Birds Among the Flowers

It was a busy morning for the pair of Blue-gray gnatcatchers we caught building their nest at the edge of a small farm field.  The branch they chose is dying but hopefully still strong enough to hold their nest through summer winds.  Each bird kept watch on our group as it worked on construction. I've made the photos extra large so that you can see them better but also causing them to stretch beyond the right edge of my blog. Try to ignore the words printed over the edge.  This is a formatting glitch of Blogger. Maybe it will be fixed by the time you are reading this.

This Red-tail hawk delighted us as it circled overhead several times.  One of our Mountwood birders who had surveyed the road earlier had noticed a red-tail's nest just up the road.  We surmised that it might belong to this particular hawk. On each turn that tell-tail shone unmistakably red as it caught the sun.

Sure enough, a bit up the road was a nest that could have belonged to our hawk. The nest rested on a horizontal limb of a sycamore tree unlike most nests that are wedged into a forked tree trunk.  When we stopped a bit further up the road an agitated red-tail flew over us screaming and circling.  We thought it might be the same hawk since we were so close to the last sighting. Perhaps it was the first hawk's mate. Soon, a red-shouldered hawk flew over screaming its distinctive call, obviously disturbing the red-tail.

Yesterday I told you about the Louisiana waterthrush that hijacked our car as it escaped identification for about forty-five minutes. Four pair of binoculars proved to be too much as the bird finally became part of the day's life-list.

Our group left Newell's Run then drove back down along the Ohio River on our way back home.  We made just two more stops.  One for this  Great egret

and a last stop to view a Bald eagle that was flying overhead.  Susan, our driver quickly pulled her car to the shoulder as we piled out of the car, binoculars in hand. It was an immature male bale eagle. He did not yet have the distinctive white feathers on his head. As we watched the eagle disappear over the ridge we were joined by the Ohio Highway Patrol who actually just wanted to know if we needed any help.  The officer smiled and drove on once we pointed out the eagle.  She may be used to birdwatchers along her route as we were just up the river from an osprey nest. Without a scope, we chose to ignore the osprey nest.  It was time to go home and return to other responsibilities awaiting at home or elsewhere.

Bloomers, Wild and Free

Time moved too quickly as my wildflower bonanza day moved toward its. Happily, the day didn't end before we spotted a lemony bellwort, with petals twisted upon itself in a flower hug.  Below, a spent blossom blows with the breeze.

Just a few feet up the hill from the bellwort was a deep red trillium, Toadshade, Trillium sessile or sessile-flowered wake-robin, nestled among the larkspur. 

The sessile trillium has petals that never really open, remaining vertical almost as if in prayer.

Notice that the flower has no stalk. Hence, the source of its name, "sessile" a word which at one time meant low enough to sit on or sitting on the base. Now, for botanists, it means that a flower or leaf sits right on the base without a stalk.  Supposedly the toadshade smells foul, but I didn't think to smell it at the time.  This was a lifer for me, a first look that wasn't printed on a page.

Morning was over and it was time for our lunch. The Mountwood Bird Club members had a special place planned for our noon meal.  I heard someone say we were eating at "columbine rock." I've seen columbine in the mountains but didn't realize they grew so close to home yet outside of cultivation.  All columbines are a bit wild. We should never become too attached to a particular spot for one. Columbines seem to have a free will, growing wherever they feel so inspired, whether it be in a fertile rose bed or in baked clay between cracks of a sidewalk.  I've learned to  accept this wild child where it offers itself. "Columba" Latin for "dove," columbine flies all over my garden. A common name is "grannies bonnet" but there is nothing common about wild columbine. 

Damp, moss-covered rocks danced with red and yellow flowers. Peanut butter and jelly became a gourmet meal in such a setting.

Our lunch time view was shared with a hillside of giant trilliums, many which had evolved to pink, lilac and maroon as this one below.

They clung to the rocks and tumbled over the hillside amid white violets and spent hepatica.

Lunch in Earth's garden, What a view.

I've saved the best until last - Blue-eyed Mary.  People that know me might think I mean my daughter, but not this time.  Blue-eyed Mary, Collinsia verna, is a small, sweet, violet-like flower cluster.

While sighting a single plant is nice, it is nothing compared to what we saw this day. Thousands and thousands of blue-eyed Marys blanketed the creek bottoms and hillsides, encroaching into people's yards.

Such a subtle color, a mass of pale blue, a giant blue shadow across the hollow.  We saw a farmhous where dog boxes housed hounds held to their tethers in small bare circles amid a sea of blue, perhaps wasted on the poor color-blind hounds.

Our part of the caravan was waylaid by a thrush, specifically a Louisiana waterthrush whose song was heard through an open car window.  I hold it personally (birdally?) responsible for thwarting our effort to see the firepinks in bloom.  I shouldn't have been surprised, though. Afterall, this was a birding club. My ill-trained neck refused to look up any more as we tried to follow the elusive bird from branch to branch, catching bits of its call.  I'm not complaining, though. I was allowed to see a Louisiana waterthrush besides all the wonderful flowers. But, alas, all good things come to an end and this was the end of my Earthday frolic. 

I am glad you were with me to enjoy the wildflowers. I was so lucky to be included in this trip and I thank the Mountwood Bird Club, especially my friend Pat for allowing me to travel with them from river  to hill top.

This is all of the wildflowers but tomorrow I will give you a glimpse of the birds we saw. There are just a few as my lens was usually pointed downward.