Category: Interesting Information

Information I want to share in a non-essay form

Here’s a Bird I’ve Never Seen

Beloved neighbor and I saw this bird the other day while walking. I went home to figure out what we saw.

She’s (yes, she is female) an Anhinga, a member of the Darter family of birds as she spears her fish prey with her bill, detaches the fish by throwing it in the air, and then swallows it whole.

Here’s a good picture of the males and females.

See how she swims with her body underwater?

I found this really interesting video online, but can’t get the link to copy. Search for the following as the search is worth it:

Navarre’s Wild Shots on You Tube: Anhinga Facts

And here’s more information:

The Anhinga, also known as the “snakebird” or “water turkey,” is a large, dark water bird with a long, thin neck and a pointed bill, found in warm parts of the Americas. It hunts fish by spearing them underwater and swims with only its head and neck visible, which resembles a snake. After hunting, it spreads its wings to dry its waterlogged feathers, a behavior that helps it warm up and is often mistaken for a cormorant. 

Appearance 

  • Males: Glossy black with silver/white patches on the wings and tail. 
  • Females: Have buff-colored heads and necks. 
  • Bill: Long, sharp, and pointed, used as a spear. 
  • Eyes: Blood-red, surrounded by blue skin during breeding season. 

    Behavior & Habitat:
  • Habitat: Freshwater swamps, lakes, rivers, and coastal lagoons. 
  • Hunting: Dives and uses its sharp bill to spear fish, which it swallows whole. 
  • Drying: Sits with wings outstretched to dry its feathers after diving. 
  • Flight: Soars on thermals, often with its neck and tail held straight out, resembling a cross. 

    Key Distinctions (vs. Cormorant):
  • Bill: Anhinga has a pointed bill; cormorant has a hooked bill. 
  • Tail: Anhinga has a longer, broader tail. 
  • Feathers: Anhinga’s feathers get wet, making it a better diver; cormorant’s are waterproof. 

What Bird Is Making That Call?

Part of moving to a new region involves hearing new bird calls. And me being me, I love to find out what bird is making that call–like what calls do the Red-Shoulder Hawks that live in the trees in my neighborhood make?

It’s spring, so there are so many birds calling when I walk or when I’m just sitting on my porch. Figuring out what these birds are makes me feel like I’m more connected to my environment. Besides, I’m endlessly curious.

You can get a free app from Cornell University for your phone called MERLIN BIRD ID.

I love it.

And it allows me to identify and save bird calls it records as I walk. It’s easy to turn on when I hear birds I don’t know.

Here’s what a user posted online about this app:

“The Merlin Bird ID app (by Cornell Lab of Ornithology) is a highly recommended, free, and accurate tool for identifying birds via photos, sounds, or 5 simple questions. Its standout “Sound ID” feature acts like “Shazam for birds,” identifying species in real-time. While occasionally misidentifying sounds in noisy areas, it is an essential tool for beginners and experts. Laura's Birding BlogLaura’s Birding Blog.”

Merlin also can identify a bird from a picture you take. You can also save the bird calls you easily record which can remind you what each bird’s calls sound like. Or you can explore what you have not heard, like what do Blue Birds sound like? Cornell sends informational emails off and on that educate you about birds and that are fun to see and read.

I’ve already learned a lot about the local bird calls I hear in my area, and for me, at least, that is a very fun thing.

Merlin is easy!

Try it. You’ll like it.

PS: Merlin is addictive…

Why Does Raw Honey Crystalize And What to Do When It Does

I haven’t used white or brown sugar for anything in probably 20 years now.

I keep white sugar on hand for visitors who want white sugar in their coffee or tea, but I use local raw honey to sweeten a drink. And, sometimes (rare) real maple syrup drizzled over raw organic fruit–a habit I think I’ve broken now.

I can get wonderful local raw honey here in coastal South Carolina, and back in Maine, in the fall I took enough jars for a year’s worth of honey to a local honey harvester who filled them up for me.

I don’t bake or eat baked goods due to gluten intolerance, so that makes this sugar issue easier.

Ok. I confess that I would use white sugar in my grandmother’s chocolate fudge recipe, which I would only make as a gift for someone, and I have not in…years. And I would eat some of it too as it is one of my very favorite recipes and as it contains so many wonderful childhood memories.

Anyway, local raw honey can crystallize. But why? And what to do? Here are your answers–in a very good post sent from my DIL who is the cofounder and director of The Bee Cause, which now has sponsored bee hives in all 52 states and, also, some elsewhere.

Honey is a complex product involving glucose and water ratios and what kind of flowers from which the bees have gotten pollen. And, how warm or cool it is where you store your honey.

What Causes Honey to Crystallize and How to Fix It

Enjoy!

And find and buy local raw honey from a beekeeper in your region.

Giovanna McCarthy: Master Knitter

Look what I found in my kiosk mailbox the other day–an unexpected gift from my Maine friend Giovanna McCarthy.

Giovanna and I have been friends for almost 20 years now, and she has given me so many of her beautiful shawls and here and there, a blanket. I treasure each and every one of her beautiful works gifted to me.

Giovanna is a master knitter, and her work over the years has gotten better and better so that now it is…unbelievable.

Look at the fringe on this shawl. I can’t even…

I learned to knit way back in high school in the 1960s, taught by a high school friend. And I’ve made many knitted projects over the years, especially the Maine years. I’ve made sweaters, scarves, socks, hats, blankets, decorative linen towels–in Maine so many women knit a lot–it’s a portable project that can go everywhere easily.

But…

Giovanna’s work is at a whole other level.

Boy am I happy she is such a generous friend.

Wisteria Graces Our Woods

The Wisteria is in full bloom in the woods all around us. Here’s a picture from my neighborhood, and there is another tree I can see from my house that has Wisteria wound around it. Beloved Neighbor says it is fragarent, and it is, for me, up close. My nose doesn’t always smell as powerfully as it used to smell.

Beloved neighbor and I walked the Fort Palmetto Trail yesterday. It is 1.5 miles total, going and coming, and is so interesting, as it winds around a site that fronts the marsh and Dewees Sound (between the coast and Isle of Palms barrier island) and has Civil War levees where troops were stationed to prevent US Federal troops from invading and catching the Confederates by surprise. The soldiers built extensive levees through this lowland stretch of the coast.

These waters behind the string of barrier islands were also used by Confederate privateers to sneak needed goods into the Confederate states. If you have ever read Gone With the Wind, you know that Rhett Butler’s family was from Charleston and during the war, he was a privateer, which is where he made some, at least, of his money.

This site also goes back to very early Indian presence–perhaps as early as 1000 AD. It isn’t good for farming, but was used for timber harvest and, likely, access to the water beyond.

Here’s a link to this fun trail, which ends with an observation tower one can climb to see the marsh and sound, the Isle of Palms Connector bridge, and Isle of Palms barrier island.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/south-carolina/fort-palmetto-park-trail

And, here’s a close up picture of blooming Wisteria I took along the trail, where the vines had overgrown plants along the trail.

The tree leaves are out, and there is new leaf growth in many plants, like my roses. The azaeleas are also now blooming, or about to bloom, as are the early spring blooming trees like the redbuds and the Tulip Magnolias. Along the edges of the sidewalk where I frequently walk my daily mile, all kinds of wild flowers are blooming. This one is called “Innocence,” according to my plant identification app (Rubiaceae, or Houstonia procumbent).

The grass is trying to green up, and mine got mowed this week. But we are also very, very dry, and there are now fire warnings for our area. We are all hoping that our rain issue does not get solved with…the dreaded “H” work (hurricane).

Spring continues to tease us as the temps are still going into cool territory on a regular basis. We are all moving between turning on the heat or the air conditioning, sometimes in the same day.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Spring Garden Time

It’s late afternoon Sunday, but not really late as we just “sprang forward” with regard to time, and I will need several days to adjust. LOL.

It has been a quiet week on the sewing front as I’ve been in the yard for 4 full days now working at the spring clean-up, uprooting plants that are not working, pruning, raking grass, weeding grass and just loving being outside in shorts and and a short-sleeve t-shirt in warm sunshine. I think I was spurred into going outside by the fact that our brown grass is turning green.

I’ve never raked the Centipede grass before, but it has been 3 years now, and there was a lot of thatch that this grass doesn’t like. I did what I could with a wide leaf garden rake. I hesitate to have a professional person thatch with a machine as the sod has a net of plastic on the bottom, and I’m pretty sure a thatch machine would pull it up and make a huge mess.

I’ve also replaced all the dirt in my outdoor planting containers as it was well past time to give new plants a dirt uplift. I visited the local plant stores, but we are apparently between very early plants, like viola and pansies, and the summer annuals that can take heat. So I didn’t come home with any plants for my containers. Maybe later next week.

As I wrote months ago, I saw an orange blooming Tea Olive last fall and fell in love. I think I have a spot where one could go, especially as they are slow growing and prune well. Remember this picture, taken outside Local Jo’s Natural Foods, where I get my raw milk, raw butter, raw honey, local clean eggs, and so forth?

Tea Olives are famous for their strong fragrance in the late fall or early winter. The white ones are more common, but…I loved this orange one. And look at that gorgeous foliage. Tea Olives are one of the iconic plants here in the Charleston, SC, coastal, tropcal area.

I’m also gradually refolding my t-shirts so that they look like this picture in my bedroom shows:

And I’m liking the result a lot. I can see what I have without pawing through stacks, and the shirts do not wrinkle as they do when folded flat, especially when they sit for several seasons to pass.

Have a terrific week everyone!

Family Needlepoint

My DIL Tami has been looking for a hand sewing project for some time, and in past months, she and her daughter Talula have discovered needlepoint.

Tami brought me this needlepoint gift on Friday.

The sheep icon has a rich history in my family’s life. My husband’s father was an immigrant from Ireland back in the day (mid to late 1930s I think). My FIL was the second son, so would not inherit the family land. Growing up, he was in charge of the farm’s sheep.

When we moved to Maine, we were fascinated with how some farms put their sheep flocks out on the many, many offshore islands for the summer. There are iconic photos of the sheep flocks in boats being taken to the islands. Sheep wool forms the backbone of many of the woven wool Maine products. The Swan Island Company wool products and weaving are an example.

One summer after John died, I saw this framed art piece at a summer fair and bought it as I knew John would have had he still been alive. Of course it came with me to South Carolina.

I have not yet seen granddaughter Talula’s needlepoint projects as she is away at college. But her mother says Talula is working on a big one. In addition, she has now opened an Etsy store where she sells her own needlepoint designs and patterns.

Go Talula!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/talulasneedleworks/?etsrc=sdt&dd_referrer=

Fun Play Time…

We’ve had some days and nights with temps in the 20’s.

We don’t do freezing temps very well here in Charleston, SC, let alone temps in the 20s.

I had a frozen pipe at the OUTSIDE water heater, as did both sons on Isle of Palms, but all are fixed now. A neighbor here rescued me and put on new and better insulation outside. We have all been dripping hot water at night. The hot shower I took last night was beyond delightful. And this morning I have clean sheets and am washing the dirty clothes in warm water!

So….of course I spent this very cold time, after dealing with hot water and cooking, SEWING.

My longarm needed a spring replaced, and that job was above my pay grade, but it is all fixed now and “Pistachio” is off the longarm, trimmed, bound, and is getting its binding sewn down at night.

It is so darn cute!

All that intense green…glows.

My Quilt of Valor donation quilt is ready to go on the longarm, and I’ve got a beautiful backing for it. The blocks are made with an 8-inch Cat’s Cradle ruler.

Here’s the design wall right now. The improv quilt needs two more blocks before I start sewing it together. It’s time. I need that space free again. I’m working on one of the needed blocks.

LOL, I didn’t see that the “X” block actually makes an “X/O” pattern when joined. That’s because I didn’t get any conceptual genes in my makeup, and it’s why I really need my design wall to “see” what’s going on. (Those blocks will move around as I go along, for sure.)

Isn’t that “Flower Pop” flower adorable! It’s fiddly though, and there was a very big learning curve for me, but these blocks are going faster now. (The pattern and the needed ruler come from Sew Kind of Wonderful.)

The pineapple blocks are from a ruler–and they are so cheerful. The goal is to use up a lot of solids and to have fun making these very fun and very graphic blocks.

The new palette for Tara Faughnan’s “Blocks3” came and is washed and ready to go. The month 5 block came in yesterday as it was February 1st.

I’m not sure I understand that rusty color in this palette, but I’m reserving judgment.

Have a great week everyone!