Fall Dresses Up Like Summer

This has been such an unusual Fall - not at all like the typical windy, cool Falls I've been accustomed to in the past.  I'm beginning to think that Fall chose "Summer" as its Halloween costume.  With the highs averaging in the 80's last week, it was windy, but not at all what I would call 'cool'. 

The only real weather-related evidence indicating Fall really is coming is the ghostly fog that hovers over the ponds and in the lower valleys. 

Common Milkweed is even regrowing new shoots.  This picture was taken on Wednesday, 11/2/2016.  No, no, no!

Even the ever-present, persistent and invasive thistle is re-blooming.  The main shoots of these were cut off earlier in the season, thinking they would die (note the cut off stems), but the extended warm weather has given them new life. Ugghhh!!

My landscape bed is a juxtaposition of both new life and death - the New England Asters and American Beauty Berry bushes going to seed, yet the lavender and clover are re-blooming.  It feels so very weird and strange right now.

Lavender bed - 11/2/2016

Clover regrowing and blooming - 11/2/2016

We can all debate the *cause* of global warming, but it's hard to deny that something is definitely changing with our weather. Plants are re-growing and blooming at a time when they're supposed to be preparing for their winter nap, storing up energy for next spring.  I'm hoping once Fall does decide to start dressing them down, the plants will have enough time to prepare for their winter's sleep.

Now is normally the time I gather seeds from all my native plants.  I was bummed with a rather lackluster performance by my coneflowers and prairie blazing star plants this year, but I was able to gather buckets full of New England Aster branches after the flowers went to seed.

New England Aster seed heads.

New England Aster seeds after being removed from the branches.

I had never gathered cardinal flower seeds, so when I cut off the stems with the seed heads and shook them, I was shocked at all the stuff that fell out, looking more like pollen than seeds.  Not quite trusting these were seeds, I looked them up and sure enough, these teeny tiny specs are cardinal flower SEEDS!  I think I have about a bazillion of them now.  Not really sure they will all come up next year, but I have plenty of them with which I can test various methods to get them to sprout!

Cardinal flower seeds!

I bagged all the seeds I collected in a large brown paper grocery bag that will absorb moisture while they wait for me to perform my favorite winter rituals - burning off dead stuff, raking and scattering seeds!
My backyard feels so abandoned now that my purple martins are gone and all the gourds are cleaned and put away.

If you've noticed that I haven't written much over the past few months, it was because I had a very rough, emotional summer with my purple martins.  It was one that tested my principles and dedication to all the wild things I love.  It was such a tough journey and I had to come to grips with many decisions and fight many battles with my own brain and heart.  It forced me to grow emotionally - painfully beyond what I initially wanted.
I am only now ready to write about it - silly me, my healing comes with writing this blog.  Probably should have started writing about it sooner, but it was still too fresh.  I have come to the conclusion that I will be taking down my Trendsetter before next purple martin season.  This is a tough decision for me because I am so attached to that house.  Stay tuned, I'll be writing more about the events of this past summer, what led to this decision and some upcoming changes. 

My Trendsetter - washed for the final time and wrapped up for winter.

My Blue Moon Martins

I still have 2 pair of purple martins here with their young.  Two nests with 5 nestlings each, chirping away, preparing for flight.  Thanks to all the rain through July, there is a veritable bounty of dragonflies, butterflies, bees, and many, many more insects flying these days, so there is plenty of food for them.
I passed by my native wildflower specimen garden yesterday and as I quietly watched all the insects, flitting about, I thought, "hey, make a movie to show this and you can set it to music"!  Then, it suddenly occurred to me - I had all the background music that I needed and as I listened, it made me grin, ear-to-ear as I compared them to human parents trying to get their stubborn teenagers to do something they didn't want to do.  HA!  Even birds have to deal with teenagers!
My 2 pair of adults were flying about, screeching to their kids to come fly with them and they even made a couple of cameo appearances in my movie below.  "It's time to go!" they seemed to say with a great deal of urgency.  Their many different vocalizations made me laugh and snort while taking the flower garden video.  They sounded like they were trying to be very stern and convincing, attempting to get the youngsters to launch.  It's surprising how loud they were - it was even more surprising how loud their kiddos were as they chirped back to their parents, demanding another bug. 
It worked for one gourd as all the young from one of them finally fledged yesterday.  Today, I only see the one remaining pair, persistently trying to coax their young out.  There are regularly 8-10 visitors here every morning, but for such a social bird, they are surely desperate to leave and join the larger flocks at some of the roosts.
Enjoy the video - both the visual beauty of the insects, but also the beautiful audio.  I think it's one that I'll listen to several times over the winter months, until the next season begins.

Purple Martins in Missouri - a Mid Season Update

I'm scheduled to do a nest check today, but with the temperatures hovering in the low 60's and sprinkles / mist / rain, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to.  Last weekend, my nest check revealed that I have 68 pairs, 37 nestlings and 316 eggs.
With all the rains and cooler weather we've been experiencing in the last week, honestly, I'm a bit afraid to do the nest check.  I've been reading about all the rain they're having in the southern states and the numerous losses of chicks due to a lack of food.  Check out this sad report from Tulsa, OK:  http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30313&start=0
It's not just the coolness or the wet weather that can kill them with hypothermia.  Insects can't fly in constant rain and that will have a significant impact on colonies that are trying to feed nestlings.  Similar, sad stories are also being played out in Texas and Louisiana where the rain is almost constant these last few weeks.
Check this out from the PMCA:

Four types of weather conditions can adversely affect insect availability, causing Purple Martins to starve:  constant temperatures below 50 degrees, steady rain or drizzle, strong
winds, and dense fog.  The average martin will survive for about 4-5 days without food, but will become weakened after 2-3 days, so it is best to begin feeding before they become too weak to fly.  Feeding is even more beneficial when martins have nestlings to feed, as nestlings may only survive one or two days without food.

I heard martins chirping on my porch rail this morning.  It was 59 degrees and more drizzle, so I dumped out a couple of bags of crickets.  To my amazement, they didn't just eat the crickets themselves; they were carrying them back to their gourds to feed their babies.  Things must be more desperate right now than I realized.

One thing I found this morning - it's really hard to track a bird in flight, while trying to capture them on video and keep a solid footing yourself.  I noticed this female and her mate in G25 making multiple trips to the feeder and back to their gourd.  What a good mommy and daddy.  This female is also banded, her band number is E818 - she was captured and banded and nested in the same gourd - G25, in 2014. 

I noticed yesterday that the tree swallows were swooping low over my blooming cone flowers and it suddenly dawned on me that they were catching all the bees that were swarming the pink and yellow blooms!  Well, I planted the flowers to draw more insects to feed the birds, so my plan is working.

I only found 2 bumble bees flying in my meadow today.

The lanceleaf coreopsis is looking very vibrant after all the rain we've had.

What few bees are flying are being caught by the tree swallows that are trying to keep their young fed also.

In other news, snakes are on the move - please make sure you have predator guards on your poles!  There are lots of reports of snakes being caught in the netting placed on poles to keep them from reaching the top.  Snake netting will help stop snakes by ensnaring them.  If fluffed out properly, the snake will try to weave itself through the mesh and become entwined in it.  But this mesh will not stop racoons, so some type of baffle - store bought or homemade is mandatory to protect your birds!  (See how to make your own here).
By placing your netting above the predator baffle, you will only have to deal with cutting out the snakes that make it past your predator guard - which means a lot less hassle and fewer injuries to any beneficial snakes.

Snake caught in netting - photo by Greg Ballard