Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

First Day of Spring 2019

Happy first day of spring 2019!

The birds are enjoying picking at the seed in last year’s marigold plants. Can’t wait until the ice melts and we can again hear the toads’ mating calls from the water in the pool cover.
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Enchiladas New Mexico-style

Chili peppers drying on an adobe house in New Mexico. We receive a Red Chili Ristra wishing us good health and good luck from friends in New Mexico every Christmas. We used to see dried red chili and dried garlic ristras hanging throughout New Mexico. They are used as decoration and as a sign of welcome, while at the same time preserving food for later use. Hatch, New Mexico is often referred to as the chili capital of the world. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Boston Public Library,

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The Hunt

As many of you know I have been turkey and deer (gun season) hunting for many years. This is the first year in many years we’ve had snow for the deer season, so I thought I would share some of my photos with you. Perhaps you’ll be able to see why I “hunt.” (To enlarge the photos, click on a photo and then click again.)

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A Heron Visitor

Last week we had a surprise visitor in our pool area. It was an immature Great Blue Heron (Blue form). This very large and tall bird, with a very long neck dropped into the pool area mistakenly thinking it would be a good place to search for food. Unfortunately our pool offers little nourishment for hungry young herons. After thinking about it for a number of minutes, it flew off to the nearby retention ponds.

The video is rather long, but I found it interesting watching this young wading bird move its long, lanky neck. Watch the last 90 seconds as it finally decides the water has nothing to offer and flies away.

Since the City of Appleton has begun constructing retention ponds resembling actual wetlands areas, we often see Great Egrets and Sandhill Cranes in our neighborhoods. Turkeys like to nest in the adjacent prairie plantings. Because of our proximity to the Fox River, Bald Eagles and Turkey Buzzards often circle overhead catching the air streams. We are fortunate to live in such a wildlife friendly neighborhood.

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