I Could Get Used To This

We've enjoyed a run of fine days here at the Aerie. If you discount the brief but heavy showers that moved through the area late Saturday afternoon, there's hardly been a cloud in the sky. Over night the temperatures have fallen to around 40 degrees and during the day they have been in the 65 degree range.

As a result, I've been spending time putting seeds and plants into the garden. Several rows of string bean and cucumber seeds have been sown and sixteen zucchini plants have been put in. If we have any success at all, we should have plenty of beans for the freezer, cukes for pickles and relish, and cukes and zukes for salads and the dinner table. And, if the zucchini do their usual thing, there should be plenty for zucchini bread as well. Maybe even some to annoy the neighbors.

The lawn I thought I had done a good job of clearing dandelions from has sprouted a host of yellow flowers that bears witness to the fact that I was sadly mistaken. Perhaps I should start harvesting some for a foray into wine making.

All but one of the shrubs I put in are looking pretty good. The one exception is a burning bush. It's looking droopy every afternoon despite a heavy dose of water. Both burning bushes had the weakest of root systems when they came out of the pots so it doesn't surprise me too much. If it doesn't recover in a week or so, I may have to go back and make a claim against Lowes' one-year guarantee.

I had planned on heading up to the Bolt Hole early in the week, but with the weather so nice, I've postponed that trip until Wednesday. That will allow me to do a little more yard work and attend the Grand Canyon Photography Club meeting Tuesday night.

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The cats have had assistance in their early morning wake up alarm system the last few days. One or more Hermit Thrushes have taken to adding their voices to the early morning cacophony. They, the Robins, the Towhees and a very persistent Yellowthroat make for quite a racket just outside the window at 5-5:30 AM. Perhaps these birds have also been waking the cats.

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I've not been putting the bird feeders out and that has pissed off the squirrels. They've been coming to the door and window of the Aerie pretty much demanding I get with the program. This has excited--and provided entertainment for--the cats who race from door to door to window following the squirrel protest marchers.

Without the attraction of the feeders, the number of daytime avian visitors has decreased considerably. Either they are out foraging on their own or they've found another sucker source of seed.

So far as I can tell, the lack of spilled seed and/or forgotten feeders has also cut back on our bruin visitors. We've had nothing on the deck since I pulled the feeders on Thursday night. That's a good thing. Mr. Bear has got to learn to find his own source of food elsewhere. Hopefully it won't include beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and onions.

We did another bird walk this morning. Today we visited Colton Point State Park on the western rim of the Grand Canyon of PA. The idea was to see all the warblers that typically stop off there as spring time rolls around but while there were numerous individuals of select species, things weren't as happening as we thought they might be. Most of the trees have yet to leaf out and the warblers typically like the young leaves and the insects they attract. We tallied only 18 species in a two hour walk along the canyon rim. The highlights included many Blackburnian and Black-and-white Warblers as well as a Red-eyed Vireo and a Blue-headed Vireo. Here's the entire report I submitted to eBird:

Location: Colton Point
Observation date: 5/7/11
Notes: First time at Colton Pt. this year. Mostly sunny with temps starting at 45 rising to 60 degrees. Many trees have yet to open their buds or are just barely starting...seems late.
Number of species: 18

Canada Goose X
Common Merganser (North American) X
Turkey Vulture X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Eastern Phoebe X
Blue-headed Vireo X
Red-eyed Vireo X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Tree Swallow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Hermit Thrush X
Northern Parula X
Black-throated Blue Warbler X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Blackburnian Warbler X
Black-and-white Warbler X
Eastern Towhee X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

More Plantings at the Aerie

I spent the better part of Friday afternoon planting six more shrubs along the edge of the Aerie's lawn. Two Spirea, two Lilacs, and two Burning bushes went in the ground with the help of the backhoe on the tractor. If I had had to dig the holes by hand, I'd still be at it. Lots and lots of rock, including one doozy that made me change the location of a planned hole because it was too freakin' huge!

Still have to do some seed planting but, after a morning of birding, I'm looking at some very, very dark thunderstorm clouds heading this way. We've already had a couple of very short but drenching showers--interspersed with bright sunshine, just to be interesting. Planting is off for today!

The forecast is looking good for the next few days--after 8 PM tonight. Once this front moves through, we should have mostly sunshine until Wednesday or so. The same is true up north at the Bolt Hole, though and I may opt to head up there for a couple of days to see if I can finish the rewiring. Or I could stick around and take advantage of the good weather to put some string bean, zuke and cuke seeds in the ground.

Bear Visitor at the Aerie--Again

I was a bit late getting the bird feeders in last evening. Instead of 7:30 or so, It's as more 8:30 when I went out to get them. And that was too late. Something had beaten me to the task. The suet feeder was gone and one of the stick feeders was on the ground with its top off and all the seed gone. The other stick feeder was still on the shepherd's crook, but it was empty also. As was the larger metal feeder hanging on the telephone pole. Since one of the shepherd's hooks was bent, I figured the culprit to be a bear. Again.

Later around 10:30, while Terry and I were watching an early episode of

NCIS

on USA (yeah, it IS addictive), I thought I heard something on the deck and all the cats suddenly went on high alert--i.e. their curiosity got them to stare intently in the direction of the deck with their ears cocked for full reception. I grabbed a flashlight and sure enough, Mr. Bruin had come back to empty the tray feeder on the deck. He wasn't too concerned about the light but, discovering there was nothing in the tray, ambled off the deck and back to the spilled seed on the ground by the feeder station. There, he plopped himself down and started to wish for a full feeder instead of having to sweep up the food from the ground.

He's a decent sized bear. I was able to get an idea of his size as he leaned on the rail of the deck and looked over the side and as he slow walked past the sliding door to go back down to the yard. I would estimate he's about my size and would probably tip the scales at 225-250 pounds. But his snout is still elongated. I thought thin and pointy (more like a German shepherd's) snouts usually indicated a youngish bear. I couldn't be sure, but his coat was either matted with sunflower seeds (or suet) or he had several wounds on his flanks and back. There were distinctly lighter marks smaller than a dime in several locations.

I'll hold the feeders in for a couple of days and let the birds, chipmunks and squirrels act as clean-up crew to get any uneaten seeds off the ground. I'm down to my last bag of sunflower seeds anyway and this might help stretch things out.

So far having Mr. Bruin around is only a nuisance and I would like it to remain that way. I can excuse a few damaged/destroyed bird feeders. I shouldn't be leaving them out over night anyway.

Plantings at the Aerie

A beautiful spring day here at the Aerie. The sun was shining all day and the temperatures rose to around 58 degrees. More importantly, things were able to dry out considerably under the sun and a steady 20-25 mph breeze.

I went out to Lowes this morning to pick up some shrubs for around the Aerie. I got four Rhododendrons, two Burning Bushes, two Forsythias, two Spirea, and three Bleeding Hearts. I also picked up three bags of potting soil (32 quarts each) and two bags of soil modifier (1.5 cu. ft. each). As you might surmise, my afternoon was planned for me.

After lunch I dug four holes for the Rhodies just off the covered deck. Digging necessitated the use of a long handled shovel and a 16 pound steel bar. Have I ever mentioned that the hill (and consequently the fill) upon which the Aerie is constructed is stone and clay? The stone was hard and the clay was wet.

The four holes produced about four cubic feet of a mix of stone and clay--a 50-50 mix. I screened that to get the larger stones out and mixed it 50-50 with a bag of soil enhancer. The four plants went in, the mixed soil was placed around them and tamped down and then all four were given a generous drink of water.

It took almost three hours by which time I was a hurting puppy. My back ached. My knees ached. My arms ached. With luck, however, those Rhodies will grow to descent size and produce lovely pink blossoms in late May early June. Each currently has 5 or 6 buds that will open this year--and they are only about 16 inches tall.

Terry planted the three Bleeding Hearts near the front door. That area gets almost no sunlight which is perfect for these shade loving plants. We already had three there and they are loving it! There had been a fourth, but when we had the stone applied to the foundation last year, Don couldn't help but stomp on one and killed it.

Tomorrow I get to plant the other six plants. I think I'll get the backhoe out to assist.

Big Brother is Watching!

We've all seen it in use on TV shows. Government agents hit a few keys and they can pin point exactly where and which computer a suspect is using. Or they can trace a cell phone call to within a few feet anywhere in the world.

Well, I was recently sent a link to a site that can accurately locate me!

It's really unbelievable. I was surprised to learn that such technology was available to just anyone already..

You don't need a GPS, a tom-tom or tom cat or whatever ---

It uses your IP address and finds the exact location of any internet user in seconds. It uses a sophisticated time based algorithm to do so. Try it and find your own location on the earth.

Your location will pop up in a new window in about 10 seconds or so.
Click on the link below......

http://www.darnay.com/iec/features/locator/index.html

What the Hey?

(h/t Theo Spark)

I don't know, but wouldn't this make you want to go out a purchase a Scion. (Or go watch lots of Benny Hill videos.)

More Aerie Birds, May 4, 2011

Just a few bird photos from the backyard.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

The smaller of the two nuthatches in the region, this little guy is a darting piece of dapperness. It will swoop in to snatch a bit of suet or a sunflower seed and then head for the trees to eat its treat. Like it's larger cousin the White-breasted Nuthatch, it will forage along the trunks of trees looking for insects, spiders and their eggs by hopping down the bole of the tree head first.

Chipping Sparrow

The smallest of sparrows, this little bird sports a rusty red beret and a clean grey breast. It's a ground feeder and will be found scratching for seeds beneath the shrubs or along the sides of trails.

Eastern Towhee

This used to be called the "Rufus-sided Towhee" for obvious reasons. The bright red eye is a distinguishing characteristic shared by both sexes--which is good because the female is much more drab in appearance being mostly an earthy brown. Another ground feeder, it will scratch for seeds and insects by kicking both feet simultaneously. It has a very loud and distinctive song that commands that you "Drink your tea!"

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

This rather stubby, chubby robin-sized bird with brilliant black and white plumage with a bright red bib is a welcome visitor in the summer.

American Goldfinch

The male's bright yellow and black highlights make this a welcome and colorful summer visitor. Large flocks can be seen at feeders and along the side of the road where weeds have grown tall. We've so many that it looks like we've decorated our trees with yellow Easter eggs.

One other recent and notable visitor is the Indigo Bunting. One appeared on the deck yesterday as we were eating our lunch. It stayed only long enough to grab a couple of sunflower seeds before heading off into the trees. We've had them around the place every summer so there's no reason to believe he won't be back.