Last week in 1857 …
On Jan. 9, 1857,
Mrs. Sarah Boggess Rector of Bastrop, mother of Thomas Rector (who moved to Mountain City in 1855), died while staying with family members in Mountain City. A severe ice storm prevented her son from returning her body to Bastrop for burial beside her husband. She was buried in the family’s backyard. Her gravesite is located at 104 Pin Oak Drive, near the “alternate” entrance to Mountain City.
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In January 2013
Montage chatted about ice flowers.
Thus, we have anecdotal evidence that this can be a cold month. The little freezes at the beginning of this week did not produce ice flowers.
Flowers, even those I did not cover, bloom in my native gardens.
Has anyone seen the Rufous hummingbirds that usually spend some winter days in Mountain City, especially on freezing days?
Neither The Polks’ nor The Toms’ hummingbird feeders were out for our little taste of freeze over the weekend. And, neither the Polks nor the Toms have seen the Rufous on hummingbird-attracting flowers, like the shrimp plants and salvia in both yards.
Hummingbird syrup is easy to prepare: 4 parts boiling water to 1 plain cane sugar. My favorite hummingbird feeders are the Hummzingers by Aspect, introduced to me by Rodger Green, over on Cedar. They are easy to clean.
James Polk sends word of many Northern Cardinals and several woodpecker species on his peanut feeder, suet feeder and black oil sunflower seed feeder. Keep those feeders and bird baths clean and filled to provide for feathered friends (and those dadgum, but entertaining, squirrels.)
James has a new “horse head” squirrel feeder. Now that he trained his squirrels, that feeder produces laughter as a feeding squirrel looks like it’s sporting a horse head helmet. On Amazon, the giant squirrel head feeders cost far less than the horse heads. So, a giant squirrel head it will be for The Tom’s squirrels.
We must place it away from KissMe. He eats sunflower seeds. And, he would eat a squirrel – if he could catch one. The squirrels taunt and tease our Great White Hunter with red spots, housed in a dachshund body.
Last January, when I chatted about tracking and reporting bird sightings with the Texas eBird app, Android users were left out. In December 2015, the free Android complement was released. Android users, search for “eBird Mobile” in the Google Play store.
The Cornell Lab says, “This eBird app provides a fast, convenient, and easy way for you to submit bird sightings where you need it … in the field.”
Not only will eBird keep a safe record of every bird you report, scientists will use the observations to explore patterns of bird distribution and abundance “to better conserve birds and biodiversity.”
Yes, by reporting birds in your backyard you’re supporting global bird conservation and science.
By reporting what’s going on in Mountain City as a tidbit for Montage, you keep this column up and running. Ptom5678@gmail.com (subject: Tidbit) or 512-268-5678 Thanks! Love, Pauline.
