Canal Road Oaks

I began searching for acorns a bit late this year. Canal Rd. last year around August produced a few acorns. This year, with the addition of two homes near the oak stand, I found that the landscaper or housing developer tossed additional dead sod into the understory of the oak stand. Garbage or compost? I suppose the difference would be the fact that compost usually is cured and spread evenly. This was a clump of unused dead sod carelessly tossed into the oak stand understory at the end of the new home on the 8600 block of Canal Rd. Here is the Facebook page. I hope it gets cleaned up.

Anyway, I didn't find ANY acorns this late in the season and I really wonder about this years acorn crop production.

Also this link from the Prairie Oak list:
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/domestic/western_bluebird.html

Fort Lewis has been assisting in the repopulation and relocation, if you will, of Western Blue Birds on San Juan Island. The project has entered into a contest http://www.zooboise.org/zbcfprojects.aspx

More on Blue Bird Projects in the South Puget Sound

Acorn crops and increased Lewis/Acorn woodpecker sightings

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A few people are discussing the possible reasons for a spike or dispersal patterns in Lewis/Acorn woodpecker sightings in Western Washington. One theory includes the shortage of acorns this fall. I admit that there were fewer wild rose blooms and rose hips this year than last year. I have not assessed local acorn production in comparison to years previous but hope to in the coming weeks.

Lewis/Acorn woodpecker numbers

Hummingbirds in Fall

A hummingbird flew through my yard today and stopped in to feed NEAR the hummingbird feeder. He actually hovered over the red plastic covered dog run wire thinking that this was food. Earlier this summer I watched a hummingbird hover at a large spider web and dart into the center of the web to peck at the spider. This hummer appeared to have a yellowish breast and sat inside a liliac bush, then darted off into the fenceline brush. Next year I hope to have red hot poker planted near the fenceline to attract more hummingbirds.

European starlings

A flock of European starlings flew into an evergreen near the railroad. At least the number of starlings in the smallish evergreen did not disturb the tree enough to bend its branches. I have noticed more European starling flocks in the past few weeks.