Leftover Fruit

I had some apples and watermelon so I placed it outside and had a variety of visitors that found this leftover fruit appetizing.  So don't throw that old fruit away- share it!

Gray Squirrel

European Starling

Blue Jays

Mockingbird

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Gray Squirrels

Grey squirrels have been an ever present resident here in our neighborhood for as long as I can remember. My wife likes watching their antics and had me put up two feeders, which she keeps stocked with raw peanuts. It didn’t take long before our local “tree rats” discovered them. 

We sit on our front porch and watch as they lift the feeder’s lid, reach inside and grab one of the nuts and either eat it right away or carry it to a more private location. They’re very protective of their food source and will chase off other squirrels who try to pilfer from them.  Sometimes the squabble gets pretty physical.

Some of the peanuts though end up buried as I have found “peanut caches” in our flower gardens and in various spot of our yard, some of which had begun to sprout.  Makes me wonder how they can remember where they put them all.

We’ll also toss leftover cornbread, biscuits or bread out for the birds, but if they see this they’ll confiscate it.   It’s kinda odd (and hilarious) seeing a squirrel darting across the yard with a biscuit in its maw.

 

 

Pear Tree

There's a pear tree that has stood in our lot next door for many years.  Each and every year it produces tons of pears, which are of the canning type and too hard to eat from the branch.  It was planted my my in-laws and each year they would pick them and make preserves.

Since our in-laws have passed, instead of being preserved, the pears are now left for nature to make use of. Robins, mockingbirds, and even squirrels take advantage of the fruit.

Over the years I've considered taking down this tree, but after seeing that it still serves a good purpose I decided to let it be.

Green Rain

I was walking across our vacant lot that's next to our house and noticed something falling from the sky and landing at my feet.

I looked down to see small shredded pieces of green plant material. Looking up into the sweet gum tree I was standing under I see a gray squirrel on a limb hard at work gnawing on one of the tree's seed pods. These pods contain the seeds of the sweet gum tree which squirrels enjoy eating.

These seeds must be pretty tasty to squirrels, because I tried to cut open one of the green pods to reveal them and it was way too much work.

I found a couple of the "aged" seed pods and shook loose some of the seeds and they don't appear to worth all of the labor that it takes to get out of the green ones. But then I'm not a squirrel.

Notebook Jottings 5

"Study nature, not books." ~ Louis Agassiz

While mowing grass I watched as one of my purple martin (Progne subis) gourds fell to the ground like an apple falling from a tree. The martins have showed back up at my site and good thing the nesting phase had not begun. If it had I would have a bunch of scrambled eggs in that gourd. I looked up at the rack and noticed that the wire that it was hanging from had broken.

It had worn out from the gourd swinging in the wind. I then decided to change out all of the wires so this same thing doesn't happen when they begin laying.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted something black hopping across my front yard. It was a spicebush butterfly (Papilio troilus) that appeared to have just crawled from the confines of its chrysalis with its wings still not quite dry. I helped it out by placing it under a nearby bush so a hungry bird wouldn't spot it out in the open.

My son was lifting up a block of cement that rests in our yard and I noticed a squirming bundle beneath it. Come to find out we discovered the love nest of a couple of rough earth snakes (Virginia striatula). I'm always finding these when I work out in the yard having to relocate them to keep them away from the strings of my weedeater. They're harmless and love earthworms and spiders. Great to have in your flower garden.


Squirrels like eating mushrooms they come across when foraging. I found this one sitting on top of a bird feeder I have attached to an oak tree that local gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) use frequently. They will cache mushrooms, sometimes hanging them in the crook of a branch in order to dry them out. Squirrels are known to even eat mushrooms that are poisonous to humans, such as the amanita (Amanita muscaria). Some believe that due to their short digestive tract the poisons are not in their systems long enough to do harm.

Another Purple Martin Season Nears

It's almost that time again.....Purple martin season! In about 3 weeks I should begin seeing them in the area. They've arrived at my colony during the second week of February every year for the past 10 years. This will be my 14th year as a martin landlord and hopefully it will be a productive season and provide lots of stuff to write about. I finally cleaned all of my SuperGourds, which I should've done months ago. One of them had its entrance hole enlarged by the maw of a gray squirrel. That's what I get for not taking them down soon after the season ended last year.


I ordered a replacement gourd and also some black cap liners for the access caps which will help make the interior of each gourd darker like a natural cavity. I also have a few minor repairs to perform on the gourd racks and should be ready just in time for their arrival. They've been spotted already in parts of Texas- Port O'Connor and Hempstead as of today and the reports should steadily begin to increase in the upcoming weeks. If you are a purple martin enthusiast (or thinking of starting a colony) and not a member of the PMCA I highly recommmend that you become a member. As stated on their website they are the "only organization devoted exclusively to the scientific study of Purple Martins (Progne subis), their biology and habitat requirements".