Recently in Nature Study Category

This garden visitor seems to like my new Marigolds as much as I do. The Marigolds were my Mother's Day present and I think our guest is an Eastern Amberwing. This species dragonfly is a wasp mimic and is also one of the smallest dragonflies in North America. According to my readings, this is a female. The males have completely amber wings and the females have clear areas on their wings.

A different view, and quite lovely photo, of a female Eastern Amberwing is shown at the Botany Garden of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their website also provides a photo of a male. 

More on my garden later.

I am still working on the 100 Species Challenge (looks like Melissa Wiley is also). Now that everything is growing and blooming again, I'm hoping to work much more on the challenge. For those who have forgotten, the goal is to identify 100 species of plant life in your area.

Number three on my list are Rain Lilies: 

I've already counted this species, but I can't help showing these new photos. Last Friday, the children and I dug up scores of bulbs around our yard to plant in pots. When wild plants show up in the yard, I try to rescue them from the lawnmower.

Digging up the bulbs was very educational because we got a chance to see how large bulbs would form bulbous growths that, with time, would separate from the mother bulbs to form bulblets.

I am hoping to plant these bulbs in a flower bed next spring. As for now, they have been saved from the mower and the weedkiller spray as my husband and I do not agree on what constitutes a "weed".

I do not think anything this lovely could ever be called a weed. I am trying to help my husband understand that there is a difference betwixt a plant blessing and a plant nuisance.

I think he must be coming around to my way of thinking because he kindly spared mowing a Rain Lily in the front yard which I had overlooked. Or perhaps he did that just because he is so indulgent of my gardening fancies. 

For a Christian, every day is Earth Day because God made the Earth and everything in it and set it under the stewardship of man.

For a bit of "earthy" scripture (courtesy of my Twitterfeed today):

It rained for twenty-four hours at my house and some local ducks decided to throw a little party on my back fence.

In other news, our Mango tree bit the dust recently. A frost weakened it and then it caught a blight of some sort. I finally decided it had to go last Friday and my children kindly did the honors. With their bare hands, they ripped the stump from the ground. Here is photographic evidence that my kids are mighty strong:

Would anyone like to suggest a replacement fruit tree species?

It is very sad when a blogger must be reminded by her son to post. It's not really that I forgot, though; I've just been so occupied lately.

Spring fever has hit me and I keep thinking all the time about planting and growing.

Also, I've been terribly busy outfitting my rapidly-growing children. But I only enjoy shopping in theory, so let's return to the topic of planting.

I have this wonderful husband who actually buys me dirt. Buying dirt is an activity my children still find perplexing, but it is impossible to do anything much with all the sand we have lurking beneath the surface in this neighborhood.

My husband also bought me seed packets: True Lavender, Yarrow, Snow-in-Summer, Blue Flax, Mammoth Sunflower, and Black-Eyed-Susans. It is one of my life goals to grow my own sunflowers. It's another life goal to eat sunflower seeds I've grown. Kissing the Blarney Stone is yet another goal, but that's a tale for some other day.

In addition to all these seeds, I planted my Grand-MIL's amaryllis bulbs. Now, she said they were amaryllis, but it seems many bulbs of the Amaryllis family are erroneously called "Amaryllis". All I really know is that these bulbs grow lovely flowers.

This is what the flowers looked like when the plants bloomed back in April of 2006.

So, it's not that I've forgotten y'all. I'm just busy at the moment cleaning the dirt from underneath my fingernails. 

The backyard birdfeeder has been in desperate need of a makeover for quite some time - a makeover being much less expensive than buying a new birdfeeder. I finally could not stand it any more and took a few minutes this weekend to slap a bit of paint on it.

We chose the paint from amongst the half-used gallons in our garage. It's "Olympia" by Valspar.

For three days, we have waited with bated breath to see what bird would be first to visit our painted birdfeeder.

As you can see here, our first visitor had a bushy tail and was not a bird.

Oh, well. I suppose the birds haven't yet gotten the memo that we have a buffet ready for them.

Monday we participated in the GBBC 2010 and enjoyed ourselves much. This was the most I have exerted myself since my brain surgery in November, so I was very tired afterwards. We stayed in our own neighborhood and didn't travel the local trail, as we usually do. Because of this, we didn't spot as many birds as in past years, but I think we still did well.

Here's our tally:

• 12 Muscovy ducks
• 32 Mallard ducks
• 1 Snowy Egret
• 1 Great Egret
• 1 Little Blue Heron
• 1 Green Heron
• 5 White Ibis
• 1 Wood Stork
• 1 Turkey Vulture
• 4 Common Moorhens
• 1 Northern Mockingbird
• 1 Palm Warbler

See? Not too bad. As you can see, we found many water birds - thanks to the three ponds in our tiny neighborhood.

The best part of the bird count was that we got a chance to see a newly laid clutch of Muscovy eggs.

A few photos from the bird count:

It's almost time for another Great Backyard Bird Count. Seven more days, to be exact. This year's count will begin on Friday, February 12 and end on Monday, February 15. There will be prizes for the photo contest and a general prize drawing among all the participants. How nice! All of the prizes look great and would be helpful teaching aids in our homeschool; however, we love to participate in the count each year, regardless of potential prizes. It is great fun to look for birds and to contribute our collected data.

To participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, print a tally sheet for your area. Next, you will need to spend at least 15 minutes counting the birds in your area. You can observe in your own backyard or at the park down the street. Just make sure to keep a separate tally sheet for each location and for each day you participate. After you count your local birds, enter your tally at the Great Backyard Bird Count website.

After the bird count, scientists will use the data collected to answer many questions. That's why the bird count is so important.

Teachers and homeschoolers might like the free classroom materials available.

Here are the rules for the photo contest. Here are the galleries of photos from previous years.

If you don't have a bird guide book to help you with identification, you can look online for help. I often use eNature.com for identification. I take the closest photo possible and use it as a reference when I return home. In fact, I identify most flora and fauna in this manner.

I hope you all will join the Great Backyard Bird Count this year. Remember: it begins in only one week. 

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh - Book VII

I can't say that Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a hero of mine, but long before my own body fell to ruin I admired her ability to learn, live, and grow despite illness and pain. The quotation above, taken from her nine book blank verse novel, is certainly a gem of truth.

Even a common blackberry bush is as full of God as Moses' burning bush. Some recognize this and honor the Lord; others can see nothing beyond a bush of blackberries.

I find it difficult to understand atheists. How can anyone observe the natural world and not acknowledge the Creator? Every living thing around us is born from the breath of God and possesses a touch of His majesty.

The whole world is afire with God. Let us behold His works and stand on holy ground.

H discovered this tree frog on a window in the house yesterday. There was much debate on what to do with the wee jumper. No one had the heart to throw him outside. There are iguanas dropping from trees in our state, you know. S put him on this pineapple plant we had moved inside to avoid the frost. I suspect this guy, or gal, came in when we brought the pineapple plant or the orchid inside.

By the way, we're growing this pineapple plant from the leftover top of a whole pineapple we bought at the grocery store. H's great-aunt & uncle have a pineapple plant grown this way and it's bearing fruit. I think the process is very cool, but it looks weird to see a pineapple when it is growing. 

After this photo, our guest burrowed into the leaves and soil. I hope he survives his visit in our house. I always hate to find a dead lizard who snuck inside, became trapped, and died.

As for the humans of the house, we're crossing our frosty fingers that the expected fair weather forcasted starting this Thursday lasts awhile.