Attempting to get back to habits, like daily journalling....

I put a bunch of seedy old grapes in a crook in the old front yard apple tree. The first time i did it, it was low enough that deer or possums or raccoons found them. I have a hard time imagining deer eating a whole block of suet, so i assume it was possums or raccoons. The second time i put the grapes higher up. They've been sitting there for a while, but this morning a murder of American crows (eek, a murder in the driveway!) has figured out where they are. The crows have to take turns negotiating their way through the thicket of water sprouts. It's been entertaining.

Also seen this morning: a red bellied woodpecker, male northern cardinal, two mourning doves, and an unidentified sparrow (i'd guess a white throated sparrow) plus Carolina wrens, Carolina chickadees (3), American goldfinches (2 based on head coloring differences), white breasted nuthatches (2), and tufted titmice (2). The last grouping are species for which i'm sure there are more than one (or two or three) individuals but because i can only confidentially vouch for the number of birds seen simultaneously, my count is low. Oh! There's a squirrel! I haven't seen the squirrel attempting the feeder this year, but i suppose it too could have gone after the suet.

In other bird news, my sister found a rooster she is fairly certain was "dumped" near the middle school. She's taken it home and claims she's searched for owners. We're pondering adopting it. We'll introduce Carrie to the bird this weekend and see how likely it is that Carrie will register it as prey. Which means looking for friends and a coop. We have gone back and forth about getting chickens for a while. The primary goal would be for them to be free range bug eaters, although eggs would be nice. I'd want them ranging outside the orchard.

Finally, the first native wild flower of the season: Houstonia pusilla, the tiny/small/least/dwarf bluet. I think i will dig up the four tiny plants and move them back to the mossy glade. I found some growing naturally in the glade last year, and i think it would be a fine plant to keep company with moss. Spring beauty, another ephemeral, has sent up leaves in the two places i've tried to establish transplants. And the putative Lupinus perennis has sprouted where i planted them back near the pawpaw and mulberries. Putative, because the website i ordered them from has the string "European-Lupine-Wildflower-Seeds" in the URL, but Lupinus perennis is an eastern North America native. Well, i don't have any rare butterflies to be disappointed.