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Pretty red fox

by SeEtta (South Central) on April 22, 2013

Since foxes are one type of wildlife that has adapted well to human habitat it is not uncommon to see them in urban as well as rural areas. I spotted this red fox yesterday on a natural area in the Colorado city I live in and thought it was unusually pretty.

Red foxes have reddish fur like the one my photos with a white front and black legs and feet. The amber color of the eyes of red foxes enhance their beauty for me. They can be found throughout most of the lower 48 states, most of Canada and all of Alaska as shown on the DiscoverLife.org range map below plus Hawaii that is not shown:

The following from National Geographic @ http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/red-fox/ really provides an excellent summary about red foxes:

  • Red foxes live around the world in many diverse habitats including forests, grasslands, mountains, and deserts. They also adapt well to human environments such as farms, suburban areas, and even large communities. The red fox’s resourcefulness has earned it a legendary reputation for intelligence and cunning.

So what do you think–is this fox unusually pretty or does it just look like every other red fox?

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Pine Siskins, seen this winter at feeders everywhere

by SeEtta (South Central) on January 28, 2013

Pine Siskins are familiar feeder birds in many parts of the U.S. and Canada during the winter though seen most often at more northern and western locations. However, as they are a species that is ‘irruptive’–that is, they follow the seed crops so may be seen at your feeder one year then not seen the next as they have moved to another area where there are more seeds (not just seeds in feeders but seeds in large fields where they feed also). This winter they were more widespread and in some locations being reported in exceptionally large numbers.

While other areas reported seeing Pine Siskins for the first time in years, or ever, some of us who have them every winter as I do in Colorado had fewer than usual at our feeders. In fact I thought I wouldn’t get any Pine Siskins this winter as the few that came to my feeders were so late getting there.

Though you can usually see the small yellow patches and wing edgings on Pine Siskins (you may have to use binoculars to see it on some birds) they can be separated from goldfinch species as the latter have more yellow and the Pine Siskins have very streaky plumage. One of the field marks that help in identifying Pine Siskins is it’s pointed bill that is much more slender than the thicker cone-shaped bills found on House Finches and Goldfinches that also commonly seen at feeders in the winter.

The photo just above shows the slender bill and highly forked tail found on Pine Siskins. The streaking on it’s plumage is also on it’s underparts, even on it’s ‘undertail coverts’ (feathers that overlap the base of the underside of the tail).

Though Pine Siskins are best known for coming to feeders to eat nyger (called thistle) seed, water is a big draw in many areas across the U.S. still in the grip of drought. I found the birds in these photos coming to a large puddle of water where they drank and bathed.

Not surprising, Pine Siskins are one of Birds and Blooms Magazines ‘Most Wanted Birds’.

Have you had Pine Siskins at your feeders this winter?

Do you often see Pine Siskins or are they unusual in your area?

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Friday Fun Photo: Barn Swallows on Wasp Nest

by Lorie (Photography) on January 25, 2013

Barn Swallows on Wasp Nest

Birds & Blooms’ Friday Fun Photo for January 25, 2013: Barn Swallows on Wasp Nest by Douglas Zinter of Fargo, North Dakota. Douglas writes, “My mom took this picture of a barn swallow nest built over a wasp nest. If the wasp nest was active, we wonder what they’d think of their new neighbors!”

Do you have a clever caption for this interesting photo? Please share!

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Happy New Year! It’s Time to Plan Your Garden

by Noelle on January 1, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The holiday decorations have been put away and an entire new year stretches before us.  While my husband spends the day watching football, I will be busy reading through my new seed catalogs trying to decide what I want to plant this year.

Even though it is cold outside and I am wearing a sweater and warm slippers – in my mind’s eye, I am walking through my garden enjoying all the beautiful vegetables growing.  It’s almost enough to make me feel warm ;-)

So what do I want to plant this year?

I love picking green beans in summer.  My kids actually eat these vegetables, so I must plant more this year.  I do need to keep an eye on their leaves though since spider mites seem to like to eat them.

I love growing tomatoes and have grown sauce tomatoes the past few years.

This year, I think I will try cherry tomatoes because they are great in salads and my kids love to eat them straight off the vine.  Of course, I do want some sauce tomatoes so I’ll plant some Romas.

What type of tomatoes do you like to grow?

My bell pepper plants did very well this past year.  But, I think that I would like to branch in 2013.  I will plant some jalapeños, which my daughter will eat off the plant.  She loves ‘spicy’.

In addition to vegetables, I will be ordering sunflower seeds for my garden.   I want to try a variety that produces nice-size seeds for both my kids and also for the birds.

The birds just loved eating the seeds from the sunflower seed heads last summer.

Did you know that sunflowers also provide shade for the garden?  Plant them so that they can provide afternoon shade to sun-sensitive plants such as tomatoes or cucumbers.

Every year, I like to try something new in the garden.  So I will be trying out the following new vegetables…

Corn that can be grown in a container - On Deck Hybrid

Carrots that grow well in a container - Chantenay

I also purchased bush beans, regular sweet corn ‘Sun & Stars Bicolor’, Summer Squash (Zucchini), white pumpkin seeds (Lumina), cucumber ‘Sweet Success’ and Sunflower seed ‘Mammoth’.  I selected cherry tomatoes ‘Gardener’s Delight’ and ‘Roma’ tomatoes.

Lastly, I chose a blend of leaf lettuce ‘Heatwave’ that will handle the heat, which is important when you garden in the desert like I do.

**So, what will you plant this year in your garden?  Do you need some help deciding?  Here are links to some seed catalog companies to get you started!

Botanical Interests

Burpee

Gurney’s

Park Seed

 So as you look at your garden from the comfort of your warm home….just imagine the possibilities that await you and start planning!

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Another rare butterfly: Angled Leafwing

by SeEtta (South Central) on December 31, 2012

Though not as flashy as the Pavon Emperor butterfly that I posted on earlier this week, the Angled Leafwing is stunning in it’s own right. It’s bright burnished orange upperside and curved (angled) profile cause this butterfly to stand out from other butterflies as it does in the photo below. Many will likely recognize the other butterfly on that photo since Red Admirals are widespread in North America.

It is another tropical butterfly that is normally found from northern parts of South America to Mexico. Like the Pavon Emperor it sometimes strays across the border to So. Texas according to Butterflies and Moths of North America. I also photographed this handsome butterfly at the National Butterfly Center gardens in Mission, TX. This is just another of the wonderful butterflies that several butterfly enthusiasts were nice enough to show and identify for me.

For more northern butterfly enthusiasts, the Angled Leafwing is sharing a feeding station with the Red Admiral. At various locations around the gardens at the National Butterfly Center there are these small wood logs with ‘butterfly bait’ (also called ‘butterfly brew’). But don’t forget that providing good habitat is the most important thing for attracting butterflies to your yard.

Though the bottom photo doesn’t show a lot of this butterfly’s attributes, I like it because it looks as if it is looking up at me.

If you ever get to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas be sure to stop by the National Butterfly Center. Their gardens are very productive at providing food and shelter for both common and rare butterflies. And they also attract a lot of interesting birds there too.

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Rare tropical butterfly visits U.S.

December 27, 2012

This beautiful butterfly is a Pavon Emperor and it visited So. Texas this week. Normally it is found from Bolivia in South America to Northern Mexico but it occasionally strays north into the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. I think the upperside of this butterfly with it’s bluish-purple surface is really astonishing as it [...]

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Wishing everyone a very birdy Christmas season

December 24, 2012
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Hawk of winter: Rough-legged Hawk

December 6, 2012

While many hawk species, such as the most widespread Red-tailed Hawk, breed throughout most of the lower 48 states the Rough-legged Hawk breeds far north in the arctic and boreal forest. So few of us other than those in more northern areas of Alaska and northern Canada see them until winter time when they migrate [...]

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Get Your Roses Ready For Winter

November 13, 2012

Have you ‘tucked’ in your roses in for winter yet?  Or maybe you live in a warmer climate and your roses are still blooming like mine. Well, whether you live where snow falls or live in an area with warm winters – your roses need help getting ready for winter. Let’s start with those of [...]

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Bighorn Sheep, wild sheep of the West

November 5, 2012

Bighorn Sheep are one of the neat mammals found in western parts of the U.S. and Canada. This beautiful female is a Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep that I photographed two weeks ago less than 25 miles from where I live in Colorado. She was grazing on grasses just off the roadway with 2 other adult [...]

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Halloween tarantula spider

October 29, 2012

I thought this guy (yes, it’s a male) would fit in nicely with the Halloween spooky and creepy theme this week. Personally I am not afraid or creep-ed out by most spiders but I do keep my distance from hairy ones and especially hairy ones that are venomous like tarantulas. Actually tarantulas venom is not [...]

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Swainson’s Thrush, a flute-like singer

October 1, 2012

Though the thrush family is known for the flute-like quality of their singing, the Swainson’s Thrush song is better known because they sing more frequently during migration than the others. You can listen to their songs and calls on the Audubon Guides website. Swainson’s Thrush have bold buffy (pale yellow-brown) eye ring and face, spotted [...]

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Migration Videos

September 12, 2012

It’s that time of year when we start seeing birds on the move. Here’s just a couple videos on migration and that we simply loved enough to share. Enjoy! Can we even think the words “migration” and “video” without mentioning the documentary Winged Migration? And watching the trailer is the perfect 2-minute bird fix when [...]

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