The Blue Heron

Well old man winter is not relinquishing his hold on Montana and I am not going to make it to the garden today.  It has been snowing every since Sunday and about a foot in the last twenty four hours. 

So I will go to my next passion, the birds.  I was reading by the big picture window when a large shadow caused me to look outside.  A great blue heron was just landing in our creek and commenced to walk up stream with his eyes on the water.  He walked very slowly lifting each leg cautiously and placing it carefully back into the water making sure not to cause any ripples or stir up dinner.  Directly in front of the window he stopped and suddenly jabbed at the water to come up with a fish impaled on his long slender bill.  One little flip and the fish was in his mouth and down his throat whole.  Bob is always trying to fish the creek before the heron saying that he eats all the fish in our little Mountain Creek.  Of course the heron does not have fishing regulations to contend with. 

The blue heron does not always hang in the creek but likes to sit on the tops of trees to view the landscape and check for fish, aquatic insects, rodents, small birds, and small amphibians and reptiles which makes up his desired foods.  They are found all over north America all the way up to Alaska.  The herons east of the Rocky mountains migrate to Central America or northern South America while the western herons stick out even the toughest winters.  Hey they made it through this winter.  They nest in colonies close to water having 3-6 young chicks.  Both parents feed the chicks by regurgitating their food for them. 

The blue herons are so much fun to watch and I feel lucky to have them in my neck of the woods.   

I made it to the garden today!

Well I made it to the garden today but it wasn't easy.  I thought I could get there through the trees since there wasn't quite as much snow in that direction.   

I jumped from grassy patch to grassy patch and then had to cross some snow.  Little did I know I was walking on the swamp.  How soon I forget.  Suddenly my foot slipped through the ice and became lodged in a hole filled with black muddy goo.  I worked quite a while trying to remove my foot from that grimy hole.  My husband had just left for town and at one point I thought I may still be there when he came home.

After that episode I went back the way I came and grabbed a shovel to dig my way there.  I discovered because it was so cold, I could walk on top of the snow only falling up to my hips a couple of times.  Whew, I finally made it to the garden.  As I already knew, it was covered in three feet of snow except under the two big spruce trees.  I sat on my bench under the trees and listened to the robins and celebrated the first time into the garden in 2012. 

I feel really sorry for the robins this time of year.  They arrive to find so much snow and the worms three feet under.  There are always a few snowless spots around this time of year and they find them. 


This one is on our septic.

I also heard juncos today twittering in the bushes and trees.  The chickadees are singing their cheeseburger song.  Spring is here even though old man winter doesn't want to lose his grip. 

Spring, where are you?

Ok so I got a little excited last week.  That's right, it is snowing and blowing today and brrrr, cold.  I still can't get to my garden yet unless I want to start shoveling snow. 

As I memtioned earlier I do not like store bought lettuce and grow a crop inside in the winter.  I love my grow-light lettuce. 

A few days ago I looked out at my bird feeders and the porch and feeders were covered with beautiful red capped birds.  Some also had a red breast with brown and white side stripes.    After a little research I found our they were common red polls.  As far as I know I have not had them at my feeder before.  There were more than fifty I'm sure.  The male of course sported the red cap and breast while the female was mainly brown with the red cap also.  I have since read that they are quite abundant this year and many birders have been seeing them all over the northern U.S.  They only winter here but nest far north in the arctic.  They should feel right at home here on a blustery March day.  What a treat to see all those beautiful birds.   Has anyone else out there seen the common red polls this winter?

Welcome to my garden.  I hope you will follow the path with me this year.

It's March!!  That means that garden season is right around the corner.  WhooHoo!!  I can hardly wait to see that first crocus and my new tulips and daffodils.  A friend asked if I had shoveled my garden off yet.  Yes, some years I actually do that.  I get so anxious to get into my garden.  First I have to dig a path to the garden then I can start shoveling off the three feet of snow.  No I have not even made it to the green house yet but very soon.  I am placing raised beds in my green house this year and following the Square Foot gardening method.  I live in the mountains and have a very short growing season, forty four frost free days if I'm lucky.  Therefore I use my greenhouse for beans, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.  I have lettuce growing in the house under grow lights along with tomatoes and spinach.  I hate store bought lettuce so I try to grow lettuce year round. 

Even though it is a little early.  Happy Spring and welcome to my garden.

Pileated woodpecker

One of my favorite birds to watch is the pileated woodpecker.  Usually if one is around the mate is close by.  They call to each other as they feed on the larvae in the dead lodge poll pine.   It is their calling and loud pecking on the wood that first draws my attention.  Then as I watch them they toss large pieces of wood five feet away.  Along with the beetle larvae, they eat insects, fruit, and nuts with carpenter ants being their favorite food.

In the spring, the pileated woodpecker builds a nest by chipping away at a dead tree.  The nest is about a foot or more deep and lined with wood chips holding about 3 to 5 eggs.  They do not reuse their nest but build a new one each year.  Other birds then make their nest in the pileated woodpecker's old nest. 

The pileated woodpeckers are large birds of about 15-18 inches in length.  They have a big red crest that reminds me of the cartoon character, Woody Woodpecker.  Besides in my yard, the pileated woodpeckers are located in Canada, eastern United States, and the northwest United States south to California. 

I chose their drumming rhythm to make into a percussion piece.  It is a body percussion piece including stomping, clapping, and patting.  The second section of the piece tells about the bird, "I'm a black bird with a bright red crest.  Drilling holes, finding ants, and beetle larvae too.  Drill my nest in an old dead tree."  Along with several common sixteenth note rhythms, accents and crescendos are also covered in this piece.  It is especially fun to play with three different surfaces such as pans or boxes.  This a just one of six pieces I composed for this book.

IT'S A BIRD, IT'S ME

 I did not place my song sparrow melody directly into an activity book.  I first composed a band piece, Symphony for the Birds.  It included three movements using the melodies of the chickadee and song sparrow and the rhythm of the ruffed grouse.   The second year of retirement I used my three already composed pieces and added three more and "voila" a children's activity book.


The activity book, IT'S A BIRD, IT'S ME, teaches the bird songs and rhythms by hearing the original bird song and singing a melody or saying a rhythm similar to the  bird's.  It has a few paragraphs about each bird and a description of the bird.  The description can be used to color the bird.  A coloring guide and vocabulary pages are also included.  A CD comes with the book with the actual bird song and the composed song sung by my Bird Ensemble.  The CD also includes just the piano accompaniment for possible performance.

This book would be great for an elementary teacher needing to teach music. It could also include a lesson in birds, following directions, and could easily be made into an informative performance. 

Birds, Music, and Gardening, how it all came together

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, I love to garden.  I am in my garden at sun up doing whatever needs to be done.  Usually I walk around the garden with coffee in hand and determine my fun for the day.  The birds are singing like crazy early in the morning and I love it.  As I hoe the peas the song sparrow sings a lyrical song to me and I sing back to him.  At first I just sing the melody but soon I am putting words to the melody, "Hey, hey lookie, lookie it's a bird it's me."  I'm jivin' now! 

Then the light bulb came on.  The teacher in me said, "What a great way to teach children about birds."   This is how it all started.   My love of music, gardening and birds all came together in IT'S A BIRD, IT'S ME, a book to help children identify birds through their song and appearance. 

Just imagine me among my peas singing away.