Of birds, and beasts and plants......

May 11, 2025

It has been a busy week, the clear sunny days ideal for outdoor work. Almost every night, there has been patchy frost, but the warmer night temperatures forecast for next week may mean the end of carting plants out and in each morning and evening. 

The frozen centre of my compost bins finally melted and I was able to get the winter accumulation shovelled and forked into one bin, layered with dry leaves and water. The compost thermometer jumped from 60F yesterday, to 80F this morning, so things are 'a-cookin'! It is a spring chore I always seem to dread, but once I get at it, it isn't half as bad as I expected...like a lot of things in life! A good sharp garden fork is indispensable. I'll be re-layering and mixing the pile back and forth each time the temperature peaks out and should have usable compost for planting the warm-weather crops once June arrives.

Yesterday I transplanted the brassicas out to bed #7,

bottomless ice cream tubs supporting the shade cloth, as the day was bright. They have been growing in a hot frame with the lid up for a couple of weeks, so are quite acclimated. Peas are poking up this morning, and they haven't been without a few glitches, as something dug up some of the seeds immediately after they were planted. Bad gardener had failed to install a shield of hardware cloth...

This morning, there are also footprints dimpled in the smooth soil in the end of the freshly disturbed brassica bed....

No doubt Mr. Fox's curiosity was aroused.

Yesterday morning, on returning from our bush walk, we were greeted with a zipping, buzzing Hummingbird, doing his thing over the lilac bush...so know at least one lady-bird has arrived. Let the Hummy entertainment commence!

The Rose-breasted grosbeaks have arrived, the first one announced his arrival by flying in and perching awkwardly on the pole holding the Hummingbird feeder, right in front of us one afternoon as we were reviving on the verandah from a day of yard work. He quickly fluttered off, his wings a mesmerizing psychedelic black and white blurr. Over the next few days, we have had up to 6 Rosies sitting in the tray feeder under the crab-apple tree, and now their melodious singing is heard all around the clearing, perhaps because the females have arrived as well. Quite a few White-throated sparrows are here, and have been for a while. They forage in the grass under the feeders. There seem to be a surfeit of the tan striped phase of the bird this year. I've only seen a couple of the white striped, who in my opinion, are much prettier, their colours so much more distinct. Oven birds, Chestnut-sided warblers and Hermit thrush are daily songsters heard from the edges of the clearing now, and back in the bush there are Black-throated blue and Black-throated green warblers adding their voices, as well as the soft buzzy sound of the Northern Parula warbler. Yesterday a Brown Thrasher made its presence known, it's thrilling repertoire coming out of the now leafing out crab-apple tree beside the house. A little later it hopped out of the lilac bush onto the drive and I was able to sneak out on the verandah, and get a good look. Thrashers were first heard on election day, as we stood waiting in line outside the voting booth at our rural polling place. Closer to the house, Chipping sparrows are trilling their 'come hither' songs, persistent Song Sparrows are calling from high perches, and the Whip-poor-wills are back to the 4;30 AM wake up call regime, sometimes right beneath the bedroom window. One morning I was re-awakened by a strange echoing 'brrrrrrsssst' that was coming from the roof over my head. We investigated and found a Northern Flicker up on the roof ladder, posturing and fanning his tail at his own reflection in the chimney, with a periodic burst of tapping on the roof ladder. Hubby climbed up and painted the shiny metal chimney with black spray paint to deter his persistence. I happened to be looking up when the bird returned and took this shot. He is turning away in puzzlement, and has since, thankfully, ceased and desisted.

The female Tree Swallow is diligently gathering nesting material and taking it into the nest box while the male guards the area from atop the adjacent clothesline pole.

(Not a good shot, but you get the gist.)
The Blue bird saga continues, with a small glitch. The female disappeared for a couple of days, and the male spent his time perching on all the stakes and posts around the clearing and calling. I was getting worried about what had happened, as I know that Bluebirds investigate any opening or hole for nesting possibilities, and worried that she was stuck somewhere. We once had one come down the shop chimney and a fluttering noise attracted Hubby to the glass-fronted stove door, where he released a soot covered bird out into the shop and then out the big doors. Hubby has since enclosed all the chimney tops with double chicken wire. Thankfully, this morning, both birds were sitting side by side on one of the T stakes we put around the yard, just for them and the Phoebes to use for bug-catching perches. A little later both birds were back investigating the bird house, raising my hopes again.

The woods are a-greening. Under every red maple tree is a red swathe of spent blooms, and on the branches are unfurling leaves and dangling baby maple keys. 

Expectations are high about finding morel and pheasant back mushrooms any day now, and I am on the hunt. Early in the week, stinging nettle shoots were harvested from the patch I am developing in a clearing back along a trail, and a pot of  delicious stinging nettle soup was made and enjoyed. That's a keeper! Asparagus are cut-able now, and this morning on a garden reconnoitre walk, found this guy in the patch.

Daffodils are making a cheery yellow statement, these guys,

and these.

It is a beautiful day, and I wish all the Mothers out there, a good one.

Happy Mother's Day.