First Queen Anne's Lace of 2012

I have so MUCH to share with you!

We just returned from a wonderful trip to New York which included a visit to Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Sapsucker Woods (hosted by Heather from Blog She Wrote).

We stayed two days on Lake Cayuga in Anna Botsford Comstock's early 1900's cottage...so much to tell about that experience!

I promise to write about these events soon. In the meantime, enjoy my first Queen Anne's Lace of 2012. We saw a small patch along our walking trail today and it means that summer weather will just be around the corner.

Don't forget to send in your Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival entries....you can find the link on the sidebar of my blog or you can email them to me directly if you would like.

Our Nature Study Week - The Familiar and the Surprising

Want to know what I love about walking a familiar trail? I love knowing where things grow, the landmarks to notice, the way you can tell that something is different. Usually this is the changing of the season, seeing the plants grow, blossom, and then die down in the fall. Sometimes it is a man-made change and it is shocking!



This is where our star thistles, Queen Anne's lace, and sweet peas grow in mass every spring and summer. We haven't been on this section of the trail in a few months and were were surprised to see that they had cleared it off, inserted a culvert and pipe, and then recovered it with this material. We are wondering what they reseeded it with. I can guarantee it is not star thistle, Queen Anne's Lace, and sweet peas.

I dug up a photo from a previous season.



Our family used this spot as a landmark. I could say to the boys as they ran on ahead, "Stop at the thistle spot." Now we shall have to see what grows and make a new landmark. I know I will miss my Queen Anne's lace.



Another change we see is in our bird feeder attendees. This year we are seeing Anna's hummingbirds everyday in our feeder. They are coming and going all day long. Several of you have noted the hummingbirds on my monthly bird list. This species (Calypte anna) is an iridescent green and gray below...the male has an iridescent red head and throat. If you catch a glimpse of them in the sunshine, you are amazed at their dazzling color. They stay all winter even in the sub-freezing temperatures. I go out to check their feeder each day to make sure it isn't frozen.




We took a walk around our yard last week as part of the Preparation for Winter-Plants challenge. This challenge had us looking for ways that plants get ready to survive the cold winter temperatures. We noticed that several of our plants are putting out a new bloom. This Moonshine yarrow is very pretty..especially up close.



One plant that is surprising us is our yellow rose. It is still blooming...not the prettiest of blooms but still treating us to some rose-goodness for the kitchen table. For all you Redwall readers out there, we have named this the Winter of the Rose.



As part of my research and preparation for the new More Nature Study #2 ebook, we are having fun studying rocks up close with our magnifying lens. I set up a spot on our nature table with some interesting rocks and I noticed that just about everyone has stopped by to take a peek. (Quartz will be a topic in the new ebook.)We have lots of examples of quartz in our rock collection so pulling them out and putting them in one place has brought them back out of the shoeboxes and into the spotlight.

We are headed into another week of dry sunny days so we will be outdoors walking quite a bit. I know at some point the rain and snow will come but for now we are breathing deep the warm (50's) afternoons together. Hope you get the chance to be outdoors this week.


Scheduled Publish Date: 12/28/11

By popular demand, here is the link to the SE Folding Magnifier, Glass Lens 2 1/2" Dia., Power 5X
we have in the photo above.

Afternoon Walk - Birds and Thistles

We took a nice long walk in the warm afternoon sunshine...sort of on a quest to see thistles and also just to enjoy the last of the predicted sunny afternoons.

Our first bird sound and flash of color came with the Red-Winged Blackbird's call. Take a look at this video to see and hear this beautiful bird. The walking trail is right along a little wetland area, creek mostly but a few small ponds. These birds are year-round residents here in our world and an easy beginner's bird to learn by their call by ear.



We had a mystery bird fly across the trail...looked like a California quail but much larger and with more orange. Yes, orange underneath. I looked it up in my field guide and guess what? A new bird for my local life list! It was a Mountain Quail!  It doesn't get much better than that for this bird lover...a great walk and a new bird for our area. (We have seen Mountain Quail at Yosemite in the past.)


Here is my walking companion...my Kona dog. She is so patient with me when I stop and take photos of plants, butterflies, and birds. She just sits and waits so nicely with that big pink tongue hanging out while I try to get just the right image.



Here is a sneak peek at our thistle study. We did find some Bull Thistle all dried up along the trail...it is so very prickly that I couldn't pick a thistle head to bring home to study. I was able to pull a few fluffy seeds out though and that is what we will observe closely next week as part of the up-coming thistle study.


I came home and pulled up my North American Birds notebooking page set from Notebookingpages.com and printed off a page for the Red-Winged Blackbird. I remembered I had done a Mountain Quail page when I was at Yosemite a few years ago so I pulled it out and updated it with this sighting. (So don't laugh at his long skinny legs...birds are hard to draw!)

We are really enjoying the last warm days of our autumn weather, getting outside just a few minutes each day.




The notebook page shown in this entry is NOT in the set from NotebookingPages.com. This set is like this one: Hermit Thrush. The page shown above comes with the Getting Started with the Outdoor Hour Challenge ebook.

Dandelions Can Grow Two Feet Tall!

I think we have all read in the Handbook of Nature Study that the dandelion can grow to be two feet or more in height. I had never seen a dandelion that tall but I took her word for it (page 532 in the HNS in the dandelion section).

Today, I saw a dandelion that was more than two feet tall! The photo above show the plant we found alongside our walking trail. I am holding the stem up with the blossom on top.....Kona wanted to be in the photo too. Yes, it was cold enough for a flannel shirt and it did sprinkle on us as we walked. I had on my new Keens though....Keen Newport Sandal (gargoyle and sap green).




Here are the blossoms up close.



I took a photo of the leaves at the base so you can see that it is indeed a dandelion.



The purple vetch is really taking over the sides of the trail...my favorite color so beautiful and happy.



It makes me happy anyway. The bees were loving it too.

So there you have it....two foot high dandelions!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Queen Anne's Lace: A Mid-Spring Update

We have had our eyes out for it. We have been anticipating it. It arrived almost overnight!



The Queen Anne's Lace! Right alongside our walking trail where it was so beautiful last summer we found it sprouting up in large numbers. Look at the bright spring-green color!

Now I feel like we have completed our Queen Anne's Lace cycle for the four seasons. All that is left now is to enjoy watching it grow and grow and grow.

Thanks Anna Botsford Comstock for inspiring us to watch this plant for a complete year. If you want to get started with your own Year-Long Queen Anne's Lace Study, here are the links for spring and summer.

Queen Anne's Lace Spring 
Queen Anne's Lace Summer

This might be a good time to look for it growing in your neighborhood too.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Spring Robin and Wildflower Hikes - Robin Nature Study

We took a walk to look for birds as part of the Spring Bird Observation Challenge from last week. It had been raining earlier in the day but we took off for our hike as soon as the clouds parted a little. The walking trail had lots of earthworms wiggling across which is why we saw A LOT of robins. The robins were singing and then hopping along side the trail as we hiked.



I think I was too distracted to capture a good photo but you can see him up there on the branch of the pine.



He did make it into our nature journals though....big fat red belly and all. There is lots of information in the Handbook of Nature Study for the robin. I encourage you to use this information as the basis of a great spring study of birds. There is an official Outdoor Hour Challenge for robins: Red Birds.

Here is an additional printable brochure on American Robins that is excellent: American Robins.



We were lucky to catch this wildflower blooming...



Yellow star tulip.



Part of the trail is lined with Scotch broom....yellow boughs make a beautiful setting. I know it is considered a "noxious" weed and invasive but I will enjoy it as I walk the trail this spring. 



On another section of the trail the Sierra peas are in bloom giving the grass dots of purple and pink.



The California poppies are really blooming now and this section of the trail full of them.I am working on a new blog entry featuring poppies that I will post soon.



We recognized this flower from last year...Blue eyed grass which isn't a grass at all but it is in the iris family.

We spent additional time this week reviewing our spring bird list and updating it for Tweet and See over on Heather's blog, Kingdom Arrows.

Here is our list for April:

1. Canada goose -on the move, although we have some that stay year-round in a marshy area at the edge of town
2. Mourning doves (always a pair)
3. Anna's hummingbirds
4. White-crowned sparrows
5. White-breasted nuthatch
6. Acorn woodpecker
7. California towhee
8. House sparrows
9. Brewer's blackbirds
10. American crow
11. Turkey vultures
12. Red-wing blackbirds
13. Western scrub jays
14. Common ravens
15. Cedar waxwings (saw these yesterday) - heard their high pitch whistle
16. Oak titmouse
17. American robins -counted 47 one day
18. California quail - flock of them
19. Yellow billed magpie - on a day trip, distinctive sound
20. Blue heron - on another day trip
21. Steller's jays
22. Cooper's hawk - we hear this sound a lot in our yard (nest call/alarm call)
23. Red-tail hawk
24. Rock pigeons

I think the most interesting thing about our list is the absence of some of our "regular" feeder birds. It appears that some of them have moved on: House finches, Lesser goldfinches, Spotted towhees, Dark eyed juncos.

Fungus - Beautiful Polypores and Jelly and the Outdoor Hour Challenges Featuring Mushrooms

We always enjoy finding a beautiful fungus when we hike....yes, I said beautiful. They come in such interesting shapes and colors. There is no denying that the bracket fungus above is beautiful in its design.



Now identifying fungus with a specific name is not always easy for me so when I do learn a name it usually sticks. This fungus is called Witches' Butter.

If you live in California, this is a good website to bookmark:
California Fungus-Simple Key.



This one was truly unusual and I don't think we have seen it before on our hikes. It only lasted a few days and I am really glad we stopped to take some photos so we can remember the way it grows.




Here it is on another stump. At the bottom of the image you can see that something has knocked part of it off the stump and you can take a good look at the gills.




This one was just an interesting shape....don't have any idea what it is exactly but I can still appreciate the way it is part of the habitat and that it is just fun to look at as we stopped to observe it along our trail.

Here is a link to another fungus entry I wrote last year: The Joy of Fungus. In this entry I share some of notebook pages and a couple of interesting links for you to check out.

Also, you can check out two of the Outdoor Hour Challenges featuring mushrooms in the Handbook of Nature Study:

Outdoor Hour Challenge #41

Autumn Series #9 Mushrooms

Manzanita and Miner's Lettuce - Adding to the Nature Journal

We decided that we wanted to do a nature journal entry for the manzanita that grows alongside the walking trail. We did a little research and found that there are 106 species of manzanita in the world. I found a page that shows manzanita for Northern California with beautiful photos and descriptions.

It will soon be blooming and the buds are all starting to form. I read in my field guide that it is one of the earliest blooming plants in our area. The flowers are a pretty shape and after they start blooming I will make another journal entry to record those. This time I drew the leaf and a very stylized version of the whole plant.


I couldn't get the color of the bark just right....in real life they are such a smooth dark red color.



We need to record this plant as well...miner's lettuce. The official name is Claytonia perfoliata but the nickname comes from the Gold Rush days when the gold miner's would eat this plant to get their vitamin C. It is a great plant that makes a great addition to a salad.

During the winter season the nature study subjects are smaller in number so we thought we should take advantage of the opportunities that we do have to put something new in our journals.



Here is fun short video on Miner's Lettuce...how to identify and harvest.

December World - Texture

We had a break in our rainy weather so that meant we seized the opportunity to get out and walk with the dog on the walking trail. Our surprise nature study subject of the day was "mushrooms". They were in abundance on this trip down the trail.

After looking at all the photos when we got home, I decided the theme of the day was "texture".


Must be something rotting underneath the debris....makes for a great photo.



Lots of things going on in this photo...reds and greens make a nice contrast to each other.


This is my favorite image of the day....wow! Look all those textures and colors and layers.



Someone or something had knocked a bunch of mushrooms loose along another section of the trail. Love the gills in this mushroom image.


Last one for today....mushrooms and brown grass make an interesting composition for this image.

We are enjoying our winter break and spending lots of time outdoors, both in the yard and out on walks. I haven't had any nature study subjects in mind except to enjoy the pleasures that December has offered. I am sort of itching to get started on a more focused nature study plan again in January.

The Winter Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges is available from last year on the sidebar of my blog if you are interested in working through those this year. I also am writing a complete set of notebook pages and compiling last year's Winter Wednesday challenges into an ebook with some updated information and links. I hope to have that book available to purchase by the end of the week. I am thinking if you completed the Winter Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges last year, you can use the Winter Wednesday ebook this year with the notebook pages. You can look at the Winter Wednesday topics if you click the Winter tab at the top of my blog. I am writing the WW ebook in such a way that you DO NOT need the Discover Nature in Winter book to complete them, it is suggested but not necessary. This will cut your investment considerably since you really only need the ebook to complete all the WW challenges.

I hope that explains what I am up to for the winter season of nature study. Please feel free to email me if you have any confusion or any questions.

I am off to San Francisco today to spend the day looking at some great art....Post-Impressionists! Of course the museum is in Golden Gate Park so we will more than likely be taking a walk to see what we can find.

Have a great week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

More November World Photos-Ice!

Another November world sort of post from my world to yours....it is cold, really cold but no snow as they predicted which makes me very thankful. I am not ready yet for the winter to hit as hard as they thought it was going to this past week.


It was 43 degrees when we left the car for our walk on the trail. It was late afternoon and the light was so pretty in the remaining colorful leaves.


The mornings are still very cold and the leaves all have pretty patterns of ice to observe if you look up close.


How about this one from our deck railing? Amazingly beautiful don't you think?


Another one that caught my eye.....lovely, just lovely.

As November comes to a close, so will my November World posts but then again, it will a December World.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom