Rose breasted grosbeak

Rose breasted grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus

Yesterday we were treated to a visit from a rose breasted grosbeak. This is the second grosbeak we have seen in our yard in the ten years we have lived here. This is the male, the female (which we did not see) is brown and looks quite different.

He came to eat from the new feeder my husband made. He stayed for most of the day, and sat up in our tree and sang his lovely song. All his singing attracted two other rose breasted grosbeaks and by the afternoon we had three of them, all male, munching at our feeder.

The birds were a little crazy yesterday. I had a male cardinal divebomb another male cardinal, the goldfinches were flying circles around each other, the housefinches were crooning songs together, and the house sparrow was collecting material for their nest.

House sparrow Passer domesticus

Here is the grosbeak (centre) with a male and female cardinal near one of our feeders.

Random backyard photos

Spring is in full force. Along my back fence I have a woodland native plants garden. It is a rather understated garden, I have gradually been filling in the bare patches as my plants produce little seedlings. It also is full of spring ephemerals, which means that it looks really nice right now, and then it dies when the heat of the summer comes along and the trees leaf out and shade the plants.

These trilliums are in my garden. When I first planted it there was only one blossom. One year a critter ate my plant and I was worried it was gone forever, but it recovered the following year and now I have two.

I have several of these small trees in my yard. They are some variety of ornamental plum. I should try and figure out what kind they are.

This is the real reason I was outside with my camera. Every year I give the grandparents a nice 8x10 of the kids for their respective mantlepieces. This year I have been sadly negligent at getting these photos taken, so I was out trying to remedy this situation.

Here is my sweet Chickadee. I managed to take this picture just before she covered herself with sand.

Woodpecker Evidence

Holes from a Pileated Woodpecker, Banff, Alberta

When I was on my trip to Banff I came across this tree that had been drilled by a Pileated Woodpecker. At first I thought they were from the three-toed woodpecker because I had seen a sign on the trail that talked about them, but some internet research revealed that the only woodpecker that makes these rectangular holes is the pileated.

Holes from a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Ontario

This week the kids and I were out on a nature walk where we discovered an entire tree covered with rows and rows of holes. Apparently they are made by Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. They drill a row of holes and wait for a bit until the sap starts to ooze out. Then they return to their row and drink the sap of the tree.

Underneath the bark where the sapsucker had drilled.

I peeled off a section of the bark and was fascinated to see that the holes the woodpecker had drilled did not extend into the wood, but were only through the bark layer.

During our walk we heard drilling and then the high pitched laughing of the Northern Flicker, who is also a member of the woodpecker family. He is a summer resident of our neighbourhood forest.

The Price of Professional Development

There is an old phrase called 'Mother Culture' used by homeschoolers who follow a Charlotte Mason approach to education. I ran a google search on the Ambleside Online site and was surprised to find that Charlotte Mason herself did not use the term, it appeared only in a parent's review article.

Is there not some need for "mother culture"? ...Then she can listen to her children, and perhaps do a little thinking--not about frocks and foods, but about characters, and how to deal with them; or she can take a book, and "grow" that way.

From a Parent's Review article, 1892-93

The term irks me somewhat. It conjures up meanings in my mind that are completely contrary to what is intended by the phrase. Each time I hear the term 'mother culture' I cannot help but think of the 'mommy eating bonbons and watching soap operas' stereotype, the mommy wars between the stay at home and working mothers, the mommies carting their children to preschool dance classes and infant swim lessons. I think of what the concept of 'mother' is in our current culture. Instead, 'Mother culture' is actually meant to convey the idea that mothers should take some time out of 'mothering' to read books, go for walks, explore their own interests.

So, when I hear the term 'mother culture' I mentally substitute 'professional development', which might not accurately represent the concept either. As a teacher, whether it is of my own children or of other people's children, I am a professional. It took awhile to get out of the 'I'm just a housewife' mind set, but it was very helpful once I did.

The wisest woman I ever knew--the best wife, the best mother, the best mistress, the best friend--told me once, when I asked her how, with her weak health and many calls upon her time, she managed to read so much, "I always keep three books going--a stiff book, a moderately easy book, and a novel, and I always take up the one I feel fit for.

from the same article

Last summer I picked up a copy of a book called 'The Well-Educated Mind'. It is a reading guide to the great books of classic literature for adults. I started at the beginning of her list with Don Quixote. It took me almost 4 months to finish that book. I soon saw the wisdom in having several books on the go.

I'm now working my way through Jane Eyre (I skipped a few books in between). It is challenging to find time in the day to read the classics. I had grabbed a moment on the weekend when the boys were visiting their grandparents. The house was calm and quiet, except for the Chickadee, who would appear halfway through each paragraph with her loud and demanding requests, "Want cereal!", "Diaper!", "Outside!", "Stroller!", "Want cereal!". I finally relented by handing her a mostly empty container of Rice Krispies.

I returned to my novel, snuggled a little deeper into the couch, and managed to read a good section of the book, uninterrupted at last. Every now and then I would sneak a glance at the Chickadee. She was contentedly shovelling Rice Krispie dust into her mouth, most of which was making a sizeable mess on the carpet. Her little arm would reach down into the depths of the container as she tried to extract every last bit of crunchy goodness.

When she had finished, most of my living room carpet was covered with a fine layer of Rice Krispie powder. However, I did find out whether or not Jane married Mr. Rochester in the end.

Woodland Mystery

There is a small wooded area near our house where I like to take the kids for walks. This week we noticed some rather mysterious happenings in our little forest. Follow the clues with us and see if you come to the same conclusions.

Clue #1 First we have some of the trees painted with orange dots near the base of the tree. Perhaps it is some graffiti, although why anyone wants to paint one orange dot at the base of some of the trees is odd.

Clue #2 Then we have a log that has been burnt. Explaining this was easier, the wood is located next to two high schools, I'm sure that the students might occasionally build a small fire in the woods. Except the ground around the log was not burnt at all...hmm.

There were lots of burnt logs in the forest. A fire by high school students could be explained by one log, but many logs all through the forest? Again, there is no trace of the fire on the ground, and only the bark has been burnt off.

Clue #3 Another tree with the orange dot on the bottom. Notice the odd angle of the trunk, it has a slight lean to it.

Clue #4 More graffiti. This is on the trunk of the leaning tree.

Clue #5 Many of the trees in the forest have been cut down with chainsaws. This trunk has been eaten through by an insect infestation.

Clue #6 Here's a freshly felled tree. They've stripped of the bark but haven't had a chance to burn it yet.

You can see the damage caused by the insects just underneath the bark.

We figure that the forest has been infected by either the Emerald Ash Borer or the Asian Longhorn Beetle. The parks and forestry department must be cutting down and burning the trees in an attempt to contain the insects. I had my suspicions in March when so many trees seemed to be damaged. The orange dots mark the infected trees. The "BTU" probably means that they will burn that tree. We still haven't figured out how they burn the trees without catching the rest of the forest on fire.