The Backyard and Beyond

I’ve started getting ready for it—winter that it—but there are still storm windows to wash and get up, the shed and garage to tidy, gutters to clean out and more. But, at least I got a start today. We did take the time to take hike for a couple hours at Lake Kegonsa State Park this morning. It was too nice out to pass that up. When we got home, I pulled up all the cucumber vines from the garden. The huge number of LARGE, out-of-control cucumbers was obscene! I can’t believe how many went to waste but that’s the way it is. Emptied all the flower pots, washed them and put them in the sun to dry and will put them in the basement a little later.

Annette hung out some wash. We had taken down the clothes line when Henri rebuilt the deck so we stopped at the hardware store on the way home to get a new hook so we could put the line back up.

Scruffy bluebird at Lake Kegonsa State Park.

Maisy reluctantly poses with the overgrown cucumber harvest.

It’s still nice enough to hang out some wash.

White-throated sparrows are passing through in large numbers.

This is a White-Crowned Sparrow up at Mom and Dad’s house. I took this picture last Sunday.

And last but not least, a ground-squirrel that was not all that shy. Also taken up north last weekend.

Birds are heading south in large numbers. Many species we haven’t seen all summer are making short stop overs on their way to their winter homes. Yesterday morning I took a drive over to Lake Kegonsa State Park and Annette and I went again this morning. There was definitely a nip in the air, especially today.

Great Egret on the Yahara River.

A regular resident, but fun to see up close. These guys are larger than the Great Egrets.

Wood Duck. I believe this is an juvenile.

Green Heron

Turkeys at the drinking fountain.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Palm Warbler. These birds are people-friendly and allow you to get fairly close so good photographs are a bit easier.

Palm Warbler

Northern Parula. This is a brand new bird for me—first time I’ve ever seen one so that was exciting!

And, last but not least, a picture from the backyard. Our new deck is finished and the back of the house is freshly painted. Now we need to paint the deck because that looks pretty shabby.

Can you believe that fall is upon us? If I think about it, all the signs were there; the browning grass, the dying flowers, the shorter days, the crickets singing, the geese flying overhead—there is no surprise. I knew what was happening. However, I do like fall. So I’m not going to be sad about it.

Saturday we took a walk a Pheasant Branch Conservancy in Middleton. There are a lot of nice hiking trails and we saw some of our first migratory birds. Black and White Warblers, Nashville Warbler and one we were unable to identify. It’s hard to get pictures of some of them because they are small, quick and like to hide among the branches. So, here is a picture of an Eastern Wood Peewee. They like to sit on dead branches out in the open waiting for a bug to fly by so much more cooperative when it comes to photos.

Eastern Wood Peewee at Pheasant Branch Conservancy, Middleton

Yesterday we decided to have a little morning walk at a Fish Camp, a county park on Lake Kegonsa. Because of the exploding carp population in southern lakes, from 1932-1969, crews of men caught and sold millions of pounds of carp and non-sport fish to be used for food for mink and fox or for fertilizer. Thus the name “Fish Camp.” We had a nice walk there and saw quite a few Northern Water Thrushes. They are pretty cute little birds. We also saw these cows. I thought I wanted to pet the hairy one but as I got closer I saw he was very dirty and covered with flies. Plus, he didn’t want anything to do with me and ran when I got near the fence. All for the best.

He looks friendly, don’t you think?

Joining the herd.

Northern Water Thrush on its way south.

Well, this post will have no rhyme nor reason. Just some photographs that I’ve taken over the last few days. Some from the backyard, some from beyond.

I’m finally starting to catch up to the chipmunks now. I think the score might be almost even. We have plenty of tomatoes so I’m not going to complain any more.

Henry, our handyman, is tearing down the old porch in the back and building us a new one. It was more rotten than first thought. Isn’t that the way it always is? After this is finished, the painter will come and finish what we started, which isn’t much.

A green heron we spotted last night on our walk at Viking Park which is on the River here in Stoughton.

Today we walked in Madison at a place called Frautschi Point which is part of the Lakeshore Preserve on Lake Mendota. Hardly any people, which we like, and lots of birds. This is a Great-Crested Flycatcher.

This Leopard frog is much more brown than the one we saw in the grass last week. This one was in the woods and more brown than green. A good example of adapting to the environment.

Common, but awful cute and curious.

Earlier in the spring we walked in the same place and saw literally thousands of tiny toads hopping on the path in the woods. I’m sure not too many survived but this little guy did.

Today we took a trip to a State Natural area called Pleasant Valley Conservancy. It is about 5 miles northwest of Mount Horeb in the driftless area where it’s amazingly hilly with vistas and valleys. We will definitely be going back. It’s about a 50 min. drive from Stoughton so not such a long drive. Here is what we saw:

From the parking area. I already knew it would be a great hike.

Our first Red-Headed Woodpecker. These birds are declining in numbers due to habitat destruction. We got a tip from another birder that we could see these birds at this location and they did not disappoint.

The red head on these birds is so bright. Nature has an amazing palette.

At the top of the bluff, we found some chairs that someone had left—so thoughtful as we needed to take a load off.

All we needed were a couple footstools and we probably would have stayed all afternoon.

The view from the top.

Here are a few pictures from our walk today at Lake Kegonsa State Park.

Monarch butterfly sunning on Cutleaf Prairie Dock.

Did you know that in the U.S. the first 3 generations of the Monarch butterfly live about 2-6 weeks? But, the 4th generation lives 7-9 months because they have to take on the long migration to Mexico. They live out the winter down south and then fly back to Texas to lay eggs for the 1st generation of Monarchs for the next year. Somehow this next generation finds its way back north. Amazing, right?!

Maybe this Monarch will be one that makes the migration journey later this month.

Bluegrey Gnatcatcher

When we were kids we called these “bird berries.” Not sure what they’re really called.

It’s amazing how destructive the smallest critters can be.

Yesterday I found the beet tops of the first 6-8 beets one of the rows in the garden systematically mowed down and the exposed shoulders eaten. CHIPMUNKS! The love all the produce that we’ve planted for them; tomatoes, beets, cucumbers and peppers. They love to sample each fruit as it just begins to ripen. A nibble here, a nibble there. Just a taste. “Oh, not quite ripe yet, we’ll come back for this later.” I managed to salvage 9 untouched beets. That’s it for this year.

But, on a better note, we have been having a nice weekend. The weather is lovely and just about the perfect temperature. Last evening we went to Utica Fest to a Horse Pull. Utica is a little town about 5 miles from here (if you can call it that because it’s really just a 4 way stop in the middle of nowhere). That was fun. I’d do that again. Don’t see too many horse pulls these days.

Taken by Annette with here iPod Touch.

Today we went on a walk at Lake Farm County Park. Came across this doe who didn’t really seem to see us at all. We were VERY close. You could see the mosquitos biting her face. The mosquitos were very bad and the Deep Woods Off wore off and we got eaten up. We saw some nice birds too but didn’t get any pictures.

She sure wasn’t shy.

I also made a blueberry pie this morning. I got the recipe from the New York Times. It has 1/4 cup of cornmeal in the crust and the juice of a lemon mixed with the berries. We will sample it after supper and I’ll let you know how it tastes. It sure looks good!

Mmmmm, pie!

And last but not least, Maisy is feeling pretty good and seems just fine! We are so very glad.

Time for a nap. I am an old dog, after all.

We decided that after our rather stressful week, a long walk and some birding would be good for us. We first stopped at Governor’s Island in Madison. It’s a beautiful, woodsy piece of land right on the edge of a residential neighborhood on the north side of the city. It has great, old trees and areas of underbrush that provides great habitat for many birds. It’s along Lake Mendota and migrating waterfowl also pass through in the spring and fall. It’s not a large area so the walk was short so we decided to move on to another nearby nature preserve called Cherokee Marsh. We walked the prairie unit of this preserve and saw flycatchers, cranes, field and song sparrows, goldfinches, yellow warblers and also common yellowthroat warblers. The prairie flowers are in full bloom so it added some color to a mostly cloudy day.

Wild Bergamot 

If you look hard you’ll see a flycatcher in this picture. (Photograph by Annette)

Female Yellow Warbler, Govenor’s Island.

The Monarch butterflies seemed to follow us down the trail.

Immature Common Yellowthroat Warbler

Always hard at work.

You’re gonna need this.

As you know, our little dog has been in the hospital for the last couple days. We have her home now and are very happy to have her back. She had oxygen, IVs, sedation, rhinoscopy, a head CT and, after all that, we don’t have any answers yet. The nasal biopsy results won’t be back until early next week so we’ll wait. Annette said, “I hope we didn’t put her through all this for a cold.” I hope not either, but then again, it would be the best case scenario. She’s on an antibiotic for a couple days. We noticed that her teeth were SUPER clean. They didn’t mention it but it looks like they did a dental cleaning while she was under anesthesia. I suppose a student needed some practice. The perks of being at a teaching veterinary hospital, I guess!

She’s a little quiet, but all in all,  doing very well. Still sneezy and not breathing all that well through her nose but she has a good appetite and seems unfazed overall.

What did you do to me?

“I’m doing pretty good too”

We’ve had a cool down after a major downpour last night. There was a spectacular thunderstorm show as well with almost continuous lightening flashes and thunder. I stood outside and watched it coming and it was magnificent. Today was cool and crisp, just the way I like it. We ate our supper in the yard and enjoyed a mosquito-free meal. How did that happen?

Miniature Mohawk Peppers in a pot.

Foxglove we planted this spring.

This particular tomato plant is LOADED. A Wisconsin 55 hybrid, I believe.