Actually, I thought we had lost a lot more, but we did get an all-day rain a couple of weeks ago, and there are signs of life in some that I had thought were gone. Below is a list of the registered daylilies we lost. Most of them were established clumps. Rose Emily My Heart Belongs To Daddy (new, will be replaced) Mildred Mitchell Sabine Baur Platinum and Gold Malaysian Monarch Chama Valley Concorde Nelson Yesterday Memories Sherry Lane Carr Lady Neva Ruffled Perfection (one of my favorite dips) All The Magic Vintage Bordeaux Pat Soileau Pandora's Treasure Charles Johnston Galaxy Explosion Sublime Enchantment Surprise Encounter Mask of Eternity Marilyn Siwik Clothed in Glory Oktoberfest Evelyn Kloeris Tetra Connie Burton (new this year, never did thrive) Orange Velvet Chartered Course Tetra Siloam Ralph Henry (it never did well here) Seize The Night Fire Music San Juan Sunset Court Magician Bas Relief (the first one to die) Good Morning America Shaka Zulu Alpine Ruffles (new this year, but did not survive) Last Flight Out Darla Anita Last Frontier (huge clump - wasn't expecting this) America's Most Wanted Electric Marmalade Magic (new this year) Tune The Harp Romeo Is Bleeding Pure and Simple Winning Note Wishmaster (one tiny nub remaining - it might make it) Blue Pink Beauty (new clump this year) Scaramouche Dragon King Fortune's Dearest Pirate's Lady Debbie Smith (new this year) Watchyl Lavender Blue Felicia Grace Bonnie Holley Lord of Rings Beside Still Waters President Ronald Reagan I have been having health problems since January from what I believe was a bad reaction to the antibiotic Levaquin, so have been really under the weather since then. I wasn't able to get out and spray the daylilies with K-Phite this spring. When I first started dabbing pollen, I didn't keep any records of the pollen parents because it seemed like too much effort. I finally came to my senses half-way through the flowering period and started tagging the crosses. Due to so much wind and having to water, water, water, the tags were in pretty much of a mess when harvest time arrived. Jean, like you, once I get down on my garden cart I can't get back up again. Thanks to the after-effects of Levaquin, I can just barely get into my SUV now. So, if anything gets done in the daylily bed, I have to get help. I can manage to pull up a weed here and there. I even got brave this morning and planted two daylilies that arrived a couple of days ago. Some of the recorded crosses: America's Most Wanted x J. T. Davis Midnight Magic x Born To Run One Step Beyond x Casa des Juan Enchanting Esmerelda x Pathway to Paradise God Save The Queen x Casa des Juan Invitation to Immortality x Leslie Renee Greek Effect x Mildred Mitchell God Save The Queen x Carnival In Mexico Last Flight Out x Cerulean Warbler Inherited Wealth x Crazy Ivan Divine Comedy x Claudine's Charm Sherry Lane Carr x Angelwalker Spacecoast Gone Bulldoggin' x Out Of This World Enchanting Esmerelda x Belle Cook Desperado Love x Crazy Ivan Angelwalker x Spacecoast Gone Bulldoggin' Kate Carpenter x Out Of This World Invitation to Immortality x Song Triumphant Great White x Claudine's Charm God Save The Queen x Mildred Mitchell J. T. Davis x Malaysian Monarch Betty Warren Woods x Pathway To Paradise Invitation to Immortality x Carnival In Mexico Beautiful Edgings x Double Cranberry Ruffles Born To Run x Song Triumphant Scarlet Orbit x Victorian Lace Roses In Snow x Presumed Innocent Collectors Choice x Belle Cook Roman Cohort x Darla Anita Song Writer x Vatican City Mask of Time x God Save The Queen Tupac Amaru x Song Triumphant Song Writer x Mildred Mitchell Half-way through sprouting and planting seeds, I realized I couldn't possibly grow so many seedlings, so most of the seeds from recorded crosses were sent to a young couple in Mexico who are very interested in growing and hybridizing daylilies. They live in Comitan de las Flores near the Guadalajara border, and they tell me it is neither hot nor cold there - like a year-round spring. The daylilies are having a long blooming season there. They were still living here when we moved from the country last year, so I gave them a lot of the daylilies I couldn't bring with me. They were realy fascinated with the multiple-colored ones, stating that there were only flowers of just one color growing down where they were from. What I did not know was that the entire postal system in Mexico shuts down for a week during their national holiday on Sept. 16, so the seeds had to sit at their post office until it reopened the following week. I haven't heard from them yet if they made it O.K. Nancy

While traveling through the nature preserve, I finally encountered two pairs of brown headed cowbirds for the first time. Much to my surprise, the male looked like a smaller grackle with reverse coloring (Grackles have green heads and black / brown body, cowbirds have green body and brown heads). The female is about the same size as the male but is grayish brown. They sang rather sweetie and weren't too afraid of people. It let me get within 10 feet of them to get a closer look. In the old days, Cowbirds travel with bison herds, eating insects that associated with the herd. Their parasitic egg laying complimented their nomadic lifestyle. They have since moved into the suburbs. If they were parasitic, they would be considered beneficial birds since they eat a lot of insects. They travel with flocks of black birds like Ring wing and Grackles. Fortunately, even though I get a lot of blackbirds, I have only seen one cowbirds at the feeder. Apparently, Cardinals are nearly the perfect host, being the same size and diet. Laying eggs in a house finch nest will result in the fledging's death because they need more than a all vegetarian diet. Robins regularly eject cowbird eggs. On the downside, Cowbirds do apparently often check up on their fledging and retaliate by destroying the host's nest if the fledging or egg dies. Apparently, this is not malice but a way to force the host to build a new nest so that the cowbirds can build more eggs. Since cowbirds travel with Red wings and grackles, I wonder if they lay eggs in the red wing and grackle's nest.

Yes, indeed, poor thing. We had taken out the screens in that window but put them back up so that if a bird hits the bottom part, they have a bit of a 'cushion.' Trouble is the screens are only at the bottom, there's plain glass up above. I do think, however, that most of hits we've had have been on the bottom. Swainson's thrush...hmm, my bird book shows it to be brown. Size is probably right. We're tried various decals for the windows esp. that window since it's not too far from a feeder and right now there are several dogwood trees heavy with berries. But nothing seems to work. Ideas? One thing...I saw the bird hit and it did not hit straight on but came in from the side almost as if it was seeing its shadow and attacking. Thanks for your help. I think I saw another bird of the same type and have my outdoor camera set up to try to catch a picture of it. Linda...

Thanks guys! Perhaps someone will see the cowbirds in context, their association with bison, and maybe realize they aren't just a nuisance preying on unsuspecting parent's to be. To be fair however, the brown headed cowbird is a "homegrown" introduced species. They have expanded their range outwards from the central plains significantly since the days of American westward expansion. While once confined to the prairies, this adaptive bird now occupies almost all of North America. Such is the case with a number of bird species, though. Before the 20th century blue jays were found pretty much exclusively east of the Mississippi, but now can be found all the way to the Rockies. Similarly, northern cardinals have begun to hopscotch their way west, following man-made urban forests and waterways that, prior to human mitigation, flooded too regularly for the forests that now grow along their banks to establish. They show up on eBird lists around Denver with increasing regularity. In a less fortunate instance this is one of the ways that it is suspected that barred owls have found their way to the Pacific Northwest where they out-compete and contribute to the decline of their cousins, spotted owls. It seems I'm going off on a tangent here... As far as ticks go, Claire, I can't imagine that bird would pass up a meal. However, I have never found ticks to be a big problem here on the Front Range, we are after all a relatively "bug-free" region when compared to hotter and more humid climates. Perhaps there is simply no one who has ever asked the question of whether cowbirds eat ticks. It would be interesting. I do know possums (another critter that has started to migrate into Colorado) have a voracious appetite for ticks, and folks who can stand to keep a flock of screaming guinea fowl report that they do a fantastic job as well. Catherine, I consider myself to be among the luckiest people on earth to have to opportunity to do what I do every day. My only complaint would be that I would prefer a more "rural" location than right outside downtown Denver, but, it sure beats sitting in an office all day ;).