Another Sign of Northeast Florida Spring--Flocks of Goldfinches

Each year, once in the fall and once in late March or early April, we enjoy flocks of migrating goldfinches and smaller numbers of other finches in our coastal North Florida yard. Sometimes, they stay in the area a few weeks; other times, they are here (at least in our yard) only a few days. We felt privileged to be home a few days ago to watch a flock in our backyard. Because they swoop in and out quickly and flit around, it was difficult to count them, but we had somewhere around 30 goldfinches that afternoon--possibly more. About 1/3 of them were males. Their song is sweet, long, and canary-like--a lovely spring chorus.

Finches love the thistle seed feeder we keep out for them and were also happily cracking the larger safflower seeds in the companion feeder. Most of all, they delighted in wildly splashy communal baths in the shallow birdbath at ground level. With trees, vines, and bushes nearby for safety, they seemed to feel free to frolic and sing up a noisy storm of joy. In my birdbath photos, some of the goldfinches are a fluffy blur of splash while others prepare to chase them out for their own turn.

I didn't dare open a door or window or step around to the back to get photos, so the best I could do was to give my simple little Canon its maximum 4X zoom and shoot through the patio door windowpanes. I hope you enjoy our cheery friends, too.

Question of the day: Don't you marvel at the beauty and variety of life on our precious Earth?

The Beauty of Spring--A Blossoming Fringetree

Here in coastal North Florida, our azaleas are already dropping petals, and the wonderful flowering bulbs I grew up with in Michigan, like tulips and daffodils, do not flourish. However, we are enjoying our second round of spring flowering. I hope that wherever you are (except for my southern hemisphere friends, that is :>), you are beginning to see signs of spring emerging.

When we added a cutting garden of strictly native plants last year, the fringetree a landscape designer recommended was past its blooming time of the year. Given his description and the pictures in our North Florida native plants books, we eagerly looked forward to seeing our little fringetree sapling in bloom this year. It has truly exceeded our expectations, with bright white clusters of fragrant, wispy hanging blossoms that almost seem to glow against darker green foliage behind them.

For those interested, Gil Nelson, in Florida's Best Native Landscape Plants, describes this as a slow growing small tree which can live over 50 years and is "among the most trouble-free small landscape trees". It also bears a blue, olive-like fruit that attracts birds. According to Nelson, although it is most often seem in traditional southern landscapes, its range extends from Pennsylvania and New Jersey on down to North Florida and west into Texas. The botanical name is Chionanthus virginicus. Perhaps some of you are familiar with this tree; it is a completely new delight for me.

Question of the day: What are your favorite spring flowers or flowering trees? Are you seeing signs of spring where you are?

Savoring--Signs of Spring

Today, we are thinking spring and enjoying our exuberant azaleas. After a harsher winter than normal for so many regions of the U.S., I imagine many of you are enjoying any indicator you see of a new season. For our friends in the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, you may be seeking spring's new life as well. Since I have some readers in the Southern Hemisphere, my thoughts also fly down to you and wonder what your week of March into April will bring.

Although we live in coastal North Florida and enjoy extended moderate to warm weather, we had an unusually cold winter, too. However, I wouldn't want to live somewhere with little or no seasonal change at all. One of my reasons for declaring to a hot weather loving husband that this is about as far south as I want to go is my enjoyment of changing seasons. Thankfully, we have four distinct seasons here in Jacksonville, Florida, and I love the unique beauty of each.

Question of the day: What's popping outside your windows?