Nimble Musicians

Cardinal breaking seeds.

Mona on a stroll.

Black capped chickadee

Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature has furnished them to the shame of art. Izaak Walton (1593-1683).

This week I loaded a bird feeder with food for song birds. To date I have seen robust robins, cardinals, blue jays, quick flying finches, sparrows and a black capped chickadee. Watching them made me realize how many birds I do know. Part of that is due to my biology degree, but the majority I learned while growing up with Grandma Violet and Grandpa Verne. I remember when they would come and stay in the winter or spring that they would put a birdfeeder on our picnic table. We would watch the birds fly in and eat. I learned many of the birds from spending afternoons with them. Sometimes they would pull out a birdbook and show me how to look them up. Yesterday in honor of my grandparents, I went to Half Price books and bought the book, Field Guide to Backyard Birds of the Midwest by Cool Springs Press. I have already been looking for new birds that I hope to attract over the summer, like a glorious purple finch, a common yellow throat or a flicker.

At school we had the luck of finding a baby great horned owl behind the soccer field hanging out in the tree. We did not see the mother anywhere, so were hoping that it was old enough to find its own mouse. It would follow us with its eyes, which was exiciting. I have never seen a baby owl that close. I did not have my camera, but another teacher said he will share pictures with me.

I have added a picture on Mona when she was scurrying around the deck this week. She has enjoyed the spilling over of the bird feeder. Her new territory is to run under our wood pile from the trees that fell over the winter. I am sure she will find many nooks and crannies to hide in there.

I was thrilled to find out that I have another chipmunk living on the back deck. Maybe this is their housing set up. ”You sleep out front and I’ll take the back bedroom.” My neice, Bo, has named the chipmunk Boda. Since I do not know which sex either of the chipmunks are, I do not know if there will be babies. What fun it would be to see a baby one peeking out from the flowers or under the deck!

Spring must be coming, because when the rain fell this week, a rainbow streaked the sky. I caught a picture as it started to fade. It must be good luck for Shamrock Lane! Now if I could only find that pot-o-gold!

Bracket Fungi

Spring in Wisconsin

Mona is back! My chipmunk made it through the winter. She was happily filling her cheeks with songbird seeds yesterday. Will they make her sing? She cheeps in the mornings while sunning herself on the rocks. She is fast and strong after this long, cold, winter.

Sucre, my dog, and I walked through the woods today to try to capture new plants emerging from the dirt. The fiddlehead ferns are still whorled pretty tight, but I am hoping they will all be open next week. I pulled an old one from the ground and was surprised that it still carried thousands of tiny spores. Survival of the fittest at its best.

In the woods I have small white flowers covering the ground like carpet. They have yellow centers. I do not know their name, but will find it out. There is also a mysterious plant that has palmmate leaves (3 of them) arising from a thick stem.

We cut up another tree today. Our third. We are becoming regular lumberjacks. Of course the wheelbarrow went flat twice during our work. We finally hauled everything by hand. I think this quote sums it up!

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~Margaret Atwood

Grass Awns Dangerous to Dogs

Sucre, our dog, was thrown into an unknown illness last week when we found out from the vet that he had a grass awn.
Short history: We found a lump Thursday night. Called vet on Friday. By Sat. it was baseball size and draining. Vet found a piece of plant in Surce’s skin. She was worried it would travel to his lungs and put him on pain meds and an antibiotic.

It turns out grass awns are nasty little devils that are part of a plant or a seed with a barb on it. Once it goes into the skin it can’t back out like the slivers we find in our fingers. They can travel to the lungs and cause pneumothoraxs and spine problems too. I did read that UW Madison Vet school was one of the best places to take a dog that had an awn. That made me relax a little bit.

So far Sucre is doing well. The wound is not healed, but it is no longer draining. We go back to the vet tomorrow after school. Hopefully she will declare him well.

Now, we need to rid our woods of any of the plants that cause these awns. Gaby, my friend, said she would crochet him a vest to wear!

Here are some websites in case your dogs are in the woods, or fields that may have these plants.

http://www.meanseeds.com/
http://drbarchas.com/foxtails
http://www.essfta.org/Health_Research/grass_awn.htm