Icepocalypse 2014, and Birds in the Winter Garden

You might have heard that we had a little weather here in Houston recently. 

Credit: Twitter @CraigHlavaty

The Houston Chronicle ran a great photo gallery of some of the internet memes going around making fun of us, which I got a chuckle out of.

In truth, the only reason I ended up staying home on Tuesday was because Metro had decided not to run any Park and Ride buses.  My thought was, since the weather was supposed to get worse during the day, I didn't want to drive into downtown and then get stuck there, or get stuck in traffic on icy roads coming home.

As it happened, it wasn't too bad at all and I had a fun day at home, watching the rest of the country poking fun at us on Facebook.  (My heart goes out to the poor souls in Atlanta who did get stuck in the ice and snow)

That's not to say it didn't get cold here.  As I went out to feed the birds in the morning, I could feel tiny little ice pellets landing in my hair.  They accumulated in plant containers and on the roof of the house.

Our back garden was certainly popular that day.  I stood inside the back door and took quite a few photos of the birds, availing themselves of the seed I had put out for them.

Not all the birds were welcomed. I was not happy to see this brown-headed cowbird out on the feeder. Their habit of laying their eggs in other birds' nests, often pushing the host bird's own eggs out of the nest, does not endear them to me. He was just a passing visitor though, and he appeared to be on his own.

Our most numerous visitors in the past couple of weeks have been American Goldfinches, although of course, we mostly see them in their "olive drab" winter plumage. Trying to get an accurate count of these, and of the house sparrows, for Project Feeder Watch, is a bit of a guessing game.

At first I assumed these birds were some sort of sparrow but couldn't find them when trying to ID them at What Bird?  I posted a photo in the forum there and discovered that these are, in fact, female red-winged blackbirds.  I would never have figured that out on my own!

Of course, we enjoyed visits from our regulars like this red cardinal all fluffed up against the cold in the Southern Wax Myrtle and our old friend "Woody", the red bellied woodpecker.

So that was "Icepocalypse 2014" and since then our weather has been like a roller coaster ride.

Yesterday I was pottering in the garden in a t-shirt and my husband and I sat on the patio with a bottle of wine in the evening. 

This morning we got woken up by rain pounding on the bedroom window and it was cold, wet and wintry when I went grocery shopping earlier.

The forecast is for highs of 40's and 50's with lows in the 30's, so I think I'll be putting the T-shirt away for a couple of weeks.

And of course, when summer does get here, we'll all be complaining about the heat and humidity.

But this is Texas, after all :-)


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Project Feeder Watch

 One of the things I have enjoyed the past couple of winters is being able to participate in Project Feeder Watch, a citizen science project organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 

It's very simple to participate, there are just a few easy steps.

1) Choose your count site -- in my case, it was my own back yard, but I could also count at places like Kleb Woods where they have feeders if I wanted to, I suppose.

2) Choose your count days.  You have to select two consecutive days -- obviously, for me, the weekends are the natural count days.  The Feeder Watch program runs from November 9th through April 14 and you can count as often as every week if you wish.

3) To count the birds, you need to count the number of birds that are visible at one time.  So if you see three birds together, and then another two later on, you would log three, not five birds.  My problem was trying to count the number of house sparrows, of which there seemed to be hundreds, but I think I counted them out to 23 along the wall - by far the most prevelent bird in the garden this winter.

4) As the project is called "Project Feeder Watch", you have to make sure you only count birds that are attracted by your feeders, birdbaths, or other habitat you provide. So things like the these geese I photographed flying overhead back in November wouldn't be counted.

Nor would these Mourning doves, as they sit on the telephone wires.

But I *was* able to include this Cooper's Hawk who visited twice over the Thanksgiving weekend. 

OK so he was probably more attracted by the birds at the feeders than the actual feeders, but he was there, on the bird bath and he stayed long enough for me to walk up to within eight feet of him snapping photos, so I counted him!

I think the sparrow who had been holding his breath under the Savannah holly breathed a sigh of relief when I took a step too close and the hawk flew away. 

Find learn more about Project Feeder Watch and how to join in, visit http://feederwatch.org/

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Project Feeder Watch

This weekend, I'm once again participating in Project Feeder Watch, which is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America.

I have to admit that, as often as I sit on the patio and watch the birds at the feeders, this year I had forgotten to submit my data to Project Feeder Watch until now, just a couple of weeks before the 2012/13 season ends!

I'm happy to report that I saw two birds today that I haven't seen in a while -- a Red Bellied Woodpecker and the Carolina Chickadee.

I've been lamenting the fact that we no longer have a mature pine tree in the garden to attract "Woody" but I heard him drumming on something this morning in the predawn hours, so I knew he was around somewhere.

I was very happy when I heard his familiar call as I sat on the patio, taking a break from weeding. Just a moment or two later, he landed on the wall, chasing away a White Winged Dove in the process, and helped himself to the seed and nuts I always sprinkle along the top of the wall.

Another bird I heard before I saw was the Carolina Chickadee (actually there were two of them).

I was pulling weeds and heard a call that I actually mistook for something else. It was only when I stood up and tried to locate the sound that I realized it was a Chickadee. It sounded like one was scolding the other as they both flitted around, first in the Wax Myrtle and then in the Crepe Myrtle.

I'm very happy with these photographs I took with my new Nikon Coolpix, it seems the perfect camera for bringing the birds closer with its 42X zoom lens, I've spent quite a lot of time with it since my hubby gave it to me for Christmas.

Northern Cardinals have been regular visitors ever since we moved in. We've had several pairs around, nesting in the wooded habitat either side of us which is now replaced by houses.

I'm glad they still visit, even if they have ignored the nesting shelf we put up for them. (I realize now that the nesting shelf, attached to the fence at eye level, is probably way too low and vulnerable for them - I need to find somewhere else for it.)

I was hoping to get a photo of her splashing around in the birdbath, but she declined, preferring instead to stand on the rim and stare at me before flying back to the feeder.

The Chipping Sparrows have been with us all winter. Usually there are at least ten of them, jockeying for position to get at the seed I sprinkle along the fence. Today, I just saw this one - not a true representation of our local winter population.

I'm hoping that when I submit my Second Day data tomorrow, I'll be able to enter a decent number and bring my average up!

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.