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Category: nature
In Old English, September is called Haervest-monath(Harvest Month). This is time when the harvest is gathered, ready and put up for the winter months. September’s name comes from the Latin word septem, meaning “seven”. This month
This year, Labor Day, (the first Monday in September), falls on the 5th. Did you know Canadians also celebrate Labour Day as well?
Patriot Day is observed in the U.S. on 11 September or 9/11.
Grandparents’ Day is also celebrated on 11 September too! Please honor your grandparents(if you still have them) today and every day. I have two Grandma’s left whom are alive and kicking in their 80s! 🙂
Fall is right around the corner! The Autumnal Equinox falls on 23 September this year. At this moment, there is an equal amount of daylight and darkness hours in a day. Find you current sunrise and sunset HERE.
The month is then wrapped up on 29 September with Michealmas, an ancient Celtic “Quarter Day”. This day was marked with the end of the harvesting and steeped heavily in folklore.
St. Micheal
Some seasonal all-time favorites to bake would be:
Apple Pie Recipe by Grandma Ople
Autumn Cheesecake RecipeApple Crisp Recipe
This is a great time to prepare winter bird seed for those of our feathered friends who stay around in the winter.
Full Harvest Moon
The Full Harvest Moon will be making its annual appearance on 16 September 2016 3:05P.M. EST. There will also be other night sky events going on this month as well.
Some Folklore For This Month:
Heavy September rains bring drought
September blow soft, till the fruit’s in the loft
Married in September’s golden glow, smooth and serene your life will go
If the storms of September clear off warm, the storms of the following winter will be warm
Fair on September 1st, fair for the month
September’s Flower-Asteraceae(Aster amellus)Sapphire, September’s Birthstone, which was once thought to guard against poisoning and evilSeptember’s other flower, the Morning Glory(Convolvulaceae)
I’m excited! Are you?
What are you looking forward to(or baking) this fall? I’d love for you to continue the conversation below. And if you’ve liked this post, please tic like below and give it a share if you’ve really liked it. Thanks 🙂
Southern Cassowary(from the Malay name kasuari) or double-wattled cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, found in southern New Guinea, northeastern Australia, and the Aru Islands, mainly in lowlands.
In honor of celebrating cassowaries and their friends on World Cassowary Day on 26 September 2016 in Australia. Today is the day to wear the colors of a Cassowary, which are red, blue, and black. These are very important icons of Australia and deserve a day of recognition to their contribution of spreading plant life throughout the rainforests and being a significant species through the northern part of Australia.
Cassowaries are part of a species of birds known as “ratites”. They are called such because they are flightless birds who lack a keel on their sternum.
Distribution of Australia’s Cassowary.
They are part of the genus Casuarius and are native to the lush, tropical, forests of New Guinea, nearby islands, and northeastern Australia. There are also three extinct species. The most common is species is the southern Cassowary, which is the third tallest and second heaviest living bird. They are smaller than the ostrich and the emu. Northern Australia, humid rainforests, and the nearby small islands are home to the Cassowary. They will often venture out into swampy forests, grasslands, palm scrub, and savannas, but it is unclear if some of the islands populations of the birds is because of trade or if they naturally originate there. For the purpose of this piece, we will only be talking about the southern Cassowary, unless otherwise indicated.
Though the species are truly omnivorous, their diet consists mainly of fruits(called frugivores), as well as a variety of other foods including fungi, insects, frogs, flowers, snails, fish, birds, mice, rats, carrion, shoots, and grass seeds as well as small invertebrates and vertebrates. Some important fruits of their diets are nightshades, wild grape, palm, myrtle, laurel, and podocarp.
Cassowary Plume & Flower
Since the Cassowary eat whole fruits and the redistribute the seeds through their excrement wherever they go, they have been considered a keystone species of the jungle.
The Cassowaries are usually a shy creature, but when provoked, they are very dangerous and can inflict fatal injuries onto humans and dogs.
As well as being shy, these birds are also very elusive. They are able to disappear into the forests before they are seen by humans.
The female Cassowaries are larger and display brighter colors than the males.
Cassowary SkullSouthern Cassowary Color Diagram
Adult Cassowaries generally from 4.9ft-5.9ft tall, although it has been recorded that some females may reach a height of 6.6ft. Females can weigh up to 129lbs, while males can weigh up to 75lbs. 40-50 years is thought to be the lifespan of a Cassowary in a zoo, whereas only 12-19 in the wild. They major in 2 1/2 to 3 years of age.
Cassowary Feather
The Cassowaries feathers consist of a shaft and have loose barbules. They lack a preen gland and tail feathers. Their small wings have 5-6 remerges that are reduced to keratinous, stiff quills, similar to a porcupine’s quills, but without the barbs on their tiny wings. It is thought that their wedged-shaped body is shaped this way as an adaption to push through the vines and sharp leaves through the bush and the rainforest.
The inner toe is formed into a long dagger-like claw that can be a formidable weapon.
On each second finger on both feet, the Cassowaries have a claw. Their dagger-like claw on their foot, in the medial position, is 5 inches in length. It can be used as a lethal weapon when a Cassowary kicks its powerful legs out in defense. With these legs, they’re able to run up to 45mph in the dense forests of Australia. They are
A pair of Cassowaries take a stroll on a beach.
excellent swimmers, able to cross wide rivers and swim in the sea plus they can jump up to 5 feet high.
Two of the three cassowary species have wattles, or bare, fleshy pouches of skin
Wattle of a Southern Cassowary
that hang from the neck: southern or double-wattled cassowaries and northern or single-wattled cassowaries. The wattles are brightly colored blue, red, gold, purple, or white, depending on the species or subspecies. It is thought that the wattles are to help show the bird’s mood or relay other social cues known only to the cassowaries.
The casque starts to develop on top of their head at one to two years of age. The casque is made of a sponge-like material and covered with a thick layer of keratin, the same thing our fingernails are made of. Although it is quite sturdy, the casque can be squeezed in the middle fairly easily.
A spongy, horn-like but soft crest called casques sits atop every three species of a Cassowary’s head. Several theories have been proposed for the purpose of the casque. One theory suggests that it helps them plow through the underbrush of the dense forests. Another says that it is used as a weapon in battle. Still another theory says it is a secondary sex characteristic. Some other speculations say that it is used to push aside leaves and other debris whilst foraging, as a weapon, and to help maneuver through the underbrush.
Most of theories have been disputed. Biologist Andrew Mack has disputed the last three theories. Through his personal observations, he hypothesizes that the casque amplifies deep sounds.
An earlier article published prior to Andrew Mack’s theory suggests that the casque might be a form of protective headgear because whilst charging through the forest they run into trees. Cassowaries also spend a lot of time under trees, foraging for seeds and wild fruits, where seeds the size of golf balls from over 10 feet high, where the casque would protect their heads by deflecting the fruit.
Cassowaries maintain a solitary life, except when laying eggs, during the breeding, and occasionally around ample food sources.
The territory of a Cassowary is about 1700 acres for a male, which he will defend for him and his mate. There are usually several females whom overlap the territory of a single male. The females may move between territories to mate with the same male or several related males during their lifetimes, but they will generally stay with one male in the same territory their whole life.
Cassowary eggs come in different colors. They are also the second smallest only to Emu eggs
The breeding season begins in May or June, where the female will lay a clutch of three to eight eggs, bright green or pale green-blue eggs in color in a prepared heap of leaf litter. The eggs measure 3.5in. x 5.5in. An egg can weigh up to 20 ounces. The eggs of an ostrich and an emu are the only bigger eggs. The female will then go on to lay eggs in the nests of other males. The male will then incubate the eggs, maintaining a constant temperature for 50-52°F by painstakingly removing or adding leaf litter to regulate this temperature. After the eggs hatch, he then maintains sole responsibility and vigil of protecting and rearing those brown-stripped chicks for nine months. He will fiercely protect them from all potential predators, including humans as well as other animals. After those nine months, those young males will go off to find a territory of their own.
The meat of the Cassowary is quite tough. It is said that you are to cook it with a stone. When the stone is ready to eat, so is the Cassowary.
The southern Cassowary is in decline and in is endangered in Queensland,
Southern Cassowary
Australia. Only about 20%-25% remain. Loss of habit is a major contribution to this decline. 55%% or 140 cases of mortality were accounted for by automobile fatalities. 5 cases were from hunting, 1 was from being entangled by wire, and 4 had to be euthanized for they had attacked humans. Natural causes included 4 cases of tuberculosis, general natural causes, and 18 cases were from unknown circumstances.
When Cyclone Yesi destroyed a large part of a Cassowary habitat in 2011, 200 birds were endangered, which accounted for 10%% of Australia’s Cassowary population.
Some of the Highland Societies in New Guinea capture Cassowary chicks to raise them as semi-tamed livestock or for use as ceremonial gift-exchanges and for food.
In folklore, Cassowaries have had a reputation for being dangerous to both humans and domestic animals. Australian troops stationed near New Guinea during WWII were warned to stay far away from them. In 1958, Ernest Thomas Gilliard, an ornithologist, wrote in his book, “Living Birds of the World”: “The inner or second of the three toes is fitted with a long, straight, murderous nail which can sever an arm or eviscerate an abdomen with ease. There are many records of natives being killed by this bird.”
Gregory S. Paul backed up this claim again in print in 1988, as well as Jared Diamond in 1997. 150 Cassowary attacks were against humans in 2003. 75% was because humans were feeding Cassowaries. 71% of the time the Cassowary charged or chase the victim. 15% of the time they were kicked. Of these attacks, it was because the bird was snatching or expecting food. Natural food sources were being defended 5% of the time. The Cassowary was defending themselves 15% of the time from attacks. Defending their eggs or chicks was account for 75 of the time. In all the 150 attacks, there was only 1 human fatality.
On April the 6th, 1923, two brothers, aged 13 and 16, found a Cassowary on their property. They decided to strike it maliciously with clubs to kill it. The bird managed to kick the younger boy, who ran away. Whilst the older brother continued to club the bird, he tripped and fell to the ground. Whilst he was on the ground, the Cassowary was able to kick the boys’ neck, ripping open a .49 inch wound, which may very well have been his jugular vein. The boy died shortly afterwards from him his injuries.
Very rarely do Cassowaries strike in the abdomen. There is but one case in which a dog a dog who succumbed to such an injury in 1995. There was no puncture wound, but severe bruising, but the dog later passed away from an apparent intestinal rupture.
The casque could also work much like a hornbill’s casque does in helping the bird make sounds. The Cassowaries can produce very low-frequency sounds, called booms, that help them communicate through the dense rain forest, so perhaps the theory that Andrew Mack proposed that says casque helps with that in some way. Females tend to have a larger casque than males.
Cassowaries also hiss and whistle to communicate, and clap their bills or rumble when making a threat. The rumble is so low and powerful that keepers working with the birds report they can feel it in their bones.
In Australia, most of the remaining habitat of the southern cassowary is now located within protected areas. A recovery plan for the species has been drawn up by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, with the aim of securing and enhancing the status of the southern cassowary in Australia through integrated conservation initiatives. In New Guinea, further data on population numbers is required and hunting restrictions may need to be imposed. This awesome bird belongs to an ancient lineage and is one of the most striking of the flightless birds; its conservation has important cultural and ecological significance.
Birds are the wildlife we interact with the most. I hear and even see birds every single day. I am sometimes awake before them too. I would miss them if they weren’t there. I love to observe all the different kinds of birds in my yard and at the places we go. I also love to take photographs of them too. Taking photos of them is not only a great way to document them but also a great way to develop my skills as a photographer.
But each year that goes by, we are seeing less and less birds. Even the “common” birds are becoming less “common”. Nearly a quarter of the United States birds’ species are slipping silently into the annals of history.
Birds like the Greater Sage-grouse, Piping Plover, and the Cerulean Warbler are falling victim to the growing list of threats.
Cerulean Warbler
Male Greater-Sage Grouse, on display
Piping Plover with chick
They may go the way of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Because of its massive size, nearly 36 inch wingspan, it still captures the hearts and imaginations of birders all over the US.
Male Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Although officially classified as definitely or probably extinct, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker still continues to generate reports of sightings as well as continued intensive research into these said sightings. It’s very distinguished by their size, these woodpeckers are also marked by white markings on their neck and back, extensive white trails edge their upper as well as underneath their wings, pale yellow eyes, and ivory-colored bills. The males have a bright red crest. A large triangle of white is seen on their back when their wings are folded. Often times it is confused with the Pileated Woodpecker because it is of similar size and bears similar markings as well.
Pileated Woodpecker
The territory of the Ivory-billed was once throughout most of the Southwestern US and as far north as southern Illinois. These woodpeckers were thought to mate for life. Due to the widespread destruction of their original habitats, almost all that is known from them is from old reports and hand-drawn illustrations.
A team from Cornell Lab of Ornithology claimed to have spotted one in a swamp in 2004, but it was later proved inconclusive. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is often referred to as the “Holy Grail” of Ornithology. It hasn’t been seen since 1944, but people across the country continue to hold out hope for its existence.
There are some easy things you can do on your own property and in your own backyard today to make it a bird-friendly habitat.
Learn to indentify non-native invasive flora and fauna from your region and work to remove them from your yard. Don’t bring any invasives into your yard! Invasives don’t provide as much good food or habitat as natives do, and can threaten healthy ecosystems.
Invasives vs. Noninvasives Root Systems
Let your yard get a little bit messy. Leave snags for nesting places and stack downed tree limbs to create a brush pile, which is a great source of cover for birds during bad weather.
A beautiful mess can be great cover!
Create or protect water sources in your yard-birds need water to drink and bath in, just like we do. Be sure to clean and change the water three times a week, especially during mosquito breeding season.
The typical bird bath…
….can be quite refreshing, especially on a hot day!…
Close your blinds at night and turn off lights you aren’t using. Some birds use constellations to guide them during their annual migrations and the bright lights can disrupt their sense of migrations.
You can also watch for birds, count the, photograph, and even identify them too. A good place to go to identify them is Audubon’s Field Guides, which all available in print at any fine book store, as well as online too at www.audubonbirds.org. You can also find out more information to make your home and yard more bird friendly at www.audubonnathome.org.
How have you made your yard and home more bird friendly? Do you enjoy watching birds or photographing birds? What birds have you seen lately? Do you have any favorite species of birds? Are you a bird owner? Please feel free to comment below-I would love to hear your answers!
***Please note I am in no way affiliated with Audubon nor is this post sponsored by Audubon. I just love birds and wildlife and wildlife preservation and I thought you might enjoy a brief piece on this topic as well 🙂***
I found this really neat site. I read about it first on Huffington Post. They had a small write-up about it. Now you can emoji-fy any website. I did my site too. To get to The Backwater Primer, it would look something like this: http://🔑☁🍖😜🐷💩🍅🐶.🍕💩.ws Pretty neat, right? To go try it now on any website, just click here to go to linkmoji.
Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. We have been very busy this past week. Chris and I have made a couple trips up to Mom & Dad’s. Chris finished painting the porch and Mom and I finished making the boutonnieres and my bouquet. Our cake topper came in last Monday.
The bachelorette party was pretty fun last night. We took a supper meal at an Amish woman’s home, Cindy’s Home Cooking, in Panama, NY. The meal consisted of fresh baked bread, salad, roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, desserts, and everything was so delicious! I could never cook like that! It had so much flavor in it. She had two very young girls and they were staring at us, watching us, so curious. They were all so super nice. It was the first time I had ever been in an Amish home, but I have been around plenty of Amish folk in my life. I rode up with my bff. My Mom, my Grandma, my sister Grace, my Mom’s bff, my bff’s Mom, and my bff’s sister came last night.
Today is the bridal shower. My grandma is coming here at 1 o’clock to pick me up. Afterwards, I am going to go visit one of my friends who is in town with her baby daughter. She and I spent a great deal of time together growing up and I spent a lot of time over at her house and her parents’ are like my second parents’. I haven’t met her baby and I am looking forward to seeing them.
Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.
I made this bracelet the other day on a whim. I love it!
These were all collected recently and I had them in my freezer for about a week. I have them sitting on my entertainment center now.
It is time to make hay whilst the sun shines!
My parents converted to making round bales a couple of years ago. It is a lot easier on them since they have less help.
The flower girls’ basket. It still need some gosgrain ribbon and maybe a flower to wrap around it too. I carried this same basket when I was a flower girl too.
The finished boutinerre’s with key charms.
Chris’s Aunt Kathy gave us this lovely basket and contents as a shower gift plus she took me to Subway for lunch. I love his Aunt Kathy…she is so sweet!
The finished boutinerre’s with key charms.
Last weekend, we had Justin, and he went out and rode on the tractor with my Dad.
I have to go get ready. My Grandma is picking me up soon to go to the bridal shower. I hope everyone is enjoying what is left of the weekend. I will talk to y’all soon!
42.086165-78.432387
Hi all! I hope the weather is such in your area that you’re able to enjoy the beginning of summer, but I’m hearing a lot of snippets from friends around the country who are facing too much water, too little water, baking heat or some combination of the above. I suspect this year may be one for the record books in some areas. This weekend we are experiencing rain. It has rained all day today and tomorrow it is expected to continue. Monday and the rest of the week it is supposed to be clear and the temps are supposed to rise back up to the normal levels of summer here in western NY.
Through July and August, we are going to be very busy with wedding plans. We are going to be doing a lot of DIY’ing to defray costs. There is still so much we have to do to get ready. We have the rings already. They came in this past Thursday, so that is taken care of. Next, we have to sit down and write our wedding vows and then sit down with our officiate to finalize the ceremony. We have been going up to my Mom and Dad’s almost every chance we can when Chris hasn’t been working to do outside work done and the crafts and stuff. Chris and my Mom are currently working on the flowerbeds outside. My Dad is working on breaking the cement up on the back patio to lay down some new cement. The roof had collapsed this past winter. Both the roof and cement were original and were put in back in 1890.
Tomorrow we are going to go up and help out as Chris is off on Sundays. He is going to finish up the flower beds and help Dad out with the laying of the cement, weather permitting, and I plan on working on the bridesmaids gifts.
Because of time constraints, here is what I plan to do about blog posts for July & August. I want to work on getting some together this week and schedule them to post during the next couple of months so you guys won’t feel like I left you hanging. I can also post occasionally/periodically on my phone too. I don’t really want to post a lot of wedding stuff only because I want to leave an element of surprise for you guys and finish up August with a few posts with wedding stuff.
I do have some pictures to share though that were taken in the last two weeks. We were able to take a few hours and go fishing up at the pond. Because of the weather and Chris working a lot and spending time up at my parents’ house, we hadn’t had a chance to go up there. I have posted a few shots from the batch of photos I took there. We went up last Tuesday, 23 June. If you would like to see the full batch of photos, then feel free to visit The Serene View. Then last Sunday, I took some photos in my mother-in-law’s backyard.
I love my knives! I had just taken this one out of her box that morning. It is still super sharp.
This is the path into the woods that one would take to walk around the pond. I have yet to make it even a 1/3 of the way around the pond.
Switching up bait.
Mushrooms are so awesome to photograph. They are so unique-there is no two alike.
Blackberries should be ripe soon!
Found a birds nest!
I was photographing it wish I had one of the two nice cameras with the telephoto lense I put on our wedding registry.
I found this little water creature in a cove down on the other side of the pond. I am not sure what it is called. If anyone knows, I would love to know too. Would you please leave a comment below and let me know its name please? Thanks (:
Daisies!
The clouds floating above had some very interesting cloud formations that day.
FYI, unless otherwise noted, all other photos were taken with my camera.
I edited this picture. I had taken it with my phone and a photo editor on my phone just magically and randomly edited it for me. Ok…thanks, phone! (:
This was taken at the pond. There are dead trees in the pond and this is just a random branch of a tree floating in the middle of the pond.
I had to get a picture of this wise old owl (: This was taken with my phone. This was taken in my mother-in-law’s backyard.
This was taken with my phone and I edited it right on my phone. This was taken in my mother-in-law’s backyard.
This was taken with my phone and I edited it right on my phone. This was taken in my mother-in-law’s backyard.
These are specifically for my bridesmaids’ for the bachelorette party.
Part of the bead findings for the bridesmaids’ gifts.
Part of the bead findings for the bridesmaids’ gifts.
Part of the bead findings for the bridesmaids’ gifts. Apparently these were handmaid by the seller that I purchased from on Ebay.
This was a random bulb that Chris pulled out of the flower bed. It can be put back in and will grow again.
These are the chicks up at my parents’ house.
I have some ideas for posts that I want to do. I hope I have time to get them done. There is a lot going on right now between the wedding stuff, my best friend is having some problems right now, and some other stuff too. I am also not taking on any more reviews in July or August. I just simply don’t have the time. If I don’t focus on this wedding and maintain the right mindset and maintain my self, I am never going to make it through. Stress is a killer. I have to remember this…
I will be in touch again soon, my dear readers! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
to prepare winter bird seed for those of our feathered friends who stay around in the winter.
Some of the Highland Societies in New Guinea capture Cassowary chicks to raise them as semi-tamed livestock or for use as ceremonial gift-exchanges and for food.
and domestic animals. Australian troops stationed near New Guinea during WWII were warned to stay far away from them. In 1958, Ernest Thomas Gilliard, an ornithologist, wrote in his book, “Living Birds of the World”: “The inner or second of the three toes is fitted with a long, straight, murderous nail which can sever an arm or eviscerate an abdomen with ease. There are many records of natives being killed by this bird.”
The Backwater Primer 