Commelina

the photo doesn't give the blue flowers justice ... even though it's a weed it's still pretty. How marvelous HE is who even makes weeds pretty plants!

info on this here and here

tidbits from first info site:
Of the same family as the weed Wandering Jew (Tradescantia albiflora) which has white flowers but does not spread as aggressively.

course I like that it's the same family as the Wandering Jew --- like us being grafted in to Israel via being born-again --- Awesome!

tidbits from second info site:
Flowering - May - October.
Habitat - Moist ground in waste places, lawns, disturbed sites, roadsides, railroads.

funny, this plant is by the dumpster and DH works for a railroad and the truck he takes to work usually parks in front of the spot where the plant is.

Northern Mockingbird

I spotted one of these yesterday at the library.

Birds We Saw Today

We went to the lake to ride in the pontoon and of course we saw Canadian Geese ... they are everywhere here.

We then saw Mallard Ducks, a blue crane who enjoyed being in the shadows on the edge of the lake, and a shiny cowbird.

After the boat ride we went to the beach section and DS got experience swimming in lake water and playing on a sandy beach.

Later back home in a neighbors yard we saw a cardinal.

Pictures of the type of birds we saw below.

3 Birds

Yesterday before I left my aunt's house in Iowa, I got to see the following birds:

the Barn Swallow.

the Northern Oriole.

The Red-winged Blackbird

I have decided for DS we will be skipping these chapters in the Burgess book simply because we don't see these birds in our yard but I was very excited to have spotted them at my aunt's house.

just wanted to share

Woodpeckers or Bird Book Chapter 11

Does anyone know why the hairy and downy woodpeckers look the same? or maybe they are the same bird with 2 different names?

We keep a photo of the bird in a word document right now along with the date we read their chapter and any fitting poems and I noticed the 2 birds look very similar and DS said one just appears to be fatter than the other.

Hairy http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nsbirds/bns0232.htm


Downy http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nsbirds/bns0231.htm

Garden or Gartner Snake

We had one in the apartment in December 06 and today I found a tiny one in the kitchen. Try explaining to a 6 year old that such creatures would be much more happy and useful outside.

Sparrows

SO small and so many.





My digi-cam is terrible. I put brand new batteries in and it asks me to set the date/time and then the batteries are drained. I really need a new camera, something less battery draining...or maybe that you charge? suggestions welcomed





there's a sparrow's nest on our patio. I can see the female sparrow but can't readily Identify her. My cats are really enjoying watching her as well. I'm for sure not opening the screen door.





She seems closest to a house sparrow -- which Jenny-Wren refers to as the bully-sparrow.... she does appear to be chewing out the male bird whom she can't find...LOL



here's some info on house sparrows http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nsbirds/bns0411.htm


so since I can't get a picture of her, here's one of a female house sparrow. Although the bird I see is much slimmer but has the same markings. This bird has a big belly. I also think our sparrows have eggs...so it should be noisy around here and entertaining.




Her mate does look like the drawing of the bird below.

edited to add: on 5/20/08 at the park we saw another family of house sparrows. Miss Wren may call them bullies but I think they are fun to watch.