The Great Backyard Bird Count 2014

I must admit... I will never be a scientist. 

It just isn't a part of me, 
though quite honestly, I've tried.

Patiently Waiting a Turn at the Feeder

With pencil and notebook, I was so ready to record 
my backyard bird scientific data for the Great Backyard Bird Count...
the day, the hour, the species,
the numbers. 

It's a Party!

 And then it happened...
I became completely distracted by the show.

 Dove Dancin' in the Morning Air

Who wouldn't be?
 Kinda hard to count birds and photograph them at the same time.

It wasn't long before I knew...
my heart just wasn't into the science of this event. 

But capturing the images... 
now that makes my heart zing! 

Dark Eyed Junco

This little guy stole my heart...

something about those deep black eyes.

He's often described as 

"leaden skies above, snow below".

Free Rent

Isn't he a flashy little fellow?

He's polite and very well mannered at the feeder.
Also enjoys foraging for food 
in the brown winter gardens.

Move in.  Please?

House Sparrow

Who knew a common House Sparrow 
could be so enchanting?

King for a Day

Notice the black patch on his throat.

The larger that patch, the older and more dominate he is.

Nice to wear this information 

on their feathers for all the ladies to see!

House Finch

The red of a male House Finch 

comes from the pigments 

contained in their food during molt.

Looking at You!

The more pigment in the food... the redder he is. 

That's why you sometimes see orange or yellowish male House Finches. 

They must not dine in my Raspberry Patch.

I Pick You!

A female Finch is really quite plain.
She prefers to mate with the reddest male she can find.

Wouldn't you?

American Robin

Ever wondered how to tell 

if a Robin is male or female?

They are very similar

but females are more pale in color

and the head is more gray than black. 

Surveying the Sights

Our Robins are quite elusive this day...

I only saw two from a distance.

Perhaps they know they can't compete 

with the dule* of doves 

that are gathered here.

*Dule...

as in flock.

Eurasian Collared Dove

I counted well over twenty-eight doves 

 when I stepped out on the porch 

and interrupted their party.

Should have gone for the image instead of the count.

So many doves fluttering at once... 

it really was quite amazing.

Lovey Doves

The Doves are certainly announcing an early Spring here... 

and driving me a bit looney 

with their constant mating calls.

It's quite the scene.
But oh, how I love Nature. 

♦ ♦ ♦ 

I've entered my data with birdcount.org.
The numbers were simple estimates...
 and I collected my certificate.


Perhaps I should have called it...

The Great Backyard Photo Shoot.

♦  ♦  ♦

Kudos to 

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

and

Audubon

for creating such a great project.

I promise next year I'll do better with the counting.

Maybe I'll enlist my grandkiddos to count while I take the pics!

All content created by Carolyn Bush | Copyright © 2010 - 2014

 All Rights Reserved | This Grandmother's Garden | Highland, Utah, USA

Counting the Birds...

 Today is the day... actually it's the first of several days.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

February 14-17

(Click the link above to get the details)

I'm making a big deal of it 

because this is my first year to actually do it.

I always have the best of intentions... but then it slips my mind

and I miss it.

CAMERA ... ready.

BIRD FEEDERS... filled.

SUN... up.

Bring it on little birdies... I'm ready to count! 

Check back here in a few days 

to see the images I capture

in my first ever bird count.

 

Why count Birds? 

"Scientists and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where the birds are. Bird populations are dynamic; they are constantly in flux. No single scientist or team of scientists could hope to document and understand the complex distribution and movements of so many species in such a short time. Scientists use information from the Great Backyard Bird Coun to get the “big picture” about what is happening to bird populations." 

All content created by Carolyn Bush | Copyright © 2010 - 2014 All Rights Reserved

This Grandmother's Garden | Highland, Utah, USA

Frozen

We seem to have our own version of 

FROZEN 

going on here.

Crystal Pendant

And I must admit...

 it is quite exquisite! 

Winter is sooo much more 
than just cold and snow.

Enchanted Branches

It's a FROZEN world 
of beauty and enchantment.

But you've got to bundle up 
to go find it.
~
Better hurry... it doesn't last long!

All content created by Carolyn Bush | Copyright © 2010 - 2014 

All Rights Reserved | This Grandmother's Garden | Highland, Utah, USA

Winter Dancin' in the Archives

It's been forever since my last post.

My sweet little Muse seems to be hiding in the closet...  

or maybe she's simply on vacation.

Blame it on the weather.

It's so-o-o cold out there...the snow doesn't melt.

And there's been no new snow for weeks

to freshen up the scene.

It's looking rather stale out there...

NOT 

my favorite Winter.

  

Time for a little

 Dancing in the Archives...

Put on your dancin' shoes! 

 And enjoy these images from last year's fabulous Winter.

(Follow the links in BLUE to read the story behind the picture) 

Beauty Berry Crowned in Crystals

Magic in this Frosty Air

Sittin' in the Powder

 Brrr ...irds in Winter

Winter Whites

Blooming in the Deep Freeze of Winter

All content created by Carolyn Bush | Copyright © 2010 - 2014 | All Rights Reserved 

This Grandmother's Garden | Highland, Utah, USA

The View from the Warm Side of My Window

  My Garden Gate

When I was a child we squealed with delight

when we woke up to fresh snow covering our world.

We couldn't wait to gather 

our boots and coats and hats and mittens...

and rush out into the cold chilly air 

to build snowmen and snow forts

and capture the falling snowflakes with our tongues.

For hours on end we rode our sleds

 up and down the unploughed roads...

powered by our dog Tippy

who loved the snow as much as we did.

Winter was magical.

I'm much older now...

my creaking bones remind me of that daily.

 Winter is still quite magical for me

but on cold frosty mornings like today...

 best viewed from the warm side of my window.

All content created by Carolyn Bush | Copyright © 2010 - 2013

All Rights Reserved | This Grandmother's Garden | Highland, Utah, USA 

Magic in This Frosty Air

...it's just waiting to be discovered!

But you have to go out there to see it. 

We're talking about the other-side of the window... the freezing side...

early in the morning... 
before the sun peeks through the Winter clouds...
and it all... disappears! 

(Isn't that just like magic?)

So bundle up in your warm clothes and put on those Winter boots and gloves... 

we're going out in the FROSTY air.

Gonna find us some MAGIC!

Beauty Berry Crowned in Crystals

 Enchanting wouldn't you say?

They look as though they've been dipped in sugar.

Can you see the magic?

Look a little closer...

Snowflakes!

 Can you see them? 
Right there at the end of the stem.

Look closer, there are more!

Tiny perfect hexagonal (six sided) ice crystals.

     "They grow, beginning with a tiny nucleus, and developing around this nucleus a geometrical pattern of amazing regularity. Usually they're hexagonal; they have six sides or six branches. And the six sides will be exactly the same, even to details which can be seen only under the microscope. It is just simply marvelous! See those two tiny air bubbles, hardly larger than pinpoints: Even those bubbles are repeated in every one of the six sections of this crystal. So are all the dozens of other details. There's law and order for you! Each snowflake is as different from its fellows as we human beings are from each other..."  

                                           ~Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley 1925

 Magical!

 Can you see them?

Miracles of Frosty Beauty

    "Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind."

                      ~The Snowflake Man

Wilson "Snowflake"  Bentley aka The Snowflake Man spent his lifetime 
photographing and documenting snowflakes.

Crystal-coated European Cranberry


He was a pioneer in revealing the secrets of crystal formation 
and it was he who discovered that no two snowflakes are alike. 
He should know... he took over 5000 pictures of them.

His story is fascinating. 

 Follow the links throughout this post to find out more.

Snowflakes and Frost

     Wilson A. Bentley was born in 1865 in Jericho, Vermont. Taught by his mother, he lived and worked on his family farm located in the "Snowbelt," where the annual snow fall was about 120 inches. From the time he was a small boy, Bentley was fascinated by the natural world around him. He loved to study butterflies, leaves, and spider webs. He kept a record of the weather conditions every day and was fascinated by raindrops. Bentley developed an interest in snow crystals after he received a microscope for his fifteenth birthday. Four year later, in 1885, equipped with both his microscope and a camera, Bentley made the first successful photograph of a snowflake.            ~Smithsonian Institute Archives 
  

Bentley also researched the formation of frost... 

he called them jewels.

Jewels

      "A wild day or night of winds or snow and the earth and all there on is transformed, covered and glorified, with a mantle of glistening jewels and hill and mountain and forest take on new charm. A cold zero night and the jewels appear as if by magic.                             ~Wilson A. Bentley New York Times; Feb 19, 1928

Sugar Frosted!

  

Water molecules expand and re-orient themselves 

into geometric shapes as they freeze.

Frosty!

Don't let the blue sky fool you...
the temp here is 11°F. 

Shivering!

Before his death, the Snowflake Man wrote a letter to the Smithsonian Institute. 
He was concerned that his life's work might be destroyed or lost. 
 They agreed to take 500 of his pictures and archive them. 

Visit his Image Gallery at the Smithsonian and you'll appreciate more the work of this great man... I sure do!

All content created by Carolyn Bush | Copyright © 2010 - 2013 | All Rights Reserved
This Grandmother's Garden | Highland, Utah, USA |

Blooming? In the Deep Freeze of Winter?

 That was the question I asked myself this morning when I remembered it was Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Our gardens are dressed in their Winter Whites

and covered by a deep blanket of snow.

And to say it is cold would be a colossal understatement. 

It is so far beyond cold.

But these are the gardens that celebrate every season,

and while the temps may be in the single digits

there is still beauty to behold.

Patio Planter in Winter

I planted this pot last Spring... with beautiful blooms of Sweet Alyssum and potato vine 

and a sweet little pink petunia with green edges called Pretty Much Picasso.

I loved the combination, though the petunias didn't enjoy the Summer's heat.

I'm feeling sad that I can't find a picture with its sweet color, 

but isn't that the way life goes...

we often take for granted those things that mean the most to us.  

♥  ♥  ♥    

Usually in the Fall, I clean out my garden pots and put them away until Spring, 

when I plant them again... with whatever my heart desires.

And I did...with all my other pots.

But not this one. 

 There was something about this pot that made me smile.
 I couldn't bare the thought of cleaning it out and putting it away for the season.

So, I decided to let it stay...

right in the very spot it has been since I planted it. 

  

It catches my eye each morning as I open my blinds and look out upon my world...

and it still makes me smile.

It has endured the heat of Summer, 

the winds of Autumn and now the "more than cold" of Winter.

And this is what's blooming in my gardens today...

And I think it is beautiful!

♥   ♥   ♥

Thank you Carol for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

 Visit her gardens to find links to gardens all over the world.

Welcome to my gardens!
Your visit here is cherished and your comments...
the sweet nectar that keeps me posting!
Please leave your Blog URL so I can return the visit.

Brrr ...irds in Winter

Early Morning in my Winter Gardens

We're living in a deep freeze. 

The days are frigidly cold and the nights are simply Siberian.

Fluffing Feathers

Occasionally the sun peeks through 
the gray winter clouds...

Beauty Berries

but not long enough to bring warmth to my frozen tundra.

  

Aren't Hydrangeas Divine when they Die?

"How does anything survive in your gardens?" 

my friends in the Tropics ask.

 


Well, simply said, the plants go dormant...

Fluffing Keeps Me Warm

 

but the birds...

Little Feet have a Protective Covering... Galoshes?

oh, those little birds...

I'm in Love with my Photographer

           When they're not posing for a photo shoot...

Busiest Spot in the Kingdom

they're singin' and a dancin'

to keep those little bodies warm!

Do you feel guilty when your feeders are empty? No guilt needed. 
Birds feed mostly on natural foods, and know not to depend on just one source... 

even feeders that are always filled. 

Researchers found that Chickadees get less than 25% of their energy source from feeders. 

Of course, the down side to not keeping your feeders full is that the birds 

will take the party to your neighbor's feeders and you'll miss out on all the fun. 

If you refrain from deadheading your flowers in the fall, 

you'll have plenty of natural food to entice the birds to entertain you.

(Photos taken through my back door window.  It's much warmer on this side.)

Welcome to my gardens!
Your visit here is cherished
and your comments are the sweet nectar that keeps me posting!
Please leave your Blog URL so I can return the visit.