It would seem that the El Paso County (Colorado) parks department needs to take some birding classes. Look closely at the sign in the next photo.
Our Favorite Peas
If the only peas you’ve tasted were from a plastic freezer bag—or worse, a can—you have no idea what you’re missing. Fresh-from-the-garden peas are so delicious, so sweet and nutty, it seems they should be bad for you! I used to send our daughter out to harvest them before dinner, and she’d eat every one before bringing the empty pods back to the house. (Parents of picky eaters, take note!) Now my husband does the same thing—I send him out to harvest our sugar snaps and he brings back an empty bowl and a grin.
Peas prefer a long, cool and damp growing season, pretty much the opposite of what we have here in Colorado. Still, I plant a crop every year. Even if we only get one meal, it’s worth it. We love peas.
Dear Aiken Audubon…
“What should I feed the owl in my backyard?”
“How can I keep those spotted woodpeckers from waking me up at 5 a.m.?”
“Do you sell bluebird houses?”
“Do you have programs for children?”
“What bird is this?”
When our Audubon chapter website encourages people to “Contact Aiken Audubon,” the emails come to me. I’m the “real person” behind the Aiken email address. It’s fun. I never know what I’m going to find in my inbox!
IPM: Good Bugs and Other Garden Heroes
If we set a thief to catch a thief, then why not set a bug to eat a bug? Sometimes the best way to control an outbreak of an insect pest is to use another insect, or a close relative (such as spiders). Ladybugs, the most famous of these insect killers, are wimps compared to some of the other predatory critters in your garden. Lacewing larvae, ground beetles, praying mantises, wasps, hover flies, spiders… there are plenty of beasties who are more than happy to keep garden pests under control.
Quiz #10: Answer
To refresh your memory, here again is the photo for Bird Quiz #10.
As I mentioned in the quiz, the photo was taken in Oregon in September. As you can tell, the bird is standing on sand, eating a piece of a large fish. It’s pretty safe to assume I was at the beach.
Carrots All Winter
Now that the winter’s first hard freezes have arrived, fresh homegrown produce is in short supply. The season my be over for frost-tender summer squash, vine-ripened tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, but with some preparation, you can enjoy at least one crop that can be harvested from mid-summer through fall and winter, until the days start to warm again. There’s nothing like going out to the garden in December, brushing off some snow, carefully digging into the cold soil, and pulling up some crisp, bright orange carrots!
Bird Quiz #10
(Make sure you also see the previous months’ Bird Quizzes!)
Can you identify this bird? The photo was taken in Oregon in September. My answer will appear next Monday.
Invasion of the Yellowjackets
I’m sitting quietly at my desk as an unidentified insect makes an orbit around my head, buzzing aggressively. What in the…? It changes direction, aiming directly for my eyes. I want to flail at the bug, but realize that may not be a good idea, so I jump out of my chair and out of the way. Buzzzzzzz…. It finally lands on the wall and I get a good look. Yikes! It’s a yellowjacket!
Moments later, there are two wasps circling my screen, then three, and four. It seems that every yellowjacket in the neighborhood has somehow found a passage into my house, and they’re ganging up on me.
Rare Bird? Read This!
I make it a point to generate my own material for this blog. I research and write the articles, I take most of the photos. However, once in a while I come across another blogger’s post that is so well done, and so helpful, that it makes no sense for me to try and do better.
In this case, Greg Gillson has written a post called “How NOT to report a rare bird.” This caught my attention because I have, in fact, had occasion to report a rare bird (although not as often as I could wish!) and I really had no idea what I was doing.
Please click on over to Birding is Fun and read Greg’s article. He is concise, informative, and entertaining.
Beyond Fall Foliage
Want to add autumn interest to your garden? Frost has arrived and flowers are finishing their season, but we don’t have to settle for a boring landscape. Even in Colorado, it’s possible to create a garden that is beautiful all year.
Colorful foliage is everywhere this time of year, but there’s more to fall than just leaves, no matter how spectacular they might be. Look for bright berries, persistent seedheads, and even colorful or thorny bark and branches.
Mountain Plover 