Summer in the Butterfly Garden

Back in early May, I decided to give myself a birthday present and do something beneficial for my yard and wildlife by planting a butterfly garden.  I spent a large part of the summer tweeting about the Maryland native plants that I chose to attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds, but wanted to share a little more of the story here. I took what was the area I had been using as a tree nursery, and cleared a little more space for over two dozen species of native shrubs and flowers.  The plot went from this...

Things I Learned This Semester #14

At the beginning of the semester, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many of my readers like birding as much as I do. In fact, I got a pretty positive response from my "virtual birding" posts and the phylogenetic format they followed. So I figured why not give the people what they want, right? Let's expand that cladogram a little to accommodate my two new backyard birds from Saturday's post.

Things I Learned This Semester #12

The state bird of Maryland, the Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula).

Today is International Migratory Bird Day.  And to celebrate, I thought I'd share another thing I learned this semester.  Predictable, I know.  But at least it has to do with migratory birds.  Two of them, in fact, both new to my yard (at least as far as I can tell).  I happened to catch a glimpse of both a Baltimore Oriole and a yellow-rumped warbler, two migratory species known to spend time in Maryland.  Both were a little shy, but I managed to catch them on camera before they took off.  I guess it will take some time for them to get used to me sticking my lense out of the window.  But I'm very happy they are around!

A (male?) yellow-rumper warbler (Setophaga coronata), hiding from me in the  mulberry tree.

Things I Learned This Semester #11

I have raccoons in my yard!  How exciting is that?  I knew I had opossums and groundhogs, and I assumed there were raccoons in the neighborhood.  But I hadn't seen any until this evening.  Tonight, I caught one checking me out as I put away my yard tools.  He seemed just as interested in me as I was in him.  Which is good for me because If I'm lucky, I'll be able to see him on a regular basis.  But not as good for him, as a friendly 'coon may end up trapped or killed if the people it lives around decide it has become a nuisance.  Rest assured, as far as I'm concerned he can hang out here as long as he likes!

Procyon lotor, the North American raccoon.

Things I Learned This Semester #7

The red mulberry, Morus rubra, is a wonder native tree that also bares a wonderful edible fruit.  Red mulberries are, by my account, delicious.  I'm lucky enough to have two fruiting trees that hang over from the neighboring properties, and they provide more than enough for me, and the birds.   They grow easily and rapidly as well, so the volunteer seedlings I have are off to a great start. Full disclosure: this isn't something I learned this semester, but I just brought in my first batch and they were quite tasty, so I thought they deserved a shout-out.  Here's to deliciousness!

Who's hungry?  There's plenty to go around!

Things I Learned This Semester #6

One of the things I did get done when I moved into my new home was dig an outdoor turtle pond for my Northern diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin terrapin).  She has been very happy since she moved out of her indoor tank and into her new digs.  I adopted "Jersey" about 5 years ago, and a little under a year ago, she did some adopting of her own.  I noticed last spring that a female Northern green frog (Rana clamitans melanota) had moved into the pond. I was, of course pleasantly surprised; the pond isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination, but it still managed to attract some local wildlife. And this frog in particular went on to have  a very good spring and summer.  There was no competition for space, she was protected from predation (the pond is enclosed in a wood and wire frame to keep other critters at bay), and she had all the food she could eat.

This semester, I learned Frog and Turtle are friends. Maybe I'll write a children's book about it.

Things I Learned This Semester #5

Loads and loads of native trees, reaching for the sky.

I love trees.  Now I know what you're thinking: "C'mon, David.  You've always loved trees.  You didn't just learn that this semester."  And that would in fact, be true.  But this semester, I learned I really, really, really love trees. Like a lot.  And I've been in a sorry state, because since I moved into my new home a few years back, there have been none on my property.  But no more!  Last year I started growing oak seedlings, and some of them actually made it through the winter.  Combine that with all of the volunteer saplings that I pick from my yard before I mow, and the count goes up even higher.  But these little guys will need a lot more time to grow before they are placed in their permanent home.  Which is why I'm so pleased that I was able to procure some larger, older trees this semester.  Mixed oaks and maples, a few sycamores and birches, redbuds, elms, the works.  All ready to go in the ground, all native.  One day my backyard will look more like a miniature forest, which is fine with me.  I mean, who doesn't love a good tree?  I know this semester, I learned I certainly do.

Virtual Birding Roundup (Part 3)

Alright, boys and girls.  I started this little endeavor a month ago.  It's time to bring it all together, once and for all.  So far in our virtual birding roundup, we've spent the last two parts talking about various families within the order Passeriformes. Which makes sense considering that there are over 100 different passerine families, and they contain more than half of all known bird species (Mayr, 1946).  For the most part, the relationships between these families were traditionally defined by morphological characters, and were believed to be fairly well understood.  But recently, more and more molecular analysis has begun to show a different phylogeny; one that we still don't have a full picture of.  And that's where the next bird from our quiz comes in.

Regulus calendula

Virtual Birding Roundup (Part 2)

After a pretty positive response to "Part 1", I headed out of town and the roundup got interrupted.  Now Jenn Hall (who did a pretty great job of guessing honestly in my original post) would tell me to put some pants on and stop apologizing.  And I'm not gonna lie, that's pretty sound advice. So technically I'm not going to apologize. And I am going to wear pants. But I am also going to get this roundup going again.  If I'm not mistaken, we left off with the Passeroidea, the monophyletic grouping of "sparrow-like" birds.  Where should we go from here?

Virtual Birding Roundup (Part 1)

Time to talk birds, specifically the ones I posted photos of in my "end of year bird quiz" . To spice things up a bit, instead of just listing as each species and writing about it a little, I'm going to throw them all onto an ever expanding cladogram.  Hopefully this way both the readers and myself will be able to learn a little about the individual animals themselves, and their relationships to one another.  Ornithology is certainly not an area of specialization for me.  But birding is one of the "outdoor" activities I engage in most often.  This is primarily because it can be done anywhere, even the comfort of your own home.  So I think this will be a fun little project and I'm excited to be able to share it with you all. But a word of warning: apparently a lot of the traditional bird groupings are not supported by molecular data, and many of their true relationships have yet to be resolved.  So I'll be doing my best to show true monophyletic groupings and relationships.  But if you know something I don't, please let me know.  That being said, let's dig right in and start with the birds from my quiz!  Read no further if you'd like to give it a shot before I start naming names.

Happy National Bird Day!

I finished 2011 with a post on birding, and figure starting 2012 in a similar fashion is not a bad way to go.  Unfortunately, my yard was not full of wonderful native birds when I got home.  In fact, when I got in today, I was greeted with this sight:

Not cool, man.

One Last Day of Birding for 2011

Despite the fact that we've reached the end of December, it has been quite pleasant here in Edmonston, Maryland.  The last few days have seen temperatures over 12 °C, which is a welcome treat considering some of the colder weather we had a few weeks back.  It was great to get outside and do some yard work without having to put on layers.  It was also great letting my terrapin back out into her pond for a few hours a day (as she normally spends her winter months in an indoor tank).  But the last few days have also been great for birding.  It may have nothing to do with the weather at all, but in the span of about 45 minutes today, I saw a greater variety of birds in my yard than I sometimes do all season long, two species of which were a first for me in my "new" home.  But why tell you about it when I could just show you? In fact, how about an end of the year bird quiz? Leave your guesses in the comments section!

1

Backyard Botany: Native Maryland vines

As I mentioned in my last post, I spend quite a good deal of time fighting the growth of invasive vines in my yard.  I'll admit, I always feel guilty killing off any plants, invasive or not.  But controlling invasive species and making sure they do not spread is essential to protecting and preserving the local ecosystem.  That is why as I tear non-native plants out, I always try and replace them with species that can be found growing naturally in my area.  And lucky for me, there are several such species that can be found in the region of Maryland that I call home.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia, working its way up my gutters.

Backyard Botany: Invasive vines

Invasive vines: climbing fences and choking out bushes like a boss.

My yard is covered in vines.  Terrible, invasive, non-native vines, that seem to grow a lot faster than I can get rid of them.  It has become a serious problem.  Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), English ivy (Hedera helix), and mile-a-minute vine (Polygonum perfoliatum) can all be found on my property in Edmonston, Maryland. Initially brought in for ornamental purposes, their agressive growth have allowed them to take over large portions of  my yard.  They grow over natural groundcover, trees, shrubs, fences, gardens, sheds, and even the house itself.  It makes me very unhappy.  But their is one invasive vine that really gets under my skin, much more so than all the others combined: Porcelain berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata).

Backyard Ornithology: House finch breeding

A while back I left a teaser on the end of a post about house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), and never got around to telling you all the reason that, despite their non-native status, they are a joy to have around the house.  One word: babies!

A house finch nest, conveniently placed in one of my hanging planters.

Problematic passerines.

A breeding pair of Carpodacus mexicanus, also known as house finches.

The house finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, is a little passerine bird that I have a bit of a rocky relationship with.  Don't get me wrong; I love it when any of my "backyard dinosaurs" come to visit the feeders around my house. But I'm still on the fence about these little guys. Now before you label me some kind of finch hater (which I certainly am not), let me explain.  While C. mexicanus is native to North America, it is not exactly native to the east coast, having been introduced to this area from Mexico and the southwestern United States in the 1940s. Populations that were released from illegal captivity quickly became naturalized, and their population has been expanding ever since.  In many places, they have out competed the native species of purple finch, Carpodacus purpureus.  This is a bird that should be at my feeders, but sadly, I have never seen.