Hello everyone! I hope this Six on Saturday post finds you all doing very well. It has been a pretty good week with temps continuing to dance around. Today is sunny and it is supposed to get to 48° F. The forecast says 55° on Sunday, 48° on Monday, then 37 on Tuesday and Wednesday with a LOW of 19° by morning. Then back up to 48° on Thursday with a low of 30. ‘Tis the season…
#1 for this Six on Saturday is the cedar carving of a bear given to me on Thursday by friends who were going to throw it out. I could not let him be thrown in the dump sight to be burned so I brought him home. Someone else might have spotted it…
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Dryobates pubescens (Downey Woodpecker)
#2-I took a shot of this Downey Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) on the hanging feeder. It was pretty happy by itself on the feeder. It seems the migratory birds are slow to come this winter. I did see a few Juncos a few days ago and also a couple of Nuthatches. Even though I haven’t seen many birds, somehow the feeder was empty in a week. Maybe the wind blew the seed out…
Dryobates pubescens (Downey Woodpecker)
No doubt the Downey is hiding seed in the fork of the tree.
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Lysimachia nummularia ‘Goldilocks’
#3-The Lysimachia nummularia ‘Goldilocks (Creeping Jenny) is hanging in there in the north bed. When it gets really cold it will completely disappear.
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Achillea millefolium
#4-The Achillea millefolium is pretty tough in the heat of the summer right up until it gets severely cold. They are still growing new leaves!
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Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo)
#5-The Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo) still has a few green leaves. I learned something this week from a post shared by Eliza Waters. The post says the berries are poison to birds! I never knew that so I suppose I better remove them.
Click HERE to read the post shared by Eliza about the berries. The post is actually from Cindy Dyer’s Blog.
The red berries of Nandina domestica contain cyanide and other alkaloids that produce hydrogen cyanide (HCN), which can be poisonous to all animals.
Tom Oder writing for Mother Nature Network has this to say: “Nandina berries actually have a low toxicity, but they can be lethal to cedar waxwings specifically because their feeding habits differ dramatically from that of other birds, said Rhiannon Crain, project leader for the Habitat Network with The Nature Conservancy and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Other birds don’t eat as much or as rapidly as cedar waxwings,” said Crain. “Cedar waxwings completely stuff every possible part of their body with berries. They will fill their stomach and their crop with berries right up into their mouth until they can’t fit another berry inside of them.”
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#6–Hmmm… It seems like with nine cats there is always one following me around when I am in the yard. This one is the kitten that was given to me by a friend (Kevin). It showed up at his house and somehow he talked me into bringing it home. That was several months ago when she was very small…
She is a very odd-looking cat with long black hair with silvery streaks. The hair on her legs is shorter giving her an even stranger look (reminding me of a fox). She is very smart, almost human, which can sometimes be annoying. My son called her Little Bit but I have had a few other names for her. She is now an outside cat but teaching her not to dart in every time the door opened wasn’t easy. She is so fast!
Well, that is it for this post. If you wish to participate in Six on Saturday posts, be sure to read the Six On Saturday-a participants guide from The Propagator.
Until next time, be safe, stay positive, and always be thankful! Get dirty if you can. I know I will one way or another… 🙂
The Belmont Rooster 
Lucky you getting a bear and a cat. I like them both.
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Hello Lisa! Ummm… I was fortunate to get the bear but the cat is not new. She’s been here for several months now. I hope you are well. 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
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Thanks for spreading the word about Nandina berries, which are so dangerous to wildlife. Your kitty is beautiful – social kitties are very sweet, better than being aloof, I think!
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Hello Eliza! I thought it was important to tell about the Nandina in case someone thinks they planted them for wildlife. Mother Nature Network says the berries have “low” toxicity but can be lethal for Cedar Waxwings mainly because they stuff themselves with the berries. But, for the birds to be safe, it is best I remove the berries. Thanks for the comment.
https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/nandina-berries-cedar-waxwing
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An interesting collection of 6.
We’ve been entertained by Cedar Waxwings stuffing themselves with fermented crab apples. They get pretty loopy.
Downeys and Hairys and Red Bellied all frantically hide their cache of seeds. I wonder how many 40 lb bags os sunflower seeds are tucked into the bark of the local trees.
I’ve heard of cats having 9 lives. It seems you are blessed with the 9 lives of 9 cats. Good luck. The mice around your farm must be wary.
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Hello Jim! I don’t recall ever seeing any Cedar Waxwings here but it would be interesting seeing them feed. The woodpecker, however, are always interesting to watch. Sometimes I think they hide more seed than they eat. They don’t seem to realize there is an unlimited supply in the feeders. I hardly ever see any mice because I keep a special treat for them. I did see a dead one in a feeder today. It is still strange how one got in the house a few years ago with all the cats. I think a few of the cats would pay no attention to them. Thanks for the comment!
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I cleaned out a flower bed Sunday and was shocked to still see green on parts of some of my plants. Love your new bear!
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Hello Diane! I have not done any bed cleaning yet nor have I even cut down the Cannas and mulched with leaves. The bear willmake a great addition but I’m not sure where I will put it. Some of the perennials here still have green leaves, too. Thanks for the comment!
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I read that about nandina too. Ours do not make many berries, and nothing seems to eat them. We want to eliminate them because they are not compatible with the style of landscape here.
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Hello Tony! There are many plants that are toxic in the landscape that we think nothing about and Yew is a good example. I like Nandina because of its foliage but I can understand how it could clash with certain styles of landscaping. Thanks for the comment!
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We had ONE foxglove appear in one of the landscapes, and removed it once someone brought it to our attention. By that time, it had already gone to seed. I will see if any appear later. I was surprised that someone else recognized it as toxic. Oleander is known to be toxic, but it is relatively safe in the sense that someone would need to eat a bit of it to be bothered by it. Several more toxic plants are ignored.
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