Pine Apple

in the Heart of the Black Belt

My friends recently purchased a farm with a quaint historic cottage in Pine Apple, Alabama.

Pine Apple is the home of the Annual Front Porch Tour where the tourists are invited to “sit a spell and visit” in Old-Fashioned Southern Style. I can’t think of a more beautiful place for a Front Porch Tour, and Sharon is already thinking about hors d’ ouevre to serve on her new front porch next spring. (But many of us think they should just open a restaurant, I would certainly drive to Pine Apple to eat at Bateman’s Bistro and I think the Tyrannosaurus Rex would be the perfect mascot!)

The Bateman kitchen

http://www.pineapplealabama.com/frontporch.htm

I was treated to a weekend at the farm and we mixed a little shopping and touring with the cleaning and moving on our ‘to do’ list.

We dutifully watered the beans,

Bateman Beans

although they had already grown over an inch in one week in the rich black soil. The Black Belt is a fertile crescent along the Alabama River, and the region grows a variety of imaginative folk artists in addition to the celebrated cotton crop.  In the nearby town of Camden Sharon and I stumbled out of a hardware/hunting store and into a unique gallery, Black Belt Treasures,  a non-profit showcase for local artisans, including the renowned Gees Bend Quilters.

Black Belt Treasures

http://blackbelttreasures.com/ 

The region has become the heart of hunting in Alabama, and there are many farms for lease and camps for rent in Wilcox County. Hunter Appreciation Day is the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Pine Apple and the parade starts at the Moore Academy School.

Sophie enjoys the fire

The Alabama Black Belt Nature and Heritage Trail guide boasts Pine Apple is home to some unique ‘funerary’ decorations, and Sharon and I set out every evening to find them, but failed.

A 'lost symbol' in Pine Apple??

http://www.wilcoxareachamber.org/tourism.htm

I am looking forward to returning to Pine Apple to continue the quest! I’ll take a longer book and bigger bottle of wine.

Lynne's room

Is a Bobcat a Wildcat?

Sunset 10/24/09

I saw one tonight.

I was driving home after running to a friend’s house at half-time, so I could get home in time for the Kentucky game… and I saw a Bobcat.

Sunset 10/24/09

Maybe it was because my little electric car is so quiet, but I got a good look at him/her as it crossed the road near Morgantown. I didn’t get a photo because I was gaping as it stopped at the edge of the road and looked at my car, and then loped across the dune… by the time I thought of the camera the moment was gone.

I knew they lived here, but seeing one tonite was an omen…. the Kentucky Wildcats will win tonight!

Sunset 10/24/09

So… no picture to post of a Bobcat, but I did get a photo of our spectacular sunset tonite from the deck when I got home.

Sunset 10/24/09

Wish you were here!

Sending ocean breezes and best wishes to Kentucky!

Sunset 10/24/09

Monarch Madness

Check your tags!

After banding birds this fall at Fort Morgan, marking monarchs would have been a natural segue. For the past week we have passed three bushes with butterflies hanging, like Tiffany ornaments, from the limbs.

Monarchs

Monarchs on Palmetto Dr

 It’s a mystery to me why the Monarchs prefer these three plants, identical to dozens we pass on our morning walk.

But it’s a bigger mystery how these great-grandchildren find their way back to their ancestor’s fall migration routes every year.

This is the 2009 Fall Migration map from Learner.Org and we are just past the peak dates for migration at this latitude. So it’s too late for me to tag butterflies this year, but the migration rates and routes can be tracked here.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/index.html

 

2009 Fall Monarch Migration Map from Learner.Org

 The process and goals of the Monarch taggers are very similar to that of the Bird/Hummer Study Group, but their volunteers include thousands of teachers, students and gardeners across the country.

Interested individuals can purchase a tagging kit from Monarch Watch with complete instructions for only $15.

http://www.monarchwatch.org/tagmig/index.htm

 

Although rain is in the forecast, it’s dry here so I am watering my garden to encourage my plants to flower, instead of wilt, in hopes of providing some food for the migrating butterflies

And I will dutifully check for tags on the unfortunate butterflies that do not survive the fierce north winds on the Gulf.

Fragile victim of the storm

A Redstart for a Redhead

My friends, Ed and Sybil, are fellow bird-lovers, and they were in need of a smile this week… So I talked them into driving out to Fort Morgan to visit the Hummer/Bird Study Group.

The crew identifies a Redstart

The weather was hot and humid (again) and the birds stayed in the cool shade, so there were only a few specimens to be studied and banded.

But they did capture a female Redstart and Sybil was fortunate to have the opportunity to ‘adopt’ the little bird.

Bob Sargent entertains Ed while we wait

Bob’s explanation of the breed and description of its migration was fascinating.

And Sybil got that much-needed smile as Bob put the little Redstart into her hands.

But the release brought tears to her eyes…

Sybil's adoption is photographed

 

According to the dictionary, the Redstart gets its name from the color of the tail…

 <<These are insectivorous ground feedingbirds, many of which have the red tail (“start” is the modern English reflex of Middle English stert, Old English steort, tail of an animal), which gives the group its name. Most northern species are strong migrants.

Tears of joy

New World redstarts of the genera Setophaga and Myioborus are not closely related; they are New World warblers of the family Parulidae. Members of the latter genus are sometimes called “whitestarts”.>>

The Moon Bomb was a dud…

Bruce's telescope

But the sunrise was awesome!

Bird is the Word

A student 'adopts' a bird from Bob Sargent

From October 10 – 12 a group of dedicated volunteers will be at Fort Morgan identifying and banding birds as they start their fall migration.

The Hummer/Bird study group

Bob and Martha Sargent began the bird study in 1987 and it has grown to include banding stations in both Texas and Alabama and hundreds of supporters.

But the Sargents are adept at attracting birders as well as birds.  Parking was difficult last Saturday as their fans hiked up the trail to the tents set up near the historic fort.

Birders clutching their ‘life lists’ mingled with children hoping to touch a ‘hummer’ .

The volunteers patrolled the nets and brought the birds back to the station in little mesh bags to be identified, weighed and banded.  Then Bob Sargent provided a ‘photo op’ and a fascinating discussion of the breed or a personal recollection to an appreciative audience.

Bob Sargent releasing a House Wren

And for a donation of $10 we could ‘adopt’ one of the tiny captives and be photographed with it before the release.  What a delightful gift for a grandchild or bird lover!

I was fortunate to be able to adopt the first hummingbird banded this season and I think I was as nervous as he was when Mr. Sargent put the tiny bird in my hand.

My adopted Ruby-Throat

Bob Sargent is the author of  the book, “The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird” and it can be purchased at the site. There are also a variety of hummingbird feeders and guide books for sale, including a spiral-bound book printed especially for the Hummer/Bird Study Group by National Geographic.

Many of these items are also for sale from the humorous ‘Catalog Page’ on their website

http://www.hummingbirdsplus.org/MissionHistory.html

I am headed back out there with friends tomorrow, with a prayer that the weather and mosquitoes will be better!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I will admit I was a little hurt when the hummingbird I rescued and raised did not stick around for the winter like Squeak  (my mother-in-law owned an autographed copy of “The Story of Squeak”). 

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird by the Neitzels

He stopped by for visits that summer and sat on the clothesline while I worked in the garden, but he left in the fall and never returned. He did, however, change my fascination with hummers into a lifelong love story.

So I was delighted when the Neitzels invited me over to see their way-stations for migrating hummingbirds.  They had, Janice boasted, over a hundred birds buzzing their deck in the evening.

Steve and Janice Neitzel are renowned locally for their avian photographs, some of which they generously donate to the Fort Morgan Volunteer Fire Dept fundraisers, in addition to other worthy causes. And they have shared some with me for the new Fort Morgan website.

Painted Bunting by the Neitzels

Their yard, in the family compound, is littered with dozens and dozens of bird feeders, bird houses, and bird baths.  It was then that I began to realize they didn’t have to travel very far to snap those amazing photographs, the birds were coming to them!

And they did come…  I watched in awe as Janice & her brother fed Harriet, the heron, and the little hummers buzzed the feeders on the back deck and front porch.

Harriet the heron

Neitzel’s feeder

I attempted to film the hummingbirds swarming around Janice as she held the feeder, but discovered too late I had selected the wrong setting on the camera. That is one sure way to tell the difference between a professional and a rank amateur!

 

 

 

Recent photo by the Neitzels

 The evening on the deck was a treat and I look forward to the bird banding at the Fort this weekend. But I’ll leave the photography to the pros!

You can visit Steve Neitzel’s beautiful website at:

http://alcoastbirdman.com/-/alcoastbirdman/

Go Go Goodyear!

 

blimp!

Oops,

 should that be

Win Win WindCreek?

I think  WindCreek is the new casino I pass on the interstate near Atmore. 

But the sound and the shadow on my deck reminded me of that memorable day Daddy took us for a ride on the Goodyear blimp.

WaterWatch, Alabama Style

Spoiler Alert

Don’t read this blog if you were a Millersburg biology student, a member of the Bourbon County Water Watch,  or my long-suffering son, it will just make you cry.

Almost 20 years ago we tested the water monthly in Ruddles Mill, where Stoner Creek joined Houston Creek to form the Licking River. We suffered freezing rain, raw sewage, sequoia-sized ragweed, slippery mud, a stinky ‘Ollie the Otter’ mascot suit, and (honest-to-God) junkyard dogs.

Water Watch Scientists

So last week I was delighted to join the dedicated volunteers of the Gulf Shores Water Watch and help with their  study of water quality in the lagoon.

New instrumentation

They didn’t suffer like we did with the old plastic case filled with chemicals, comparison test tubes, and freezing weather. They had amazing instruments, their own incubator, and wonderful digital microscopes.  (Of course, they test every two (2) weeks at four (4) different locations every time…  But they don’t fight those dogs)

We drove to each site in beautiful balmy weather (barefoot) and performed each test and collected the required water samples.  But the experience did not seem to equate with that at Ruddles Mills, we were ‘watching’ crystal clear water and exotic flora & fauna.  Of course, we were actually ‘watching’ for the deadly Red Tide (not to be confused with the Alabama football team) instead of routine farm runoff.

It was a big relief to learn the property owners were involved…. in Ruddles Mills we had to escape them.  Who could ever forget the angry pig farmer on Millersburg Road?

Site 2

And they also have the cooperation of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, and all the happy vacationers  who welcomed us as we arrived to do the testing.

Their microscopes would make even Ken Cooke envious. These Water Watchers returned to an outdoor  ‘lab’ at  a home on the canal and indentified and counted myriads of algae and plankton for several hours. And they have the ability to photograph and email questionable or interesting specimens to each other (and they actually do!).

Salt crystals emailed by Rebecca

These are amazing volunteers and they are totally committed to monitoring and improving the environment we all love.

 

 So, I invite all my former Ruddles Mill WaterWatch volunteers (including my sons – they endured the ‘Ollie the Otter’ costume for countless Scout meetings and Garden Clubs) to come to Fort Morgan and experience  a day with this group… you will be impressed!

Microscopic identification