Quote of the Day

“No, no, no, not nearly long enough.”

- President Trump

Report From the Oriole Ranch

Adult male orioles are incredibly early migrators which would explain why I haven’t spotted one in more than three weeks. 

They’ve left the females and fledglings behind for a few weeks to finish growing and fueling up. 

Anyway,  earlier this week I spotted a couple of females (or fledglings) eyeing-up an empty feeder. The feeders are empty on account of yellow jackets and other hornets. Besides, with wild berries ripening and insect populations peaking visitors to the feeders have slowed. 

I asked someone who knows more about this than me and I’m told that here in Northeast Wisconsin, the local breeding Baltimore Orioles are officially concluding their season right now, and the birds I am seeing are likely preparing to leave this week.

I think they're gone!

 

Best practice is to leave only small amounts of jelly out to avoid spoilage and keep the birdbaths clean and fresh. 

I should expect some Canadian oriole stragglers passing but to expect warblers and other Neotropical migrants for a while. 

 

We're leaving the welcome mat out for a while.

 

Selected photos were taken over the last seven days. 

 

Click on image for a closer look 

 

Where's my grape jelly?

 

Adult and fledgling

A trio!  Which one is the adult?

Fledgling doing the "fledgling dance" for mom

House finch and oriole

 

Friday Music

Seems I cannot get enough of this song. 

Badfinger was a British rock band that recorded and released four consecutive hits between 1970 to 1972 - Come and Get It (written and produced by Paul McCartney), No Matter What, Day After Day (produced by George Harrison), and Baby Blue (written by Pete Ham and produced by Todd Rundgren).    

As the tale goes it is said that Ham wrote the song about a woman named Dixie Armstrong, whom he had dated during Badfinger's final US tour.  It was the group's last Top 20 single, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.  Forty years later the song reemerged to new fame and recognition when it was featured in the series finale of AMC's Breaking Bad - a reference to the distinctive blue methamphetamine produced by Walter White.  

 

Exceedingly nice cover by Stephen Cummings and Isabella Manfredi with the RocKwiz Orkestra...

August Astronomy

The Perseid happens to be the most spectacular Meteor Shower of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. The Perseid presents a high rate of meteors every year and it occurs in August when you can go out for an evening under the stars and swat mosquitoes.  

Orbiting the sun every 130 years the largest object known to repeatedly pass by Earth is the Comet Swift-Tuttle.  The nucleus of the comet is about 26 kilometers wide.  1992 was the last time it passed nearby Earth during its orbit around the sun.  Swift-Tuttle will return after we’re all dead and gone in 2126.

Nevertheless, because Earth passes through the dust and debris it leaves behind every year - it creates the annual Perseid meteor shower – and we have regular reminders.  This year should be a good year.

 

click on the sun to enlarge

Watching the meteor shower is actually observing the pieces of comet debris heat up as they enter the atmosphere and burn up in a bright streak of light.  In outer space this debris is referred to as meteoroids.  When they enter and burn-up in Earth's atmosphere they're referred to as meteors.   If a piece makes it all the way down to Earth without burning up, it is called a meteorite.   Most of the meteors in the Perseids are about the size of a grain of sand but if you’re lucky a few might be the size of a pea or a marble.

The Perseids will be active from around August 11 thru the August 13.  Maximum activity is predicted to occur on the early morning of August 12, when rates in excess of 1 per minute may be seen from skies without any light pollution.

 

You can learn more about the Perseids here.

 

 

Want More Wildflowers In Your World?

Because we have delineated wetland habitat out back between the house and Silver Creek we have to obtain DNR permits to manage invasive species and conduct prescribed burns.  Because we're both unqualified to do this ourselves we utilize professionals at NES Ecological Services to perform necessary land management practices.  If you visit their website you would learn that among other things they are a natural resource consulting firm focusing on wetlands, native habitat restoration and wildlife.  They're a division of the civil engineering firm, Robert E. Lee and Associates, and work with everyone from municipalities, utilities commercial and non-profit businesses, state agencies and individuals throughout Wisconsin.  They are not a landscaper as most people understand the term.

Several years ago we hired them to begin the process of restoring more of our yard to pollinator habitat.  Native wild flowers to be exact.  And as a consequence we've converted about an additional acre of turf grass into permanent natural cover.  It is truthfully a pollinator paradise, great to look at; and best of all, no mowing.

Anyway, a couple of days ago the crew was in the neighborhood to spot-treat last fall's planting which was formerly our big vegetable garden.

My vegetables are now grown in raised beds and I'm done with gardening on my hands and knees.  The previous year's project - the ancestral (and buried) house foundation - is coming-along really nice.  The Missus tells me a woodchuck has taken-up residence somewhere in there.  That's fine; as long as it's not the septic mound or the barn foundation.

And (not pictured) is a location along the side of the road; presently nuked turf grass that will be tilled and seeded this fall.  Our expectation is that by the summer of 2028 it will be spectacular to anyone driving-by.  And if you don't like beautiful roadside wildflowers there might be something wrong with you.  You might even be one of those godless communists or jihadists some of my acquaintances are getting themselves all lathered-up over.  

So, stay-tuned for periodic progress reports and how you might consider a professional habitat specialist, instead of a traditional landscaper, for naturalizing your landscape.  I wish I'd done it sooner.

You can learn more about NES Ecological Services here.

Wildflower Walk

Doggo and I ran the trail camera trapline after chores. And with a gentle rain falling decided to take a walk along one of the newly-cleared trails. 

 

Seriously, who doesn’t like to take a walk in the rain with their girlfriend?

 

Anyway, I wanted to take some photos of my observations from atop the tractor yesterday of what was blooming in our prairie.  Prairie species are not indigenous to the peninsula as prior to European settlement the landscape was boreal forest.  Nevertheless, since much was cleared for farming planting deeply-rooted native grasses and forbs enhances the wildlife benefits.  

 

ID is included with each image and right-click for a closer look.

 

Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)

 

Blue vervain (Verbena hastata)

 

Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum)

 

Prairie Dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum)  It's almost an 8-footer!

 

Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor)  I planted these along the creek decades ago. Having reached maturity we’ve been getting acorns recently. 

Canada Tick Trefoil (Desmodium canadense)

Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium) 

A forest of Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum)

False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)  Doggo and I had to brave the poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) to take this photo.  

 Nodding onion (Allium cernuum)  A wild edible

Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya)  It’s as tall as me! 

 

The Garden Chronicles

The raised bed garden is working as expected. My expectations were low; to basically provide a steady supply of fresh produce for a couple of adults. They’re crowded yet the learning curve is short and it’s easy peasy to sow additional produce as you go. 

 

 

If I felt inclined to can pickles or something else there’s farm stands locally and a weekly market in Sturgeon Bay. There’s even a local neighbor who raises mushrooms and micro greens. 

 

Best of all, nobody’s gonna recall my lettuce or spinach for causing diarrhea.  And by the time February rolls-around I might commit high crimes and misdemeanors for my daily fresh tomato fix.

  

 

Raising a toast to an additional 18 inches of elevation….