How about a new thread for the new year!

We came from here: The thread "Bee Friends And Other Garden Guests - Chapter 6" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum

Well Christine, we are in the depths of a very despairing winter
here was the sun at 10:35am this morning

ugh
and so we begin the new year

tunneling out after every deluge
it will be a while 'til I see my beefriends again, sniff~
I might find some previously unseen 2016 guests if I ever get around to going through photos though

meanwhile, I finally found the bird thread
and about all I can offer up now is a cute little tree rat

we do have marauding deer that visit nightly but I have been unable to obtain suitable photographic evidence

Just when you thought it was safe to go running through the daylilies again, a Carpet Python watches on high from the trees.

Yikes!! I like snakes but don't know if I'd want to see that in my tree

Double yikes! from me too
You aren't really on the menu, are you?

I would rather live in the cold and snow than have all those scary snakes around..

Oh no I'll take the snakes Margaret

You are braver than I am, Ronnie. I have seen some of the scary snakes they have in Australia on TV, and the strange places they can hide in.

Lucky me living where there are scary critters and cold weather! Just not too much of either though, so not complaining.

Just birdies ~

The Carpet Pythons are not a problem for humans. Their pets make a nice lunch though.

I was outside today and saw some bees so I thought I'd take pictures so you guys can remember what they look like. Just regular honeybees on the Spanish Needles. The first pic is a little blurry but I like that you can see the pollen saddle bags.



Then, I was picking some Senna ligustrina to feed my caterpillars when I saw this thing. It looks like a very tiny, not quite spotted in the right way, ladybug. I left my thumb in the photo so you could see the size and also because my camera seems to focus on tiny things better that way.

Melanie

I did see a lady bug in the house today

I have a spider living in my bathroom, but we're cool. Oh man, I just realized with my LASIK I don't have to check the shower for spiders before I get in now!

mellielong said:

Then, I was picking some Senna ligustrina to feed my caterpillars when I saw this thing. It looks like a very tiny, not quite spotted in the right way, ladybug. I left my thumb in the photo so you could see the size and also because my camera seems to focus on tiny things better that way.

Might be one in the Brachiacantha genus? I saw some pictures of Brachiacantha dentipes that looked like that, but there are several in that genus that are similar. Not one of the more common ladybugs for sure. Might be worth putting on BugGuide or iNaturalist. There is a lady beetle expert that frequents both sites.

@wildflowers - nice picture. Now I know where all the birdies are. Haven't seen any at the feeders in months except for the 1 day it snowed I saw 1 cardinal.

In the meantime, people who live in 2 neighboring neighborhoods from me are seeing coyotes. Someone posted a picture of a coyote just trotting down the sidewalk. Not jaywalking or going into people's yards. Just trotting down the sidewalk like a good citizen.

Since we're on the subject of birds, I've been looking at Bird feeders for my area. I didn't realize there were so many types. It's a new home for us and new location, however there is a creek and some wooded area just half a mile from here, so I'm thinking birds. I'll have a couple of bat houses put up in spring (hopefully) and several types of flowers for bees and butterflies.
Any recommendations on what to look for when buying a bird feeder or house? I didn't know I had so many options. Lol
Any michiganders out there know what works in this area?

Hi Britnay, I probably live not far from you. First of all, you will probably need a squirrel baffel because those darn squirrels are quite clever and can destroy a bird feeder. I have a baffel and they still get on my feeder by jumping about 4 feet from a tree. I have 4 feeders up currently. 2 that are a wire mesh type, one holds thistle and the other holds sunflower seed. That way if the squirrel happens to get on it, the squirrel will not be able to chew through it. I have had plastic feeders ruined by squirrels chewing them up. My other feeder I got from my daughter as a gift and it has a mechanism that closes the feeding ports if a squirrel gets on it. My last feeder is a cage type that holds a large cake of food. I always get the woodpecker blend for that one and a lot of birds will feed at it. I just use thistle and sunflower seed mainly. I never use any food with corn in it because it will attract pigeons Hope this helps you.

Yes it does help! I know where to get one of those! I saw one at kmart (one of those closing) for clearance. I'll see if it's still there. Thank you!!

Native anole (as opposed to the Cuban anole) on the front of my house the other day.

Britnay, I have red squirrels and they have not been as big a pest as the larger birds, here are a couple of feeders that work well.