Kim and I were at the Wildscape from 7:0O PM- 8:00 PM to water plants and tidy up for the upcoming full moon event, Monday, August 19, at 6:30 PM.
Sideoats Grama, the State Grass of Texas.
For the most part Texas natives have held up amazingly well with minimal attention. In cooler weather, the garden will be groomed and new plantings put in. We noticed it felt cooler with a breeze blowing and decided to do no more weeding until the Dog Days of Summer are over.
Blackfoot Daisy
Pictured are some of the toughest Texas Natives – Sideoats Grama, Blackfoot Daisy, Gaillardia, Salvia, Kidneywood, and the garden mascots.
Here we are at the close of summer and we still have 100-degree temperatures. I maintain my hummingbird feeders year-round. In this heat, I change out the sugar water every third day.
This morning I had a nice surprise! I looked outside on our front porch and saw about 8 Ruby-throats trying to run each other off the feeder. Hummingbirds do not share very easily. They must have to talk to each other first and come to an agreement before they all land and take a meal together. Always competitive.
Out in the yard there are not many plants with nectar that are still alive. This drought has been very hard on all our wild friends, not just on us.
We have air conditioning and grocery stores; they have whatever didn’t die or dry up. Somehow, they manage each year to survive another season in Texas. I hope they always will. Need will find a way.
Remember to clean the feeders, change the water often and put the feeder under shade if possible. If the water is not changed and is left out under the sun, it will become more like a hot toddy than a cool refreshing drink. Just a little care by humans will go a long way to helping out our tiny little winged friends.
I was lucky enough to attend a hummingbird banding years ago.
I paid the fee to adopt one at the event. So, when a hummer was being released after it received the tiny lightweight band it was placed in my open hand. It stayed in my hand for a few seconds and flew up and away.
I have to say, it was so moving that I actually cried from the experience.
Its heartbeat and it felt like a bond was forged at that moment. I am sure it was scared, so I hope it got over that quickly. I would never harm an animal. Its band will help scientists follow their journey through Mexico.
I left Texas for a couple of weeks and looked for birds in South Carolina. I was surprised at how few I saw, though looking up and seeing an osprey floating outside my window scanning for prey was a pretty cool highlight.
I have no bird photos, so I’ll share other summer survivors. This beauty is a checkered setwing (Dythemis fugax). I love its stance. We have lots of them now, but I’d never observed one before.
Back here in northern Milam County, Texas, I’ve had the same experience. Before I left, the drought was just getting started, and I still saw scissortail flycatchers, large flocks of starlings and grackles, paintd buntings (heard, not seen), a few dickcissels, and my buddies the bug-eating barn swallows. When I returned, those birds were long gone. In fact, because I slept in a bit the first few days that I was home, I didn’t see or hear many birds at all.
The ground cherries (Physalis cinerascens) are only blooming in the shady areas.
Since I’ve been getting up earlier to hang out with my horses before it gets stifling hot (108 at my house yesterday), I found that the birds make their forays early. For example, this morning I saw three of my pond bird friends, the blue heron, the green heron (it chided me for making it move), and the upland sandpiper. What? Yep, every year a few of them show up and run up and down the “beach” created by the ponds losing water. I often get a yellowlegs or two but have not seen one this year.
We usually have lots and lots of prairie broomweed (Amphiachyris dracunculoides) but this year there isn’t very much.
I turned on my trusty Merlin Bird ID app to see what was out there while I walked around this morning, as well. The red-shouldered hawk was declaring its presence loudly, while the American crows (which I can now distinguish from fish crows by their calls) were answering. I enjoyed that dialog, only to have them joined by my trusty friends who never leave, the Carolina wren (at full volume), the tufted titmouse, and the cardinals. I didn’t hear the woodpecker, but I hear them often, so I believe Merlin on that one. It sounded pretty good there for a while, and I was happy to learn that my woods still had some residents.
What Merlin heard from 8:30-8:40 am this morning.
Other birds that are still hanging around are the house sparrows (much fewer in number now than they were), vultures (black and turkey), and nighthawks who show up promptly at dusk every evening.
These camphorweed (Heterotheca subaxillaris) are pretty perky in areas that get some shade.
It’s nice to know there are still some birds of summer out there. We have lots of water sources, which help a lot, and plenty of seeds and bugs for them to eat. What birds are you seeing where you live?
Feverfew (Parthenium hysterophorus) is popping up near my house. It’s extra poisonous, so it’s going to get cut down.
PS: my photos aren’t of birds, because I haven’t been close enough to photograph any.
I have yet to identify the mysterious sea monster in the pond behind my innocent horse.
Yes, it is hot and dry. Remember to keep water in the shade if you can and plenty of it for the wild things. I have over 50 Cardinals that wait for me every day now. I bet my electricity bill is going to be a whopper from running our well to get water for them.
That is a LOT of cardinals
The bunnies are drinking along with all our other wild friends also.
Cottontails appreciate our help.
A few days ago, I heard some strange clicking noises way up in a pine tree, I waited a long time to see what it was. It was some kind of bird I had never seen before.
Yellow-billed cuckoos are elusive and often easiest to identify by their sound.
After several days of trying to ID it, I finally found it in a field guide. It was a pair of Yellow Billed Cuckoos! I had never seen them before. It’s interesting to add them to my bird list.
Most of the wildflowers are going to seed now and the pastures look awful.
In the garden I fight to keep anything alive for the butterflies and hummingbirds.
And lynx spiders, too.
I do have a lot of Gulf Coast Fritillaries, Swallowtails, and Sulfurs still flying around.
There is also a new batch of the red version of the Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars.
So, enjoy what nature is around you now because the heat is hard on them too.
I think everyone can agree it’s hot! It’s looking like this is the new norm and will get hotter in the years to come.
We humans can go inside and enjoy a nice glass of iced tea or whatever.
But what about everything that lives outside? Yes, they were born outside, but not in this kind of weather. So, can we help them a little without taming them?
I think so.
I just put up some heat shields on my Purple Martin Gourds. I could feel the difference it made on my face as I installed them. Just a little help.
Cooler birds
I make sure that the many water stations I have for the birds are filled several times a day. The bees are also drinking from them. Water is so important for everything right now.
Nature Along the El Camino Real 