The Winter gang returns!
Sitting in the yard today, I saw my first orange-crowned warbler, saw some playful Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Merlin heard a Yellow-rumped Warbler. The boys are back in town! It was kind of fun, the birds are seemed to come in waves: there would be nothing in the yard, and then 5 Titmice, 2 Carolina Wrens, the Kinglets and Orange-Crowned Warbler, all being directed by two Chickadees. They'd swoop in, make a ton of noise, and then move on... only to return in twenty minutes or so.
The beauty continues. With another bout of rain last night, everything that managed to make it through the hard summer is just singing out loud and in color! My Golden Thrallis might not be native, but dang is it gorgeous!
The White mist flower are just beginning to bloom. I really hope they bloom in time to feed the monarchs. i did see one flutter by, but not a whole parade.
And of the 13 or so Io moth caterpillars, only 3 remain. I am guessing (hoping) the others made it safe and sound to their cocoon and I will see some moths in the next week or so!
And lastly, I saw these guy hanging out on my Zizote Milkweed. Google called them Oleander Aphids and told me how to spray to get rid of them. I then found a reference on a Reddit page saying that monarchs are more likely to lay their eggs on a plant with other bugs on it. But when asked for a source for this, the Reddit poster declined to answer. A google search seems to indicate they are less likely to lay eggs. Rather than spray these guys, I am going to let them persist, and see if someone comes along and eats them.
No comments:
Post a Comment