Lemon Zingers are back! (and so am I)

Yesterday, September 27, 2008, marked the first day we saw our favorite birds (perhaps) - Lemon Zingers - back in the yard.

For the ornothologically-inclined, spare yourself looking up this type of bird. It's merely our affectionate name for Goldfinches. This is by far the earliest we have seen them in our yard - usually they arrive some time in January. Their departure has shifted every single year, seeming to correspond to the number of feeders - and hence, regular feeding LZ's - we have in the yard. First year we fed them, they stayed til late February. They extended it the second year. But last year we ramped up to 7 thistle stations in the very small yard, and our friends hung out until sometime in April.

Yesterday was an odd bird day. The morning started out with a large hawk in a tree out front of our house. At least 8 Mockingbirds were dodging all around it, and it was shrieking at irregular intervals, when suddenly a Pileated Woodpecker showed up. The Pileated seemed to be daring the hawk to come after him, kept digging away at a dead trunk immediately adjacent to the one the hawk perched on, even turning his back on the hawk. Needless to say I was both dazzled and frightened for the Pileated, who also started sqwauking periodically. After about 10 minutes of this nonsense, the hawk took after the Pileated, and the Mockingbirds after the hawk. I have no idea how that ended. Not sure I want to know.

When I Grow Up

For a long time now, I've really wished I'd majored in biology or botony or something like that. When I was a kid I went to Irvine Natural Science Center in Baltimore, and I was hooked. But not enough to trust my science skills.

Anyway, we've got this guy - Rudy Mancke - on South Carolina ETV (public tv) who does a show called Nature Scene, where he wanders the world in this captivating way, spotting miniscule life forms, snatching butterflies from the air, picking plants at most of us wouldn't touch, and all that stuff. He knows the scientific name of more things than you can imagine, and more about each of God's creatures than any one person should.

So, my big news is that yesterday I got to spend about 4 hours with Rudy on USC's historic Horseshoe - an old-growth shaded haven and lawn with brick buildings that predate the Civil War (the oldest dates to about 1805). Who knew what treasures could be found there! We spent about 35 minutes looking at a Gulf Fritillary butterfly, and I found out that I know more than I thought! First, I had correctly identified the Gulf Fritillary in my own back yard weeks ago (I am not a genius with species identification). Second, I knew its caterpillar. Third, I knew its favorite plant here - Passion Flower vine. I've got some pictures of my own from a couple weeks ago, and I may try to get some posted soon! Rudy is my hero, and when I grow up I want to be like him. :-)

Visual Metaphor

Since it's been a long time since I last wrote, what better way to get back into it than with a pic of a Southeastern Writing Spider, fresh from the backyard gate. Argiope florida is simply huge and a bit-more-than-a-little intimidating to find crawling along your arm. The leg span on this one was about 2.5" - making it a bit smaller than the biggest ones around.

They favor the spigots, tomato cages, and garden gate corners - all places that I find myself reaching into. The day one comes out riding (instead of writing) on my hand, I will scream like a little girl and run like a crazy chicken!

We're Not Afraid - Update

Quick update - our pics have posted on We're Not Afraid . . . all 5 of them. Check out the link below, Gallery 230 just in case it doesn't link up properly. Link: http://www.werenotafraid.com/images/230/index.php

Our pics are: Dot USA, Mike USA (which is not so much me, as it is one of our many un-named pond frogs), Mike and David, Mulligan USA (the exhibitionist), and Pinkie USA (whose name I once again mis-spelled, sorry Pinky).

Enjoy, and be sure to add a pic of your own to tell the terrorists We're Not Afraid!

The much anticipated lizzard solution! Congrats again to Cousin Heather for the winning, pin-point accurate descriptive response, and to friend Gene of Wisconsin for the attached "locating lizzards for dummies" pictorial solution! (And to Ted, I am sorry for the delay in posting the solution!) 

We're Not Afraid (.com)

Okay, so this is going to be one of those diversion postings.... bear with me. ABC News had this awesome story about some Brits who started a website - WereNotAfraid.com - within hours of the London bombings last week, and the site has had over 18 million visitors in just over a week. Lighthearted and decent people from all over the globe have been contributing their pics of happy, carefree, laughing, joyous moments to show bastard terrorists just who's in charge of this planet we're all spinning around on. Take a peek when you get a chance - you just might catch some pics that David and I contributed (if they post them, we'll let you know what gallery they end up in).
We're Not Afraid!

Evening Cocktails?

Sweet-toothed Anole

Well, if this wasn't the darndest thing I've seen in the yard in a while, I don't know what is. On our exciting 4th of July, I spent the afternoon/evening trying to learn how to use my digital camera after a frustrating day of failed pics at Congaree National Park, formerly Congaree National Swamp.

As I was dallying on the screened porch, I noticed the hummingbird feeder swing and saw this lizzard on it. I figured at first that he fell off the roof (not unheard of), and made a lucky grab while fighting gravity's curse. No such thing as it turns out . . . this guy kept making round trips from the roof to the feeder, and I've seen him back on the 5th and 6th as well. (Unfortunately, the picture is lousy, as I couldn't get the camera to stop focusing on the screening and focus instead on my subject).

In all my years of feeding hummingbirds, this has been the strangest. First it was the Purple Finches that began to conduct a daily progressive dinner from the sunflower feeder to the thistle feeder to the birdbath for a quick dip, and then on to the nectar for dessert, and now I have sweet-toothed lizzards. What is this world coming to, exactly?

Animated Mulligan

Hello from Mulligan! If all turns out right, you should see a dancing Mulligan here . . . if not, then I will quickly be removing this post as too boring to be of interest (though not necessarily lacking cuteness).

Happy 4th of July!

We have a winner!

We have a winner as of 9:02 PM EST, and a close runner up (11:32 PM CST).... Cousin Heather was the first to find it, followed within hours by Gene of Wisconsin.

The charity is the Carolina Raptor Center's very special adoptee: Emma, the Barn Owl! Please visit their site (link to the right --->) to see other animals awaiting adoption!

My apologies to anyone who is seeing anoles anywhere and everywhere now. :-) After another day or two, I will post the solution visually - but just in case my nephew Alex wants to try and find it on his own (and probably map it's GPS coordinates), I'll leave the guessing game intact for now!

Not Your Average Contest

Okay . . . I don't intend to do this very often, but I had a thought of something kind of fun to do with this photo. Hidden somewhere not too obvious, yet in plain site, is a lizzard (or more appropriately, Anolis carolinensis, Green Anole or American Anole, even though they are sometimes brown). Now that ought to complicate things just a bit....

Anywho, the first person to correctly locate the little guy, and send it to me, will get $25 donated to your favorite (non-political) charity! {Sorry, David, you're out of the running on this since we've already played this game...}

If this blog thing works correctly, you should be able to click on the picture to get a larger version on screen if you think that will help your chances. If you get really desperate, email me and I will send the 1.3 MB version for your perusal.

Something about this reminds me of that old kids magazine Highlights where you had to hunt for creatures drawn into the larger picture. Good luck hunting!

A Frog For Heather

Well, I figure if there's going to be any hope of getting people to visit and re-visit this secret garden, I better put something of interest here.

So, Cousin Heather, this one's for you!

(and it's no small feat getting a pic of one of these buggers - who'd have guessed Bullfrogs were so shy?)

Cooler Days

The Pond and Peonies
This photo is from cooler days only 8 weeks or so ago, when the peonies were in brief bloom. Though the blooms are long since gone now, the dense foliage remains beautiful throughout the summer, and provides a favorite hiding place for frogs, toads, and lizards when the racoons, snakes, and the occasional owl drop by.

The peonies were a gift a few years back from Joyce's Mom, who still smiles down on them to this day!

Happy Birthday to the Blog

What better way to wrap up my own birthday than to launch something new? This is just my little place on the web to post pics of my secret garden, to reflect on my hobby and who knows what else.