[pbs] Birds in the garden
Mary Sue Ittner
msittner at mcn.org
Thu Jun 12 09:55:35 EDT 2008
Hi,
Just wanted to share two bird stories from the past week or so. I watched a
very beautiful bird busy in my garden doing something I couldn't quite make
out. It appeared to be picking out something from the ground and then
smashing it with its feet. At first I thought it was perhaps working on a
nest and then I determined that it was eating what had been smashed and
then finding some more. I got more and more curious about what was so tasty
and finally move slightly and it flew away. On closer inspection it
appeared to be some Moraea corms. Homeria (in the Moraea group) is supposed
to have some toxicity. I'm not sure what species was being consumed but
Moraea bellendenii produces hundreds of little corms and there are some in
that section of my garden and the bird is welcome to share them if that is
the one.
A few days ago I watched a hummingbird visiting various flowers in the
garden. I grow a hybrid bright orange (my husband calls it red) short
Gladiolus in my garden.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/Gladiolus/Gladiolus_nanus_orange_msi1.jpg
It's pictured here flowering with a Clarkia as it generally blooms in June.
The bird flew over to it and began to check it out. Liking what it found,
it landed on some of the unopened flowers and used it as a perch to lean
over and revisit a flower. Of course I didn't have my camera. It may not be
an official perch like Babiana ringens has, but the hummingbird was
resourceful. It was off in a moment to briefly check out a South African
Erica that is currently in bloom.
Mary Sue
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