“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It Goes On.”
Robert Frost
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Singing Frogs

Last post I spoke of dancing bunnies and this week it's all about singing frogs.  I am fascinated by nature and have always had a curiosity about the creatures I encounter in the garden. Maybe this comes from growing up as the only girl on a somewhat secluded farm. My playground was 600 acres of woodland, prairie, deep sand filled ravines and a creek that ran through the middle of the property. There wasn't much else to do other than read and explore!




The illustration above is from my collection, the illustrator is Adrana Saviozzi from the book Somebody Saw, 1962.

I still remember those days as a child, when younger, accompanied by my two older brothers, but then later on when I was older, exploring on my own. It was all so magical.  I guess I've really never experienced it in any other way since.  I often wonder if my time entertaining myself when younger created the introvert I am today, or was I just comfortable being on my own because I was an introvert? I guess, I'll never really know the answer to that question!

Anyway... back to the frogs... You may remember that last year I was very upset because there were no frogs around our lake. I wrote about it here.  In past years we would see the small tree frogs around the garden and hear them at night singing. It was a crazy cacophony of sound that I loved to listen to at night while drifting off to sleep. Some people don't care for the sound, but those are the loud bull frogs that most people complain about, our tree frogs have a most amazing lyrical, musical sound.

Of course I couldn't write about frogs without thinking of some books I have that are delightfully illustrated with frogs dancing, prancing, singing etc.


This poem is in the vintage set of Best in Children's Books by Doubleday. 1960 Volume 30 - A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go (illustrated by Adrienne Adams) - available in my shop here. The following two images are from the same book. Illustrations are by Adrienne Adams.



I was so happy the other night when I heard the frogs start to sing. The first night I heard just one and now several days later I'm hearing maybe four or five different frog voices. Not nearly as many as there used to be, but I'm hoping that if it's a good year, there will be a bunch of tadpoles in our lake that will grow up to be wonderful singing frogs!

So you may be wondering, how do frogs survive the winter? Well first of all I did some reading and found out that they are called ectotherms. The body temperature of ectotherms follows their environment, for example if it is cold outside, their body temperature falls. They must bask in the sun to get warm and cool off in the shade, or under the water. Amphibians, reptiles and insects are ectotherms. 

To live through the winter Spring Peepers, Green/Gray frogs and others bury themselves in the mud (about an inch deep) around a wetland, such as a lake or stream. They have special components in their body that actually act as antifreeze. Their body converts glycogen into glucose, which keeps the frog alive while it's frozen solid. When the ground becomes warm again in spring, the frogs thaw-out and remain active until winter comes around again! That's why at first I heard just one frog and then as the days went by more and more, because the frogs were just 'waking' up from their hibernation.




So I can happily say that Spring is truly here! I hope our little frogs make a comeback and return to become a thriving community again. It's a very nice turn of events and so fitting as it is Earth Day this Friday on April 22nd. It's nice to see that with all the obstacles they face, our little frogs are a win for nature.





So, I've got to run, much like the frog above... and I'll be running 'round to your blogs soon, Heigh Ho!

Hope you are enjoying some warmer Spring weather wherever you are!
~~~ Diane ~~~



Monday, August 3, 2015

A Few Favorite Things

Here are just a few of my favorite things! 
And they all are from my own back yard and home....

Baby Ducks... Wood Ducks... taken late June...






A few shots of our flowers around the back gate and in the inside the yard. I'm happy to report that we now have two kinds of bumble bees in our yard and a few more butterflies have been visiting. Still no sign of any frogs though.















 A berry trifle for our house guests!



 Going into the back yard from the lakeside. The flowers love to grow here and hang in front of the gate.  We've had a super abundance of bunnies this year and they apparently love those tall blue flowers, sorry, I can't remember the name, but they reseed easily and end up in unexpected places....


 Guests for dinner? Well yes, these bunnies decided to dine with us, 
alfresco of course!




 We dined on grilled baby squash, potatoes and chicken....



 And the bunnies had their own feast!




 The next day Dot oversees the back yard, 
.....see her paw, there's a dot at the tip....



 Some daylilies, bee balm and a few weeds next to the lake shore....



 Guy is a very well behaved boy on his leash.



 Guy hanging out with Dot!


Guy finds something in the grass and stands on the leash...
 Dot says...... Hey, Hey, get offa my Leash!!




 My view from a back yard bench... this is why I find it hard to leave.




 A view of our little lake over the flowers...



 When I took this the phlox were just starting to bloom... I'm behind on my photos more will be coming soon!




 There are a few patches of swamp milkweed next to the lake-shore, I've seen a few pairs of Monarch butterflies doing a mating 'dance' mid-air!






These cheerful Yellow day-lilies always brighten my day, as I hope they've brightened yours!


Thank you for joining me and taking a look at some of my favorite things...
Diane 
~ Peace ~ 
~ Love for All ~

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Appreciation for Garden Friends

Guess what today is?




                                                         source: Patricia Barton from the Happy Rabbit
It's Squirrel Appreciation Day!

Most of you know that I love squirrels! I did an entire post which you may read here.  Since that time I have acquired even more squirrels, like this crazy guy I found last year.





Thank you to all my crazy furry little friends! I love all the little squirrels, the red, the gray and the white. Come to my yard little squirrels, where treats will delight you! Thank you for entertaining me (and the kitties)  
for all these years!

xox Diane xox











Saturday, July 13, 2013

Why Should We Care About Honey Bees?



"Because 1/3 of the human diet comes from 
insect-pollinated plants---the humble honey bee 
is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination."  
Defenders of Wildlife 2013



Memories of summer


Have you ever had days where one thing just leads to another and then another? Well yesterday was one of those days.  I don't normally write about this sort of thing on my blog, but I just couldn't let it go. I had to get these stories out there and see what some of you think about all of this.

I have been worried about honey bees and bees in general for several years.  I have noticed a huge decline in their numbers in my own garden. It seems that a few people are starting to jump into action to save them, so when I heard a report about a bunch of  bees in Saint Paul Minnesota being killed a few days ago, I could hardly believe it. I checked the story on my online newspaper thinking somehow I had not heard it correctly on the evening news. But to my dismay, it was true.
 
 
Below is part of the story from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, click here for the full story.
 
  St. Paul fire crews killed honeybees  

  • Firefighters had been called to eradicate the swarm, estimated to contain 25,000 to 30,000 bees.  

  By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE kevin.duchschere@startribune.com   
      The mystery of what killed thousands of honeybees bivouacked in two oak trees in downtown St. Paul was solved Wednesday, when an official said that fire crews had sprayed the bees with fire retardant foam in response to a police call for help. 
   “During the day we might have called animal control or other resources, but it was just a few minutes before midnight on a Sunday night,” St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said. “We were trying in good faith to avoid injuries or panic.” 
  
   The foam caused the bees to drop dead to the sidewalk below the trees, creating dark-colored mounds that one pedestrian the next morning likened to “small snowdrifts.” 
    It was a bittersweet resolution for Marla Spivak, a University of Minnesota entomologist who feared that insecticides had been used. Using foam on bees is “what fire departments have been instructed to do nationwide,” Spivak said. “If you’ve got a bee problem, it’s a good way and a fast way to get rid of it. It’s a much better way to do things than insecticide.” 
   Still, she said, it would have been better had officials contacted a beekeeper to move the swarm, which she estimated contained 25,000 to 30,000 bees. 
     “A colony of bees grows just like a plant, and they normally get to their maximum size in Minnesota in early June, when half would take off looking for a new place,” she said. 
   That's likely what this swarm was doing — camping in trees while waiting to find a new home — when they were killed. 
   “This was an unfortunate situation,” Paulos said. “Bees are cool. They help pollinate and they are a necessity to nature. But in this case, it was a public safety issue.” 

                           xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

OK, so here is my two cents worth!  Really now, they really couldn't just pick up the phone and call a beekeeper??  The police just call the fire department and the fire department blasts a bunch of sleeping bees!!! It's not like they called a beekeeper and the guy or gal says, "Nope, can't help you, that's just too many bees. blah-blah-blah".  They didn't even try!!  Were the police so busy on a Sunday night around midnight that they didn't have time to think of anything else?? I'm sure they were just following procedures.  Oh, and the fire department did say it was a "shame", but the bees were a public hazard.

I probably wouldn't be so irritated by this except it seems that every time a moose, or bear, or some other form of wildlife wanders into town, the only thing they can ever think to do is to kill it. Other places that come to mind like Wisconsin and Michigan, seem to use tranquilizer guns and other non-lethal methods to handle wild things.

But back to the subject at hand. The even weirder and equally disturbing part of this story is that they left the dead bees just lying there on the side walks. The images appeared as dark colored mounds akin to "snowdrifts" to passing pedestrians, who obviously reported this weird phenomenon to the newspaper, thus the article. The saddest part about this story, the bees were moving to a new colony and would probably have left as peacefully as they came. There was not one report of anyone being stung by the wayward bees.

senza titolo


And if that wasn't enough, the next day I read this article!
 
I just read in the summer 2013 edition of Defenders of Wildlife a  story titled:
WildMatters --- Talk About a Buzzkill

It turns out that back in the early 1970's, some beekeepers were looking for a cheap alternative to honey to feed their bees. I mean, why let the bees eat their own honey which was so expensive, when they could feed them cheap corn syrup!  Does that sound like a good idea to you?  Here is what they didn't know at the time:


"High-fructose corn syrup is not itself toxic to bees, but with honey removed from their diet the bees miss out on important nutrients that help the bees fight off pathogens and the toxins found in pesticides.

The scientists found that consumption of the compound p-coumaric, for example, turns on "detoxification genes" in bees.  This nutrient is found in pollen, not nectar, and makes its way into honey inadvertently by sticking to bees' legs as they visit flowers.  The genes amplified by p-coumaric help bees to safely digest a common insecticide used by beekeepers to kill mites." from Defenders of Wildlife

The entire article is not posted online yet but should appear in the next month or so. Here is their link.



Monarch Butterfly


And then there's this.....which explains why I haven't seen a Monarch in my garden....


Monarch butterfly numbers down sharply (full story here)


  By BILL McAULIFFE  bill.mcauliffe@startribune.com
Minnesota’s state butterfly is scarce again this summer, a victim of two bad weather years in a row and the decline of caterpillar-sustaining milkweed in the landscape, experts say. 
  
Counts of caterpillars, which transform into monarchs during the summer, are “the lowest we’ve ever seen,” said Karen Oberhauser, a University of Minnesota professor who runs the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project.    But it’s not just a problem in Minnesota.       “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it as low as it is this year,” said Chip Taylor, an ecology and biology professor at the University of Kansas who is also director of Monarch Watch, a research and educational organization, speaking of the monarch populations across North America.    

Indeed, an estimated 60 million monarchs spent the winter at their customary migration site in Mexico, but 350 million would be customary, said Elizabeth Howard, director of the tracking site Journey North. That’s an 80 percent decline.      

Ordinarily, the distinctive butterflies, with gold-and-black wings trimmed with white specks, are common across the Minnesota landscape this time of year.  Aggressive suppression of milkweed in corn and soybean fields has removed a key piece of the monarch life cycle across much of North America, Oberhauser said.    “There’s a strong correlation between the loss of milkweed habitat and loss of monarch numbers,” she said.       

Krischik, who is researching ways to blunt the declines under a grant from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, said linden trees, which are in bloom this time of year, should be buzzing with pollinating insects.    She said she was “stunned”   when she checked 30 trees Wednesday and found only a single painted lady butterfly.    “It’s not just that there aren’t monarchs. There’s nothing there,” she said.      

 “We have met the enemy, and he is us,” Krischik said.      “... we’re never going to see monarchs like we did, say, in the 1990s,” Taylor said. “We’ve lost too much habitat.”    
  
 



So friends, what do you think?



Tuesday, February 5, 2013

February Nature Notes . . .

Image by Edith Holden from The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady

The cold depths of our winter all too often bring depressingly low cloud cover like we have today. The sunlight struggles to break through and make up for all the energy lost during the long, dark nights. Today the sun is nowhere to be seen, the sky is a flat white, no clouds, no blue skies. The Roman mythology goddess of Spring, Flora herself appears to be locked in ice!

It's nice to know that she will eventually make her spring time appearance in April, even though that seems so far away. While I wait for her, my thoughts will be wandering and for the next week or so will be occupied with red hearts and chocolate candies. Thank goodness for Valentine's Day!




Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Learning About Cute Animals....

Remember when you were a little kid and they would have story time at the school or library.  Do you remember that the books sometimes were huge and they had large illustrations to get your attention? As you progressed in school, the illustrations got smaller and there were less of them.  One day you picked up a book and there were no illustrations at all.  What a shame!

This fantastic book proves that by combining nature, science and art you can provide an exciting teaching opportunity for everyone, even adults!  The book I am featuring today is by the author and artist Margaret Waring Buck. The book is titled Animals Through the Year, published by Rand McNally, 1941.



Margaret Waring Buck was born in New York in 1905, she lived most of her life in Mystic, Connecticut, until her death in 1997.  She was an illustrator and naturalist who produced several self-illustrated books about animals life in the wild. Her books included both black and white drawings and stunning colored images depicting animals amongst their native settings.



 









Her art shows a somewhat "humanized" version of animals interacting with each other.  I happen to adore this type of art and love how she portrays the fox mother above.  Do I see a bit of a smile on her face? The baby fox (kits) are patiently and cutely waiting for their dinner. Buck was careful about the details in her art and depicted the plants, insects and animals in their appropriate settings. 



She supplied informative but uncomplicated text just right for a young naturalist beginning to learn about the subject.  The background information for this particular book was gleaned from the Chicago Academy of Sciences and from exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.






"Animals know about the Seasons---
The seasons of the year are just as important to animals as they are to us.  Animals know that winter will be  followed by spring.  They know that in summer there is plenty of food.  When autumn comes, they know that winter is on the way and they know what they must do to get ready for it.  Animals Through The Year will tell you how twenty of the most common animals of North America live during the four seasons......" 
                                               Margaret Waring Buck


This wonderful book is available at CraveCute on Etsy.


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Unusual Visitors of the Feathered Kind

We had a beautiful pair of unusual waterfowl on our lake late yesterday. 
When I spotted these lovely swans, I started taking a few pictures.  
I knew they probably wouldn't be around for long.

After I took my pictures and had a good look at them, I found our 
bird book and decided they were Trumpeter Swans.



 


 A Few Bird Facts....

The largest of North American waterfowl, the Trumpeter Swan is resident throughout much of its range, but migratory in other parts. Its was reduced to near extinction by the early 20th century, but it is relatively common today.  Trumpeter Swans where hunted for their feathers and quills (for quill pens).  They live around twenty years and usually mate for life. For more interesting facts you can check out this link at All About Birds.






 The geese really didn't know what to think of this, they usually 
are the largest bird on our little lake.










They swam around a bit and nibbled on some shoreline plants, took a 
little nap and just leisurely drifted around our little lake for a couple of hours. 
I hoped they would decide to stay, but this morning they were gone.  
                                  It was wonderful for them to stop in for a visit though!
.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Sweet April

Welcome Sweet April! 

Here in Minnesota, we finally know that winter is over in the month of April. During many years, the first week of April brings a heavy coating of snow. We try to ignore this inconvenience because we know that the moisture will help our plants grow. Mostly we just wait, wait for the snow to melt and underneath we find the beauty of spring has already begun. The beauty of growing things that is. The rejuvenation of life and youth has begun for my garden anyway! This year we have a head start on spring and our yards are green and without snow. Easter will soon be here and spring will have finally sprung. Here are a few images borrowed from The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden from the month of April.