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Today’s natural history observations
The first Douglas iris in the yard opened without my noticing it. I went looking for it after seeing a Pacific Coast Hybrid, generally a bit later to bloom, already in bud. The opened one was the usual brilliant purple. We were on our way to dinner. I’ll snag a photo tomorrow.
I will be careful from now on in choosing what I feed to the pitcher plants. Yesterday’s selection was odd enough: I nicked the the tip of my left thumb with a Japanese pruning saw, a deep but clean cut that did not hurt until significantly later. But it bled relatively copiously for some minutes. Not to the point where exsanguination was an issue, mind, but copiously enough. By the time the third little piece of paper towel was soaked through and I was looking for a cotton sock I didn’t want, I realized there were pitcher plants in the room, a Sarracenia and a Nepenthes, that would be happy for the nitrogen, and probably the iron. Today, though: I cut off one of the dying pitchers from the Sarracenia to see just what it had raked in during its useful lifespan. Took a box cutter and sliced it longitudinally, and out tumbled about one and a half cubic inches of insects and spiders decomposed nearly to humus, and one very live, very well-fed earthworm I’d put in two weeks ago. I let it go in the just-watered herb garden. It likely benefited the plant, helping break down the insects a bit as the digestive powers of that particular pitcher faded with age. Some tropical Nepenthes apparently have a similar relationship with tree frogs, and one secretes bait for rodents, which escape the pitcher unharmed but lightened of their daily excreta. I think I may have an idea for Little Shop Of Horrors III.
We bought a small, cobalt-blue ceramic birdbath two weeks ago to mark Zeke’s grave. The small birds were his friends those last few months, and they deserved a round of drinks on him, we thought. What better memorial than a place for his birds to get chest-deep in some water? Today, after two weeks, was the first time I saw any bird brave the thing. It was a sparrow, one of the mixed flock of English sparrows and towhees that has scratched around the soil here the last few months, and I watched it perch on the bath’s broad rim. It looked around, gazed at the water for a moment, and then took three deep draughts, tilting its head back to swallow each one.
Posted by: Chris Clarke
In front of my office’s window I have the flower pot, where since a couple of years, especially in summer, I put a small plastic container with water. I left it this winter, which was an unusually warm winter ... and the sparrows (Italian Sparrows) have come in January, a whole “gang” of them! No other bird seems to “brave” the thing, not even the European Robin, which cam for some leftover breadcrumbs I left close by (I usually don’t feed them). So it’s fun to have the movement and distraction the whole day: females, males, later on mother will bring their fledglings. SOme try even to bathe. They take 2 - 3 sips. But if it’s hot I know it without looking at the thermometer: I just count the sips ;-)
By: By Yubi on 2007 03 29
Birdbaths are the bomb. I got a copper one last summer, and the cardinals, particularly, seem to love it. But lots of others also take advantage of it when it’s hot… which is often in the Old Dominion.
It’s a fitting memorial for your friend.
Sean
By: By Sean Peters on 2007 03 29
