That's a Horse, I Mean Bird, Of a Different Color

About a month ago my friend Donna from Garden Walk, Garden Talk and I were chatting about birds.  She had a mysterious bird she needed help identifying.  For some reason I thought I could help.  Right away Donna sent me a couple pictures of this mystery bird.  (All photos were taken by Donna)

Isn't this a cute little bird?  What kind of bird was it??  When I Google a bird or a plant or a bug I try to use as many descriptive words as possible.  What words would you use?

I chose color as my first descriptive word, not tan or beige, but blonde.   To me it looked like a House Sparrow,  so my Google search was 'Blonde Sparrow'.  Now I got some interesting results, even some for Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Sparrow.  Pretty certain it wasn't Jack Sparrow.

One of the results was for another blog, Project Noah.  He had a picture of a bird that was similar to the ones that Donna sent me.  I love all my blogging buddies, but I needed another source, a scientific research source.   Donna contacted some folks from Cornell and was waiting to hear back from them.  In the meanwhile, she did hear from a friend who is a member of Buffalo Audubon Society, who said he believed it to be a House Sparrow, a Leucistic House Sparrow.  His determination was the clear coloring of its breast.

Ok, time for some new scientific words, reference-Cornell color, and color abnormality

• Leucistic-genetic mutation that prevents the melanin from coloring the feathers
• Albinism- genetic mutation where there is no melanin is produced in the body
• melanin- one of three natural pigments that are found in organisms
• carotenoid- pigments not affected by albinism
• porphyrins- third pigment group, gives fluoresce, a form of luminescence, to colors

Definitions aside, just how does one tell a leucistic bird from an albino bird?  Leucism is a pale coloring, where the melanin pigments, while present in the body do not color the feathers.   A bird with leucistic mutations can be blonde as in our bird, or have white coloring, or splotchy white blocks of feathers, which is called pied.  The one sure way to know if it is leucistic or albino, is to check the eyes.  Albino birds have no melanin in their body, so the only coloring in their eyes will be the blood behind the eye.  That is why they seem to have red eyes.   Since not all pigments are affected by the mutations, you can have an all white bird with a red peaked head as in this Pileated Woodpecker and here.  Make sure to check these links, most incredible photos.  

Here is the blonde sparrow during the summer, you can see the coloring difference from other female House Sparrows.   Some of the reports on the leucistic and albino birds don't fair well as they stand out to predators.  There is also information stating these birds have a hard time attracting a mate.  Donna has seen this bird and one of its relatives who is paler, with other birds. She says that the paler bird has been seen feeding some fledglings, so this one could be related and they do produce offspring.  Be sure to visit Donna's blog as she is doing a post on the whiter bird on the 14th of February.     

Reports on Cornell's website say that leucistc birds are unusual and albino are rare.  If you see either, you should consider yourself quite lucky.

  

Donna is quite lucky to be sure, you can see this bird is still hanging with the other House Sparrows-

This really shows the contrast between the normal sparrow coloring and leucistic.  This little leucistic female is seen with male House Sparrows.

Moral of the story?  Keep your eyes peeled for a lucky bird!  Make sure to watch and record your bird sightings this weekend, February 15- 18 for the Great Backyard Bird Count.   Maybe you too will see an unusually colored bird.

©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Fragrant on the First- February

I know many of you have had freezing temps, snow, and plain ugly weather.  Here in the Upstate of South Carolina this winter has been really mild.   Fragrant blooms in the garden are continuing to shine, so without further adieu, here is my presentation of February's fragrant blooms.

Daphne odora aureomarginata

Close up of the VERY fragrant blooms, Daphne odora aureomarginata

I have two Daphnes, both were the small size when I bought them....now the one in the top photo is about a third larger than the one in the second photo.

Hamamelis vernalis, Ozark witch hazel

This witch hazel is a new plant, only about 24 inches or so tall.  Can't wait for future years to have a nice large clove-y fragrant shrub along the driveway.

Narcissus 'Grand Soleil d'Or' yellow paperwhites, now along the driveway, happy after the recent rainfall

Osmanthus fragrans, Tea Olive, has been blooming since early fall

Rosmarinus officinalis, Rosemary,  great shrub if you have the room

Now for some photos of last month's bloom -- it is growing more and more fragrant as more of these little tubular blossoms open.  Oh how I wish there was Smell-O-Vision.  I love this plant so much I bought another for an area by the front door in a large container.  The front door has a small alcove, the fragrance greets you as you go in or out....heavenly.

Edgeworthia chrysantha

Edgeworthia chrysantha

Edgeworthia chrysantha

And finally, some of my Hyacinths are starting to bloom.  In one area the Hyacinths have multiplied to a nice clump, can't wait for them to bloom!

Hyacinth 'Jan Bos' 

  What do you have blooming on February 1st?
©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

This time of year there are some gardening days and some days to stay in and enjoy a warm fire.   Since we moved here in the summer of 2010 I have been buying plants from the Abbeville Extension Office. Here is  2012 The order is due in November and usually is delivered in mid-December.  This year the weather has been so warm that the plants didn't go dormant on the usual schedule.  The delivery date was pushed back to mid-January.    This year I ordered two crabapples, one Malus 'Red Silver' and one M. 'Golden Hornet'.  Both are semi-weeping.  The Red Silver has bronzy purple leaves and wine red flowers and purple red fruit while the Golden Hornet has white flowers with yellow fruit and green leaves.
Apparently I also ordered two Spirea x vanhouttei.  I forgot I had added those to the order form...think I did it on our way over to turn in the order form.   I couldn't remember where I had planned on planting the spirea.  Oh well, we gardeners love a challenge don't we?






The flowering crabapples were to be planted up by the street along the front of the woods.   In early November I was emptying out one of my worm bins and used some of the castings in the predetermined spots for my future crabs.   To remind myself where I had worked the soil and added the worm castings, I got a big stick and stuck it in the ground when the amending was done.   Yes, in the photo below is my stick.  The neighbors wondered if I was "planting" sticks....oh that crazy Janet.

The holes were pretty easy to dig in January after my earlier preparation.   The spirea found a spot along the driveway and in front of the woods.  Not bad for a quick planting day!!  My newly planted tree is just above the 'h' in my web link on the picture.   With hope and a little water (and no deer) I will be sharing some nice flower photos in the spring. 

And a little fun-- when finally taking down my Christmas wreath  I found there were about five anole hiding in the browning greenery.  They were just about as startled as I was!

Some were really tiny and their colors ranged from brown to green.

When I shooed away all the anoles, I was able to take down the wreath and remove the dead branches, save the decoration and put it away for another year.  

These little guys live in and around the stones on the front of our house.  You can tell it is a warm day if the anoles emerge.

These are the yellow paperwhites, Narcissus 'Grand Soleil d'Or'.  I planted 50 of them in the septic field across the street from the house.  The plan was to disperse them mid-way through the half acre.  Bad idea.  These are sweet little blooms, blooming in December/ January.  Since this is the septic field we bushhog the field in the late fall, after the first frost.  Well, the first frost is also when these little blooms are about 12 to 18 inches tall.  That is not a good time to cut the field.  Luckily they were not damaged from the cutting...but I didn't want to worry each year, so I dug them up and moved them last week.

I planted them along the edge of the driveway, so you could see and enjoy them.   See how tiny they are?

The Edgeworthia chrysantha is still going strong, and will for another month and a half at least.

Also growing in the backyard is a lot of moss.  Moss is really an interesting plant and very pretty.

Next time you see some moss growing, give it a closer look.

Also continuing to bloom is the Hamamelis vernalis, Ozark Witch hazel.  What a great plant!!

A new addition to my garden is a Candytuft, Iberis sempervirens 'Purity'.  I had other Candytufts, but just two and wanted to get a third.  The one I bought was blooming already!!  I wonder if it will continue to bloom all through the season? 

Now for your bird fix-- first a couple Goldfinches..one with more of its summer coloring than the other.

The first time I saw this next bird, I thought it was a mutant Robin.  It is about the same size, same colors, but very different.  Turned out to be an Eastern Towhee.  We rarely see them unless we are outside as they are ground feeders.  This one was scratching around in the leaves in the next lot until I walked along the side of the house.  This male Towhee flew up to a branch to keep an eye on me.

Don't forget the Great Backyard Bird Count on February 15- 18th weekend.    You keeping an eye on your birds?

©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.