Fallen Branches from Storm Behind Blooming Crocuses

Sadly, the storm this past weekend in New Jersey and in New York ended in tragedy. The winds were ferocious, and some areas were harder hit than others. Numerous people died from being hit by falling trees, including two men (who leave behind mourning families) who were walking home from synagogue late Saturday afternoon in Teaneck, New Jersey.

In Highland Park we were fortunate to suffer only property damage: below is the remains tree that fell on a house near my own. Others had car windows smashed by trees or a fence downed by the wind. Compared to losing one’s life, it is mostly a discussion of who has insurance coverage.

And here you can see where it cut into the house it fell upon:

I decided to do a little research and discovered that one can study nearby trees to detect if they are unhealthy. Last year friend had noted that a tree overhanging our backyard had leaves on one side but not on the other; this is a sign of the tree’s ill health. My husband and I are happy that we informed our neighbors who own the tree, and they took care of the situation.

Some links for more information on hazardous trees:

• Underlying Causes the Can Lead to Down or Damaged Trees
• How to Spot a Dangerous Tree
• What is a Hazard Tree?
• Homeowner’s Tree Checkup Guide

Again the cut tree trunk, photo taken in the early evening when I showed it to two of my kids:

For more Nature Notes, visit Rambling Woods:

cardinal in watercolor on paper

You can see the drawing of the cardinal on last week’s post. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to take out the paints.

For more Nature Notes, visit Rambling Woods:

When you are drawing, you concentrate on every detail of what you are looking at – the colors, the texture, the shapes, the depth, the values. And when I drew the bird (it’s going to be a cardinal – wait until I apply the paint), I learned about how the head, body, tail and feet are shaped. And I had to think about how to present the textures of the feathers.

Look forward to showing you the finished painting. Oh, and another reason to draw is your daughter (or son) might then take out her own piece of paper and draw her own bird. I just might show you the bird that my daughter drew as well.

For more Nature Notes, visit Rambling Woods:

It is a Jewish custom before the Shabbat in which one sings Shirat HaYam (the Song of the Sea, the song about the crossing of the Reed Sea) to feed the birds. Why feed the birds? I found two explanations:

1) There is a tradition that on the first Shabbat of the Manna, not only did people go out looking for Manna, but they (wicked people, says Rashi) had previously scattered Manna around the camp in order to find it and “make a liar out of Moshe”.

Birds came by early in the morning and ate up the Manna, thus protecting the honor of Moshe, and of G-d Who had said that Manna would not fall on Shabbat. In repayment “one good turn deserves another” style, we feed the birds around this Shabbat when we read of the Manna in the weekly portion.

And here is the second:

2) We joyously sing praise to G-d for His having taken us out of Egypt and saved us from the Egyptians. Singing is the special domain of the birds. That is how they express themselves in acknowledgment of the Creator (so to speak – or so to sing). We borrowed their skill; therefore we “pay royalties” on our Song by feeding birds on (before) this Shabbat.

Since last Friday was right before Shabbat Shira, I decided that this was the perfect time finally to take the new bird feeder I bought out of the box and hang it on our garage window (with the help of my seven-year-old daughter):

After some initial difficulty with the suction cup attachments (you have to first soak the suction cups in hot water, then dry them, then rub them with your thumb, then attach them), I finally got the feeder to stay up properly. However, I don’t believe any of our neighborhood birds have been eating from it. I did see one pecking away at my compost.

I believe this bird is a chickadee (thanks, Eileen).

This is what is left of the finch feeder sock I bought one month ago:

As one of the reasons for the feeding the birds custom is to become more sensitive to the needs of the animals around us, I plan to continue to feed the birds. As Michelle of Rambling Woods has taught me, once you start feeding the birds, they expect it.

I hope to post more bird photos tomorrow for SkyWatch; one day last week, my eldest son said, Eema, there’s a bird making a strange noise outside. I went out with my camera and there many, many, many birds.

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I first started noticing yellow on local trees a few weeks ago when I was taking pictures of one of our brief snowstorms.

I don’t know if the moss is a problem or just part of nature. I found this on Wikipedia: “In northern latitudes, the north side of trees and rocks will generally have more moss on average than other sides (though south-side outcroppings are not unknown). This is assumed to be because of the lack of sufficient water for reproduction on the sun-facing side of trees. South of the equator the reverse is true. In deep forests where sunlight does not penetrate, mosses grow equally well on all sides of the tree trunk.”

And just for the fun of it, here is a cardinal I saw in my neighbor’s yard this week:

Do you think he’s talking to me? For more Nature Notes:

A few selections of Nature Notes from 2009:

• Carver: Photos from 2009
• Michelle: Robins with a Lemony Snicket Quote
• Stine: Woodpecker
• Gemma: Petals of Spring
• Arija: Goslings
• Nicole: Pond Turtle
• Hagemor: Little Brat-Frida Goes on a Hike
• Eileen: Brown Headed Nuthatch
• Caron: Leeks, Chives and Rhubarb
• Maria: Butterfly
• Julia: Deer
• Flamingo: Mockingbird
• Jill: Texas Birds 2009
• Leora: Butterfly

If I missed selecting a Nature Notes from your blog, kindly put your favorite from 2009 in the comments, and I will happily include it with the others.

My main goal for this year was to get a shot of the thorns. Do you see the sharp thorns?

For more nature notes or signs of the season, visit Rambling Woods:

My oak hydrangea (photographed last week) is even redder than it was a few weeks ago. What color.

For more photos with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:

A few weeks ago my neighbor spotted some deer in another neighbor’s yard. I happened to have my camera with me, so I lucked out and got a photo. Now, I really must say this is actually unnatural, to have deer in the backyard. It’s not like we live on the edge of woods. When we first moved to our house a little over ten years ago, the deer frequented the streets near the railroad tracks, which made sense, as there is a fair amount of woods there. Last year the deer were brave enough to travel to our block at night and eat our tulips. But this year they are showing up in broad daylight! Either there is too much development in New Jersey or the deer just like hanging out in Highland Park/Edison backyards. Or both.

For some fabulous bird photos in New Jersey which I wish I had taken myself, visit Bill’s New Jersey Outdoors Late Autumn Feast post. Now, isn’t that gorgeous? At the end of the post, he’s looking for a tree ID. Is that a hawthorn? Does anyone know?

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And Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The same bald cypress tree was photographed in July, with a gray catbird enjoying the branches.

It was much greener in October.

Here’s the same tree, back in January 2009. I looked an hour ago, and the tree is almost bare again, soon to look as it did in January.

For more Nature Notes or Signs of the Times, visit Rambling Woods.