Flowers and a Whip-poor-will

Today was one of the first days I’ve actually spent some time at home. While the morning was filled with work, the afternoon consisted of digging up some wildflowers and replanting them. A friend was removing excess plants at her house in Hollidaysburg and offered me some great plants. We dug up some purple cone flower, bee balm, feverfew, turtlehead, and yarrow. I started some of these species from seed, but they are so small (< .5 inches) that I don’t think they’ll make it. The rootstock of these transplants should do well. I placed them strategically in the yard with the idea that they will be the start of a meadow full of wildflowers.

The past month has been rainy and cooler than expected. I tried to plant a small garden in what I thought was a high spot in the yard, but the soil remained saturated with water until the past few days. I scattered some wildflower seed there, but I think that area will need to be planted with wet-loving plants. I’ll gather some seeds from cardinal flower, joe pye weed, and ironweed this summer after I get some advice from a friend who knows more about wetlands than I do.

A short walk this evening yielded two deer and a distant calling whip-poor-will. The diversity of birds on and around the house is amazing. I’m including birds seen within a half mile of the place over the past three months.

SPECIES		SPECIES		SPECIES
Canada Goose		Blue-headed Vireo		Yellow Warbler
Wood Duck		Red-eyed Vireo		Ovenbird
Mallard		Blue Jay		Common Yellowthroat
Ring-necked Pheasant		American Crow		Eastern Towhee
Great Blue Heron		Tree Swallow		Chipping Sparrow
Turkey Vulture		N. Rough-winged Swallow		Field Sparrow
Red-tailed Hawk		Barn Swallow		Song Sparrow
American Kestrel		Black-capped Chickadee		White-throated Sparrow
Killdeer		Tufted Titmouse		Dark-eyed Junco
American Woodcock		White-breasted Nuthatch		Northern Cardinal
Mourning Dove		Brown Creeper		Indigo Bunting
Yellow-billed Cuckoo		Carolina Wren		Red-winged Blackbird
Whip-poor-will		Blue-gray Gnatcatcher		Eastern Meadowlark
Chimney Swift		Eastern Bluebird		Common Grackle
Ruby-throated Hummingbird		American Robin		Brown-headed Cowbird
Belted Kingfisher		Gray Catbird		Baltimore Oriole
Red-bellied Woodpecker		Northern Mockingbird		Purple Finch
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher		Brown Thrasher		House Finch
Eastern Phoebe		European Starling		American Goldfinch
Great Crested Flycatcher		Cedar Waxwing		House Sparrow