What a beautiful story!
Category: birds
Happy Summer!
What a crazy start to summer. First a scary high windstorm came through, knocking out power and downing lots of trees. The winds shifted from the north to the south and it became extremely hot and humid. There were warnings to stay inside it was so hot. Even worse the United States bombed Iran.
A cold wind coming across the big lake
The power is back on, the birds are back singing and the butterflies seem to have survived the storm, and we will never know the harm the United States did to the people of Iran.
I hope your summer is special, that you are able to spend time outside, and enjoy the long days. Everyday work for peace and justice and speak out!
Many mourning cloak butterflies
Work for peace and justice
Bee Inspired by Nature
It’s World Bee Day
Plant your yard for pollinators, and please DO NOT use chemicals!
From The Carbon Almanac:
As you savor the taste of honey, remember that the production of one pound of honey needs 2,000,000 flowers and on average, a bee visits 50-100 flowers on each flight. The average bee makes just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
Did you know that there are over 20,000 species of bees who, along with other pollinators such as butterflies and hummingbirds, support the production of 75% of our food crops? Not only is their contribution to food security essential, the bees also play an important role in preserving biodiversity.
Bee populations are becoming increasingly at risk due to habitat loss, temperature changes due to climate change, pollution and agricultural practices.
The United Nations has designated today, May 20th, as World Bee Day
What can we do to help protect the bees?
All of us can share information about bees to help raise awareness on their important role. It’s as easy as forwarding this email.
If you have a garden, you can avoid the use of pesticides and herbicides. You can also plant diverse native plants that flower at different times of the year.
Chemicals are harmful to everyone, not just our bees:
1. “This pesticide is linked to learning disabilities – and it’s sprayed on fruit,” PIRG, February 18, 2025.
2. Danica Jefferies, “A potentially cancer-causing chemical is sprayed on much of America’s farmland. Here’s where it is used the most,” NBC News, October 10, 2022.
3. Danielle Melgar, “This toxic pesticide dicamba is a threat to crops and human health. It’s time to ban it.,” PIRG, November 11, 2022.
4. Tom Perkins, “Exposure to combination of pesticides increases childhood cancer risk — study,” March 5, 2025.
5. Tom Perkins, “Exposure to combination of pesticides increases childhood cancer risk — study,” March 5, 2025.
6. Tom Perkins, “Exposure to combination of pesticides increases childhood cancer risk — study,” March 5, 2025.
7. Danielle Melgar, “The weed killer Roundup has been linked to cancer. It’s time to ban it.,” PIRG, April 16, 2024.
Joy
Celebrating May, a great month to be outside.
Trillium in the woods
May Joy
The smell of lilacs permeates the air.
The chickadees cardinals and orioles sing at their hopeful best
My beautiful niece is married
A swallowtail butterfly lays eggs on the blooming golden Alexander.
Golden Alexander is a swallowtail host plant
Every tree shows its own personality,
The first hummingbirds in my yard,
The freedom of biking to events and just for fun.
A season of hope,
Columbine and wild geranium bloom,
The violets are radiant!
Hummingbirds follow the blooming Columbine.
Discussions about what to do with dandelions. And even the first dandelions bring joy!
Be mindful, pay attention, get outside and see our beautiful world!
“Dandelions are one of the earliest flowering plants in spring, dandelions provide food for pollinators such as bees and butterflies, rabbits, birds and deer, just to name a few. The dandelion also helps below the surface by feeding the soil with its deep root structure.” unknown source
August Anxiety
Or September Scaries on Lake Superior
I love summer and the long rich days, and the summer days get even longer as you go north! Holding onto summer daylight and comfortable temperatures fades as the calendar turns to fall. Already the nesting birds have migrated south, and I miss their joy. I also miss the magnificent butterflies, and there was a summer shortage this year that concerns and scares me.
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Summer brings joy, and the nature of that joy diminishes with the fading daylight. Below are some of the last plants standing:
Summer could be defined by comfortable days, and Lake Superior wind pattern dominance which shifts from hot and humid to breezy and cool. This [ast summer was weird how much moisture was in the air. Many mornings it was hazy looking across the big lake. Warmer air holds more moisture, and it was a humid summer. We have just lived through the most humid summer on record. Read about it here.
August Joy
“The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.”
— Lady Bird Johnson
The Monarch butterflies charm me as they play tag, the hummingbirds zip from one flower to the next, and the goldfinch quietly sit on the monarda and eat the seeds. Enormous bees gorge themselves with a bounty of pollinator plants they love. The consistent rains of this summer have created a healthy blooming habitat. All this pollinator activity creates joy!
A Monarch on liatris Hummingbirds love cardinal flowers, and Joe Pye Weed.
Native deep-rooted plants fix many things that are wrong with our world. They do not need fertilizers or chemicals, they don’t need to be watered, and their deep roots absorb water run-off. They help to keep our waterways clean, keep our air clean, and they are beautiful,
Native plants are healthy for wildlife. Birds, bees and butterflies love them and they create vital habitat which has gone missing in recent years.
Pollinator Week
The rudbeckia is just starting to bloom.
Pollinator Week has been a rainy week where I live in Minnesota. I was going to list all the pollinators coming to my yard, but it’s hard to see much activity when it rains hard every day! The rain doesn’t bother hummingbirds, and they are entertaining us at our hummingbird feeder.
Spiderwort, a native plant beauty!
The purpose of Pollinator Week is to heighten everyone’s awareness of how important pollinators are to us all. Our bees, butterflies and birds are having a hard time with loss of habitat and our overuse of chemicals. We use too many harmful chemicals to kill insects and fertilize our lawns and farm fields.
My message to you this pollinator week is reduce your dependence on harmful chemicals that kill pollinators. This includes butterflies and birds. Since 1970 North America has lost 3 billion birds. We can’t keep killing the insects and caterpillars the birds need to raise their young.
Birds and butterflies add so much to the quality of our lives Bees and other pollinators touch our lives every day in ways we may not realize. Imagine a world without most of the foods you love. Without bees we wouldn’t have the abundance of apples, pumpkins, strawberries, blueberries, or almonds that we enjoy. Pollinators even help milk production: the alfalfa and clover cows graze is replenished by seed pollinated by bees. A world without pollinators would not only leave us with fewer food choices, but would make it substantially harder to find the nutrition we need to survive.
Thoughts on creating a pollinator Garden:
- Provide a variety of flower colors and shapes to attract different pollinators.
- Whenever possible, choose native plants. Native plants will attract more native pollinators and can serve as larval host plants for some species of pollinators.
- If monarch butterflies live within your area, consider planting milkweed so their caterpillars have food.
- Plant in clumps, rather than single plants, to better attract pollinators
- Choose plants that flower at different times of the year to provide nectar and pollen sources throughout the growing season http://www.fws.gov/pollinators/
“Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 19 are linked with cancer or carcinogenicity, 13 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 26 with liver or kidney damage, 15 with neurotoxicity and 11 with disruption of the endocrine (hormonal) system. Of these same pesticides, 17 are detected in ground water, 23 have the ability to leach into drinking water sources, 24 are toxic to fish and other organisms vital to our ecosystem, 11 are toxic to bees, and 16 are toxic to birds.”
Read more here: https://www.beyondpesticides.org/…/factsheets/30enviro.pdf
https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/protecting-monarch-butterflies-pesticides
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Wildflower Week
Every day is a wildflower day for me. I plant for the birds, butterflies, and bees and love when they are in my garden. The spring has been spectacular where I live. Trees and bushes are blooming, birds are singing in concert, warblers are migrating through, many butterflies are present, and its sunny and 70 degrees.
The hummingbirds have arrived!
Marsh Marigolds
Hummingbirds love columbine
It is a perfect time to add some native plants to your garden to draw more birds and butterflies into your yard.
National Wildflower Week was started by Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. Find out what wildflowers attract butterflies: http://butterfly-lady.com/plant-native-wildflowers-to…/
Why native plants are important:
- They are the ecological basis upon which life depends, including birds and people.
- They provide habitats, food, and shelter for specific insects, birds, mammals, and other animals.
- They support significantly more wildlife than non-native species.
- They conserve water, protect soil from erosion, and create habitat for various animals.
- They offer reduced water use, less maintenance, natural pest control, and environmental sustainability.
Plant Native Wildflowers to Attract Butterflies!
Get Intimate
This morning on my walk it was raining. The rain was plopping on my hood and splashing my face, but I was loving every moment as a robin sang. I felt so close to the beauty and renewal of our earth. It was me and the melodic robin, having a conversation, and both happy that it was finally raining.
It is Earth month, Earth Day is days away, and April is a fabulous time to get intimate with the earth. Every day the tree buds get bigger, and the great migration begins, birds and butterflies moving to their summer homes. Every day a new flower pops up, and the sun gets higher in the sky.
Whether it’s a wild turkey on your yard, a fox running down the street, a rabbit eating your fresh plants, or the deep groves in the bark of a tree, pay attention and notice something new.
Many dragon flies were out yesterday!
It was cloudy where I live so we missed the eclipse, but there were people outside excited that it was happening behind the thick cloud cover. Celebrate that excitement every day with the intense beauty and April happenings of our
Amazing landscapes!
what a wonderful world!
Enjoy the intense beauty and happenings of our Earth, it’s Earth Day every day!
I saw my first butterfly a few weeks ago. It was a mourning cloak butterfly. since this writing I have seen many more. Get out and look.
Happy Earth Day!!
Winter is a “no snow”
Superior Views for winter 2024
The grouse and crows seem happy, the pileated woodpeckers seem happy, and squirrels and white tailed deer are overjoyed. What happened to winter? The sun is shining and the snowstorms forgot to hit the south shore of Lake Superior. The biggest surprise is golden eyes on Lake Superior already migrating through.
But what made me the happiest was that I saw an eagle swimming on Lake Superior. It was amazing! It looked like she was doing a swimming crawl stroking with her enormous wings.
The warmest February and winter on record, but it is worrying for the future when there isn’t ice on the big lake. More evaporation, more algae and a challenge for the fish to find food.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/11/weather/midwest-non-winter-el-nino/index.html
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