Catchfly Commons

Gardening for Wildlife – Preventing Window Strikes by Birds

As gardeners who value biodiversity, we enjoy seeing the bluebirds raising their young and eating mealworms we provide in the winter. We see woodpeckers (hairy, downy, red bellied) on the suet feeder most days. And many other birds frequent the garden looking for insects or nesting materials. When I heard a loud “thunk” last week,…

February Vistas

This year I am trying to follow through on a suggestion Terri made to document the backyard in photos and videos once a month. My intent is to do this on the same day of the month and from roughly the same locations. I will post the videos each month and occasionally a small number…

Bringing Nature Sounds Inside

Experiencing the garden includes all the sounds: birds, water features, frogs, wind, raindrops, and even a passing train. Of course, closed windows mean that experience is lost when inside the house. For a while, we have been wishing for a way to bring nature sounds inside and finally we did something about it! We found…

Starting Seeds in Winter Using Totes and Seedling Flats

Winter Sowing in milk jugs has been enjoyable and successful here for the past several years. Having a seed-starting project in January is akin to browsing the seed catalogs – an opportunity to plan for, and dream about, the next growing season, with the added benefit of actually working with seeds and planting mix. While…

Remembering for a Hopeful 2025

It’s often tempting to breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the year and eagerly turn to a new year. Yet being hopeful about the future involves, at least in part, remembering. When we remember our experiences of the good, the beautiful, the tenacity of resilience, and the empowerment of relationships, then we…

Gathering Thankfulness

The Thanksgiving holiday is a time for gratitude, but it is also all about gathering. We gather the fruits of the growing season. In this we express gratitude for food, the labor of production involved, and the earth from which it springs. We gather memories of times from the year that are full of grace…

November Presentation

“Coneflowers, Asters and Goldenrods”Columbus Natural History Society7:00 pm – November 18, 2024 University Baptist Church50 W. Lane Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43201(parking at 31 W. Norwich, just behind the church) The Society’s programs are free and open to the public Our presentation at the monthly meeting of the Columbus Natural History Society has two parts. The…

Carpenter vs. Bumble Bees

Large carpenter bees and bumble bees are often confused with each other. However, they really are different… so much so that they are in separate subfamilies of bees. Carpenter bees are in the subfamily Xylocopinae while bumble bees are in the subfamily Apinae. The primary species of large carpenter bee in Ohio is the Eastern…

Mothing Finds (8.24.2024)

Last Saturday night I did some mothing. Our adult daughter joined me for the caterpillar hunt using blacklight flashlights. I also set up a white sheet with both a reptile heat lamp (in lieu of a mercury vapor light) and a LED blacklight. All the identifications are based on iNaturalist submissions. Caterpillars In terms of…

Big Moths: Saturniids and Their Hosts

Four years ago, we were thrilled to find both Cecropia Moth and Polyphemus Moth caterpillars in our yard. Unfortunately, the Polyphemus caterpillar died from parasites (eaten from inside out) and we lost track of the Cecropia caterpillar before its final instar. Since then, I am always checking for these species of caterpillars to show again……