Nature's Nursery

Crossley Bird ID Guide Give-Away

Princeton University Press is celebrating their new facebook page for birds and all other things in nature by giving away posters and signed copies of The Crossley ID Guide.

Richard Crossley has now spoken at well over 20 societies and groups, but if you missed your chance to get a signed copy at one of those events, this is a great opportunity.

On Halloween, they will give away two different prizes – first up is an autographed copy of the book with a poster of the kestrel plate; the second is a poster of the Black-throated Blue Warbler plate. Both posters are professionally printed and gorgeous. They would be a treat for any birder to hang in their den or office.

All you have to do to be entered in the giveaway is to become a fan on the Princeton Birds & Natural History facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/PrincetonUPressBirds.NaturalHistory. 


My guess is that we’ll see additional giveaways for other bird and nature books in the future, so if you become a fan you will be eligible for those, too. They’ll also be posting bird/nature specific material there so it’s a great way to keep up to date on what’s coming up in our natural history books.

                                                                                            

What's in a Name?

Dawn at Sweet as Cinnamon has such imagination! 

She wants to know how we came to name our blogs!!

A few years ago, I was wintering in Maine

with my sister, The Fern Lady. 

A grad student, a mom and wife, and employed part-time, she was a very busy girl.  I was learning the names of plants and making cards from the pictures she had taken over the years, and driving her crazy!  So, she decided to keep me busy and out of her hair.  She had heard about Etsy from a friend who makes the most amazing pottery and came to the conclusion that I should open a little shop and sell my cards.  We labored for hours, trying to come up with a name. 

Finally, she popped up with the fact that growing up and being the younger sibling, every time our mom addressed her, she'd always start with my name, so she would hear "K-Holly".  It was perfect, and we named the Etsy shop KaHolly. 

Then came the blog to promote the store! 

Sadly, the Etsy store went on permanent vacation at the end of the winter months,

never to open again, and

KaHolly morphed into a nature blog.

And you know what?  Her little scheme didn't work.  I bugged her twice as much because she was then the photographer as well as the botanist!! 

And she had all the computer smarts!

How did YOUR blog get it's name?  Dawn is giving away some beautiful fabric to one lucky winner that links up to her post.  {If you are a nature blogger and you want to play, and you win,

you can send the fabric to ME!!:)}

The Harbour Quilt Company

Kim, from The Harbour Quilt Company

in Antigonish, Nova Scotia,

has designed some amazing quilted wallhangings. 

I couldn't take my eyes off of this one!!

And it's haunting me, now,

so I'll have to make another trip to her store

to purchase the pattern and fabrics!

Here are a few others:



Nature isn't her only theme! 

I had a difficult time resisting her

seasonal table runner kits, too.

Why not stop by her online store? 

She has a blog, too, that you can also access from her sidebar,

and I'll bet, with a little encouragement,

we can get her to post more!!





Extraordinary Owl Pellet

High atop Monkey Rock at Baleine Peninsula,

one of the properties Nova Scotia

is considering declaring a protected area,

while observing migrating whimbrels

feeding on the crowberry barrens,

I decided to explore.

Resting on top of a rock pillar that was split apart from the rest

of this massive boulder was the most interesting 'owl pellet'. 

When I spotted it through my binoculars, my curiousity got

the best of me and employing a little gall in my old age,

I managed to breach the gap to investigate further. 

There were 3 or 4 regular but older pellets

containing the usual rodent bones,

but this one was fresh and new.  And very strange.

Yes, those are somebody's feet!  I didn't throw down

anything for scale, but I carry an assortment of containers

in my backpack for just such finds,

and this fit perfectly into an old discarded pill bottle

that measured 3" high and 2" in diameter.

It also contained a bone, .5 inches in diameter and 2.5" long

and some feathers.

You know what?  It kind of gave me the willies. 

I couldn't bring myself to pick it apart:)!

Now that it's been discarded, I'm sorry I didn't.

The Ranger suggests a very hungry Great Horned Owl left this behind,

and I'll wager a very confident guess

based on the freshness of the pellet,

the size and color of the feet,

and the numbers of Whimbrel passing through,

that these feet, indeed, belong to a Whimbrel.

For an excellent, well laid out post about owl pellets,

visit:

http://wildlifeandlandscapes.blogspot.com/2011/09/tracks-and-signs-1.html

'Tis the Season of Migration

And my favorite bird to observe is the Whimbrel.  I feel honored to be in such a place as this, where I can sit at my sewing machine with the sliding glass door open and hear them pass over to the point near my house where they feed.

They feed in flocks and do not allow you to get very close.  However, here are a few pictures from a distance and zoomed in.  Here is the sentinel, poised atop a bluff while the rest of the flock feeds below, just out of sight.

And one in flight -  just enough of a view to see that

remarkable curved bill, evidence that they are

a member of the curlew species.

Whimbrels eat berries during migration

and come to rest along the crowberry barrens

of the Atlantic Maritimes. 

Berries are pulled off a branch with the tips of the bill.

The bird then flips its head back and swallows. 

They breed among the tundra in the arctic

where they feed on small crustaceans. 

Their long, curved bill is perfect for probing in the mud.



Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum)
The botanical name, Empetrum, is derived
from the Greek EN (upon) and PETROS (rock).
Nigrum means black.



Although I do not believe the Whimbrel is listed

as a species of concern any longer,

the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan

places this species in the category of shorebirds

that have shown to be in significant decline. 

The Hudson bay population has declined

from an estimated 42,500 in 1973 to only 17,000 in 2007.

For a short, and fascinating read about one migrating whimbrel,

check out this recent post on 10,000 Birds.

If you'd like to read a little more about it,

go to The Center for Conservation Biology.

Project Linus Call for BLANKETS for BASTROP (Texas)

Bastrop, Texas, a small community SE of Austin,

is among the latest towns to fall prey to wildfires. 

The Quilt Haus of New Braunfels, together with Project Linus,

has already put out the word for quilts.

 

This from their most recent newletter,

dated in the wee hours of this very morning:

Project Linus Call for BLANKETS for BASTROP

Our Project Linus chapter is one of the closest to the Bastrop area, where nearly 500 homes have been destroyed by the wildfires, and evacuations are ongoing.

 

WE NEED BLANKETS to deliver to the shelters!! We'll gladly accept baby/toddler sized blankets, up to lap/throw sizes for the teenagers affected.

Please help! We need:

•donations of finished quilts/blankets (made with a personal touch, of new materials)

•donations of crib size batting (45x60")

•donations of backing fabrics (1-3/4 to 2 yard pieces)

•machine quilters who will volunteer to quilt the many tops we have on hand

•volunteers to bind quilts

•volunteers to wash and label finish quilts

You can also help by spreading the word to all your friends! Thank you in advance for your generosity to those many, many families affected by the Central Texas wildfires.

The Quilt Haus

651 N Business Ih 35 Ste 510

New Braunfels, TX 78130

(830) 620-1382

 

Creative Sewlutions @ The Quilt Haus is the proud home of the New Braunfels Area Chapter of Project Linus, a non-profit charitable organization devoted to bringing comfort in the form of handmade blankets to children in need. We meet the 3rd Wednesday of each month, at 10am. We would love to have you become one of our "blanketeers"; bring your sewing machine and basic sewing supplies, your rotary cutter and ruler, &/or your donations of fabric, batting, etc. and help us "blanket" the New Braunfels/Seguin/San Marcos Area.


Thanks!! ~karen