A goal achieved

The wind is whooshing and whistling through the trees in our backyard tonight. It makes me a little nervous because the trees are so tall, but it makes Gulliver, our springer spaniel, more than a little nervous! He usually sleeps downstairs in his special corner, but right now, he is snoozing on my bed. This change of weather arrived earlier today with rain showers and a light breeze, and it has gone downhill since then.

After breakfast I drove out to the Holden Arboretum for a hike, but didn’t get far down the trail before I heard the pitter-patter of raindrops in the trees overhead. Nor did I get many pictures. When the raindrops began to accumulate on my Nikon, I decided it was time to retreat to my car and head for home. However, I did achieve one goal. I had set out to capture my first picture of a black squirrel, and I succeeded.

According to Wikipedia, the city of Kent (Ohio), which is about 40 miles south of us,

…developed a significant black squirrel population after 10 were legally imported from Canada in February 1961 by biologist Ralph W. Dexter to study whether they would upset the ecosystem on Northeast Ohio.

We don’t have them in our neighborhood, but since it has taken those squirrels 50 years or so to migrate 30 miles from Kent to the Holden Arboretum, I’m guessing we have another five years or more before they are climbing those tall trees in our backyard. The photograph I took today isn’t great. The rain and dull light didn’t make good conditions for photography, nor was the squirrel cooperative. I’ll try for a better picture another day, but here’s the one I snapped this morning…

The only other picture I have to share today is this downy woodpecker…

I was hanging around the feeding station with the chickadees, woodpeckers, and one little chipmunk because that’s where I spotted the black squirrel. When this downy flew over to the feeder, I was amused by his inquisitive expression. I imagined him saying, “Time to fill this feeder, guys. It’s getting kind of low on my favorite sunflower seeds” Later, looking at his picture on my computer screen, I was impressed by those claws and how adept he was at using them to get a grip on the feeder. He looks like he means business. I’m thinking the person in charge of filling the feeders better get on the ball.

It’s getting late, so that’s it for now. Thanks for visiting my corner of Ohio today, and thanks to everyone who visited yesterday, clicked on the “like” button or left a comment. A special welcome to my new subscribers. I was amazed and delighted to discover that I had been “Freshly Pressed.”