Spring like weather...finally!

We've finally turned the corner and are experiencing spring-like weather. I must say that I am relieved that we are done with below freezing temperatures until October! Yay!!!

Chippy Chatter: I got an earful from The Chipster!

I was just sitting on my birding bench, behind the hummingbird feeder, when I heard a lot of chittering to my right. I looked over, and there was "The Chipster" giving me an earful of disgruntledness! Of course, he tolerates Drew and hangs out quietly nearby when Drew fills the bird feeder. Watch his/her behavior in the video below.

Thunderstorm

What? A thunderstorm in May???? Weird weather for us as it is still cool, with the temperature at 49F, at almost 10pm. When we moved here 20 years ago, you could count on one hand the number of thunderstorms we would have in a summer. Now, they are much more common...

Purty Birdies

I had a short period of time to go out and photograph birds in the vacinity of the bird feeding station, today. Since it was so warm, I sat out on the deck and quietly waited for birds to appear. I had my Nikon P1000 (which takes rather noisy photos, but allows me a lot of range) at the ready. And, here was the result.

Yup, you got it right! The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds arrived today! I took this shot early in the morning when the hummers were zipping around to gather food.

We also had Brown-headed Cowbirds flock in. The sun was in a perfect position to highlight this one's beautiful feathers. He was singing at the time of the photo.

I do love the coloring of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak male's breast. And, check out that beak! They eat seeds, fruits, and insects.

Speaking of common, but lovely birds...Check out this female Purple Finch! For such a small bird, their beak is rather robust;-) The shape is considered "conical", and it is larger than the beak of any sparrows. These birds love sunflower seeds!

And, the Downy Woodpecker gave me a good view of its tail. I enjoy watching how much birds use their tails for balance. Downy woodpeckers can be differentiated from Hairy Woodpeckers (that are a bit larger) by the black spots on the white outer tail feathers of the Downy Woodpecker. The Hairy Woodpecker does not have these spots.

Of course, I saved one of my favorite birds for last! I can't get enough of the Baltimore Orioles, and can't wait for their chicks to start visiting the feeding station.

Oh wait, I almost forgot... The "mewing" of this bird reminded me that he has also arrived. The Gray Catbird is another favorite bird. They love to sup on the jelly feeder and we'll have lots more photos of these cute birds as the season progresses!

Robin Redbreast

We have had robins nesting on both sides of the wood shed for several years. They have successfully raised lots of babies. And, this year is no different.

This nest was built last year and improved upon this spring.

I am assuming that there are eggs in the nest because the robins are causing a ruckus every time we get near the woodshed. This one gave me quite an earful. And, I said "You wouldn't have this nice roof over your nest if we hadn't built the woodshed, so quit your squawking!"

Bursting Buds - Red Maple Trees

As I continue on my mission to examine Bursting Buds, I am intrigued by the Red Maple trees. I have found that the Red Maple tree stem in the bird feeding station has only male flowers. Most of the flowers have fallen off, although you can see a few remaining. The leaves are now developing.

While the Red Maple tree in the triangle garden, off the front deck, has only female flowers and now has winged seeds developing. I also learned that Maple trees can have both male and female flowers on the same tree, although that isn't the case in the two trees that I am studying.

Magnolia Flower Anatomy

The magnolia is an ancient tree. There are fossil magnolias dating back to 58 million years ago. 

"...the most primitive of all living angiosperns belong to the subclass Magnoliidae. This subclass contains several primitive plant families, including the water-lily family (Nymphaeaceae), buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), and magnolia family (Magnoliaceae)" 

Armstrong, W. P. “The Magnolia Family (Magnoliaceae).”
https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/trmar98c.htm.

The flower bud is protected by tough bud scales that are quite hairy. The bud scales are pushed outward to reveal the flower.

The anatomy of the flowers is different from trees that developed later in Earth's history. The flowers are considered to be primitive as they don't have true petals. They have tepals (which are a combination of a sepal and a petal.) These tepals are tough and they are designed so as to protect the inner parts of the flower from beetles, which were the original pollinators of these ancient flowers. As the flower matures, the bud scales are shed.

As the flower opens up, it reveals a tight bundle of rose and yellow-colored, striped stamens that surround the stigmas on the ovary. You can just see a hint of yellow pollen on the inside of the stamens. And, the stigmas are sticking up like a bad hair day!

Stamens are attached to the base of the ovary and are arranged in a spiral pattern. As they mature, they spread outward. The stigmas are attached to pistils and capture pollen that eventually fertilizes ovaries. 

Eventually the tepals fall off revealing the green receptacle housing the ovaries. The stamen whorled at the base of the receptacle are the next to be shed.

Each pistil is attached to its own ovary. And the ovaries are housed in the green fingerlike receptacle. The stamen have fallen off as have most of the stigmas.

"Once pollination has taken place, these pollen-producing bodies are shed, revealing the cone-like ovary where seeds will form." 

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/magnolia-flower-61031.html

And, the end result of all this fabulous development are the beautiful, red aggregate fruits that contain seeds that develop in autumn. These fruits are...
"just like blackberries--except that blackberry fruits are fleshy, while magnolia fruits are dry."   Conrad, Jim. “Magnolia Flowers.” Https://www.backyardnature.net/fl_magno.htm.

April and May showers bring early spring flowers

My beautiful Boodroot is in full bloom, and is one of my earliest springtime flowers.

The Showwinner Tulips were the first to bloom, and their blooms are almost gone as the other tulips (I only have a few left that the moles haven't demolished) have flower buds on them. Whether they will still bloom after this cold morning freeze, only time will tell...

Daffodils are happy flowers. Each grouping is a beautiful bouquet.

They bring such joy to my life. I buy yellow giant daffodils to fill my eyes with the color of sunshine on dreary, springtime days in Maine.

Daffodils line the side yard and are in almost all of my flower beds. I have so many varieties. This particular grouping reminds me of women wearing pantaloons!

Enough about daffodils! I also have gorgeous Giant Hyacinths. There are yellow, purple, and pink ones that are in two of my stump gardens. Unfortunately, the moles have destroyed many of them.

And, to round out the earliest of the springtime flowers, is the delicate Spring Larkspur. I have three groupings that survived the initial planting, and they are all near my birding bench behind the feeding station. I love sitting on the bench and gazing down upon these pink beauties!

Spring birds

Well, the Baltimore Orioles have arrived.

And, they sure weren't expecting snow!

Drew made sure to put a roof over their heads to give them a bit of protection from the snow while they sup upon their grape jelly. By the way, the "roof" is an upside down flower pot base that Drew drilled a hole through to secure the hummingbird feeder to;-)

Late Spring Snow

What is going on out in our neck of the woods! We've got more snow...Oh noooo...

I hope the weather report is wrong that we could get upwards of 3". I'm hoping for no more than an inch!

Snow on and off until around noon, and then wind for the next week! Check out the "Feel-Like" temperatures in the low 20's. Brrr......

SNOW TOTAL FOR 2019-2020 WINTER SEASON = 63"