stonec12's Identifications

It's in the mid-twenties (F) outside and spitting snow, which is why I've resorted to snapping some photos through the kitchen window. It's probably also why the towhee, which usually prefers to feed on the ground, has decided to settle down into the hanging pan of seeds for more efficient fuel uptake. This is the first time this winter I've seen him, though I typically do have a pair of towhees that call my yard home.

My parents tried for years to scale down their cat collection, but despite getting the neighborhood stray (and a few neighbor's cats) spayed, kittens kept appearing in the front yard. The fluffier one was dropped off when she old enough to evade capture, and was never tame enough to handle. She's joined by wandering tomcat that eventually just stayed. Both were suspicious of people but made charming driveway ornaments.

The pokeweed is fruiting. These are common perennial weeds in our area, and most gardeners do consider them undesirable weeds. However, few native plants reliably make heavy crops of fruit late in the season. Pokeweed does, and then holds on to them into the fall and winter. As such, it's a good plant for supporting the birds.
The black fruit contrasting against the pink fruiting stems is an adaptation to catch the eyes of birds that might disperse the berries. Many birds have color vision similar to that of humans, so when you see small fruit or seeds with sharply contrasting colors (black & red, blue & white, black & white) you are often seeing plants advertising for bird dispersal.

This little volunteer redbud is having a great fruiting season, and it's barely taller than I am. Redbuds are very common in northern Kentucky, and there are several on my property. They are tolerant of our basic, clay soils, which many plants are not.
As our only woody legume with simple leaves, redbuds are easy to recognize. They have an unusual feature in fruit, too: cauliflory. This is where flowers and later fruits are made straight off the sides of the trunk and the stems. This is relatively common in tropical trees with huge fruit to support, but among our temperate trees, it is rare.

I always enjoy checking out the large patches of Common Milkweed at the Campbell County Envrionmental Education Center. They are hotbeds of activity. I saw milkweed bugs, milkweed beetles, a tortoise beetle, and a young treefrog on these plants, in addition to several types of pollinators.

Chipping Sparrows are one of the most common sparrows around my yard. I was amused to see this parent feeding its teenage chick. The young sparrow peeped constantly and followed its parent around while the parent searched for food. The baby was as big as the parent, and flew off after it with no trouble, but still wanted to be fed. I guess meals always taste better when you don't have to cook them yourself.