Hermit! Thrush and Other Spring Signs (CORRECTED)

Yesterday was a great day with sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s.  I saw my first butterfly, the Eastern Comma; and later in the afternoon, I spotted several lovely blue Spring Azure butterflies.  The toothwort was budding--should bloom any day this week.   Spring is here!

 I downloaded the pictures from my wildllife camera and was very surprised to see a Wood Thrush which was captured on St. Pat's day.  The temperature was 25 degrees.  He must have been thinking he came back to early from the tropics where he winters.   I can't wait to hear the sound of wood thrushes in the woods.  CORRECTION:  It's a Hermit Thursh--see comment below.   Some birder I am!

I also saw this Northern Flicker in the garden.  I captured this shot thru the screen window which acconts for the poor quality of the image.

He was looking for insects in this old cherry stump I had used for a flower pot stand in the garden.

The woodpeckers have been here all winter.  It is easy to distinguish between the Downy Woodpecker on the left and the much larger Hairy Woodpecker on the right side of the seed cake.

The temperature is 60 again and mostly sunny--time to get outside and work in the garden!

Downies Feeding and Cheap Solar

Downy Woodpeckers
I've been seeing lots of birds feeding their young at the birdfeeder--cardinals, downies, and red-bellied woodpeckers. This photo is of a downy father who had cracked the sunflower seed in the hole of the tree and then fed the baby. Later I saw the pair on the suet cake, the baby not feeding but waiting for the dad to give him his meal.



Solar Projects and the Gulf

With the disastrous oil gusher in the Gulf, I have been thinking a lot about the poor state of the environment. The Gulf will take decades to return but never to its former pristine state. With over 4000 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and companies suing the government to stop the deep water drilling moratorium (which only affects 35 drilling rigs!!), I feel helpless.

However, I was browsing some blogs (mainly Green Gal--see blog roll on right) and looking at several of her listed blogs. They made me feel a little better--lots of young people are trying to lead a green life, building their own homes, gardening, cycling, and recycling. Further, there are a lot of elder folks who have lived that way since the 70s. I was privledged to meet at few at the Naturalist Rally at Mt. Rogers (see post).

This solar water heating system was made by a retired man and was demonstrated at the Mt. Rogers Naturalist Rally last month. The two photovoltaic panels power the pump. The water flows through the PVC tubing against the black background, heating it quickly and then flows into the green water tank.

The elderly man said that this basic system is made of materials available at the hardware store. These solar systems were common in the 1930s before electricity was cheap and heavily promoted by industry and the government.


His wife demonstrated this solar oven, made of cardboard and aluminum foil. She and her husband travel to Africa to promote using solar ovens as a way to decrease deforestation.

I bought a sun oven a few years ago and have used it sporadically but did use it when I came home from the rally--it will bake brownies and make a good melted cheese sandwich but it's too small for much else. The highest temperature I recorded was 350 degrees.

Spurred by the oil spill, I also bought a battery-powered electric mower (Neutron). I figured I had to do something to use less oil. I ended up liking it much better than the gasoline mower--lighter and quieter. Also, there is no chance of spilling gasoline or oil which can leak into the ground.

Spring in the Virginia Woods

In the late morning yesterday, I sat outside on our back deck reading the newspaper, happy it was warm enough to do so. The birds were singing and the woodpeckers pecking up a storm. I put my paper down and closed my eyes, listening and identifying the bird sounds but then stopped, just enjoying the symphony. I then thought about their location--first the cardinals at 12:00, then the chickadees up close in a bush, the tufted titmouses at 10:00, the juncoes and white breasted sparrows on the ground, and the finches everywhere with their lovely songs. In the background, adding the percussion sounds, were all the drumming woodpeckers: the red bellied, downy, and sapsucker.

Then suddenly as if on cue, I heard the unmistakable loud drumming of the pileated woodpecker and then his call which sounds like a tropical bird.


Northern Flicker (March 24, 2009)

Just about that time, I saw a Northern Flicker, another very large woodpecker looking for insects on the ground and then hopping onto this tree so I could catch him with my camera.

You won't believe it but just as I was the writing this post, the Pileated Woodpecker was on a tree outside my window. I grabbed the camera and took this photo---liveblogging spring!


March 24, 2009

The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest we have, about the size of a crow, 16.5 inches long with a 29" wing span. It requires very mature forests so it is vulnerable to development but seems to be thriving on our land.



The Pileated Woodpecker is the inspiration for Woody the Woodpecker character in the cartoon (if you knew that, you are probably as old as me).

Other unmistakable signs of spring are the butterflies. The tiny spring azure and white sulphur butterlifes emerged from cocoons on Sunday and were flying along with the mourning cloak and anglewing butterflies that emerged from hibernation a week ago.


Spring Beauty (March 22, 2009)

On Sunday, I also saw the first native wildflower, Spring Beauty. I spotted it only because I was bent over pulling out the multi-flora rose (a much maligned alien shrub). You can see from my photo how small it is and so easily overlooked.