Welcome to Ohio!

Whew. The move is over! I have now left the east coast behind (goodbye Connecticut) and arrived in northern Ohio, where we'll be living until June. And now that we're here, I feel like I can gush a bit about our new (temporary) home. This place is amazing, and I anticipate many, many interesting sightings here in the months to come. Just wandering across the few acres of this property, there's woods, fields, a creek (and a bigger river off the property but still in walking distance), plus fruit bushes and trees. I'm sure I'll be driving to check out some parks and other areas while I'm living here, but mostly I plan to take huge advantage of the nature right outside my door. What a change from our tiny yard in Connecticut!

And the creatures are already proving just how different this place is. On our very first day here, a bedraggled Luna Moth showed up on our back door. I've mentioned recently how much I love huge moths, and I don't think I've ever seen a Luna Moth alive in the wild before. So even tattered as this creature was (it's missing entire chunks of its hindwings) it was an incredibly special sight indeed (photo courtesy of Paul):

When I found this same moth sitting on the ground later, I took the opportunity to get a little closer. Such an amazing and gorgeous creature! (It flew off soon after I took this next picture.)

The birds around this house are similarly fantastical. Baltimore Orioles and Scarlet Tanagers are downright common here (at least right now), along with the more familiar Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and Northern Cardinals. Eastern Phoebes are pretty much always perched on one fence post or another:

A bold House Wren hopped through a nearby tree and shook itself while I was exploring the field on a recent damp afternoon:

And how about these dramatic storm clouds today:

Oh yes, I am going to enjoy this place immensely. Welcome to Ohio!