season, but none with quite the drama of frostweed.

Morning sun highlighted fanned crystal formations, held firm along broken stems, as sturdy braces

The temperature never rose above freezing that day and into the night, the fragile ice sculptures held. Indeed, by the next morning, many of the sculptures had expanded. The second day was cloudy, no sun rays to brighten the ice. Some newer sculptures, instead of traveling upwards the stems, remained close to the ground, the ice reminiscent of floral decorations from warmer days past.

I haven’t pruned the winter garden, at least not in any major way. But here, it’s clear that stems were cut, the ice crystals limited to hugging the ground, swirling around the stems, snuggled on fallen leaves.

Frozen water proves stronger than sturdy stems.

This frostweed created the tallest of the ice formations in my garden, whirls around the stems, some 2 feet up from the ground. Green winter grass, coupled with some evergreen wildflower foliage, is a fetching background to the ice and winter-dormant stems.

Compare this photo with the first: it’s the same plant with more ice, less intact stems. Such is the way of frostweed ice sculpture work, rendering a new paradigm for the plants’ seasonal life. It’s an end, of a sort, though in reality, only a resting time. The roots below are priming for spring green.

This morning, snow is a light blanket in my garden. It’s not a powdery substance, but instead, sleet and snow mixed. It’s also quiet, the birds mostly still asleep or too cold to sing, except for the Carolina Wren–he’s awake. The Grey Fox, a regular night visitor to my garden, was out last night, caught on the wildlife camera prancing around the white ground, probably hunting. I hope it’s now in some warm, protect place, resting for the adventures to come.

This winter ice, whether snow, sleet, or busted plant stems, is fleeting–like so many things in the garden.

Hermit Thrush

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Tina

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

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.