Wednesday Vignette: Time to feed the birds

Early this year, when word of a salmonella outbreak among song birds spread, I stopped filling my bird feeders.  After the risk dropped, I held off on filling the feeders as I hosted periodic gatherings with friends in my back garden  - fewer birds in the vicinity reduced the frequency with which I had to scrub my outdoor furniture.  Even as my friends and I got vaccinated against COVID-19 and returned to a semi-normal schedule of meeting at local restaurants, I held off refilling the feeders.  But I've felt guilty every time I looked out my home office window and saw a bird land on the empty feeders.  As Thanksgiving loomed, I decided there was no better time to scrub the feeders and get back to feeding the birds.  It only took a day before they were back.

Most of the avian visitors thus far have been lesser gold finches

Scrub jays show up periodically, scattering the smaller birds, but the weight of the larger birds causes the seed portals to close and the jays haven't figured out how to get around that

Of course the finches and jays the weren't the only creatures to return.

Full feeders or not, the birds have remained in the garden but the squirrels largely disappeared when the feeders were empty.  This fellow showed up at the feeders almost as soon as the birds did.

It took him numerous tries to figure out how to get up the pole but he's yet to master the fine art of feeding from these "squirrel buster" feeders without his weight closing the seed portals

He keeps working at it, though, and I'm sure he'll figure out how to feed upside down one day soon, just like his predecessors

I have three feeders in the front garden too but they've barely been touched thus far. 

These feeders contain a different seed mix but I suspect their closeness to neighborhood street traffic is what's put off both birds and squirrels

Meanwhile, as I pondered when I should cut back the Senna bicapsularis on the north side of the garden, I spotted caterpillars of the cloudless sulphur butterflies (Phoebe sennae) munching away for the first time this year.  Pruning will be delayed for at least a couple of months. 

These caterpillars can be either yellow or green depending on whether they're consuming the flowers or the foliage of the host plant.  The ones I found were feeding on the few flowers remaining on the Senna.  Heat and dry winds have already eliminated most of the flowers on the shrub. 

These three were easy to spot because they were yellow and feeding at eye level.  The Senna grows several feet above my head (where no flowers remain) so I imagine there are probably more I can't see.  According to one source, these caterpillars molt 4 times before forming a leaf-like chrysalis.  Once they form a chrysalis, it takes several weeks for them to transform into butterflies.

Hopefully, offering the birds plenty of seed will discourage them from eating caterpillars!

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.

Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: A Bouquet for Cathy

Cathy of Rambling in the Garden celebrates the second anniversary of her popular "In a Vase on Monday" feature with today's post.  While I prepared vases in connection with a couple of other blogger's memes in the past, I never did so consistently until I joined in with Cathy's merry band at the end of March last year.  By my count, I've participated for 85 weeks without a break.

Cathy's own dedication to the meme has been the driving force behind my participation.  She always brings enthusiasm to the process.  And, rain or shine, in town or on holiday, her posts appear like clockwork.  She encourages participation on whatever level works for each blogger and she supports everyone with appreciative comments.  So, Cathy, my vase this week is dedicated to you.

Front view

Back view

Top view

After the hottest October on record here, as well as two bouts with Santa Ana winds (also known as "devil winds"), flowers are in relatively short supply in my garden this week.  My Senna bicapsularis, one of the mainstays of my fall garden, is already fading but I took advantage of the fact that there was still enough to cut.  However, the Senna came with two surprises:

As I was preparing a Senna stem for my vase, I discovered a bright yellow caterpillar chomping away, accompanied by several ants.  The ants got washed away but I took pains to move the caterpillar back to the shrub where it can continue to pursue its life goal.  The Senna is a host plant for the sulphur butterfly, Phoebis sennae.

The second surprise was the fasciated (flattened) stem I found on the Senna.  Fasciation (aka cresting) can be caused by genetic abnormalities or bacteria.  If I'd had more time, I would have tried to create an arrangement around this stem.

Here's a closer look at what was included in this week's vase:

Clockwise from upper left: Eustoma grandiflorum 'Borealis Yellow', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', the inedible berries of Pyrus calleryana (aka ornamental pear), and Senna bicapsularis (aka Winter Senna)

Visit Cathy to see how she's celebrating her meme anniversary and to find the intriguing contributions of a diverse group of bloggers from different parts of the world.  Their ingenuity, enthusiasm, and the beauty of their creations is a large part of the draw of this meme.

This week's vase on the dining table

All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party