For The Birds

Het is genieten in de tuin! Sinds we de voederpaal hebben is het af en aan vliegen en twetteren van vogeltjes. Het blijkt dat we een grote groep vogeltjes als dagelijkse bezoekers hebben. Een dominant mezenmannetje dat denkt dat de voedersilo van hem alleen is, twee koppeltjes appelvinken, twee musjes, een schaapachtige houtduif, een verlegen koppeltje merels, hyperactieve pimpelmeesjes en roodborstjes die we eerst maar 1x in de winter zagen, maar nu dagelijks een aantal keer.

Het liefst zou ik de hele dag naar ze willen kijken vanaf de bank, maar tsja dat gaat natuurlijk niet. Ik geniet als ik 's ochtends zit met mijn bakkie, dat in ieder geval.

En dus dacht ik, die schatjes moeten op de foto. Die kleintjes zijn zo snel! Maar nu lukte het. Veel geduld, de camera (met telelens) maar op een driepoot gezet en tadaa, een aantal geslaagde portretjes


Fijne dinsdag en geniet van de foto's!

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It is such a joy to sit down every free morning with my cup of coffee. We've put a feeding pole into the garder for about two months and since it is in place birds are flying on and off multiple times a day. Walking birds are pottering around on the ground and hop on and off on the feeding bowl I've put down for them. It is so cute to see them, and to really see their behaviour! It is a whole family of birds that are residents in our garden apparantly. One dominant Black Tit with his little wifey, a sheepish dove, two hyperactive Blue Tits, mr. and mrs Blackbird who are very shy, mr. and mrs Robin Redbreast who look a like so much and a few hopping finches.

I would love to sit down a whole day and just study them and enjoy them fluttering, flying and hopping, but you know, so much to do!

But I decided I really want to make pictures of them. I knew it would not be easy since they are so fast and only really active in the mornings. But with a high shutter speed, my tele lens and a tripod I think I did a great job.

Have a great Tuesday and enjoy the pictures!

Cradling New Life Part 3

They are starting to get big, sluggish and fat! My Nastartium is full of holes and caterpillar faeces.
I don't know how many are still out there.... Can't find them! I only found two big ones and two small ones. And another species (any idea? according to Google it could be a winter moth).

The Big Hairy Caterpillars are fun to watch!

Ze worden echt groot, langzaam en dik! De Oostindische kers zit vol met gaten en rupsenpoepjes. Ik weet niet hoeveel er nog zijn want ze zijn moeilijk te vinden. Ik vond er uiteindelijk twee groten en twee kleintjes. En nog een andere soort (volgens Google wordt het waarschijnlijk een kleine wintervlinder).

Wat is het toch leuk om die grote lobbessen te zien rondkruipen!

Cradling new life Part 2: Caterpillars!

Big, bigger, biggest! They are growing really fast! They were about 3 cm a few days ago and right now are almost up to 5! Cute little hairy caterpillars. They are also dispersing themselves along the nastartium leaves so I really have to look for them. Sunday afternoon I turned over a leaf and saw another batch of Small White progeny!

Maybe next week there will be no Nastartium left and only huge fat green caterpillars? Who knows? See you next week for the update!

Cradling new Life

My garden is cradling new life!

One afternoon I was amazed as a small cabbage white sitting still caught my eye on one of my nastartiums and what amazed me even more was that she was laying eggs!
She sat so very still and you could see all the eggs coming out of her and how she was laying them very close to eachother, almost hugging their brothers and sisters. I have never ever seen this happening. I was truly amazed.
I watched the eggs every day and one day they were gone but there were huge holes in the leave where they were the day before. They hatched and they were o so tiny and hiding underneath their birthplace.
This was a week ago and they are growing like weed! They already moved their home to a new leaf. I will keep an eye on them and I am very curious if they are going to pupa and morph into a butterfly this Autumn or if they are going to find shelter and dorm during the winter....

I hope to have news about the caterpillars (probably huge and fat) next week again!

Er ontspringt nieuw leven in de tuin!

Een middag, vlak na de vakantie, was ik verbaasd toen ik een klein koolwitje heel stil zag (en bleef) zitten op een blad van mijn Oostindische kers. Wat me nog meer verbaasde was dat ik zag dat ze eitjes aan het leggen was!
Ze zat zo enorm stil en je zag gewoon dat de eitjes uit haar lichaam kwamen. Heel dicht naast elkaar legde ze ze, bijna helemaal tegen de andere broertjes en zusjes. Ik had dit echt nog nooit gezien. Zo mooi.
Ik heb de eitjes iedere dag even bekeken en opeens waren ze weg. Het grote gat op de plek waar de eitjes lagen verraade het al: ze waren uitgekomen en onder het blad waren een paar ienimini rupsjes aan het hangen.
Dit was een week geleden en ze groeien enorm hard! Ik was ze vandaag kwijt maar wat bleek, ze waren naar een ander blad verhuisd. Ik ga ze in de gaten houden en ben benieuwd of we nu nog vlinders krijgen of dat ze in een cocon gaan en dan overwinteren....

Ik hoop volgende week enorm vette rupsen te kunnen laten zien!

Tiny Tadpoles

 

Our tiny tadpoles are actually not that tiny. Some are really really fat marble shaped ones! We are watching them everyday and hoping to have a peek of tiny paws. But no luck yet. According to the ´net they should be getting them very soon. There could be a problem with food and temperature in our pond and there is a slight possibility they will stay tadpoles and are going to eat eachother as a food resource. Let´s hope there´s enough food for them in the pond! The water plants have grown like mad and there are quite a few musquito larvae squirming around at the water level.

Keeping my fingers crossed for the tiny water tots that they will become tiny frogs!

Have a great weekend!!!!

Onze kleine kikkervisjes zijn niet zo klein meer. Sommige zijn zo rond als een tonnetje! We checken iedere dag waar ze uithangen en hoe ze er uit zien en hopen dat er eindelijk een pootje te zien is. Maar helaas. Volgens het wereldwijde web zouden ze nu toch echt eens te voorschijn moeten komen! Het zou kunnen zijn dat er een probleempje is met het beschikbare voedsel en de temperatuur van het water. Ze zouden dan kikkervisjes blijven en om aan voedsel te komen elkaar gaan op eten. Lekker. Ik hoop dat er gewoon genoeg eten voor ze is! De plantjes groeien lekker en er zijn aardig wat muggenlarven die rondkrioelen aan het water oppervlak.

Ik houd mijn vingers voor ze gekruist dat ze lekker kleine kikkertjes mogen worden!

Een heel fijn weekend toegewenst!

xXx 

Barbara

All the Birds in the Trees

Last Thursday was Little Ladies first day at pre-K and it was so quiet in the house! I decided to clean out my own closet and was completely distracted by all the bird activity in our garden. The birds were flying to and fro, landing in the trees with about ten at the same time to pick berries (the sparrows), tooting (the dove) and chattering (sparrows and blue tit). So lovely to watch and listen to. I always forget that their time is early morning, but this time (with no kids at home) I grabbed my camera when I heard them all and tried to make some nice pictures from our bedroom window. The sparrows were sparkling with their winter coat in the morning sun.
I really hope they will be back same day same time next week!

Terrarium

 

(source: Daily Mail)

Quite a few months ago Big Man sent me a  link about a closed terrarium. A plant that has been growing for over 40 years sealed shut in a bottle. The story is awesome, and the whole idea seemed a very nice one to experiment with together with some students but somehow it slipped out of my mind. Really, how could I have forgot? A whole ecosystem in a glass bottle!

Until Monday when I saw a lovely pin of a closed terrarium on my Pinterest wall. The whole idea came back but it still seems a bit too adventuruous at the moment. You need quite a bit of special equipment for it and those beautiful big glass bottles aren't cheap. Maybe one day...

So I decided to try an open terrarium! They look nice and simple, and they should be low maintenance because they retain moisture more than in open pots if you pick a container that is several inches higher than your plants.

This is what you need:

Glass jar/container

Small pebbles

Soil

Baby plants

I bought some pebbles at the local gardening centre and used a glass container which was doing nothing on a bookshelf. I also bought three little baby plants, but if I ever am going to make a closed terrarium, these plants will really need to be baby baby plants. The little plant on the right was too big!

Meanwhile, I was busy anyway, I also transferred another very sad plant to a bigger pot and I really hope that he will flourish a bit. I am not terribly good with plants as I always forget to water them or give them plant food.... Maybe he will forgive me and grow a bit taller and wider!

 

Two out of three baby plants got into the open container but I have to tell you, it was quite an adventure to position them correctly. I really need to figure out how to get them into a big bottle.....

 

  

Doesn't it look lovely? I hope they will grow slowly (as they should be doing) and will not need much water. I am so pleased with how it looks!

The third baby plant got its own glass yar with some pebbles and soil and we'll see how he does.

 

I also completely cleaned out my kitchen window and here's how it looks! I threw out my old watering can and am now using a thrifted coffee can. I love love love it. I don't know why I thought of this sooner!

If I have sparked your interest, I have collected more information on my Flora board on my Pinterest wall!

 

The "Weekly" Biology Session: Cuckoo!

Two days ago I was very much in the need of some crochet time and some interesting videos. I wanted to see a David Attenborough documentary about plants (Kingdom of Plants) for some time so I found it on YouTube and put it on. It was interesting, but the documentary that I also saw in the result list was far more interesting.

The Cuckoo is such a strange bird. It tricks Reed Warblers into caring for their offspring. Literally. The female Cuckoo takes the Reed Warbler eggs away and puts her own egg into its nest. The most beautiful trick is that the Cuckoo egg closely resembles the eggs of the Reed Warbler. Otherwise the Reed Warbler will abandon her nets. And the little Cuckoo is even a bigger trickster! When the youngster Cuckoo hatches it has an instinct that tells "Me! Me!" and takes care of pushing leftover Reed Warblers out of their nest. But it seems the Reed Warbler parents are not botherd by this and respond always to the begging call of the Cuckoo youngling.


 


Such a strange and interesting bird since it is one of the few parasitic birds. Really fascinating and for this reason I wanted to share the documentary with you all.

And of course, David Attenborough is an absolute joy to listen to!

Let's Get It On..

This is what I thought when I walked into the garden last Thursday Morning..

Little Man and I looked at eachother and thought: "What? What is that?"

A very loving couple needed some candlelight, sweet music and maybe some privacy..

I had never seen this before!

 

Maybe it is a bit too personal, but the "love-arrow" they exchange is very clear to see.

Really awesome. Little Man was also very much intrigued and he now knows we are going to have some baby snails in the near future!

After half an hour they went on seperate ways, gliding each to their own destiny.

 

Mommy-to-be with the "love-arrow" stuck to her side...

 

And Daddy-to-be clearly in need of something to nibble on.

I love the way our garden is so full of animals and how they show their own habits!! 

 

Nature's Kindergarten

 *Look away if you are afraid of tiny crawling creatures!*

Yesterday, Big Man came in after putting some garbage into the trash can.

"You have to look outside! Little spiders all over the trash can!"

Look at them, all those baby spiders, aren't they the cutest! They were all crawling there but also walking away from eachother. I think they have been brought there by mommy spider to go out into the wild.

These kind of sights are so much fun! Looking at nature, and really marvel all that happens in a normal city backyard.

After a bit of Googling I found out they are tiny European garden spiders (Kruisspin, Araneus diadematus).

A bit of a surprise because an adult European garden spider looks like this:

 

The spiderlings are yellow because they live on yolk for the first 7-10 days. After that time they will hunt for food. Their nest was probably shaken and stirred and they came out of the cocoon. But where was that cocoon? Not on the trash can itself. I have never noticed them!

The little ones already have dispersed themselves. According to Wikipedia they climb in the highest plants, spin a long thread and let the wind carry them wherever it may take them. I really hope some of them will stay in the garden, I really think they are beautiful on Autumn mornings with a bit of dew on their webs....

Isn't Nature marvelous?

Happy Things #10

I wasn't fast enough with pointing and shooting with my camera, but here is the first real proof of Animal Spring!

I saw them this weekend flying through the garden and suddenly, they checked out the bird house....

A Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus).

So exciting!

Last year we followed the love story of Mr. and Mrs. Black Tit: first checking out the site, rummaging around the bird house, making themselves comfortable and finally, when the peeping sounds became louder, caring for and feeding their youngsters.

This year it seems there is a bit of a battle between Mr. and Mrs. Black Tit and Mr. and Mrs. Blue Tit since it seems they are checking the house daily. Mr. and Mrs. Blue Tit seem to be very please with the place as I have seen them the most.

This is really exciting.

Are we going to get small Tits again this year?

The "Weekly" Biology Session: Birds in the Snow

Yes, it's back. Sort of. Just a little peek of some birds that are visiting our garden on an everyday basis.

Do you remember the amazing snow day? The day the whole country (Netherlands) could not go out? And I could not go to work?

That afternoon, when the snow showers went away, I picked up my camera because the birds in the trees looked absolutely beautiful in all these snowy trees.

The light was amazing. Also very difficult to photographe all the birds. They became much darker because of the reflection of the snow.

 

There are always sparrows (Sturnus vulgaris or "Spreeuw" in Dutch) in the trees at the neighbours garden, and they didn't seem to be bothered by the cold. They were chattering away as usual!

 

Some animals were a bit harder to see, but looked very beautiful in the snow
 
Do you see them?

 

These Earasian collared doves (Streptopelia Decaocto), or "Turkse Tortelduif" in Dutch) were very busy trying to look for food, flying from tree to tree, picking at the peanuts and seed balls hanging there.



We put some seeds in the garden everytime after a snow shower, so that the birds had something to eat. Also I hanged a bit more snacks for them in the garden. Right now, the snow is gone, and hopefully the ground will defrost quickly so that they will find some nice worms again!