Lazy Daze of Spring

Yesterday was my first day “off” in a long time. “Off” means I have adequate time for household chores, maybe even the freedom to choose which ones I want to accomplish. But it was also a nice day to be outside, so there was the frustrating choice between sleeping in and staying at home or getting up early and going birding somewhere. I chose the first option, woke up late enough, fed the birds and then spent two hours digging up buckhorn plantain from what used to be grass on the parkway. Because it has gone to flower and seed dispersal, cutting it with a push mower is not an option. However, I didn’t last long enough to remove it all. A project for a cool night later this week, maybe, with the days so long now I have two hours or more of light after I get home from work. I don’t have any grass seed to replace it with, so likely I am just helping it spread thicker, but you never know.

Before I engaged in the Battle of Buckhorn Plantain, I went around the backyard looking for bugs and anything else that caught my eye. I was happy to find this Milkweed Beetle living up to its name by hanging out on the swamp milkweed, thus making its identification easy. It’s a longhorn beetle, with its antennae emerging from its eyes.

There weren’t many other photographable insects, unfortunately. The wasp below was in the front garden.

Wasp 6-18-17-0320

Black and Yellow Mud Dauber

The weirdest things in my backyard are the plants. Below is a flowering parsnip. I don’t know why I’ve let it go to flower, maybe half out of curiosity and half out of wondering if I will ever want more parsnips. The plants shot up from out of nowhere this spring – I had one last year and did not know what it was, so when it seemed to have multiplied without flowering, I dug it up a couple months ago and that’s when I recognized it was a parsnip, from seeds I planted so long ago I had totally forgotten about it. This could become like the cilantro that keeps reseeding itself in the same small section dedicated to edibles. I think it’s time to dig up a parsnip or two and see if the roots are decent-sized. So much better if I can eat them.

Parsnips 6-18-17-0282Another live-and-let-live plant is below. This year I am not in the mood to fight it. I’ve tried removal before, but now I’m just letting it do its thing, as long as it stays confined to the same spot and doesn’t spread too aggressively. It grows under the partial shade of my Scotch Pine. Apparently Common Yarrow has medicinal properties. This may have to be the answer to everything if there is no more Medicare.

What is this 6-18-17-0299

Common Yarrow

Below on the left is Rudbeckia which is about to start blooming. I love this flower, commonly known as a Black-Eyed Susan. The purple flowers on the right look like some kind of Verbena. I scattered seeds in a spot a few years ago and they manage to quietly come back. It never fails, I always think I will remember what I planted and I almost never do…

The real surprise yesterday was the appearance of two poppies (?) peeking out from a field of Purple Coneflower plants that are just beginning to form seed heads and blossoms. I haven’t had a poppy, California or otherwise, in years. I have no idea what the little one on the right is or where it came from. This is the fun of having a haphazard garden. I hope it isn’t something rare. Please weigh in if you recognize it.

Enough of my confusion with flora in my yard. I managed to visit a few Crows on Thursday afternoon. They were happy to see me. I am hoping for some fledglings in the next few weeks.

AMCR 6-15-17-0237And below, a species of Viburnum that has been growing and producing berries for years – I rarely get to see this many berries before they all disappear, so this is for the record.

Some kind of Viburnum 6-18-17-0313I’ll take you back to Michigan, Panama and the Galapagos in the not-too-distant-I-hope future until or unless I am otherwise distracted. I can hope for more insects, for instance, and it seems to me I have been seeing not just fewer bees but other insects as well. I saw a large dark-colored dragonfly this morning at One South Wacker. I didn’t have my camera out but I don’t think I could get a picture of a moving dragonfly anyway, and I am not very good at identification. I was the only person to stop walking and stand and watch the dragonfly. As delighted as I was to see it, I was also sorry it had to navigate the concrete and steel canyons.

Never imagined I’d be complaining about a lack of insects, but without insects a lot of birds and other creatures will be in very bad shape. I haven’t seen a firefly yet this year. But I can still hope. We are all in this together.

Yard Work

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

When I write a to-do list, “yard work” is always on it somewhere, but unfortunately doesn’t get done often enough and just when I think I’m beginning to make the slightest dent in the weeds and overgrowth…it rains and everything grows back again. With a vengeance.

Blooms Yard 7-19-14-1566

When this past Saturday turned out cool and dry, I could not resist spending time in the yard, so I dug and pulled and trimmed and made somewhat of a dent in the weed cover. I should probably thin out the area by the back fence that has been taken over by Purple Coneflower, Evening Primrose, Goldenrod and Rudbeckia, but I haven’t yet. Especially when it’s crowded with bees and butterflies enjoying the flower forest. I stopped gardening and started taking a few pictures when the Tiger Swallowtail flew in to enjoy the coneflowers. The Swallowtail and the Red Admiral must get some of their coloring from these flowers.

Red Admiral

Red Admiral

The birds stay out of the yard when I’m in it so I had a chance to pay more attention to the insects. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed this pretty little fly before.

Tachina Fly Yard 7-19-14-2942

Tachina Fly

I have been fascinated by these little bees with the bright yellow on their legs for years and I think they must be Mining Bees.

Mining Bee Yard 7-19-14-2936

Mining Bee

Last year I was dreaming about planting milkweed so after I dug out all my butterfly bush that had grown for years by the north fence, I planted some milkweed seeds, but they never sprouted. However I have been noticing milkweed plants where I did not put them. I imagine the birds heard I wanted milkweed and brought the plants to me. The ones in the first picture below are not blooming yet, but the second picture is of a Swamp Milkweed that had buds on it when I took the photograph. It finally had blooms this evening, so I will have to go back for another picture. I’m very excited about the Swamp Milkweed even though I am puzzled why it thinks my yard is a swamp.

Milkweed Yard 7-19-14-1561

Swamp Milkweed

Swamp Milkweed

I took too many pictures of the Swallowtail and he never completely opened up his wings for me, but I was happy to have him as my favorite subject anyway.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Yard 7-19-14-1543I haven’t managed to study the bumblebees yet, but I am always happy to see them, they’re very friendly. Sometimes I find one curled up in a bloom overnight. I went out to fill the bird feeder one night this past week, so I wouldn’t have to do it in the morning before work, and found a bumblebee tucked up underneath it. I left him to his slumber and filled the feeder in the morning.

Bee Yard 7-19-14-2928The Red Admiral didn’t open his wings for me either. Oh well.

Red Admiral Yard 7-19-14-2907We had beastly hot weather for a couple days and now we have cooled off again. I recall the same thing happened last summer. Strange weather pattern, but I love the cooler temperatures.

One more shot of the Swallowtail with sprays of orange-red pollen all over.

Tiger Swallowtail Yard 7-19-14-1494

The Three Bs

In music, The Three Bs are known as Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. In Nature, I nominate the 3 Bs to be Birds, Bees and Butterflies. Sorry, Barracuda did not make the list this time (it was hard for me to write that without hearing Heart’s Ann Wilson in my head).

I took the weekend off from the pursuit of birds so I could get some extra sleep, take a more relaxed approach to household chores and work in the yard. The weather continues to be hot and dry, but rain was in the forecast and I envisioned something lovely like thunder and a downpour.

I found my butterfly books so I could identify the butterflies I got pictures of a couple weeks ago at Lowden-Miller. Here’s a sample.

Eastern Comma

Red-Spotted Purple

Downtown in the park this week, after a brief rain, I saw this Clouded Sulphur. We usually get loads of Monarchs, but I have only seen a few this year, sporadically. It rained downtown on Wednesday, but not at home.

Clouded Sulphur

The drought we are in has the benefit of keeping mosquitoes away, but the pollinators have been scarce too. I thought I’d been missing a lot of bees, and I dreaded another dry forecast.

Then yesterday I looked out my kitchen window and saw bees buzzing around in the sumac flowers.

There were also these tiny little bees in the rudbeckia. At least I think they’re bees. They may be something new that came in with the hot, dry weather. They have bright golden lower wings, but they don’t like the camera.

After working in the yard this afternoon, I was graced by the presence of visiting butterflies. First was this Eastern Black Swallowtail. He was somewhat ragged-looking.

Eastern Black Swallowtail

I was about to go inside when his cousin, a Tiger Swallowtail, flew right in front of me and began sampling the Purple Coneflowers. I engaged him in conversation as I grabbed the camera. I kept telling him how beautiful he was, how glad I was to have him visit, and he responded to my praise by letting me take more pictures of him than I have time to go through! I promised him I would keep watering the coneflowers, something I would never do in normal weather.

Tiger Swallowtail

A Red Admiral stopped by to show off too.

Red Admiral

The chance of rain this weekend has evaporated into thin air (sorry), but I’m glad I can still provide food for the Three Bs.