Loving Mountain City posted a photo of the first recipient of LMC’s Yard of the Week recognition, administered by Marjie Kelley. Congratulations to Mickey Vogel on Pecan. Mickey reported to Marjie that the gorgeous tall red flowers are wild, coming back each year. Patricia Porterfield commented, “The flowers are Standing Cypress and loved by hummingbirds.”
Patricia Porterfield on Maple shared a photo of a lovely visitor to her yard, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The male is black and white with a rose-colored patch on his breast.
Down on Live Oak Drive, my unique visitor this past week was a female American Redstart. The distinct feature I saw was yellow and black triangular markings on the wide-spread tail. Cathy Rudzinski assisted me with the identification while Wally was out walking and bird-watching.
Should you see a walker looking towards your house with binoculars, know that many in Mountain City birdwatch. Nowadays, birdwatchers are not making trips to birdwatch. Some, like The Rudzinski’s, have traveled all over the
world birdwatching.
Mayor Ralph McClendon photographed a pair of roadrunners atop their house. What a sight! And, what a good indication there’s a nest nearby. It’s quite a sight, too, seeing a roadrunner running down the center of a Mountain
City street. Keep your eyes out.
Laura Craig snapped a photo on May 15 of justhatched Carolina Wrens. The nest is on her patio.
Donna Helm and other who tried to see the Blue Angels fly over last Wednesday, looking from Mountain City, missed the sight. Laura Craig went to EVO and got great video. Karen Herrmann saw the sight from MOD Pizza.
My phone camera was not in hand when I moved a trash bag containing some mulch over a bit onto the driveway. I called out to RonTom and he came running. Exiting a hole in the ground was a gorgeous little brown hairy arachnid, I think a tarantula. Did you know some female tarantulas can live to be 30 years old in the wild?
KissMe called out to me from the kitchen last week with an incessant bark and I came running. Sure enough, he was alerting me about a scorpion. The scorpion had tail curled upwards and “pinchers” raised outwards. Good dog, KissMe. Good dog. But, there was no way Our Great White Hunter with Red Spots could have helped with the next one we found. It was smack dab on our cooktop. The rain must have brought them in. We had three in less than 24 hours.
Reports came from within Mountain City of over 5 inches of rain last week.
Watch for rattlesnakes and coral snakes. Mayor Ralph killed a rattler in the yard of his mom, former mayor LaVerne McClendon. Keep your ears open. Rattlesnakes give a distinct warning.
To make a nomination for Yard of the Week, visit the FaceBook page of Loving MountainCity. There you’ll find a form.
I take tidbits by email, [email protected] (subject: tidbit.) Thanks!
Love to you, Pauline
