Innehållsförteckning för October - November 2016 från Birds & Blooms

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve blurted out “hawk!” ® only to discover it was a soaring turkey vulture, I’d be rich. My raptor ID skills were less than stellar until my 2013 trip to the Cape May Fall Festival in New Jersey. I spotted a workshop on the schedule with this description: “Struggling to separate a Cooper’s hawk from a sharpshinned? Amazed when a bald eagle is spotted high in the sky and you see nothing?” All I could think was yes and yes! I learned that to identify raptors in flight, you must know their silhouettes. It’s diffifcult to see colors or field marks on high-flying birds. But if you remember a few things about their shapes, you can narrow it down. For example, sharp-shinned…

birdsandblooms.com TOP 10 1 ACTAEA 2 CASSATA 3 SHERBORNE 4 HOOP PETTICOATS 5 AVALANCHE 6 TÊTE-À-TÊTE 7 BABY MOON 8 THALIA 9 TAHITI 10 YELLOW RIVER Actaea ZONES 3 TO 8 This member of the poeticus group stands out in the garden thanks to its distinctive look: red-rimmed short trumpets skirted by large white petals. It has a fantastic fragrance, multiplies without a fuss and makes a great cut flower. Why we love it: Actaea is an heirloom that keeps spring going a little longer because it blooms later in the season. Cassata ZONES 3 TO 8 Add something different to your early or midspring garden with this charming flower. Ruffles of lemony yellow lie against white petals, making it look more like an anemone than a daffodil. The blossoms…

As summer slips into fall and the weather cools down, swimsuits and shorts are swapped for sweaters and scarves. Birds also change their wardrobes with the seasons. Many species look the same 365 days of the year, but some look so different in fall that they are challenging to identify. DISAPPEARING ACT Take the American goldfinch, for example. All summer, glowing yellow male American goldfinches nibble at your feeder, and then one fall day there’s not a bright lemon-colored songbird to be found. In fact, the goldfinches are still around and coming to feeders. They just look different— drab and dull. The color changes of the female American goldfinch are subtle, but the male is all drama. He transitions from blazing yellow to a much duller yellow-brown, making him look…

I had just bought my near me while I was doing yardwork in my grandfather’s backyard. A large bird landed in a pine tree, so I grabbed the camera and went to check it out. It wasn’t too concerned by my presence, and I got close for this snapshot. I later found out it was a pileated woodpecker. I’m really lucky that one of my first ventures into bird photography involved such a willing and interesting subject. Bob Fink LEWISBERRY, PENNSYLVANIA Every autumn I eagerly look forward to the annual migration of sandhill cranes through southeastern Tennessee. Most years, it’s October when I hear the distinct throaty call of cranes flying overhead. The weary travelers rest for a couple of months at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge near Birchwood, Tennessee, where…

Pick the Perfect Pumpkin • Firmness is key. You should be able to dent— but not puncture—the rind with your thumbnail. • Two signs of a healthy pumpkin are a uniformly deep orange color and a 1- to 2-inch stem. • Practice good squash care and hold a pumpkin in your hands, not by its stem. • Choose a pumpkin that sits upright on a flat surface. It’ll be easy to carve or decorate. turn the page for our favorite spins on no-carve pumpkins. No-Carve Pumpkins, Four Ways RIBBONS: GAP PHOTOS/VISIONS…

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WHY I LOVE IT Fall is the perfect season in this part of Indiana. You can’t beat the sweatshirt weather and the colorful leaves that cover the area. My town, Martinsville, is a country town made up of farmland and woods. It’s an ideal place to live if you want to be close to the city but reside in the country. GO BIRD-WATCHING Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, a birding hot spot, is just over an hour’s drive away. While the bird-watching is best during migration, it’s a fantastic spot for nesting wood ducks, prothonotary warblers, bald eagles and more. Visitors heard a black rail in one of the marshes for a couple of weeks this year. Henslow’s sparrows are spotted here as well. SIP WINE, SEE BLOOMS Oliver Winery, halfway…

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3 The three most common garden spiders in North America are the black and yellow, silver, and banded. These garden allies provide natural pest control. 1,000 An egg sac produced by a female banded garden spider may contain more than 1,000 eggs. 8 Despite having eight eyes, these creatures have relatively poor vision. They are better at picking up vibrations. Sometimes they leave their web, attach themselves to it with a single silk strand, and pounce when they feel the vibration of prey caught in the web. 24 Garden spiders are part of the orb weaver family and create circular webs that may reach up to 24 inches in diameter. The intricate webs are designed to capture and immobilize prey. 2 A female black and yellow garden spider feasts on…