BACK TO WALNEY - 7-22-21

We went back to Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, where we always start off at the Visitor Center.  It has a nice area to walk around, and we enjoy seeing the flowers in the front of the house. 

Let's start off with the Common Milkweed.  There were many.  I am always happy to see them as I know how essential they are to the Monarch Butterflies, and others.

Milkweeds are the only plants Monarchs will lay their eggs on.  Unfortunately there weren’t any around today, but a few Cabbage whites were fluttering about.  

The two birds you see on the window are actually decals, to stop birds from getting confused and flying into the mirror image no doubt.

This is Black-eyed susan, a species of Coneflowers (Rudbeckia).  Also known as Yellow ox-eye daisy, English bull's eye, Brown betty, Golden jerusalem and Gloriosa daisy.  It's botanical name is Rudbeckia hirta.  

The description I read said, "the black-eyed susan is a flowering black and yellow plant with curving leaves.  It is culturally important in the Southern United States, and is often used to attract butterflies to gardens.  It long ago spread throughout North America and much of the world.  Black-eyed susan is the state flower of Maryland".

I have shown this before.  It is a circular bed of plants and flowers called the Butterfly Garden.

The plate of stones has been added since the last time we were here.  It says: "This is a puddling stone.  "Puddling" is a behavior common to butterflies.  They often congregate on wet sand or gravel to sip water and they also get salt and minerals needed for survival."  It seemed too late in the day for butterflies, and although it was still light it was in the early evening. 

In the same flower bed, more milkweed...

 but also Garden phlox.  Other names are Fall phlox, Autumn Phlox, Summer phlox, Perennial phlox and Cross-leaved phlox.  Its botanical name is Phlox paniculata.  Garden phlox is native to the United States.  The name phlox comes from the Latin for "flame", reflecting its bright colors.  

It can also become important food sources for not only butterflies, but other insects and hummingbirds.  The sweet aroma of garden flox nectar draws the hummingbird in, allowing the plant to douse the bird in pollen to be carried on to other flowers.  (And I once again thank my plant app "PictureThis", for all the great information it provides.  I take the photo while in the app, and it automatically pops up with all this great information.)

I have a hard time dragging myself away from this area, but the rest of the garden is calling.

The kitchen garden is thriving...

and nearby our bench is waiting.

We have been lucky as it has been vacant the last few times we have been here.  Our timing is specifically for when it is quiet.  We sit and enjoy looking at any birds that may be around, and notice there are grapes growing on the arbor.

The Brown Thrasher was sitting on the top of a roll of chicken wire near the shed next to the kitchen garden.  I was happy as I haven't seen one in a very long time.  It's a clever little bird.  When feeding it can hammer nuts such as acorns in order to remove the shell.  In one case, a bird was observed to dig a hole about 0.59 inch deep, place an acorn in it and hit the acorn until it cracked, considered to be a form of tool usage.

You can read more information about them here.  I was interested to find out that it has great flexibility in catching quick insects, as the amount of vertebrae in its neck exceeds giraffes and camels!  Also, Brown Thrashers have the largest repertoire of songs of the North American birds, and are able to vocalize 3000 distinct songs.

It is the state bird of Georgia, is very territorial and will vigorously defend its nest.  The name "thrasher" does not come from the aggressive nature of the bird, but rather that the name is believed to have come from the thrashing sound it makes when digging through ground debris.  That's one explanation anyway.  The longest known lifespan in the wild is twelve years, but they are susceptible to disease and parasites which can shorten their life considerably.

Maybe it had its eyes on the bees but they were  safely guarded...

and I make sure I don't get too close.  We visited for years when there was no electric fence.  I would love to know the reason why it was erected but, as I have mentioned in other posts, the visitor center has been closed perhaps due to us picking the later time for our arrival.  I make my usual guess that it is to stop animals from raiding the hive.  I remember the Spanish word "peligro".  I learned it while watching episodes of Sesame Street with our son when he was very young. It has been a long time but the word stuck.

It looks like everything is growing well in the kitchen garden.
This is the restored Smoke House used by the family who lived in the old house in the first photo.  

It is time to head down to the pond, which I will tell you about soon.

NORTH AMERICAN BEAVER AT WALNEY POND - FROM MY OLD BLOG POST DATED 6-5-09

This is an old post from my original blog (long since closed).  I am slowly transferring all my old posts to this one.  Today shows the North American Beaver that we used to see regularly on our visits to Walney Pond.  These were from June 5th, 2009.  The lodge has disappeared since, whether it was dismantled or removed by nature, I don't know.

Described as "Nature's Little Engineer", the North American Beaver is considered to be the second largest rodent in the world (after the capybara).  Beavers are primarily nocturnal, though we saw ours in the early evening and still in the daylight hours.  From what I read, they are split into two extant species of the North American and Eurasian variety, with location of birth being the only real difference between the two.  Beavers generally have a large body and small head (like most rodents), a broad, flat and scaly tail and webbed hind feet.  Due to their small ocular cavities and nocturnal lifestyle, beavers have poor eyesight, but possess enhanced senses of hearing, touch and smell.

Living off an herbivore's diet of wood from quaking aspen trees, cottonwood tree, alder trees, willow trees, birch trees, maple trees, cherry trees, pondweed, sedges and water lilies, beavers can grow up to 55 lbs. (25 kg) before they pass away at around 24 years of age.  Often female beavers will grow larger than the male, which is uncommon amongst mammals.

The person who coined the phrase "Busy as a Beaver" was spot on.  He or she very industriously chewed on the lily pads off their stems and either ate them right there, or swam to shore and took them back to a spot underneath a tree.  He immediately came back and repeated the process dozens of times.

Online I read: "Beavers who inhabit smaller streams or ponds will make lodges so they can be active all winter and as a defense against predators.  The lodge will be made primarily of mud and branches."

"A beaver's front feet have five fingers and are very skilled at manipulating objects.  They can take a twig no bigger than a pencil, and twirl it around like a corn on the cob as they nibble off the bark."

"A semi-aquatic animal, beavers can stay under water as long as 15 minutes when necessary, and often do so when startled or frightened.  When in danger in the water, a beaver will rapidly dive under the surface by slapping its wide tail on the water.  The sound will be audible over a large area, warning other beavers, who will also dive down and avoid trouble.  Despite this amazing defense mechanism, they are far more well known for their natural ability and propensity towards making dams on rivers and steams.  Beavers prefer to live in mini-ponds, so in the absence of these small bodies of water, they will make their own.  Using their powerful front teeth (which grow continuously to avoid being worn down, are self sharpened almost into chisels, and are composed of hard orange enamel in the front and softer dentin in the back), beavers will cut trees and plants to both build and eat.  They will then make two vertical posts in the water, then fill that in with a crisscross of branches, weeds and mud, until the dam impounds enough water to make a "lodge".  Beavers are also known to make canals in the water in order to transport materials that they otherwise couldn't move over land."  Below is a diagram I found of what a lodge looks like inside.

If you want to learn more how the beaver builds its lodge and dams, there is a great YouTube video called "Beaver Lodge Construction Squad" from David Attenborough's BBC Earth.  Link here if you would like to take a look.

"The front teeth (incisors) of a beaver, or any other rodent, grow throughout the life of the animal.  The front surface of the incisors is made of a very hard enamel that is dull orange in color.  Since the back part of the tooth is not as hard, it wears off first, resulting in a chisel-like shape which for a beaver is perfect for the task of felling trees and stripping their bark.  A lone beaver can fell an 8-foot tree in 5 minutes."

"Beavers are highly social animals.  They live in family groups consisting of the parents and young of the year and two-year old offspring.  Litter sizes average three, so a family of eight beavers would not be uncommon."

Finally, our beaver retreated to shore.  We watched as it stood on its hind legs and chewed off a few lower branches off the tree, and then disappeared out of sight.

WALNEY POND - PART 2

The reflections in the pond were really beautiful that day.

Walney Pond is down the road from the visitor center.  We had parked at their lot and driven down.  You can't walk safely along the road as it is narrow, there are curves, no sidewalk and it gets very busy with traffic. However, there is a trail between the two, which we have used when we have started off from the pond.  It takes us over a small bridge and through the woods.  We didn't do that this day.

Swallows have often taken up residence in the bird box shown above.  I have watched busy parents going back and forth in years' past but it was quiet on this visit.  There is also a resident beaver.  I thought it had moved on as we haven't seen one in a very long time.  I was looking through our neighborhood page online, and someone had taken very good photos of him.  I'm glad he is still here.

Here is another photo of the Canada Goose couple.

There were several areas where the Yellow Flag Irises were blooming.

Always enjoyable to look at the wild flowers growing here.  Below is the Common vetch.

And next we have the Sawtooth Blackberry.  It is native to the United States and produces edible blackberries.  The leaves can also be used to make blackberry tea, a popular drink in some regions.  Technically part of the rose family and is thorny like other rose plants.

I am not confident enough to try eating either the blackberries or making the tea. There are more knowledgeable and braver people out there than me, but I can enjoy looking at them and take photos.  I believe that is a carpenter bee in the one below.  I have noticed this type of bee has bored a couple of holes in our mail box post, and in one of the posts on our deck.  However, they are not as bad as termites and we are keeping an eye on those holes.  They have been there a while and I haven't seen any of these bees around our home lately.  I recently learned that the female carpenter bee only lays between five and ten eggs in her lifetime.

Several of the trees around the pond had vines growing up their trunks.

This is the Virginia Creeper and is a North American vine from the grape family.  It grows vigorously, has fragrant flowers, decorative blue-colored berries and leaves that turn crimson in the Fall.  I would never advise people to touch any of these plants.  The sap of the Virginia Creeper can cause skin irritation and blisters in sensitive people if it punctures the skin.   

And talking about things you should stay away from, the next climbing plant is Poison Ivy.  We had it growing in our garden and after one visit to the doctor after pulling 'weeds', we got a specialist to remove it for us.  It still grows in the garden but we have it under control now, touch wood!  

When dealing with this awful stuff, it is advised to wear gloves and protective clothing, both of which should be washed thoroughly, and even wash and clean the tools used.  They cause the most dreadful rashes on the skin that can be extremely painful, and the symptoms can hang around for a few weeks.  A doctor's visit is also recommended, we have had experience.

It is almost time to leave now.  A photo taken at the other side of the pond...

and one last shot of the geese as they take off.  I took this with my cell phone and cropped so it's not that clear but it's a memory.

That's all from Walney Pond, until the next time we go.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your weekend.