Tag Archives: Wildlife Gardening

After Dinner Drink?

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On a recent evening my back garden was honored with a visit from this immature Cooper’s Hawk, Astur cooperii, who spent time at one of my bird baths. The bird sat and surveyed its surroundings,

…took thirsty dives into the water,

…and with beak pointed to the sky, gulped, gulped, gulped, enjoying a cool water drink at the end of a day.

At first, I assumed he’d landed looking for dinner, but the squirrels were somewhat active (not directly under the hawk’s beak, but nearby) and birds were around, though giving this formidable predator its space. Cooper’s Hawks typically hunt birds, but I’ve witnessed one catch a squirrel. A successful predator will hunt whatever is available and catch-able.

I wouldn’t want to be on the catching end if these things–would you?

Given the hawk’s lack of interest in a meal and its focus on the water bowl, I wondered if this one had dined earlier, in some other venue, and was in my garden for its after dinner drink.

The hawk sat, sipped, looked around and eventually hopped to the opposite side of the water bowl. This young Cooper’s has a regal form: bright, intelligent eyes, glorious plumage, and a dignified figure.

My favorite photo of this half hour of hawk watching is this one.

The hawk has a I meant to do that! look on its face. Maybe it took a page out of the White-winged Dove book and pooped in the water? Or perhaps it belched a bit and was embarrassed? Do hawks belch? Do hawks get embarrassed?

Shortly afterwards, my hawk buddy winged to the overhead utility wires behind my property and then onward to its perch for the night.

I love to spy on the flitty birds in my garden, both migratory and resident. They’re quick, agile, easily hidden in the foliage and a triumph when I get a good look and photograph. That said, it’s rewarding and so much easier to watch and appreciate a bigger bird. It’s truly a gift when one lands and spends time resting in the garden.

Is it Me?

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I was puttering in the garden recently and came across this Green Anole, Anolis carolinensis ambling along the bark of a Flameleaf Sumac, Rhus lanceolata. He and I exchange looks, while he postured with his rosy dewlap. I wondered if he was annoyed at my presence–that’s certainly happened before.

I greeted him with a howdy bud, what’s up? but he only offered me a side-eye glare. After a minute or two and a rustle from a nearby shrub, I spied another anole dropped to the soil and skittering away.

I guess it wasn’t me after all!

Bees A’buzz

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It was a slow start to the carpenter and bumble bee action this year, I assume because of the heavy rains experienced in Central Texas in May and June/early July. But recently the garden is a’buzz with honeybees and a variety of native bees, including the big, noisy carpenter and bumble bees.

This Horsefly-like Carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis, worked the prolific blooms of a Flame Acanthus, Anisacanthus quadrifidus, in my front garden.

These charming bees are probably my favorite bees. They’re noisy and buzzy, darling in looks. I love their racing stripes and melt at their dreamy blue eyes.

I like this up-side-down visage: bee-butt up pointed upward, proboscis-leading snout concentrated on the liquid deep in the tubular nectar fonts where the bee’s proboscis is headed.

Nectar stealing or nectar robbing is when an insect pokes or bites a hole in flowers that are too deep or small for the insect to enter from the open bloom. The insect then sips nectar without entering the flower’s innards, bypassing direct pollination.

Ole Blue Eyes here is just about to deliver its pointy proboscis, aiming for the fleshy, thin petal and the sweet stuff inside. The bee sliced the petal with its formidable mandibles to gain entry.

Bum-up view of the nectar-stealing, nectar-sipping bee. While direct pollination isn’t happening, you’ll notice grains of pollen sprinkled on Ole Blue Eyes’ body. It’s likely that some of those grains will play a role in pollination.

The other bees I’m seeing more of–and a big Huzzah! for that–are American Bumble bees, Bombus pensylvanicus. These graceful, yellow-n-black sweethearts are working many kinds of flowers right now, but a favorite bumble dining spot are the blue blooms of Henry Duelberg Sage, Salvia farinacea, ‘Henry Duelberg’. Notice the pollen booty on this bee’s pollen pantaloon, also known as a corbicula. If you look carefully, you can see a dab of golden on the other side of the bee–no doubt that pantaloon also carries a load of pollen.

My garden always enjoys more insect action, especially of the pollinator kind, as the growing season progresses. Heavy rains in spring and early summer often damage ground and wood nesters, so their procreation is slowed. Those insects rally as summer heats up and stable weather patterns settle in. In a healthy, diverse garden community, the pollinators persevere, the garden flourishes, and the gardener gives thanks.