Stems and Seeds

Over the last few days the Golden Butterflyweed in our courtyard has been eaten down to stems and seeds by our Monarch and Queen caterpillars.
















They have nearly tripled in size since we first found them last weekend.








With the foliage gone from the Butterflyweed, it was a lot easier to count the caterpillars.


We found 20 of them at last count, all Monarch.




The Queen caterpillars wandered off before the plant was completely eaten.








The Monarch Caterpillars are starting to disperse too. A few have moved to the nearby Desert Milkweed, and continued munching there. This one was deep inside our yellow Chuparosa bush.

We have also found them on our front door, crawling across the stepping stones in our courtyard, and climbing on the landscape boulders.



We are
Stepping
Very
Carefully.





"If you make an error, use it as a stepping stone to a new idea you might not have otherwise discovered."
~ Roger von Oech

They're Baaaa-a-ack! (And they brought friends)

This past weekend we noticed 10-12 colorful little caterpillars dining on our Golden Butterflyweed bush.

We recognized them as Monarch caterpillars, with their narrow, even stripes in white, black and yellow.

But on closer inspection, there were a couple of caterpillars that looked slightly different...

These other caterpillars have the same white-black-yellow colors, but they have some wider black markings with a yellow spot in the middle. Sort of like an eyeball.


They also have three sets of black antenna-like filaments, instead of the Monarch caterpillar's two sets (one fore and one aft). We took some pics and consulted our butterflies field guide.


After looking at the caterpillar photos in the guide, we found that these are caterpillars of the Queen Butterfly. This is another butterfly that we see in our yard regularly. And they too had decided to lay their eggs in our yard. :-)

Our original blog post about Monarch caterpillars was March 4th of last year. So this year we are seeing caterpillars nearly a month earlier than previous. Not sure if it is the weather, the timing when the eggs were originally laid, or something else entirely.


"You can be the king, but watch the queen conquer."
~ Nicki Minaj

Chillaxing on New Year's Day

The cold overnight temperatures continue, and this morning the water in our courtyard bird bath was frozen. We broke off the top layer of ice so the birds could get to the water below. House Finches and Yellow-rumped Warblers quickly came in for a drink. The lower pools of our waterfall are deeper than the birdbath, so they did not freeze. Mourning Doves seem to prefer the slightly deeper water.

Cold temperatures increase the calorie demand that birds require, just for simply keeping warm. So we have been keeping the bird feeders in our yard full.

The sliced oranges are enjoyed by Verdin, Yellow-rumps, Orange-crowned Warblers, and even a couple of White-crowned Sparrows. We cut them in half crosswise then spear them either onto ocotillo spines, or place them in a suet cage.

Bewick's Wren and House Finch come to the hanging suet feeders. We have a number of drilled suet logs throughout our yard, and the birds are comfortable perching vertically as they pull the mealworms and raisins from our homemade suet mix.

Our recycled Bottle Bird Feeder attracts Mourning Dove, House Finch, White-crowned Sparrow and House Sparrow. This feeder was the prototype for the wood feeders we have been selling online for a number of years now. The Feeder has been added to, shortened, adjusted, remodeled and generally redesigned a couple of times while we were working to get the design right. It's still working great, with the cute Caguama beer bottle which has a sea turtle on the label.

Freeze Warning

In early December, the "Pineapple Express" brought some much-needed rain to California. Many areas that had previously burned in wildfires were plagued by mudslides, and other areas experienced flooding. Here in our part of the desert we had some gentle rains that soaked into the soil instead of running off.

A week later we were enjoying desert temps in the low 80's. Some volunteer plants in our yard seemed to think it was already spring.

Yesterday winter storm "Frona" arrived in the desert, bringing near-freezing overnight temperatures and dropping snow down to the 2000 ft elevation.

Incoming storm

This is a view we don't see too often: snow blanketing the southern hills.

Snow after winter storm Frona - 31 Dec 2014

"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted."

~ Mae West

A Reason to Go for a Walk Before Sunrise...

Autumn Leaves

Temperatures continue to cool as the days get shorter. Highs have been in the 70's, while the overnight lows have dropped into the upper 40's a couple of times already.

Here in the desert we don't get the dramatic seasonal changes that other parts of the country experience. Cacti and palm trees look pretty much the same year-round. Many of our native desert trees are winter deciduous, but they drop their leaves without the brilliant color change of trees like maples, oaks and many others.



In our yard, our fruit trees are one of the few exceptions with fall-colored leaves,

These are from our nectarine tree.











"The autumn leaves drift by my window,
The autumn leaves of red and gold..."

~ "Autumn Leaves", English lyrics by Johnny Mercer

Hawk Watching

We have been seeing a number of hawks recently, on our morning walks.

Normally there is at least one Red-Tailed Hawk perched on a telephone pole or soaring overhead. Last week we stopped to watch two Red-tails following and chasing each other between eucalyptus trees and date palms on the nearby golf course.

Cooper's Hawks make a regular appearance, too. We usually see them either sitting quietly on a telephone pole, or swooping dramatically between houses and trees. They are very agile and almost acrobatic at times. They often buzz through our yard, hunting the birds eating at our feeders.

Red-shouldered Hawks are some of the more easily noticed on our walks. We hear them calling from the tops of the tall eucalyptus trees nearby, or vocalizing as they soar high overhead.

One Red-shouldered has been keeping an eye on our mesquite trees, either hanging out on the wall or perched on the telephone lines. Probably hoping to nab a Mourning Dove or lizard for a meal.




For more about hawks and other native birds in your area:
www.allaboutbirds.org

This excellent web resource is run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and includes photos, recordings, range maps, life histories, conservation news, hints for improving your backyard habitat, and LOTS more.