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native plants | birds

native plants | birds

seasonal biodiversity joys and benefits through the lens of native plants

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  • | WILD BIRD |
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    • WBRG Is Back On Air!
    • The Recap Chronicles II
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  • | SUMMER Blogs |
    • Goldfinches Clinch Silver for the Win
    • Milkweed bugs are true bugs, but what about the false one?
    • Summer Reign
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    • When Your To-Do List is Everything But Done
    • Autumn in the Air
  • | FALL Blogs |
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    • Can You Hear Me Now?
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Home | About This Blog | Plants I Can’t Live Without

Plants I Can’t Live Without

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Journeys from before

Samantha Bean

flutterbymeadows

🌿Nature writer sparked by wonder in every day—plants, birds, trees
What once felt unnoticed blooms into stories and photos
writer • blogger • birder
Meatstick is just the best squirrel ever. Meatstick is just the best squirrel ever.
My likes and followers have wings. What do yours h My likes and followers have wings. What do yours have? My fans migrate from thousands of miles away to catch a season. Do yours? My followers are about to double or even triple in numbers as nesting season begins. My likes and followers come in all sorts of colors. Shapes, sizes. Some can even fly backwards. Your yard shouldn't be about perfection. It should be about purposeful plants that provide for wildlife. I have quite the following. And the biodiversity feeds my soul. 💚🦋💚 Have you had this happen in your garden too? Check out @gardenforwildlife and the @nationalwildlife to get started on planting FOR THEM the wildlife. Not for YOU. #plantnative #nativeplants #biodiversity #stormwatermanagement
Tit-tit-Hooray! it's World Wildlife Day! The day Tit-tit-Hooray! it's World Wildlife Day! The day belongs to this one. Inquisitive and fastidious, vocal and always “busy”, the chickadee is a lovable little bird. A bird you can never be mad at, or hold a grudge against. Just sweet. Of the seven different species in North America, I have only seen two of them. For a bird I see literally every single day, I can’t believe there are so many that I haven’t seen. YET! I will get there. I had a really good laugh last week when I bought a bag of bird seed (in North America) and the bag advertised that it would attract blue tits. Well, they sort of nailed it. I guess. But the bag also said that the migrating tree swallows would need seeds to fuel their migrations. Well, that is a hard no, sorry. Are there not any wildlife proofreaders out there on false advertising on bird seeds? And if anyone can tell if this is a black-capped, or a Carolina, I would be forever grateful. 🫶 And if you made it to the end of this read, well, dang, it's the berries! #worldwildlifeday #wildlifeconservation #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifeonearth #backyardbirds
Spring cleaning doesn't just apply to our home. Ne Spring cleaning doesn't just apply to our home. Nest boxes need a good brushing out too. Now is the time! The Eastern Bluebirds are already scheduled on every Open House tour in town. #cavitynesters #birds #birdsofinstagram #nestboxes #habitatrestoration #nature #backyardbirds
Viewer discretion is advised. But lunch is served! Viewer discretion is advised. But lunch is served! These photos were taken on the street in my neighborhood on August 4 2023. #redtailedhawk #backyardbirds #naturephotography #nature #canonphotography
Sound Bytes and Bonus Tracks All the birds here ar Sound Bytes and Bonus Tracks All the birds here are sparrows. And there are plenty more. I have a picture of a fox sparrow but I can’t find it. Vesper sparrow, swamp sparrow, Lincoln sparrow, the list goes on. But seeing these particular species gives my brain a sense of season. Turns out the word “sparrow” comes from “spearwa”, an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “flutterer”. Some of these birds are year rounders, some are snowbirds and some are sun bums. Some birds are in my yard but I can’t really see them, I can only hear them hidden away in the tall grasses of the meadow. Birding by ear is a whole new level of birding. I think the word warbler actually loosely translates to “hides high in trees so you can’t spot them”.😂 The birds around my house are not just entertainment, they are harbingers of time and season. Noticing when some come and go are like flipping pages in a datebook. Before long the juncos will be on their way back north with the white-throated sparrows not long after. When I hear the distinct songs of some of these birds outside the windows it adds a magical sense of awareness to the time of year. As some fly north, others are coming in hot from the south. Spring migration will be heating up soon. We just invested in a handy new tool (hot off the chart) which allows you to stream and listen to the birds in your backyard AND from curated locations across the world. It's for bird & nature enthusiasts. On demand, with instant ID feedback, waterfall, and spectrum analyzer graphs. Have you heard of it? I am loving it so far, and the company doesn’t just stop the record label at birds! They also have tracking devices on butterflies and I think they don’t stop at things with wings. www.terralistens.com #listenwithterra #terralistens #terra #soundrecording #bioacoustics #birdid #birdidentification #birdcalls #birdcall #birdsounds #birdsongs #birdsong
The yard is very alive this morning. So much activ The yard is very alive this morning. So much activity. Before nesting begins the Eastern Bluebird sheds his passive gentlemanly demeanor for all out aggression. Such a docile sweet bird has a strong will when it needs it most. To the victor goes the spoils. #birds #easternbluebird
I spend many times throughout my week walking the I spend many times throughout my week walking the grounds of Princeton University. Near and dear to my own Environmental Studies degree (not from Princeton), it has been a treat to watch an entire project take shape as they build a new home for the ES & SEAS. Or Environmental Studies and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Apparently the new buildings are even connected underground in a continuous sequence, not unlike the roots of plants and trees. Even a brand new parking garage complete with Bird Safe glass and native plants along both pedestrian walkways did not go without Princeton Facilities doing a stellar job. Princeton does a lot of things right and when I once saw a person taking a photo and close up look at one of the shrubs in bloom, I quickly realized they may not have intended to, but Princeton is teaching people even outside those classrooms. #sustainability #rainwaterharvesting #nativeplants #pollinatorfriendly
On Your Lark, Get Set, GO! If you love watching bi On Your Lark, Get Set, GO! If you love watching birds, counting them is just as rewarding! The 2025 Great Backyard Bird Count is going on right now! Learn more at www.birdcount.org. Maybe you will see a Ruby-crowned kinglet like this fiery one photographed by @masonmaronphotography during the GBBC 2023! This is a worldwide event, so get out that smartphone, binoculars, and start your count now! Bring the whole family! As long as you count for at least 15 mins and log it on the birdcount website (or on the eBird app, or Merlin too) it counts! Join the @cornellbirds , @audubonsociety, and @birds.canada for the Great Backyard Bird Count, which runs through Feb. 17! Make sure your observations count: You can use either app: Merlin or eBird, just make sure you're signed in to the apps or on eBird desktop to ensure all your species count towards #GBBC2025.
Reddy Set Go (Plants and Birds Just Go Together) Reddy Set Go (Plants and Birds Just Go Together) This particular time in the winter garden is challenging to look past the brown and golds...the sullen attitude the cold and clouds are so good at bringing along. Vibrancy is not in the winter vocabulary. (But red is certainty vivacious when it wants to be! ♥️) But it was just this week that the male cardinal decided it was time to brush up on his vocals and start belting out his tunes for his lady. In the tallest tree he senses changes, and sings differently. And louder than he has in months. Red-tail hawks are seen in pairs perhaps and great-horned owls are already well into their courting. Love is in the air they say. The winter is far from over yet, but tiny clues are at the ready, like a pit crew for native plants. It won't be long before I will be able to take a clue from nature and notice the red oak finally shedding its leaves to ready for the spring growth. I'll look for signals in my early spring garden like the tiny magenta flowers of the hazelnut. They will all be there, at the ready, and before we know it the brown and gold of winter will be under pressure to maintain its stronghold. Spring will be ready. So very much ready. As will I. #nativeplants #garden #birds #backyardbirds
Holes for moles? Holes in the ground are not neces Holes for moles? Holes in the ground are not necessarily bad. The Northern Flicker is a migratory woodpecker that tends to dig holes in dirt or lawn instead of wood to search for food. In between these snowstorm dustings of late that don't amount to much other than messy cars and delayed openings, these white-rumped, flashes of yellow are digging up the yard and we don't mind them doing it one bit! They are wonderfully colorful birds. #northernflicker #woodpeckerwednesday
For the Kestrel Kickoff with @fohvos and @wildbird For the Kestrel Kickoff with @fohvos and @wildbirdresearch in an effort to Hatch A Hundred chicks this season, more boxes were built today by volunteers of all ages. Of the nearly 20 nestboxes built today, this is only a portion of those already constructed, and of course to add to the ones already out in the fields and farms in the local area. Those boxes around the countryside of my town and surrounding areas don’t build themselves. And with the help of many hands at the Calvary Baptist Church who kindly let us use their first floor as a woodshop, the Hatch A Hundred campaign is officially in full swing... kicked off on Super Bowl Sunday of course! #kestrels #conservation #nestboxes #volunteering
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What is Flutter By Meadows?

I love to chronicle my discoveries about creatures that share my home while describing the habitats that exist for them on this blog. With a BA in Environmental Studies, I learned the natural world was a special place, and I was inspired to share the beauty in my writings.

Seeing a migratory bird in our yard, or an opportunist native plant that chooses to grow, I find joy in the unexpected. An amateur bird and butterfly photographer...trying to document what I see as much as possible, sprinkled with a touch of humor. Also a member of the Garden Club of America.

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