Allison

Eastern Temperate Forest; hardiness zone 7b; average annual minimum temperature 5-10 degrees F; mostly clay soils.   We have a front lawn with a wooded natural bed in the middle, a hilly bank along the road, and a wooded area along the side.  We have a small lawn in back with woods behind.  My efforts will concentrate on removing non-native invasives everywhere, identifying the natives that we already have, and adding more natives of all types.  I'll be concentrating on the border areas, gradually expanding the natural, wooded areas and slowly shrinking the lawn.  We have lots of mature trees, so the entire yard tends toward shade or partial shade.  The only areas that are truly sunny (6 or more hours) are right next to the driveway.  We have a few low spots that stay moist except in dry years (like this year!), but the yard has gentle slopes and tends to be dry.  I am thrilled to learn that natives require less care and less watering.  Our only exterior spigot is in the back corner of our house, so it takes three hoses together to reach my front plants.  I hate to waste water during drought years, so I feel like I have been watering enough to keep plants alive but not enough for them to thrive.  As I replace non-natives with natives, I hope to find plants that can thrive.  I've tinkered a little bit with gardening for years, and I have learned that it sometimes takes me more than one try to find the right spot for a plant.  I'll try to do more careful advance planning in the future.

We were fortunate to inherit a yard (20 years ago) where the original homeowners had sought to leave as many trees as possible.  We have lots of mature oaks and other native trees, and we're able to promote leaf litter, debris and brush piles.  From this course and other research, I am better understanding why some of the fruits and berries I do have may not be attractive to birds.  I think I need to replace my non-native beauty berries and non-native hollies with native varieties.  The same applies to seed heads --  I need to replace my non-native black-eyed susans and asters with better varieties.  Some of my coneflowers may even be non-native.  Happily, I see evidence that caterpillars are munching my leaves, even though I never see the caterpillars themselves.  Hopefully the birds are getting there first.  One day, I was disappointed to see a new hibiscus (in pot) covered by Japanese beetles.  By the next day, the beetles were gone, and they were never a problem again.  I hope some of the larger birds in our front yard were eating well.

I'll add a personal note about a bird population that is increasing -- Bald Eagles.  My husband and I enjoyed a wintertime visit to Yellowstone National Park thirty years ago with a small group of friends.  One of our friends spotted a tiny dot in the sky.  Bald eagle!  Our friends all pulled out their cameras and took multiple shots of the far-away bird.  My husband and I didn't waste the camera film (see how old we are!) since we'd seen many eagles much closer than that near my parents' home on the Northern Neck of Virginia.  I'm glad to see that Virginia still has one of the highest numbers of breeding pairs, though a few states are higher.  Birdwatching makes me feel closer to my parents who have both passed away.  Many years ago, my mom became president of her local birding chapter even though she was a beginner.  She was a natural leader -- always enthusiastic and eager to learn -- and my dad was eager to support any activity that involved walking and fresh air.  When she died last year, I inherited her feeding station and have taken great pleasure in adding new feeders and different types of food.  The birds were very important to her during the last years of her life, and we spent many relaxing hours just watching the woodpeckers, finches, bluebirds, and so many more.  We have woods behind our house, and I made an effort to plant a few bird-friendly (and butterfly-friendly) shrubs and plants near the feeders.  I hadn't done any gardening in a few years, but being home due to coronavirus restrictions gave me more time.  I'm excited about choosing more native plants next year.

Activity 1:  I've kept lists of birds in my suburban backyard (feeders) and a nearby wooded park along the river.  Being a beginner, I was surprised to see the same birds in both locations.  I think of my feeder birds like pets and hadn't expected to see them "in the wild."  There were a few new birds near the river, most notably the flocks of Canada Geese this time of year.  I've selected two more spots to explore later this week, both an hour from my home in different directions:  Green Spring Garden Park in Alexandria VA and Caledon State Park in King George VA.  I've been studying the eBird lists and especially the bar charts (which I find to be extremely helpful).  If I'm lucky, I might see a new bird (kinglet? towhee? warbler?) at Green Spring, and Caledon is famous for its bald eagles.  Green Spring is a smallish park in a developed suburban area while Caledon is old growth forest in a rural area along the Potomac River.  The two locations share the same common birds, but I hope I have time to find a few differences.

I enjoyed all of the activities.  I have had an active feeding station in our back yard (in Virginia) since January of this year but have only recently begun trying to locate and identify birds in the wild. It is so much harder!  Activity 1:  Watching the migration maps was fascinating.  I paid special attention to the map for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, noting the dark purple in August that quickly moved south after that.  We have now (9/26/2020) been two days with no sightings at our hummingbird feeders.  Activity 2:  Since this is my first year with feeders, I am thrilled to see how many of my favorites will be here all year -- Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Northern Cardinal and more!  Some of the birds here part-year only are ones where I am trying to confirm a sighting.  I think I saw a Chimney Swift fly over one day while swimming, and I may have seen a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher and an Eastern Wood Pewee this month in a park along the river.  The gnatcatchers are leaving the area very soon, so I'd better get back to the park if I want to see one this year.  Activity 3:  We've enjoyed watching the goldfinches and house finches with their changing plumage.  Often I'll think I am seeing a new bird only to realize it is a finch after all.  Some of the juveniles were so fluffy that they looked larger than they parents, and a recent male American Goldfinch had a very delicate, pale yellowish-gray chest in a different hue than I'd seen before.  Handsome!  Activity 4:  At our feeders, we are hoping to see some birds during the fall migration that we haven't seen since the spring migration, like the Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  At the riverfront park, there is a good chance I could spot a Great Blue Heron and Belted Kingfisher this time of year since there are other sightings reports on eBird.  It looks like a variety of warblers pass through the area in mid-September to mid-October, and the Yellow-rumped Warbler seems to hang around for longer.  That would be a fun sighting!  Six months from now, I'll have a better chance of spotting the Mallards and the Grackles should be coming back.

Activity 1:  I concentrated on the birds of North American, and the Common Loon brought back happy memories of childhood vacations on a northern lake.  The Carolina Wren was the bird on the mural closest to my current location (Virginia), and it is one of my favorites with its distinctive tail position.  Carolina wrens were the first birds to begin feeding in my yard when I started putting food out in January 2020.  The painting of the Wood Duck was beautiful -- such colors!  They seem native to Virginia, so I'll have to keep my eyes out when I am near water.  I also clicked on birds in Africa since I loved the novel "A Guide to the Birds of East Africa" by Nicholas Drayson.  That inspired me to see the movie "The Big Year," and I'm now waiting for the book to arrive.  Activity 2:  I have seen birds from four of the groups at my feeding station:  songbirds, woodpeckers, hummingbirds (appeared two days ago) and pigeons/doves.  I hear owls very regularly but have not yet seen one.  I have seen a hawk in the neighborhood twice, and I'm anxious to see it again when I know more about it.  This course will inspire me to explore beyond my own yard.  Activity 3:  It is hard to pick a favorite, but I think I'd choose the White-breasted Nuthatch.  Even without my glasses on in the morning, I can identify the nuthatch by the way it climbs down head-first.  I haven't been able to get a good photo with my phone.  Maybe I'll have to take the Cornell Bird Academy course about drawing/painting birds.