Hello trail walkers! In my last post, I told you that the time has come to open the closet and sort out my hats, gloves, and hand warmers if I intend to continue trail walking, now that early Autumn has morphed into chilly winter weather. Last week we experienced our first snowfall, a real …
Backyard birds online again
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 …
Three of a kind
I'm always surprised when the pileated woodpecker appears at the backyard feeder. His visits haven't been very regular since last fall when we had to cut down the tall tree he liked to land on when he flew in. After landing on the tall oak tree, he and his mate would often fly across our …
Too cold for trailwalking
As I warned in my last post, right after spotting the red-bellied woodpecker above, our temperatures plummeted and for the past several days have hovered around zero (F). Yesterday the high temp here along the south shore of Lake Erie peaked at zero degrees Fahrenheit and went down from there. The "feels like" temp, given …
Breakfast time at the Backyard Buffet
It was a dreary morning, but the Baltimore oriole appears unfazed by the wet weather. His bright orange coat is still looking good and adds a little cheer to the backyard buffet when he landed on the dish that holds his grape jelly. On the other hand, the pileated woodpecker struggles to make his usual …
Spring migration was in full swing…
Two weeks ago, when the annual spring migration was in full swing, birders were all agog over their unique opportunities to see and photograph unusual warblers and other birds rarely seen in our area. Many parks celebrated with special events, and birders planned field trips to prime location along the shoreline. I didn't have time to …
Woodpecker morning
A quick look out the kitchen window this morning reassured me that Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird are still around. Both were sitting on the new bluebird nesting box I wrote about in yesterday's blog post. They didn't stay long enough for a photo opp, but I was very happy to see them. Next the pileated …
Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird go house hunting
My last 10 days have been busy, so busy I haven't had any time to post my pictures of the drama in our backyard, but Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird have been even busier. Their hunt for suitable housing has been a challenging one. Mr. Bluebird took the initiative in the house hunt. Maybe his …
A guest for lunch
One of our neighborhood big birds, the pileated woodpecker, came for lunch today. He swooped in for a landing on top of the hopper feeder, and Bob spotted him feasting on the suet cake that is right below his "landing pad." Leaning over the end of the feeder, he would grab a bite of suet, take …
You can set the table, but…
...you don't always get the guests you expected! After breakfast, I cleaned the kitchen and went outside to prepare the backyard buffet with a delicious feast for the birds. Apparently the feast was appealing enough to attract the attention of a little herd of deer that wandered up from nearby Chagrin River Park. After the deer were finished …
SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL 