Swan Babies, May Flowers, and Summer Bennies

Swan love has come full circle.  We have had baby swans for about a week and they are such a joy to watch.  In case you are wondering how far we have to go to get these pictures... the nest is just across from our kitchen window.  This picture is from our backyard!

There are 5 little ones in the class of 2011.  So far they have all survived and they are now one week old.  They have already learned to come to people who are offering a slice of bread or a scoop of corn.  We can't resist feeding them once in a while but we have not been the only guilty parties. They have attracted admirers from all around Little Silver Lake. 

 One of our favorite flowers ( and as you will see this summer we have many) is the bearded iris.  Although they are not really native plants, which we strive for in the rest of our perennial gardening, their grace and beauty are reason enough for our enthusiasm.  Still many more to open but we just have to share this picture.  Our goal is to have a southern version of the most inspiring iris garden, Presby Gardens http://presbyirisgardens.org/wordpress/.

We have lots of housing opportunities this summer for birds of many sizes but our most popular is the Martin Condos.  We have at least 5 pair of purple martins "renting " for the summer!  Their songs greet us at daybreak and bid us goodnight at dusk.  They are both beneficial and entertaining summer "bennies".  For those of you unfamiliar with the term Bennies - It is a Jersey Shore slur for the likes of Snookie and her gang.   Wiki says "Benny is a derogatory term used by year-round residents of the Jersey Shore to describe summer-only residents who descend upon the area from northern New Jersey cities and New York. It is often said to be an acronym for some of the places that the tourists come from: "Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark, and New York" (hence B,E,N,NY).^[1] "      Now it applies to any non-resident during the summer months, when roads, stores, beaches, and restaurants are more crowded due to the influx of tourists. The term is predominantly used by year-round residents of the beachfront towns of Ocean County and Monmouth County. "  At any rate we love our Purple Martin Bennies and hate the day they must return to their winter digs in Brazil.  Talk about your world travelers!

We have some furry friends that find our backyard irresistible and one of them is Coco our standard poodle.  She seems to think that flower beds mean a resting place for puppies.  As you can see she loves our hardy geraniums!

Banner day for Little Silver and Swans

This morning as we were taking our early morning inventory of the lake, we noticed quite a few birds behind the band shell across the lake.  With binoculars we decided that they were Great Blue Heron.   10 of them to be exact.  Just sitting resting in the early morning light.  We were able to capture these pictures before we scared them off .  It was a beautiful and unusual sight.

 But the wonder of the day was not over, we took a trip to Brigantine and when we returned the swans were dipping their heads - and they did the post coital pose and we had the camera in hand!  This is probably the best "swan heart" we will ever get!

Dream Pictures

We dream of pictures that we would like to take .  Sometimes the dream picture comes along and the camera is all zipped up in the bag with the wrong lens on.  Sometimes the battery is dead.  Sometimes the light just isn't there.  Sometimes the angle is wrong or the focus is not right.  This time of year is most frustrating.  The swans are nesting and mating.  In their post coital bliss they do the most beautiful move ever seen in birding.  They make swan heart you see in silhouette sometimes.  The problem for the photographer is that the whole act, beginning to beautiful swan heart lasts only a few short seconds.  They begin with some premating head dipping, mate and  make the heart before you can turn on the camera.  Today the camera in hand taking pictures of a ruddy duck in the lake, I turned to see the swans dipping... I was ready.   And it happened..  but alas the angle was wrong.  Even so, I have to share my near success.  Still dreaming.

From Our Kitchen Window

Sometimes we just stare out of our kitchen window and watch to see what is happening on Little Silver Lake.  Today, a splash down while we were watching proved to be an American Bittern.  He stayed just long enough for us to get a couple pictures and then moved on or went into the reeds to hide.  . 

Ducks in our own Backyard

The Bufflehead ducks never cease to amaze us.  These shy little divers were right off of our back yard this morning putting on a beautiful display.  When you first look at them you see only black and white but in the right light their heads become irridescent and take on shades of purple, brown and green.  Such an enthusiastic display can only make one smile and savor this wonderful earth that we have the privelege to live in.

Gardening ... or the last gasp of winter?

The mailman brings piles new seed catalogs while our garden sleeps in a dreary cloak.  Each day lends us a few minutes more of daylight and draws us closer to the  hope of new life.  We can't resist looking in the beds for a hint of green popping through to reveal the crocus bursting forth announcing the end of winter.  And what a winter it has been!  With the heavy burdens of snow this year our shrubbery is bent and broken.  Our young pups have created a landscape of their own pocking our grass with craters from their treasure digs.  Left over projects from fall make clean up more daunting than ever and today we peruse the catalogs.   As with all gardeners, we are never quite satisfied with the choices or placement of all of our plants.  There are perennials to move and annuals to plant in the bedding trays.  And we have a vision of a garden that will be perfect this year.

Planning our garden is such a joy.  A true gardener is never satisfied with how things are - regardless of our lack of perfectionism and the reckless placing of our plants we find great joy in planning and plotting our course.  This year we plan to start seeds early and minimize the purchasing of bedding plants.  What do we plant?  No Vegetables.  Fruits that we rarely taste but leave for the birds to plunder at their pleasure.  Herbs for taste and aroma. Flowers, flowers, flowers.

Our first seeds arrived from Park Seeds this week and we bought the planting medium and tray for seeding the early plants.  Petunias, marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers, salvia, alyssum, and asters lay in wait for soil and water to nourish them. 

As the winter wanes the blahs continue, we anxiously watch for the first hope of spring.  Today we were rewarded with crocus bursting through the earth begging for a peek at the sun. 

 Iris will soon follow and then the full bloom of summer.