A pair of bluebirds made my heart happy today! I haven’t seen a sign of either one in months, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him sitting on top of the nesting box this morning.
And then she joined him and together they checked out the neighborhood.
She peered into the nest, and I wondered if she would approve of what she saw inside.
Disappearing inside to take a better look around, she inspected the box while he perched on top to survey the neighborhood, maybe keeping an eye out for the marauding neighborhood cat.
She climbed inside the nest, leaving him standing watch on the rooftop.
We put up this new bluebird box six months ago, hoping a pair of bluebirds would move in and raise their young where we could enjoy their family shenanigans. Unfortunately, shortly after the new box was installed some aggressive house sparrows moved in and chased the bluebirds away.
But today the bluebirds returned for another look at the box. After Mrs. B. completed her inspection, they both flew away, so I have no idea what her decision was. For now, I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed, hoping they will return. Meanwhile, as I said, it made my heart happy to see them in our backyard today.
The blue jay landed, but didn’t hang around for long, just long enough for me to get one good shot. Then he took off, and was replaced by a woodpecker.
…who posed long enough for us to see the red feathered “cap” on top of his head. Apparently he is proud of the bright red feathers, and just wants us to know he’s the king of the backyard birds…at least for a moment or two.
That’s it for today’s backyard birding. We’ve been blessed with a long stretch of sunny weather and crisp air, but the weather made an abrupt change overnight from sunshiny days and a lovely full moon in the evening, to cool drizzly weather. Although the change was sudden (and not altogether welcome), I’m holding out hope for more of October’s bright blue weather.
‘Bye for now!
~Trail Walker
PS I almost forgot to mention that I posted some pictures from Sunday’s trail walk on my website. You can see them here. The Autumn colors were great. After the walk, we all went out for pizza. A nice ending to the weekend.
As it does every year, last week the calendar heralded the time for our “friends fall field trip”. Some years we drive around the countryside in Ashtabula County, visiting covered bridges or we be-bop around other scenic locations in Lake and Geauga Counties. This year rain was threatening, and we got a later start, but we headed out anyway and had a great time. I just didn’t take as many pictures. Actually only a few, and three of them were these mini-jack-o-lanterns I spotted at the farmer’s market where we made one of our stops. I couldn’t resist the bright colors and funny expressions on these creations.
Despite the fact that it was October, we haven’t had much in the way of crisp, cool weather, and except for the little pumpkins, we didn’t see any significant fall color. However, that didn’t keep us from enjoying the scenery and tasting the food at a popular neighborhood restaurant and a couple of farmer’s markets. At one market, this bee-control device caught my eye. It was obviously effective, and inexpensive as well, because there were plenty of cucumbers for sale.
Along the way, I also spotted a mural that included the many covered bridges for which Ashtabula County is known.
At another stop, although still stuffed from the lunch, I purchased a chocolate muffin and cup of coffee and parked myself in a rocker on their covered patio to enjoy the view. (I can never resist a chocolate muffin and this was a particularly good one.) The view from my rocker included a pond surrounded by (mostly green) trees, and one lovely orange one. Walking back to the car, I snapped a picture of the pond and one Halloween-themed tree. I wish I had taken more pictures, but that’s it for our 2019 friend’s fall field trip.
Today’s temperature hovered around 90 degrees as I headed out for a trail walk in Holden Arboretum. Although most of the trees along the trail are still green, a few, like the beauty above, are definitely announcing the arrival of Autumn. Am I looking forward to cooler temperatures? You bet I am! Hands down, Autumn is my favorite season, and I’m anticipating some colorful trail walks during October…and into November.
Here are the first pictures for my Autumn album:
And finally, one of my favorite trees: the sugar maple. Every year, I photograph the transition of this magnificent tree from summer into autumn and eventually winter. Here’s the first picture, still dressed in green garb, but preparing for the dramatic change coming in the months ahead.
That’s it for week one of this year’s Autumn Album. If you are a trail walker who loves Autumn, come back next week when I will share more Autumn images.
Unlike many backyard birders, I don’t often see multiple hummingbirds when I look out the kitchen window. This month has been different, and today was a really lucky day.
Enjoy the happy hummers and a couple of misfits at the end of today’s post.
And now for today’s surprises…
That’s it for today’s backyard birding post.
See you soon!
For the past month, these Woody Woodpecker look-alikes have been regularly visiting the trees in our backyard. They’re not nesting here, but every day, morning, noon, and night, they fly in, help themselves to the woodpecker blocks and suet cakes, and provide us with entertainment. Just look at this pair. I’m no woodpecker expert, but I am guessing, from their behavior, that they are juvenile woodpeckers.
I’m not sure if they are playing, attacking each other, or maybe engaging in some kind of romantic ritual. Hopefully someone can explain it so we will all know.
When I watch them cavort from tree to tree, I’m reminded of my days as a middle-school teacher. There’s never a dull moment!
Enjoy their antics as you watch this slide show. Some of their expressions are hilarious…
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That’s it for today’s backyard birding post. I hope you enjoyed your visit.
Since early June I’ve been off the trail more than on it! Two months have passed in what has been a very busy summer, and I have chronicled very little of it. Shame on me! So to get started again, I am posting a few pictures from my backyard birding collection, starting with a few hummers who stopped by the feeders yesterday:
Like the hummingbirds, the pileated woodpeckers, both male and female, have visited every day for weeks, early morning, again at lunchtime, and finally in the evening. Take a look:
And yesterday the bird featured at the top of this post and also below made an appearance. The bluejay I recognize, by sight and sound, but the other bird is not a regular at my backyard feeders, so I’m not sure what it is. Can someone please tell me?
That’s all for today, Trail Walkers.
See you soon!
Another overcast day, but even so, a walk in the woods is a good way to while away an hour or two, and a much better use of my time than lounging in an easy chair reading yesterday’s news in the Plain Dealer (or today’s news for that matter). Even though the dampness may turn to drizzle at any moment, I find trailwalking preferable to the alternative.
So down the trail I trod, avoiding the puddles and slippery mud, curious to see what I will find along the trail today. I hadn’t gone far before I heard some mysterious munching, and, following the sound, I spied this little long-tailed critter enjoying a feast.
A chipmunk enjoying her breakfast.
In my opinion, a chipmunk is a cute critter, although some people won’t agree. They are small but destructive, and, if one finds a secret entrance into your house, its ability to create havoc far outweighs its size. Many years ago, at the beginning of summer, one chewed on the wires and totally destroyed the AC in our daughter and son-in-law’s home. That was a hot (and very expensive) experience, so chipmunks are not welcome anywhere in their neighborhood. However, I will categorize them as cute, IF they stay outside and I only see them along the trail in the park.
Farther down the trail, I spotted this chipper.
Some movement off the trail to my right led to the discovery of a much larger and very familiar critter that was also enjoying her breakfast.
Whitetail deer are native to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Ecuador, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. I didn’t realize how extensive their range is until I looked it up. I just knew they are common critters in northeast Ohio, so common that it is not surprising to look out the kitchen window and find one standing on the other side of the window staring in at me. (And, incidentally, nibbling on the expensive seed cylinders we hang out for the birds). The whitetails are another animal I prefer to see in the park, but they have no trouble crossing the road and wandering through our neighborhood. In this recent blog post I wrote about a fawn I spotted in our backyard, apparently left there temporarily by a doe that went off exploring for a few hours.
The tiniest critter I photographed along the trail today was spotted by Bob, who, along with Mabel, was leading our walk today. (You can read more about Mabel on this blog post. This critter, a daddy-longlegs, is so common I would have walked right past it, but Bob thought it deserved a mention in today’s blog, so here it is.
In my brief (online) research to clarify the name of this critter, I learned that they are not poisonous and apparently do not bite humans. I also learned that there are several variations of these long legged critters and that one common name for them is “harvestmen” and another is “cellar spiders” because they can be found in cellars. If you are curious and want to know more, you can start your research here. You might even decide to become an arachnologist (a scientist who studies spiders and other arachnids), but personally, my skin is already crawling, and I’m ready to move on to another common variety of woodland critter: birds.
The birds in Chagrin River Park are regularly featured on my blog, and today I saw a cardinal, a catbird…
Northern cardinalCatbird
…and a wood thrush, which was so cooperative I was able to capture several pictures of it. The wood thrush, which is the official bird of the District of Columbia, is closely related to the American robin, and obviously eats worms. Click on one of the pictures below to take a look at a larger version to see if you agree that it is a beauty.
That’s all the news and pictures from the trail for today.
We woke up this morning and it wasn’t raining…finally! So after breakfast, we put Mabel on her leash and drove to Chagrin River Park for a morning walk. The first stop was the deck overlooking the Chagrin River, just to see how high the water was after yesterday’s rainfall. It wasn’t flooding, but it was pretty high, and it looked like this: .
On the path to the deck, there was a little excitement when Mabel caught sight of a rabbit, but to her disappointment it hopped away and disappeared in the underbrush. Unfortunately for Mabel, she was attached to a leash and the other end of the leash was firmly gripped in Bob’s hand, and he wasn’t about to chase a rabbit through the weeds.
So they headed down another trail… …
…where they encountered a lot of dogs. That could have been fun, but Mabel absolutely isn’t allowed to have meet-and-greets with strange dogs for fear she will be r-a-m-b-u-n-c-t-i-o-u-s. Things could get out-of-control you know! So, to Mabel’s dismay, every time a new dog came along, Bob stepped off the trail and took Mabel with him…until they went past. In Mabel’s opinion, that was no fun!
But then, something really exciting happened! A huge group of cross-country runners came dashing down the trail toward them, and one of the boys paused and leaned over to greet Mabel and scratch her ears, and, as they ran past, one of the girls called out, “Your dog is SO CUTE.”
That, Trail Walkers, was easily the high point of Mabel’s walk this morning.
Near the end of the trail, Mabel spotted her friend Louie…
but to Mabel’s disappointment, Louie’s owner didn’t stop for their usual meet-and-greet. And to Mabel’s further disappointment, Dave, the friend Bob would always stop and talk to, sometimes for a very long time, wasn’t anywhere to be seen on the trail. Dave doesn’t walk a dog, but he always pulls a treat out of his pocket for Mabel. As you may know, Mabel is on a diet (not her idea), so her quota of treats is really low, and that makes Dave one of her favorite park people. Not seeing Dave, and not getting a treat, was a double disappointment!
Finally, it was time to head back to the parking lot for the ride home, but to Mabel’s delight, Bob decided they needed a little more exercise. Consequently, he headed to the big stairs that lead to the top of the sledding hill. Mabel loves to climb the stairs because she gets to be the leader as they charge up the hill, and Mabel especially loves to be in charge…at any time and in any place! On really good days, Bob will climb the stairs two or three times, which, in Mabel’s book, is really fun and a great way to end the morning walk.
So that’s it for today, Trail Walkers. We’ve reached the end of the trail. Things look a little different when you traverse the trail on four feet and closer to the ground. I hope you’ve enjoyed Mabel’s version of the morning trail walk.
I wish I had taken more pictures, but that’s it for our 2019 friend’s fall field trip.
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