Lake Pictures

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today we went out to the lake. The first few pictures are from my yard, though.


This is a wide view of the rain garden. There are now at least two shades of lavender, white, and purple-and-white-striped crocuses blooming.




Crocuses are blooming in the rain garden, with a closeup of the striped one.




More flowers are blooming in the goddess garden.




This is one of the butterfly gardens at the lake. Ideally, it's a good idea to cut the dead stems in late winter so the sunlight can reach the ground better, but I don't think anyone bothers to do that here.




Not much is growing yet. These might be asters sprouting.




This is the spillway at the lake. The water level should be a lot higher, but at least it's running.




I spotted a pair of owls guarding this little building. I thought they were the usual foam kind.




Nope. These are ROBOT OWLS! This owl is now looking sideways.




The owl is looking over its own back. Aside from the fact that these have ears and are brown rather than gold, I think they look a lot like Bubo.




There are two Canada geese on the islet. Out in the water, the little pale dot with the dark head is probably a mallard (which are common here) but might be a common merganser (which are also in range).




This path crosses over the lake.




The large white dot appears to be a pelican. I don't know what the tiny white ones are. They flew in sparkling flocks over the lake several times, but never got close enough to see clearly.




This pair of Canada geese was close enough for a decent picture. Look close and you can see that that black dot on the left is a red-winged blackbird. There were a bunch of them calling back and forth with their sweet summer voices. It's very early to see them here.




This is the east side of the lake. The water was very blue today. Often it's more brown or gray.




This stumpery sticks up out of the water. I love the twisted shapes of driftwood.




Coming back from the path, this is the little building that the mechanical owls are guarding.




Walking back to the car, I saw a butterfly garden backlit by the sun, glittering and magical, like a fairy garden.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Your first four are 'not found' although the lake ones are all there and lovely!

Hmm ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Weird. They all appear when I look at the page.

Re: Hmm ...

[cmcmck]

They are up now! Dunno what went wrong there!

[vriddy]

I see someone else also noted the first few pictures do not load, but the rest were lovely! Robot owls, omg!! The lake is so pretty :)

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I have no idea why some of the pictures aren't appearing to some people. I'm glad you liked the lake ones though.

[shirebound]

Such peaceful pics. (I can see them all.) I hope we start to get blooms in our area soon, as winter lessens its grip.

A butterfly garden! Thank you for the inspiration, I should find out what to plant in my backyard for butterflies to enjoy.

Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It's not hard to create a butterfly garden. Lots of places sell seeds or plant packages for that purpose.

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-make-a-butterfly-garden-4427931

The most important thing is to choose plants for butterflies that live in your area. There are some general guides, but you can type in the name of your state or other region and then things like "native plants" or "butterfly garden plants" to get targeted suggestions.

https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/pollinator-friendly-plant-lists

https://www.prairienursery.com/resources-guides/host-plants-for-butterflies--moths/

Certain features appeal to butterflies everywhere, though. You can make a butterfly puddle to provide water, or put out a black basking stone in the sun. There are also butterfly feeders for offering things like overripe fruit which some species enjoy.

Re: Try this ...

[shirebound]

Thank you so much!

Re: Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service!

Now's the perfect time to plan a butterfly garden. Look for a sunny place in your yard that is sheltered from strong winds, preferably somewhere you can see easily from a window or an outside seat. Start with sees, plants, or a mix of both when the weather warms.

If you buy plants, though, make sure they're organic or at least labeled pesticide-free because garden centers will sell plants laced with chemicals that kill every insect that touches them. >_< Neonicotinoids are the worst but not the only hazards.

[marycatelli]

There's a tradeoff between sunlight and dead stalks insulating against cold snaps.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's true, and the same holds for mulch. But once things start sprouting, they need the old growth cleared away or it will choke them. If they grow up through the tangle, then you can't trim the old without cutting into the new. 0_o

My prairie garden only gets cut in strips or patches, so it's kind of a thicket of weedy wildflowers. The wildflower garden and the others, I try to clean off in late winter or early spring, so they grow better.

[adafrog]

Cool, thanks.

[yourlibrarian]

That's a really nice photo of the path crossing over the lake. And those crocuses look so cheerful.

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

There are even more crocuses blooming today. :D

[kaishin108]

How gorgeous, all the flowers. So pretty to see while it is snowing here and I am waiting to see some Crocus. :)

For some strange reason I just love the Robot Owl and I want one! :)

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I think the robot owls are cute too. However, we have a live great-horned owl who likes to hang out in our yard, and he gets enough grief from the damn crows.

Re: Yes ...

[kaishin108]

Your poor owl. We have a lot of owls in Idaho but I don't ever see any in the trees around our house but they might be hiding or blending in.

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I hear him more often than I see him, but I've spotted him in the yard occasionally. Except for the summer when the crows spent the entire season chasing him in circles all day long, and I saw them pretty much every time I went outside.

Re: Yes ...

[kaishin108]

Those crows sound awful. Poor owl.

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Worst. Neighbors. Ever.

Each time I'd go outside, they would kick up a ruckus and I'd see the crows chasing the owl around the edge of the yard. :/

Re: Yes ...

[kaishin108]

Crows seem like bullies to me.

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

They certainly can be! They're fairly big -- though nowhere near as big as a great-horned owl -- they're smart, and they're good at teamwork. I watched them chase that poor owl like a relay race in teams of 2-4 crows. Crows are known for mobbing interlopers and can often drive away much bigger animals.

I felt so sorry for the owl. But I guess they all considered my yard good enough to fight over for months on end. I have ~2 acres of laissez-faire permaculture amidst monocrop corn or bean fields, and big birds like to perch in the big old trees. Occasionally I see a redtail hawk. Last spring, a pair of bald eagles found it a romantic carpet for their courtship dance, that was exciting. :D

Re: Yes ...

[kaishin108]

Your property sounds amazing! That must have been so exciting to see the courtship dance, wow. I live in Idaho, but just a normal corner city lot so we see mostly the waxwings and other birds in all our trees, lots of trees here. And way too many tree squirrels that love to tease my dog. ;-)

But a few hours south of here, I think near Hagerman, there is a certain tree that Bald Eagles congregate to. I have seen photos of like 20 Bald Eagles in the tree during a certain time of the year. I have yet to see it in person. :)

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Your property sounds amazing! That must have been so exciting to see the courtship dance, wow. I live in Idaho, but just a normal corner city lot so we see mostly the waxwings and other birds in all our trees, lots of trees here. And way too many tree squirrels that love to tease my dog. ;-)

I've visited Idaho in the past. I've never seen cedar waxwings but the pictures are beautiful. I have fox squirrels here.

>> But a few hours south of here, I think near Hagerman, there is a certain tree that Bald Eagles congregate to. I have seen photos of like 20 Bald Eagles in the tree during a certain time of the year. I have yet to see it in person. :)

I've never seen more than a few at once, and that was along the Mississippi. But over the last several years, I've seen more bald eagles close to home. I think they're moving back into this area, likely because we've built up a large wildlife reserve near the local lake.

Re: Yes ...

[kaishin108]

That is wonderful news they are moving back. Such regal birds.