Ant Farming

Woke this morning to temperatures of  -10F.

The blue jays line the trees,

all puffed up against the winter's cold.

This is the Year of the Blue Jay!

Record numbers are being recorded here in the Northeast US.

***

Although it is only mid-January, I'm already weary of the biting cold, and my thoughts have turned to spring.

Little sister keeps assuring me that spring is just around the corner!

I wait with anticipation for our daily jaunts through the forest in search of my favorite flowers of all,

the spring ephemerals!

One of the phenomenoms surrounding these alluring

harbingers of spring

that intrigues me the most

is a symbiotic relationship called myrmecochory,

or "Ant Farming".

Ants are attracted to the seeds of certain species of spring bloomers because the seeds bear small protruberances called elaiosomes.  These elaiosomes contain fatty food, attractive oils, and possibly sugars, and are considered to be a tasty treat if you are an ant.  The ants carry the seeds into their nests, sometimes as far away as 70-75 yards, where they dine on this gourmet meal.  But the seed shells are too hard to penetrate, and are cast off in an unused tunnel.  Here, protected amid the nutrients in the soil, the seeds will germinate.

Among the species of spring ephemerals that encourage ants to collect their seeds are:

violets (Viola sp.)

 

Wood Anenome (Anenome cinquifolia)

Hepatica (Anenome Americana)

 

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) 

Ground beetles and crickets also disperse trout lily seeds. 

 

Purple Trillium (Trillium erectum)

 

Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum)

as well as Bloodroot (Sanguuinaria canadensis),

and Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum).

(Photos compliments of Little Sister, the "Holly" in KaHolly, my mentor.)

"Just what makes that little old ant, think he can move a rubber tree plant.........." 

Watery Wednesday

Birding at Two Lights State Park

Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Harlequin Ducks

(Histrionicus histrionicus)

The biting cold was worth the picture!

Zoomed to the max with my little Canon, I'm quite pleased with the results!

Maybe there's hope for me, yet!

http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Ahhhh, Spring

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

(photo courtesy of  little sister, the "Holly" of KaHolly)

Bloodroot

What time the earliest ferns unfold 

And meadow cowslips count their gold,

A countless multitude they stood,

A Milky Way within the wood.

White are my dreams, but whiter still,

The bloodroot on the lonely hill,

Lovely and pure my visions rise,

To fade before my yearning eyes;

But on that day I thought I trod

'Mid the embodied dreams of God.

Tho' frail those flowers, tho' brief their sway, 

They sanctified one perfect day;

And tho' the summer may forget,

In my rapt soul they blossom yet.

-Danske Dandridge

(1854-1919)

 

Elegance Immortalized

Here is a weathervane atop a home at the Scarborough Marsh in Maine.  Couldn't resist!

Admiring Beauty

While strolling through Brackenridge Park, a very large inner-city park in San Antonio, TX, I came across this sweet thing.  I'm not sure of its identification.  Perhaps a White-fronted Goose hybrid?

P.S.   Apparently, what we have here is an exotic domestic, called a Chinese Goose.  Even she thinks she's worth looking at twice! 

I thank you, Mainiac, for coming to the rescue!

Reflections of Summer

View from my front porch!

Ahhh-hh-h!

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

(See more reflections photos HERE. )

Barred Owl Encounter

On a recent visit to San Antonio, TX to spend the holidays with my daughter, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a pair of Barred Owls (Strix varia). 

Taking advantage of a little break in the not-so-nice weather that had moved into S. Texas, we decided to get out of doors and wander an inner-city park situated along the river.


As we were strolling along, looking here and there, discovering the presence of this little bird and that, a large striped bird flew into a nearby tree.  My first response was to call out,  "Look, it's a hawk!  No, it's an OWL!"  It perched for a few minutes as it contemplated who or what we might be before deciding what to do next.

My adrenaline level was elevated beyond all measure, the GOOD adrenaline!  My heart was beating so hard I thought it might break through my chest wall.  I've had very few owl sightings since becoming a birder, although I have made several attempts.  And here he was, sharing our time and space. 

The world stood still once more.

He flew to a nearby tree, a more picturesque setting, and hung out for quite awhile, much to the dismay of the resident smaller birds.  They dive bombed him, and squawked at him, and he just blinked his eyes, looking around, unbothered by the commotion he caused.

How do I know he was a he?  Because when he finally flew away, and I turned to continue my stroll, look who I found sitting almost exactly where he had first landed, watching our every move -

I wonder what she was thinking?