Weather still cool, with too much clouds and rain , especially when i’m off. Occasional sun breaks to give us rays of hope. There were several sailing regattas out on Puget Sound, it was a nice day today for it.
Continue reading “Can’t tell if Spring is here!?”
False lily of the valley:
Most deciduous trees and perennials have leafed out, and there are a lot of different greens, looking very lush in places. We have our privacy back in the back yard, and soon the front yard, too.
Green shady area next to pond. (^) The oxalis, vancouvaria, false solomon’s seal, false lily of the valley, trilliums and bleeding heart all duke it out here.
I saw SEVEN eagles soaring over our neighborhood a few days ago! They dont normally fly much over land, either, so that was surprising. I actually heard them first,and then finally saw them all together to count them – they kind of screech.
The Mallard ducks have been making an appearance fairly regularly, though it is really Mr Duck who is here most. He can’t seem to find a steady date……
Native Douglas squirrels are getting very noisy, too, as they start nesting and getting territorial. I think we’ve finally stopped moving their caches around, and we made a small pile of loose bark pieces asnd wood for them to use as their new “stash” site.
Lots and lots of birds out, and they are louder, too. Ususlly there are feeding times, especially around noon-1 or so, and then in the late afternoon. Now they seem to be active all the time. The smaller songbirds tend to hang out and feed together, as there is safety in numers when they use each others’ predator alarm cries. Therefore when you see chickadees, you’ll probably also see wrens, bushtits, kinglets and thrushes. The slightly larger birds like the siskins and finches are usually more on their own. We haven’t had the crazy robin here this year, banging her head against a window for weeks (6 weeks) at a time. Thank goodness, cuz that waas a mess….she went after about seven different windows, making a bird-dropping mess at each one.
Tons of Camas, Brodiaea, Chocolate lily, and 2-3 yr leopard lily. White fawn lily seedlings thriving, as are the Dodacatheon/ Shooting stars, Delphiniums, and Wild blue flax. Maybe Rainier or Lopez “penstemon “. Rainier “tufted hairy” seeds germinating, which is probably an Anenome.
Mr Squirrel is busy foraging, and screaming at us when we get too near. We’ve moved the logs hiding his cache of nuts and pinecones more than once this year – next year should be more stable for him/ her.
The Mallard ducks have shown up, on the vernal equinox, March 20. They look like they’re getting pretty comfortable and don’tmind us walking by, soon we’ll find them hanging out on the hot tub cover. The place has been pruned and cleared of much brush, hopefully they won’t be foolish and try to lay eggs.
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Continue reading “Duck Landings”
Apparently this is now birthing season for the northwest mole, Scapanus townsendii, and new superficial sidetunnels (and mounds) are expected in the spring for the expanding family. They have their favored spots in the yard, and I’ve already transplanted out a small patch of garden that i bordered with stones, called “mole hill”. I think I’ll get an official garden marker for it. Continue reading “Mole season”
The Douglas squirrel has a new trick – he chews off the ends of a bunch of the vine maple branches so that the small branch ends with the maple seeds fall to the ground. Then he goes to ground and sets off stashing the seeds in his cache . This makes for a carpet of green maple leaves on the ground, over plants that aren’t ready for being covered by fallen leaves yet.
Continue reading “Squirrel saga”
Cracked open some of the beaked hazelnuts we harvested last summer and they are excellent in flavor and consistency, if not a little small. But!…
Continue reading “Hazelnut harvest”
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