Juncos

Yesterday, a flock of juncos moved through my yard. I startled a couple of them as I stepped off the deck.

Another sure sign of fall. I have seen a few here and there over the past few weeks, but this was a small flock.

They are so small. Their beaks are impossibly tiny. And these were more sooty colored than black and white. I had to look closely to see where the grey ended, and the black began.

Planetary Conjunctions

One of the things that I love about teaching astronomy this year is that it forces me to stay up late or get up early and see the astronomical events for each month in our area. My students have been watching the "dance of the planets" in the eastern sky each morning this month.

In this photo, you can see Venus, with Jupiter below it to the left. Mars is there, too, but it was too faint to show up in this picture. I saw Mercury last week, but have not been able to see it since then.

Time got away from me. I also wanted to post this picture from the lunar eclipse:

Lots of extraneous light bouncing around there. I have a really basic telescope, and just held the camera up to the eyepiece.

Cicadas again

Just a few notes this evening: the cicadas are back. The temperature has climbed back into the upper 80s, and I hear them again in the maples. Summer has a couple of weeks to go, after all!

This morning, Venus shone very brightly in the Eastern sky. The Summer Triangle is still overhead.

Sunflowers and thistles are flowering on the roadsides. Their cheerful colors have been around for a couple of months now, so I find myself taking them for granted, until I think about how things will look in winter. That is incentive enough to delight in the intense yellows and purples.

Enjoy the last weeks of summer!

Weather changes

This morning, a definite chill was in the air. Orion has begun its climb in the Eastern sky. And this evening, something is missing.

The cicadas have gone silent.

I heard them again, briefly, this afternoon when the sun warmed the air. But it is strangely quiet this evening, with only the buzz of crickets in the air. For months now, we have heard a constant, loud chorus in the maple trees in the yard.

The seasons are changing again. I saw chrysanthemums at the garden center today, and pumpkins at the grocery store. Football dominates television. It seems too early for it all, but I miss the cicadas already.

Cicada Killer Wasp

I was having a very nice chat with my neighbor this weekend when something buzzed by us. I saw clear wings and a large insect, and thought of a hummingbird moth, which was common in other places I've lived. My neighbor, though, knew it was a cicada killer wasp.

A few minutes later, it flew by again, buzzing by his head like a dirigible that was speeding out of control toward the ground. It had a cicada in its legs and proceeded to drag it under ground. This is where it went.

How the wasp was able to fly while carrying a cicada is beyond me. It surely didn't seem to fly well with such a heavy load.

The cicadas have been very loud the past few days. The summer insect symphony continues.

Gumbo Weather

Did you feel the hint of fall earlier this week?

Fall stirs such mixed emotions in me. As a Louisiana native, I feel a vague sense of panic, living this far north, and realizing that winter is coming. I love cold weather, but here in Nebraska, winter itself is something to endure.

At the same time, fall is my favorite season. I love the colors, the crispness of the air, the sweetness of freshly picked apples. I love Thanksgiving. And pumpkins! We will not mention football. It all depends on how our favorite team is doing.

Also, as a Louisiana native, that first cool snap gets me thinking about making the first gumbo. Had the cool weather hung on a few more days, I definitely would have honored this urge, and made a huge, steaming pot of gumbo. It is in my blood.

That first gumbo day is coming. I can see it in the browning of the seeds of my wildflowers. Fall stars are peeking over the horizon at dawn. Birds are migrating. Days are getting shorter. And the weather is changing. I am not ready for it, yet, but it is almost here.

Fireball

Light pollution has new meaning for me! I hadn't realized how spoiled I have been in the past couple of places we've lived, which were rural. It was difficult to see the meteors last night.

But... I saw a pretty substantial fireball last night! Wow. I need to learn more about astrophotography. I did record it in my astronomy journal, though. I'll post some pages from that book on my other blog.

Although last night was the peak, you should still be able to see some meteors tonight, so if you missed it, go outside tonight and look up!

Tree time: the Ginkgo

Yesterday, we went to the Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln. The geology and paleontology exhibits were wonderful, and well worth the trip. Down the walk from the Morrill building was a familiar, beautiful tree: a ginkgo!

I love the fan-shaped leaves. And it was a female tree. You don't often see the female trees, because some people object to the strong smell of the seeds after they drop. In fact, my old forestry textbook (Textbook of Dendrology, by Harlow, Harrar, and White) refers to the fleshy seed coating as being "exceedingly malodorous." It then describes the smell as being like rancid butter, and recommends only planting male trees.  But I love the big clusters of seeds that look a little like the wild plums I saw at Fontenelle last week, and I guess I inherited my grandfather's sense of smell. It's legendary in our family that Limburger cheese didn't bother him, and the ripe, fallen seeds of this tree do not bother me.

Many trees had signs to identify them, so I guess this was part of an on-campus arboretum.

All in all, it was a wonderful day.

Meteor Shower

Just a reminder that the Perseid Meteor Shower is about to peak! Get extra sleep tonight, if you can, and check the sky Wednesday night. The meteor shower occurs as the Earth passes through the debris trail of the Swift-Tuttle comet.

This page has a good explanation of the meteor shower, and where and when to look:

NASA's Perseid info page

The best time to see the most meteors is, apparently, 4am. However, I have been much lazier and looked up around midnight in years past, and still saw quite a few. This is my favorite meteor shower. You're almost guaranteed to see at least one, and are likely to see a lot more- this year's estimate is around 100/hour. Also in this year's favor: we have a new moon, so viewing will be easier, without competing moonlight.

Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven

Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.

                              -Longfellow,  Evangeline

Summer heat

For the past week, the birdbath has been the most popular feature of our yard, as the heat index has consistently been over 100 degrees. I counted twelve young robins in the yard at one point, waiting to bathe. Sometimes they seem to wait patiently, at other times they seem like squabbling siblings jockeying for position.

We've had to refill it at least three times a day. They splash with abandon, sending a spray of droplets all over the lawn around the birdbath. Some of the robins walk around underneath, fluffing out their feathers in the wet grass. There is almost always one sitting on my statue of St. Francis's head, waiting for a turn. I don't think he'd mind.

The evenings have been spent watching fireflies and bats. These days the sun doesn't go down until almost 9pm. The days seem to go on forever. In spite of the heat, I'm treasuring these moments with the young birds, the fireflies, and the cicadas. Fall will be here all too soon.

To make a prairie...

The poet in me loved this:

My Wildflower!

With the help of some very nice folks at the Fontanelle Nature Center, and Neale Woods, I found my flower!

This is the flower I've been looking for: the purple prairie clover. More on that later!

It was a beautiful morning out at Neale Woods, but it quickly got very, very hot in the sun.

I was able to see many flowers today. Flowers like this one, which I know as claret cup, and the local guidebooks call purple poppy mallow:

And these mixed prairie flowers:

There were bees everywhere, sulphur butterflies, a monarch, and what looked like skippers. I also saw a bird that appeared to be a summer tanager in the woods, but I am not sure.

I saw where a deer or another large animal spent the night:

All in all, it was a beautiful morning. I took 150+ photos out there. Time to rest!

Pluto and New Horizons

The images coming from New Horizons of Pluto and its moons are so incredibly exciting. I think a lot of us had forgotten how wonderful it is to see a new world for the first time. I was a little girl when we landed on the moon, but I still remember sitting in front of the tv, amazed. Now, I'm sitting in front of a computer screen, but the same joy and excitement are there!

 New Horizons home page

We, humanity, are still searching and discovering things. We are still exploring. How beautiful and exciting is that?

And the heart image on Pluto... oh, my. I use the heart theme often in my art work. It is personally meaningful to me. I can't wait to do a painting of Pluto from Charon. Space art is a new interest of mine. I'm still developing a style in that genre, but I love it... it is so much fun.

We had rain yesterday, but I can't complain. We had heat indices over 100 degrees, and now it is cooler. Once the sky clears of clouds, it will be time to stargaze again.

Thank you for visiting, and don't miss those images of Pluto!

A Wordsworth day

I went in search of a particular wildflower today. More on that, later. Sometimes it can be a mistake to look for a very specific thing, because you may not find it! I did not find my flower. But I did find so much more.

It was hot and humid... there was a misty rain earlier today. It left behind heat and steam: just like Louisiana, where I am from. It felt familiar.

Walking along one of my favorite paths, I was serenaded by meadowlarks and robins. Swallows were swooping though the air around me, almost hitting my head. There was a strong smell of honey in the air, and I found the source:

Basswood. It made me think of forestry class, and one of my favorite professors. Good memories, there.

There were flowers, bees, and butterflies everywhere. What a joy, if you stop to look.

Although it was overcast, the scenes around me reminded me of the famous Wordsworth poem, "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud." I wasn't looking at daffodils, of course, but the joy was the same.

In another post, I'll try to catalog all I saw in list form. For today, though, I'm just basking in the joy.

Venus and Jupiter!

Thanks to a cold front, the clouds moved through and the night is supposed to be clear- for a while.

Venus and Jupiter were very plainly visible just after sunset... and they looked exactly like the star charts said they would! What a thrill!

This is looking to the west at sunset:

To the right of the moon is Jupiter and then Venus. They are difficult to see in the fading sunlight in this photo.

Here is another:

In this photo, Venus is the sphere in the middle. Jupiter is all the way to the left of the photo.

I am going to try to get another photo after night falls, but even if the clouds move back in, I am happy. The photos do not do this justice. Step outside and look to the west!

Added later:

The moon, Jupiter and Venus. Snapped with an older cell phone's camera, just to show that astronomy is still fun without any fancy equipment. You can see the crescent of light on Venus. I'm very happy.

Another interesting thing: it was very evident after dark that we were not looking at stars. Regulus was twinkling between Jupiter and the moon (it's not visible in the photos), and the contrast between it and the steady reflected light of the planets was obvious. Another fun astronomy night!

Stargazing and clouds....

It is cloudy again today. One of the things that I have enjoyed about Nebraska is the frequency of clear nights for stargazing. At least it is more frequently clear than in south Louisiana! I'm trying to watch the planets Venus and Jupiter appear to move closer together, but have not had enough of a break in the cloud cover to see it. 


I had to laugh when these astronomers mentioned the problem:


Stargazers episode


The next few days are supposed to be cloudy. Although that certainly cools things down, I am hoping for a break!

Ft. Atkinson, Arbor Lodge, and Catalpa

Having guests in town sometimes nudges me to find something new and interesting to do. This week, we traveled on Hwy. 75 to see Ft. Atkinson and then Arbor Lodge.

Ft. Atkinson was interesting. It was a beautiful day, but we lacked hiking shoes and tick spray, so we stuck to the paved walkway. I would like to go back, and take the 1.2 mile nature trail. As it was, we saw some very interesting displays of medical tools and punishment methods for prisoners.

The next day, we headed in the other direction on Hwy. 75, and visited Arbor Lodge. The home of the founder of Arbor Day was not a disappointment. The woodwork in the older part of the house was stunning, and featured intricate carving. I think my favorite room was the library. I love books, and there were many beautiful old books in glass library cases.

I was surprised to see Catalpa trees. I had forgotten that this is not just a southern genera. The flowers are really beautiful.

My guests seemed to enjoy our trips to both of these parks, too. Nebraska has so much to offer. I feel as though we have barely scratched the surface, and when my guests return (hopefully!), we will have even more interesting places to visit.

Lewis and Clark

This week, my family and I went to the Missouri River Basin Lewis & Clark Interpretive Trail & Visitor Center (or the MRB L&C Center, as printed on my receipt, whew!). This little jaunt out to Nebraska City, NE, reawakened an old fascination I have with these explorers. There is something for everyone in the Lewis and Clark exploration story. I love the adventure, the natural history, and the detailed journal keeping.

The Visitor Center was well worth the time. I especially enjoyed seeing the example of a medical kit that would have been used back in the 1800s. The interpretive display also discussed the fish the explorers caught, and the hooks they would have used, which is something I have not seen anywhere else.

Outside, the trail was muddy, but the view of the Missouri River was beautiful.The woods were quite like the Eastern Deciduous Forest I know from my time in Tennessee.

While there, I bought a copy of H. Wayne Phillips' Plants of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. And I found myself wanting to reread Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage and Lewis & Clark: Voyage of Discovery.

 An old love is reawakened. I'm already thinking about how to interpret some of this in a contemporary way. Their story never gets old. And I hope that an appreciation for the natural world, the value of wild places, and the importance of a person's recorded thoughts is never lost. 

Birding Reference

I found a book this weekend that has the migration dates I needed. Paul Johnsgard's The Birds of Nebraska has that information, along with an extensive bibliography, which I always like to see. The dates are so important for me, though, because "spring" can mean March or June, depending upon where you live in the U.S. The highs are still in the 50s in the Sawtooth mountains this week, and it will be above 90 degrees in south Louisiana later this week.


I also think any book that mentions both watercolors (in reference to Cedar Waxwings), and Beethoven's Third Symphony (in reference to Song Sparrows) is a book that I am going to enjoy.


I have not heard the wren again today, and did not hear it yesterday, either.

Winter Wren

I think I've just identified a winter wren! It flew down onto my patio to pick around in a potted plant's soil. I've been trying to identify the song for a week now. It then gave a trill and flew off. It was so small, and such a good shade of tree-bark- brown, it's no wonder I have not been able to see it before today.


My NE bird guide says it's an uncommon spring migrant, but prefers riparian habitat. We are fairly close to a river here.


The song matched the one on the Cornell Lab website.


Another bird to add to the list! I just wish I had been quick enough to get a photo.


Edited to add: because my training is in the sciences, I am naturally suspicious of any uncommon bird sightings, including my own. However, this particular bird has been recorded in my county, according to the NOU. I would like to know in what months it has been seen here. It looks like it has bred at Lake McConaughy, too. Any NE birders who might read this, would you let me know your thoughts? I am certainly open to being wrong.

More rain

It has been raining for what seems like weeks. The sun is beginning to come back out, but the prediction for tomorrow is more rain and storms.


The grass is happy. The perennial flowers in our yard are happy. The trees are also happy. But I have cabin fever!


I found an owl pellet on the patio the other day. Inside, I could see fur and a tiny bone.


Baby squirrels are running around the yard, irritating my dog, who doesn't understand why I don't just let her round them up. The last time I (accidentally) let her out while they were too far away from a tree, she was bitten on the nose, and it resulted in a call to the vet. Sorry, pup, no, though I realize that you have cabin fever, too!


There are lots of robins, grackles, finches and sparrows. Wildflowers flowering include violets, mock strawberry, and dandelions. The dayflower is not yet large enough. When the rain lets up, I'm headed out to look for more.

Storm season

Years ago, when we lived in Tennessee, we were on the edge of tornado territory. I went through a class to become a National Weather Service volunteer storm spotter. My spotting skills were not useful in the next couple of states we lived in, so I've let the training slide.

I'm thinking of taking another class here. I still have my programmable weather radio, and it was going off a lot last night. But in between cloudbursts, we saw this through the window:

I love rainbows. They are always a surprise when you see one, and they have such an ephemeral beauty. The colors are vivid, but not glaring- more like a diluted pure watercolor, which, of course, makes sense.

After last night's storm, the street and our deck are covered in maple seeds. These always find their way into my sketchbooks. When I was a kid, we used to toss red maple seeds high into the air, and watch them spiral down, spinning like helicopter blades. These are silver maple seeds, and they are larger than the red maple ones.

I love the texture and the muted colors in this photo. I think I have always been in love with the camera's macro lens, too.

The rest of the week's forecast looks rainy. It is also finally getting warm enough to switch over to short sleeves. The first wave of spring flowers- the Japanese magnolias, cherry blossoms, and forsythia, are finishing. Lilacs are still flowering. Wildflower season should be upon us soon, and I cannot wait.

Warmer?

Is the warmer weather here to stay?

The 20th is the date of the last average freeze in my area. An average, of course, means it could still freeze. Gardeners tend to be gamblers, and will try to plant things out anyhow, and keep the row covers handy.

Tulips are coming up, cherry trees are flowering, and the dandelions are popping up everywhere. The color yellow is so welcome. I stopped to take a photo of one yesterday. A guy who was passing by must have thought I was a little off my rocker, stooping to take a picture of a dandelion. Later in the season, they definitely wear out their welcome. But right now, if you look closely enough, they are actually pretty.

The juncos are not as numerous in my yard. I'm seeing more robins and blackbirds.

And the morning's cup is spilling over with birdsong. It must be spring.