Cape May Point, NJ ~ American Woodcocks

 There was a small snowfall several days ago with severe cold since that day.  Since the temperatures having been less than 20 degrees during the day & in the single digits every night.  This has caused the ground to freeze solid.  Since it has not thawed yet there has been a problem with ground feeding birds being able to get the food they need to survive.  One of these birds is the American Woodcock which probes under the graases into the dirt to find worms.  For the past several days the naturalists in Cape May Point have been collecting the dead woodcocks that are being found all over the Point.  As of 2/4 they had collected over 170 dead woodcocks which will be send to museums for scientific studies. The article I read said that this could be the loss of an entire population in this area.

Pictured are some of the pictures I took after a snow storm in 2022.

My Yard in Honeycroft Village

 I moved here to Honeycroft Village in May '22. There was a pre-existing garden behind my home. I changed non-native plants for natives adding host plants. I've seen total 41 butterfly species in 4 summer seasons but only 25 species in '25. 8 species of butterflies reproduced here including 5 Red-spotted Purple caterpillars that overwintered in hibernacula on 2 of my seedling cherry trees. 72 species of birds from my deck. Many in old growth trees that separate us from a cornfield. I document birds in eBird & all other nature in iNaturalist. 301 species documented at home; a few in HCV community space. Butterflies, moths, birds, bees and other pollinators, some frogs & a turtle, fox, deer with assorted other insects. I document trees, shrubs & plants, some of which are invasive and should be removed. It's getting to be time for the builder to turn over other areas the community/HOA will own. Our board is starting to decide what to do with the land. Meadows, gardening for Monarchs and beekeeping have been suggestions. A dog park somewhere has also been a suggestion. Of course, you all know I'd choose butterflies & nature.

Male & Female Eastern Bluebirds eating mealworms

Pileated Woodpecker

Long-tailed Skipper on Lantana

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails on hyssop

Some of the 40+ Monarch caterpillars on swamp milkweed in 2025

2 Monarch Chrysalis

Hibernaculum for Red-spotted Purple - this structure is a type of shelter where the caterpillar hibernates (enters diapause) during the cold months. Out of 5 caterpillars, 4 eventually eclosed and flew away.

Giant Swallowtail

Snowberry Clearwing Sphinx Moth

Hummingbird Clearwing Sphinx Moth

Rustic Sphinx Caterpillar

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

My Yard ~ Eastern Bluebirds

 The bluebirds visit me everyday knowing that they'll have mealworms here to eat. And I love taking pictures of them.  Here are some pictures in which I could not choose my favorite out of the batch.

Happy New Year 2026! FOY BIRD ~ Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker

First bird of 2026 ~Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker

 

Merry Christmas!

Eastern Bluebirds

 

2025 Christmas Postcard Swaps

 I have been in quilted postcard exchange groups since 2006.  Back at that time there were so many groups for swapping the postcards on yahoo groups.  Now, there are so many fewer groups.  I belong to 2 groups Postcard Mail Art and Fabric Postcard Art.  I am the owner of the second group.  For Christmas 2025 I exchanged 7 postcards between the 2 groups.  Here are the postcards I received.

Christmas Postcard Displays

 I have been exchanging quilted fabric postcards since 2006.  When I was setting up my displays I looked at the backs of them & found several from postcards from then.  Back, then, I was in several postcard swapping groups plus I swapped postcards with fellow members of my Dyehards group.

One of the first postcards I made to swap - Paper pieced, appliqued & quilted.

From Carole in NY