We made the area for the waterfall, and I used whatever miscellaneous moss and bull rocks I had laying around.  The flow of the water seems okay, it’s still a little deep so I need to add much more rock to the center of the stream.

The following are the next steps or stages I plan to do.

1. Finish the moss rock around the edges, and more bull rock in the center.  I’ll probably need a full palette of moss rock (3000 lbs) so I’ll have to have that delivered.
2. Mortar in the rocks that should be mortared and use pond foam in between the rocks that need it so there is no leaking.
3. Buy lots and lots of potting soil and hardwood mulch.
4. Plants some plants along the side of the stream to give the birds some cover to hide.
5. Plant maybe 1 more tree (thinking about a loquat tree) within the bird “sanctuary” (that’s what I’m calling it as of this moment).
6. Move my Little John Bottlebrush plant that has never received much attention to the bird stream area.
7. Figure out how many hours of massage I will need for my back if I actually complete this.

I just created a brief video earlier this afternoon once we connected everything.  This is not a joke, but as soon as I stopped working, 2 eastern bluebirds came down to watch and check out possible nesting sites, a whole bunch of American Goldfinch perched around to watch, a red bellied woodpecker started squawking to get to the food, and of course the Cardinals just went right to the bird feeders.  I didn’t notice them when I was working, but as soon as I stopped it appeared everyone wanted to come down from the trees and see what was going on.

So let me describe my vision for this project as well as to explain what I mean by “disappearing.”  By “disappearing” I’m simply referring to how this stream will be constructed and how the water flows.  The water will flow from a waterfall, down into a stream, then into a reservoir, which will then pump the water back up to the waterfall.  It’s called “disappearing” simply because the reservoir will be covered in rock giving the illusion that the water just appears to flow underground.  The water will not be very deep, maybe 1-2 inches.  Hopefully the birds will like it, but also hopefully Butterflies, Bees, and perhaps Frogs and Toads.  I hope it doesn’t attract Raccoons and Snakes, but those guys will probably make an appearance as well.

Here’s part one of the construction, complete with multiple “re-digs.”  As you can see from this picture, one of the biggest mistakes I made was purchasing the 8 x 8 x 16 cinder blocks.  The stream would be way too deep for birds to use or I would have needed to add a ton of rock inside the stream to not make it so deep.  So, I went back to Lowe’s and purchased the 4 x 8 x 16 cinder blocks which should allow for a shallower depth.

Full View Of Disappearing Bird Stream Construction

I do have to give credit where credit is due.  Leecy has been a big help with this.  She’s helped to level the cinder blocks and even done a little digging.  She also crawled in the reservoir to help connect the tubing (that’s her in the picture below).

Disappearing Bird Stream Construction With Leecy Underground

It will probably still be another week before the stream is done, then a couple of weeks beyond that by the time I do all the landscaping around the stream simply because I can only work on this during the weekends.  I figure by the time I am done I won’t be able to walk anymore without hunching over:-).

I first saw this Hawk early in the morning.  It was perched high in a Pine Tree behind a large branch.  Initially it scared the White Winged Doves away.  As it just sat there a new White Winged Dove flew below the Hawk and the Hawk immediately dove after it.  It apparently missed because a few minutes later it was perched in another tree.  The local birds didn’t like that at all and these large Crows were squawking at it, then the Blue Jays arrived to provide more vocal reinforcement.  After about 10 minutes of being harassed it flew off once again.  It was probably an hour later when I saw this same Hawk come flying out of the woods and veer towards another large Pine tree.  Whatever it was crawling on that Pine tree fell towards the ground (I’m assuming a Squirrel). It was probably two hours later when I went back out into the backyard and there was this same Hawk (I’m assuming) sitting in a branch right behind my fence stalking my bird feeders.  I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it but the Carolina Chickadees were in such a vocal frenzy that I was drawn to that location.

Cooper's Hawk Scanning For Prey

Cooper's Hawk Looking Up In The Trees

I took these pictures on Sunday.  We probably have close to 20 or so that are hanging around the feeders.  One even ventured to this older bird bath I have to get a drink of water.

American Goldfinches Enjoying New Feeder Location

American Goldfinch Getting A Drink Of Water

Fortunately the Hummingbird did appear and Greg and I captured several pictures.  Greg felt 95% sure this was a female Rufous Hummingbird.  The even better news is that I now see the Hummingbird every day.  If she hangs around long enough for the Ruby Throatted Hummingbirds to appear, that could become very interesting.  She is very possessive of the Coral Honeysuckle and will not go to any of the Hummingbird Feeders.

Rufous Hummingbird Feeding

Rufous Hummingbird Feeding On Coral Honeysuckle

While I was digging holes to plant the trees, I saw these little Geckos.  Since Leecy loves Geckos she had to catch one and let it crawl on her (there were 2 of them).  This is a Mediterranean Gecko.

Mediterranean Gecko On Leecy's Buffalo Shirt

Mediterranean Gecko On Leecy's Back

My first thought was it’s too early for the Ruby Throated Hummers to arrive so she’s seeing things, then I saw it as well.  It’s not a Ruby Throated Hummingbird.  In fact, I don’t know what kind of Hummingbird it is.  I sent a picture to one of my colleagues and he suggested it was an immature Buff Bellied Hummingbird.  I’m looking through all of my bird books, and I don’t see it, at least not yet.

The pictures are not that great, but I wanted to at least get some documentation of this visitor in case I never see it again.

It’s the tail throwing me off.  White tip, black, then brown.  It’s got a black bill, not red like a mature Buff Bellied.

Can anyone help my conclusively identify this Hummingbird?  Is it common for the Houston area?

Hopefully I can get some better pictures of it tomorrow if it hangs around.  I’ll update this post once this bird is conclusively identified.

Mystery Hummingbird Feeding On Coral Honeysuckle Showing Tail Feathers

Mystery Hummingbird Feeding On Coral Honeysuckle

In the first picture, that is supposed to be an “official” Bluebird house, but the male only seems to focus on the regular bird house in picture number 3.

Male And Female Eastern Bluebird Visiting Birdhouses

Male Eastern Bluebird Looking At Ground For Mealworms

Male Eastern Bluebird Checking Out Potential Nesting Site

I only have Thistle seed in this feeder, not the other feeders so these guys had to wait around for an opening.

American Goldfinches Flocking Around Feeder

American Goldfinches Waiting For Turn At Feeder

I had forgotten how our Maple Tree is a source of nectar for Butterflies and Honeybees until I saw this Monarch feeding from one of the new blooms.  I say new blooms, but at the same time the Maple Tree is still shedding leaves for the Winter.  Only in Texas….:-).

Monarch Butterfly Getting Nectar From Maple Tree 2012

Here’s what’s kind of interesting about this.  In 2011, we didn’t see Bluebirds until late February (February 27 I believe).  I don’t know if it’s the mild Winter we’ve had so far or if perhaps I just didn’t notice them earlier last year, but I am glad they are here.

Of course after I took a couple of pictures I went inside to get some meal worms to feed them.  The male was also checking out one of the bird houses we have set up.  He did the same last year, but never nested in any of them.  Hopefully this year will be different.

Male Eastern Bluebird First Visit 2012

This is one of the best Butterfly movies I have seen.  The incredible detail in the video is fantastic!  It is also very educational.  One of the main reasons I purchased this movie is because I had read where they do an MRI on a Monarch Chrysalis.  It was for that reason alone that I purchased it.

Where I have a major criticism of this movie is when it gets into evolution versus intelligent design.  I’m assuming most folks know about evolution, but maybe not so much on intelligent design.  Here’s a link to the Wikipedia definition so you can read about it yourself.  What I wish they would have done is just present the science and factual parts about the Butterfly and not become involved in the whole evolution versus intelligent design argument.  To me that detracts from the actual beauty and incredible photography of the video and of Butterflies in general. I didn’t buy the video to become convinced of evolution or intelligent design, I bought it to learn about Butterflies and I found it unfortunate that towards the end of the movie it tries to make an argument in one particular direction (I won’t spoil it for you).

So, I’d give this movie 4 out of 5 Butterfly wings for the cinematography and factual information.  It loses a Butterfly wing (or two) for introducing intelligent design version evolution.

Just to close this post, this was a Butterfly that had hatched a couple of days ago and was still sitting in the Fennel where we placed it the previous evening.  It is heavily cropped, but I thought it was kind of neat how the Butterfly was covered in early morning dew.

** Sorry I need to say a little more on this movie.  I feel like I was politically sucker-punched.  There was no reason to introduce these different agendas for folks who were simply hoping to come see an educational movie about butterflies.  Suggesting the butterfly wings are beautiful not for evolutionary reasons so it must be some intelligent entity design is attempting to enforce a political agenda. which I found quite unfortunate that they decided to go that route.

Monarch Butterfly Covered In Dew

Back in December we took Maggie to the vet because it appeared to me she was losing just a little bit of fur and was looking a little thin.  Since she is considered an elderly dog in dog years, I wanted to just be safe and have her checked out.  Maggie hates the vet (unlike Sascha the German Shepherd who loves the vet) and turns into a nervous wreck during each visit.  Whereas Maggie was completely healthy in terms of blood work and body, she did have a small bump on her lower jaw that I never noticed.  The vet was concerned enough that he wanted to remove it immediately.

Two days later Maggie is off to the vet to have this bump removed (no wonder she hates the vet).  When I heard from the vet later in the afternoon, he didn’t “think” the whatever it was he removed was cancerous, but wanted to send it off to pathology just to be sure.

In the meantime, Maggie didn’t seem to care that she had stitches in her jaw and wanted to continue to chew on her toys and bones even if they rubbed against her jaw and stitches.  Sure enough, I wake up early Saturday morning and noticed all this blood and fluid in her bedding and saw this hold in her jaw.  Either the stitches got stuck in her bedding and she yanked them out, or she just scratched them out.  Off to the vet we go again.

Fast forward a week and Maggie is fine.  The stitches didn’t need to be replaced.  Her wound has completely healed.  Now she’s back to being the same silly Golden Retriever whose favorite activity besides chewing marrow bones is rolling in the grass (or dirt) first thing in the morning:-).

Maggie The Golden Retriever Rolling In The Grass

Maggie The Golden Retriever Striking A Pose

About Monarch Butterflies.  We’ve released over 20 Butterflies in the last two days.  We brought many of the Chrysalises indoors during the last cold spell (cold for Houston, not cold for anywhere else in the U.S.) and they have really flourished.  I’ve also been helping out someone I recently met by doing some testing for the OE (ophryocystis elektroscirrha) parasite.

Without further adieu, here’s a few pictures using the new lens and of the first Monarchs of 2012.

Monarch Caterpillar Eating Milkweed In Early Morning Dew

Recently Tested Monarch On Tree

Multiple Monarchs Drying Their Wings After Hatching

First Monarch Of 2012 Drying Wings In The Sun

Below is a video that I recorded today of Leecy gluing some Monarch Chrysalises to a piece of cardboard.  We tend to do this during Winter months when we still have Caterpillars and Chrysalises and want to protect them from inclement weather (rainy, cold).

To give you a brief verbal summary:  We try and keep the Monarch Caterpillars outside as much as possible unless the temperature is expected to be a little chilly or we are going to have excessive rain.  We’ll gently detach the Monarch Chrysalis from the outdoor enclosure, then bring it inside.  From there, we (Leecy) uses a glue gun to glue the tip of the Chrysalis to a piece of cardboard so that it can continue to develop.  We then flip the cardboard upside down and place it over a container.

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer.

By the way, we have about 36 Monarch Butterfly Chrysalises right now (December 23, 2011)