Beth's Patch ~ Gardens hanging on for November

Gardens are still looking good but gale force winds are expected and that will cause most of the flowers to die for this season.  Looking forward to being able to plant then again next spring.  

There were not as many butterflies in the gardens this year with only 35 species which is down from last year's 45 species.  We had another push of Monarchs in the past week. Tagging in the yard was done again by the Cape May Bird Observatory in relation to their Monarch Monitoring Project.  

I can't help remembering how wonderful the monarch roosts in the yard over Halloween weekend 2017.  I wonder if we'll ever see that again in the yard?  The late butterflies and hummingbirds love the mexican sage.  It wintered over last year which it shouldn't normally do, so I wonder if that will happen again this coming winter.  Time will tell.  jenny and I do love the gardens.

 

Happy Halloween

I love to swap fabric postcards and each special time of the year I display some of my collection.  I have been making these little gems since 2007 so I have quite a large collection that I have grouped by holidays or subject.  Here's the Halloween display with a postcard that fly in today from Ireland.

Beth's Patch ~ Birds Galore

Pine Siskin

 Not only was Thursday great for butterflies in the yard but also for birds.  19 species of birds came though the yard while I was watching.  Pictured are some of them.

Carolina Chickadee

dd 

Red-breasted Nuthatch 

White-breasted Nuthatch

Pine Siskin

Blue Jay

Beth's Patch ~ Monarch Migration

The last week has been great for Monarch migration.  Everyone thought it was pretty much over because the seaside goldenrod is finished and we had several days of really rainy weather.  Yesterday and today have been wonderful with monarch's coming and going in the yard.  Kathy and Roger have been tagging monarchs and have tagged about 100 of them now.  Here are some of the pictures I have taken. 

Just eclosed monarch drying the wings

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Beth's Patch ~ Continuing Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Since about the end of   August we've had at least 2 RTH birds in the yard.  They are still here though only they know if they are the same set that been here or whether new hummers are migrating through the area.

Beth's Patch ~ Mid October Butterflies

Common Buckeye Butterfly

Common Buckeye Butterflies

Common Buckeye ~  Rosa Form

Ocola Skipper

Painted Lady Butterfly

Red Admiral Butterfly

Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

Fiery Skipper

Long-tailed Skipper

Brazilian Skippers

Brazilian Skipper chrysalis

Cabbage White Butterflies mating

Beth's Patch ~ Invasion of the Pine Siskins

 

Oh, What a day!

 This morning started with birds flying out of the sky into our backyard with 5 species of warblers and many other birds before even leaving for CM Point. After birding in Cape May Point, I came home to more bird species here this afternoon and evening. To top it off, in addition, to our Ruby-throated hummingbirds still hanging around, we had 2 Long-tailed Skippers found by Dave and Pat mid-afternoon.

Red-eyed Vireo in yard

Yellow Warbler in yard

Yellow Warbler in yard

White-throated Sparrow in yard

Song Sparrow in yard

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House Wren

Common Yellowthroat in the yard

Black-throated Green

Black-throated Green