Impatient black cat
sits quietly on the couch,
anticipation
Oct. 1, 2002
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Weekend Update
Stormy weather was forecast for this past weekend, but it held off enough on Saturday for me to repot more than a dozen plants, including Japanese maples, some bulbs and a couple mountain ash seedlings. Buckets of rain poured down from Saturday night through Sunday night.
Birds hit the feeders hard on Saturday and pretty well cleaned them out. Lesser goldfinches, yellow-rumped warblers, pine siskins, juncos and chickadees were the most numerous, but house finches and a black phoebe made an appearance. Robins, cedar waxwings, ravens, starlings and a hermit thrush cruised by, and I heard the first white-crowned sparrow of the season this weekend.
In Japan, uguisu, bush warblers, herald the imminent arrival of spring along with ume, plum blossoms. Plum trees are blooming all over town, and now the white-crowned sparrow has returned -- our uguisu.
Birds hit the feeders hard on Saturday and pretty well cleaned them out. Lesser goldfinches, yellow-rumped warblers, pine siskins, juncos and chickadees were the most numerous, but house finches and a black phoebe made an appearance. Robins, cedar waxwings, ravens, starlings and a hermit thrush cruised by, and I heard the first white-crowned sparrow of the season this weekend.
In Japan, uguisu, bush warblers, herald the imminent arrival of spring along with ume, plum blossoms. Plum trees are blooming all over town, and now the white-crowned sparrow has returned -- our uguisu.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Butterbutts are gettin' fiesty!
Morning birds in the Cali Street Hood:
Cedar waxwings 12
House finch 3
Juncos 3
Siskins 15
Butterbutts 3
On my lunchtime walk to the Arcata Marsh I saw one snowy egret fly up on another while it cruised the slough. The first bird flew off, the second bird puffed up its crest and plumage, and strutted to display it's studly superiority.
Cedar waxwings 12
House finch 3
Juncos 3
Siskins 15
Butterbutts 3
On my lunchtime walk to the Arcata Marsh I saw one snowy egret fly up on another while it cruised the slough. The first bird flew off, the second bird puffed up its crest and plumage, and strutted to display it's studly superiority.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Soggy, soggy February
Several inches of rain have fallen in the past few days. Frosty earlier in the month, but now it's just cold and windy. And rainy.
Bloom day is tiny again this month, in both size and quantity. An interesting surprise is the out-of-season hebe blooms (they normally don't bloom till summer). There are several shrubs and flowers which tease us with fattening buds, like this red twig dogwood.
Got these two veggie beds straightened out a couple weeks ago when the weather was nicer -- weeded, amended, mulched. Planning on starting seeds in a couple weeks. I neglected to put down the anti-cat devices (old blackberry canes) so now there's a couple of great, big cat poops in the freshly-amended beds. Mmm-mm, good.
Bloom day is tiny again this month, in both size and quantity. An interesting surprise is the out-of-season hebe blooms (they normally don't bloom till summer). There are several shrubs and flowers which tease us with fattening buds, like this red twig dogwood.
Got these two veggie beds straightened out a couple weeks ago when the weather was nicer -- weeded, amended, mulched. Planning on starting seeds in a couple weeks. I neglected to put down the anti-cat devices (old blackberry canes) so now there's a couple of great, big cat poops in the freshly-amended beds. Mmm-mm, good.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Backyard bird action heats up as Spring approaches
January was particulary mild this year, and the weather for past two weekends have been beautifully warm and clear -- one would almost thing winter was over. Yesterday's high was 56, but the backyard thermometer registered nearly 70. And with the lovely weather comes bird activity. Regulars to the feeder include:
Yellow rumped warblers
House finches
Dark-eyed juncos
House sparrows
Chestnut-backed chickadees
Pine siskins
Lesser goldfinches
A Townsend warbler (male) has made an occasional appearance. Robins regularly visit the yard but only perch in the trees.
Flyovers include Canada geese, Aleutian geese and snow geese (a nice surprise) along with the resident ravens, crows, starlings. Yesterday, several unidentified seagulls anticipating today's inclement weather were cruising around also.
Yellow rumped warblers
House finches
Dark-eyed juncos
House sparrows
Chestnut-backed chickadees
Pine siskins
Lesser goldfinches
A Townsend warbler (male) has made an occasional appearance. Robins regularly visit the yard but only perch in the trees.
Flyovers include Canada geese, Aleutian geese and snow geese (a nice surprise) along with the resident ravens, crows, starlings. Yesterday, several unidentified seagulls anticipating today's inclement weather were cruising around also.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
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