Ducks On The Pond

One of my favorite places in the entire world is Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon.

Ducks On The Pond

When we were kids, we used to enjoy splashing around in the creek that runs through the park and running around on the trails, and my sister enjoyed feeding the ducks on the Upper Duck Pond.

There were dozens of fat, prosperous-looking Mallards and Wood Ducks, white domestic ducks, as well as some odd hybrids waddling around, importuning everyone who came near for bread crumbs or seed.  Anyone approaching the pond would be met by a waddling cohort of beady-eyed quackers.  An occasional swan would float by, regarding the scene of frenzied duck feeding with a disapproving eye, but the swans mostly stayed down on the Lower Duck Pond.

Unfortunately, what we didn't realize then was that such feeding wasn't good for either the ducks or for the pond itself.  The bread crumbs deteriorated into a thick green algae, and all the duck poop in the water made it look really nasty.

So the park authorities have now cleaned up the pond.  There are signs all around discouraging people from feeding the ducks.  The pond is much cleaner looking and a lot more serene environment.  There were still two ducks there, swimming quietly around on the pond.

It's probably better for everybody, but I kind of miss seeing the kids feeding the ducks.

Stop Motion

Trapped Wasp

Cindy and I were sitting on our front porch the other night, enjoying the evening light.  I looked up at the eaves of the roof over the porch and noticed five wasps that seemed to be frozen in mid-flight.

I couldn't resist taking a closer look and discovered that some enterprising spider had constructed a web right in front of the wasps' nest and had trapped them in flight as they were either entering or leaving the nest.

It was getting too dark to get a picture of it that evening, and by the time I remembered it the next day, all but one of the wasps were gone.

I guess that's one way to get rid of the wasps, just contract it out to the spiders.

Red Bugs

The County Agriculture Department as reported the first appearance in San Diego County of Red Bugs (Scantius aegyptius) from up north in Ramona  http://www.countynewscenter.com/video?v=155302.

The good news about this pest is that so far it's only eating broadleaf weeds, such as mallows and doesn't seem to be attacking anything else.  However, County Ag wants to know if these bugs show up anywhere else and what it is they're eating.

Milkweed Bugs

The less good news is that these bugs look a lot like a whole lot of other red and black bugs, including the Milkweed bugs we keep finding all over our Asclepia plants in our butterfly garden.

Ours are the Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus), not the Small Milkweed Bug (Lygaeus kalmii).  Not that it really matters which they are; we don't want any of them damaging our Asclepia seed pods.

We need the seed in order to propagate the Asclepia plants the Monarch caterpillars eat.

Big Green Worms

Tobacco Hornworm

Another thing we found when we got home was a couple of enormous Tobacco Hornworms  happily devouring the leaves of the Boxcar Willie tomato plant.

I was able to get some good pictures of the insect, so we were able to determine that these are the Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta), which has seven diagonal stripes on its sides, rather than the similar Tomato Hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata), which has eight chevron-shaped stripes.  As easy way to remember this is that the Tobacco Hornworm has stripes that are straight, like a cigarette, while the Tomato Hornworm has v-shaped chevrons that remind you of vine-ripened tomatoes.

Not that it matters all that much, because both worms have voracious appetites and either of them can strip the leaves from a tomato vine in pretty short order.

Since the tomato plant was at the end of its very productive season, Cindy just decided to take it out and make the bed available for winter crops.

And the hornworms?  She left those under the bird feeder for the birds to finish off, which they promptly did with enthusiasm.

Little Green Worms

When we got home from our trip to Indiana and Michigan, Cindy discovered that the Kale plants she had put in just before we left were being devoured by a host of little green worms called Cabbage Loopers.

Cabbage Looper

These pests are kind of fun to watch because they move around by inching forward and then creating a big loop with their bodies that allows them to inch forward again.

What's not fun about them is that there were a lot of them and they can chew up a lot of plants in a hurry, preferring members of the Cole family, which includes kales, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli, which includes most of the crops Cindy had just planted.

Damaged Kale

They can safely be eradicated by spraying them with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), but Cindy just picked them off by hand and dropped them into a pail of soapy water, which finished them off.

Apparently they can't swim.

Pure Michigan

At the end of our trip back to Indiana, we drove up to Cindy and Mary's brother Brian and sister-in-law Cheryl's house in Michigan.  As we drove, we commented on commercials we've seen on TV that promote "Pure Michigan".  What does that mean, we asked.  What exactly is "pure Michigan"?

We began to get a clue when we got to their house, which is right on the lake next-door to the house where Cheryl grew up.  It's a fascinating and peaceful scene with the light on the water constantly changing, and the texture of the surface of the water showing every gust of wind or breeze.

Then they took us to the Dexter Cider Mill, a cider mill that has been in operation for over 100 years where cider is still pressed from local apples.  The smell when you step into the mill is rich with an aroma of apples that just says "autumn".

So we bought some cider and some delicious, freshly made cinnamon sugar doughnuts (yum) and ate them down by the river.

It was a wonderful experience.

And when we left their house the next morning, we heard the herons on the lake.




(* I don't know what type of herons they were, but you can hear the Great Blue Heron's call here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Blue_Heron/sounds)