Outdoor Wednesday … Kudzu and Bird Eggs

 

 

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday

Hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer

Be sure to stop by and see all those participating this week.

Bird Eggs & Georgia Kudzu 

Well the rain has finally eased up here in my part of Georgia..  The area rivers have returned to normal an all of the flooded areas have dried up. This is a picture of the Yellow River which overflowed it’s banks into a playground located here in Covington.

 

Back to normal.. Beautiful blue skies filled with fluffy white clouds.

My Topsy Turvy is thriving.. although I think he’s being a rebel about growing upside down.. and is trying to turn upward. This is my first time ever using one of these.. I’ll keep you posted on it’s progress. How do you like my nifty lil post Hubby made for me.. He’s so handy!

This is one of 6 Catalpa Trees that we have on our property.. If you’re not familiar with what a Catalpa Tree is.. Let me clue you in a bit.  Here in the south.. Catalpa is  pronounced Catawba and twice a year these trees fill up with hundreds of Catawba Worms and they're a hot commodity for southern fishermen. The fat worms draw catfish like crazy…They just can't seem to resist. As soon as the Catawba worms arrive I’ll be sharing those with you.

This is one of 3 bird houses that we  currently have occupied. This one is a Carolina Wren nest and has 6  lil speckled baby eggs.

This next one I had just hung outside for decoration but a lil black capped chickadee couple built in it and I couldn’t get inside to check on how many eggs.

This next house is a bluebird box that Ashley built a few years ago.. and this is the second nest built in it this year. These are 4 lil bluebird eggs.

Mom & Dad Bluebird tending to the nest.. Babies aren’t here yet but hopefully they’ll be here very soon.

 

Since we keep our yard treated for insects there really isn’t anything for these lil guys to eat in our yard so I keep them stocked up on Mill Worms that I get from Petsmart.

 

These suckers are huge .. so I normally only put out a few at a time… and they really really love em.

A few weeks ago I posted some pictures of a train tressel that was getting covered with Kudzu.. A lot people commented on how beautiful it was. I’m not a fan of Kudzu.. in fact I hate it. So I thought I’d post a few pictures of  some of it’s pro’s and con’s.

Pro # 1

Here is a picture of my neighbors chain link fence that divides his property from those on the other side of him. Notice how the kudzu covers the fence and makes a privacy barrier.

 

The uncovered chain link fence below is mine.. Even though my neighbors is neatly trimmed and I love the privacy of those on the other side.. I won’t be letting mine get covered. Reason because this would be Con #1.. Snakes! Yep Snakes.. they love love love the protection and coolness of the kudzu from the hot Georgia heat.

Con # 2

It takes over..  an over.. an over..

 

 

Everything in its path!

Here are a few facts about Kudzu..

Kudzu was brought into the southern states from Japan.

Our government paid farmers to plant kudzu from 1935 into the 1950's to help control erosion, use it as an herb, and kudzu as food for cattle.

 

 

The government realized kudzu was invasive and would eat the entire southeastern USA in one quick gulp...so they said...don't plant kudzu any more.

There is no biological way to kill Kudzu.

Kudzu grows as much as 60 feet a summer, about a foot a day.

 

Not so pretty anymore huh? lol

 

Thanks for dropping by for my addition to Outdoor Wednesday..  Make sure you head over to Susan’s and see what all everyone else has in store today.