Nesting, songs, and spring critters

 This is a sure sign of spring. TWO nests: 1) The robin is out at the front. On the beam. 2) The phoebe is refurbishing the old nest from last year. It is located on the shelf I repurposed for them.

Outdoor decor

I was thinking of getting an arbour. There are two places for it. 

The purpose is to have something to dissuade the deer from eating my asiatic lilies. It worked well having a fence last year, but it sure wasn't sturdy. They just ambled right up the sidewalk.  

Any thoughts, creative gardeners?

The flicker is busy finding bugs. I'm not sure where they are nesting, maybe in the old, dead elm tree. This photo I took with the zoom lens on, through the window. It's trickier than it looks! I liked the look on her face! We've a kestrel nesting not far away, and they have to be vigilant.

The daffodils are just beginning to bloom.

The periwinkle is in bloom. 

The birdbath and goldfish pond are ready for summer. It's too cold for fishies, but it will warm up soon!

I used BIRDnet to figure out what was singing around the frog pond. 

I think this is a photo of a house finch, but you get the idea, and can hear his song. 

purple finch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our COVID cases have not disappeared. We have to be careful. Many are still masking here.

Reader question

Barbara had a good question. "How do you count the frogs?" There are strict protocols, as it is a scientific study. We have training modules. The strategy is to listen to the frogs, and determine the calling level. There is a section of the form where you give a number for call codes.

Call Codes: 0 - No frogs heard; 1- Calls not overlapping and # of calling frogs can be accurately counted; 2- Some calls overlapping but the number of calling frogs can be reliably counted; 3 - Full chorus with continuous overlapping calls indistinguishable from one another.

There are more pieces of information and codes for various data. We use the Beaufort Wind Scale (0 - 4). This is a screen capture of part of the survey sheet.

Friday windstorm!

Saturday morning we awoke to some storm damage from heavy winds. As I explored our damage, I could hear chain saws in the distance. 

That was a storm! We lost power, but it came on just before midnight. The rain poured down, and the wind blew at the frog pond. I'm still not picking up any ducks. Back to square one!

frog pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The winds blew the dead leaves around. I love the wind. It got a little more extreme during the evening, though.

windy day frontyard from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Windy day in the backyard: 

windy day backyard from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It was a quite the wind.  The storm knocked over the lawn ornament (see above), it spins so nicely in the wind. I spent some time repairing it.

It even knocked over my bench.

There were a couple of dead elm trees knocked over, as well as the birch tree branches. It is weird seeing them horizontal.

We lost some more sumacs right beside the arbour. JB was out walking, and he fetched the skilsaw for me. I cut them up and threw them off the path. This used to be an wonderful, intact sumac grove. The people that built the house need lawn, apparently. I'm letting it grow in, but it doesn't seem to be helping the integrity of the grove. The soil is very shallow here, as is the way in Lanark County.

Another dead elm blew over near the 5 sisters, near the meadow. The 5 sisters only lost a few branches.

Down at the frog pond, I thought this tree would go down in the storm. It had some cracks, and has been dead awhile. I knew there was a storm coming and expected it to go over sometime. Happily I didn't put the trailcam on it, but on the tree to the left. The camera seems too far to capture the ducks on the pond. I'll have to go at it again.

On the way back to the house I found another snake, this time a garter snake. Bless their little hearts as they eat their share of crawly critters!

There was a deer in pond. I knew what she was after. I'd put some cracked corn out for the ducks. There are more nesting boxes on the lake, and my pond isn't looking very lakey, so I want to encourage them. I have three boxes, and only had one filled last year.

deer in pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Down at the pond, last but not least, I spotted a brown creeper! They have just arrived, migrating to follow the bug population, just like the phoebes, a sure sign of spring. There were 3 phoebies in the backyard lilac tree, as they are deciding upon a nesting site. I slowed down several clips, as it is so fast for me.

brown creeper from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Forest walkies in the snow

 Poor JB. He was going into the drug store, so I asked for some eye liner, just for fun! I looked it up on the drug store website and found a brand. As if I care, but it points him in the right direction. He's really good at women's products. They usually pounce on him to give him help. I think he ought to tell them he is non-binary and it's for himself! 

Where am I going to wear it? OH, I know. The hair salon called, I'd missed an appointment in January, due to our shut down. I have an appointment in two weeks, in March. My regular young woman is off on Maternity Leave, so that will be fun. I'm not doing too badly with my scissors, though. I did a practice run, for fun. 

I'm having a massage today, too! I am spoiled rotten.

🎶🎶🎶It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood!

I still have my crisp edges! I met JB, returning from town, it was a bit tight. Can you see him?

I thought I'd help JB and tamp down his walking path. I gave up on that part. We may get another storm at the end of the week! It was really good exercise... 

Scott's arbour!

Picture this, I'm walking down the path and Otto and Stan turkey were on this dead tree. They grew quite irritable with me walking by. They flew before I could grab a photo! When they fly, they are massive, and the sound of their wings is amazing.

The frog pond...

It struck me that these are a pair of photos that Anvilcloud could fix. I had no idea if it was in focus or not, at the time. It's just too bright, and I didn't have my reading glasses. The first is foreground focused, the next, background. sigh. 

It was hard slogging. It's pretty deep snow!

Home and safe. Nutmeg was on the railing in the sunshine, to the left of the door!

When I arrived back at the house, my t-shirt was soaked with sweat, my pants were soaked from snow, snowshoes were snowy, and I put my boots on the floor vent after my hot shower. 

Well, despite overnight temperatures, Oregano Feb 16  was back for a bite of food. He was back last night around 8 p.m., too. 

 

 There is more snow on the way! What the heck. It helps keep an even temperature for our plants. The freeze and thaw is the worst for our gardens. Our farmer neighbours down the road are happy with the snow cover. It protects the land. They wrote on Facebook:

Although some of you may not be happy with all the recent winter weather, it is a blessing for us farmers. We suffered a severe drought last summer and went into this winter with very few water reserves. With no ice cover on the hay fields this year and this blanket of snow, we shouldn't see too much winter kill on the crops. Farmers always referred to a good snow cover as poor man's fertilizer, it has nitrogen in it. An added benefit is when it melts it will soak into the ground and give our soil some much needed moisture. In the end it will help us continue to put good healthy food on your table and everyone will be happy.

Also,

It is also really good for our maple sugar bush. And it helps keep the ground colder, which can help prolong the season on a year like this with little to no frost in the ground.

A new arbour or a piece of art?

It was spur of the moment. I saw one Scott had done, and displayed at a show. He has built our fencing at the road, as well as our gate. He has some really unusual pieces.

Scott and 'Old Al' (he's actually younger than Scott!) brought it and installed it.


I sent hubby out to see it. He was out when it went up, and drove in past it, not noticing. He was about to go for a walk, but it was raining. I told he had to go for a walk down the driveway, at least.


I put the trailcam in front of the doorway, just to see if the critters noticed it. They just went back and forth!