The American Red Robins have fledged & have the dogwood tree to hide in while the parents find bugs to feed them

 Monday, May 27, 2024 - In my study of Phenology, the American Red Robin sets the stage in my Father, Bill's old white dogwood tree.

The dogwood grows outside my bedroom window and attracts mourning doves, catbirds, sparrows, blue jays, starling, cardinals, crows, and robins. Using binoculars for my failing vision, I get a front row seat to observe the robins every morning.

Their nest was over the driveway in the 100 year old silver maple. I know because every year they use long ribbons from balloons to dangle in the tree from the nest. Nesting: American Robins pair-bond during the breeding season. Both parents build the nest that is made of twigs, mud and lined with dry grass. Sometimes the nest will have string or ribbon that the robins find in the yard (see nest photo). The cup-shaped nests are built in a bush, tree or under the eaves of buildings. The female typically lays two to four light blue eggs. The female incubates the eggs over a two-week period and both parents care for the young. The eggs take around two weeks to hatch and the chicks will fledge when they are about 14 to 16 days old. The female may have two broods a year. The young are born with their eyes shut and first open their eyes around five days after hatching. Most birds actually can fly straight from the nest. There are only a few that are completely unflighted upon fledging. Robins are the main example, they leave the nest as nestlings, but even these nestlings will stick to the branches and wait to land on the ground until they have some flight. Babies leaving the nest is for their safety and health as the Crows from the north property that live in a 100 year old Spruce fly to the south property to attack the robin's nests. I don't like it at all. They eat the eggs. The nests can also have parasites so they abandon it to keep parasites off babies. Through communication between the parents and babies, they meet in my Dad's dogwood where they blend in with the brown gnarly branches and leaves. They've set up a particular spot where babies perch in the same exact spot to wait for parents to find bugs in my veggie garden and fly up to feed them. The babies huddle down and sit quietly until the parents return. I love watching the feedings. But this morning those damn crows flew into the dogwood and landed on the same exact spot where the babies hide waiting to be fed. This worries me. May the American Red Robins survive and remain here always. My grandmother Gill from Camborne, Cornwall, taught me about robins in 1963 when I was 13. So they've been here a very long time.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are the first of the season in late May on Long Island, NY .

 I foolishly did some necessary chores bringing winter things into the attic and 3 trips made me short of breath. But I did get outside to work on clearing out the cut down invasive daylilies that are taking over the north edge of the asparagus and veg garden - even the old compost pile. I dragged one tall can to the front for pick up next week. Anything invasive I don't add to an anerobic pile. I had to sit before even going inside and up the 4 stoop steps.

As I sat, I was gifted with seeing my very first yellow eastern tiger swallowtail flying into the understory of Sassafras I allowed to grow next to the 100 year old maples. They love butterfly bush (Buddleia), Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum), milkweed (Asclepias spp.), phlox (Phlox spp.), ironweed (Vernonia spp.), and lilac (Syringa spp.).

I don't believe in any of this hokey pokey, I believe in the science and data. But it amused me to read: Yellow butterflies symbolize positivity, hope, and transformation. Seeing one might mean good news or big, positive changes are headed your way. Spiritually, a yellow butterfly can symbolize that you're near a spiritual awakening. It might also be a sign that your passed loved ones are thinking of you.

I could use a little hope & positivity these days.

Mid May is time for the property to slowly transition from Early Spring Color then soften to White flowers as the ferocious weeds get ready to overtake.

  May 15, 2024 - a rainy day! 60 degrees. 93% humidity SE winds 8 mph. When we reach mid May, all the early Spring colors are fading or have already faded. Daffodils and tulips are gone. Yellow Forsythias are gone. So are the apricot colored flowering Quince.

Now in the wild hedgerow the Spirea is in full blossom but sadly entwined in invasive Japanese honeysuckle. What an impossible job pulling it out.

Beach plum is in full flower. I've envied the sand dunes along Long Island for having these lovely plants for years, and feeling like a trespasser going there in August to spy on their fruit development and hoping to pinch a few fruits. Now I have my very own that I got from the NYSDEC's Saratoga Nursery.

And Lily of the Valley - a quiet little ground cover that comes and goes quickly but leaves their intoxicating fragrance in your mind, forever.

The white Dogwood lights up the entire north property and speaks of my Father's gardening skills as he grew this from a graft taken on N Broadway at his friend Amy Keller's house. She was his art student.

And everywhere you look are tiny clumps of white Star of Bethlehem determined to divide and conquer the garden beds and seek haven in every nook and cranny.

                       

And let's not forget White Columbine, sure to return every Spring in mid May with glorious bright white nodding flowers.

I've always loved having a white garden because I feel a white flower has much more fragrance than any other. And with sunsets at 8:05 PM tonight, the white flowers just light up every path they find a home to call their own.