Busy Day at the Feeders

It must be the cold.


A large flock of finches have almost emptied the black oil sunflower seed feeder by mid-afternoon and the newly filled suet log is also nearly gone thanks to the sparrows and titmice.

The finches are not at all shy about continuing to feed while I take pictures.  

House Sparrow in the abelia --
waiting for me to go away so he can return to the suet feeder.

No winter here

We have had little cold weather this season but some rain has fallen.  Only a few light freezes, a very mild winter:  6 days in 2012 with temperatures 75° and above.  Weather.com's 10 day forecast shows 4 days with chances of rain but again no real cold weather.

Dripping Springs, TX (78620) Weather

Updated: Feb 10, 2012, 10:25am

UPDATE DATA

• Today
• Hourly
• Tomorrow
• Weekend
• 5 day
• 10 day
• Monthly
• Map

• Detailed Forecast
• Text Forecast

TodayFeb 10	Sat11	Sun12	Mon13	Tue14	Wed15	Thu16	Fri17	Sat18	Sun19

AM Showers	Mostly Sunny	Mostly Cloudy	T-Showers	Sunny	Scattered T-Storms	Few Showers	Partly Cloudy	Sunny	Mostly Sunny
61°FHigh	55°	46°	69°	74°	73°	72°	65°	67°	68°
37°Low	35°	41°	44°	55°	54°	49°	42°	45°	51°

The drought is not over but the grass or at least the spring weeds are happy.  So tempting to start planting the garden but it's actually about 2 month early.....

Currently from the garden we have fresh
lettuce, spinach, 
green onions, parsley and cilantro.  

The Mt. Laurel is starting to bloom and Lady Banks is confused with a few patches of blossoms already open. 

First 2012 Happenings

Lesser Goldfinch
1/15/2012

2012 is starting much like 2011 ended, warm and dry. So far January's rain came on the 8th/9th totaling almost 1".   High temperatures have been running in the 60°'s and 70°'s with even one day reaching 80°.


Outdoor time has been spent raking post oak leaves, cleaning out flower beds and putting down new mulch.


Parsley is coming up everywhere in the garden.  It must be considered an invasive.
Green onions from seed are growing but slowly due to the lack of moisture.

Lettuce is also maturing slowly but some young leaves are ready to be cut and used in a salad.








My gardening goal for 2012: 
Plant more Flowers in the garden/beds this year.

New mulch in beds

Mt. Laurel pest
1/21/2011

Birds after the Weather Changes

December has started with drops of hope.  Three days of near-continuous, slow, gentle rain totaling over 2.5 inches and temperatures have dropped to highs in the 40's.

Today is cool, 42º at 1:00pm.  No freeze yet but do have at least two predicted for this week.  There are still a few tomatoes and peppers in the garden to be picked.  Lettuce and spinach have sprouted with the rains so perhaps we will have fresh greens in the coming months.

Feeder Line

Today, the doves and cardinals have found the corn and the smaller fellows are lining up for the feeder.

White-Winged Doves on a chilly Texas day