A Black Raspberry Feast, and Other Early-Mid July 2023 sights

Let's go back to July! (It seems I'm currently four months behind with posting sights from our property -- that's actually not bad for me at this time of year!)

This was an especially great summer for wild berries around here. The Black Raspberry plants produced lots of fruit in first half of July, and in August the Blackberries produced just so many berries, way more than I've seen in previous years on our property. Of course, it helps that we're letting these plants gradually expand from the edges of the woods into the meadow and in a spot near the house; with more plants each year, it makes sense that there would also be more berries. But even the shaded plants in the woods produced many more berries this year than I usually see. In any case, and whatever the reason, this was the summer of berries, and there was plenty of fruit for both people and animals!

Happily, this year I also figured out that the Black Raspberry patch at the north side of our house is perfectly situated for picture-taking through an open window, with our house acting as a big blind. It's nice to be able to watch visiting creatures from nearby without scaring them away. On July 10, this Eastern Chipmunk spent several minutes grabbing and munching on Black Raspberries (what happened to your tail, chipmunk?):

Got one:

Here are some more pictures of this little fuzzy creature enjoying the Black Raspberry feast:

A family of Baltimore Orioles was making good work of these berries, too. This juvenile oriole helpfully posed in the open for a bit, showing off its orange/yellow-splotched breast and berry-stained beak:

This young bird's wings and back are so neat and pretty:

And it looks like this bird even got some sort of insect snack in between berries:

This Rose-breasted Grosbeak (an adult female? or juvenile?) came near the Black Raspberry patch during this photo-shoot, too, but I'm not sure whether it was actually eating the berries. I like how pretty this bird looks perched here among still-green Chokecherry berries and glowing white Common Elderberry blossoms in the background:

On July 13, I spent some more time watching the Black Raspberry patch through the open window, and although I didn't get any more pictures of birds eating berries, I did see this cute Chipping Sparrow very close up as it foraged in the mowed area of our lawn:

And this Tiger Swallowtail made a lovely sight on Purple Coneflower blossoms:

And I couldn't resist taking a picture of the nearby Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervivens), blooming for the first time after I planted it here last year; what a beautiful plant, and native (and yes, it was a big hit with the hummingbirds this year):

On July 19, this handsome American Robin perched on top of the Coral Honeysuckle's arbor with its beak full of honeysuckle berries, but these from the non-native bushes that grow invasively around here:

Here are a few other assorted sights from early-mid July.

A soaking wet Blue Jay emerging after a rainstorm on July 3:

A mother White-tailed Deer and one of her fawns (the second fawn was also nearby but outside of the frame) munching on the Black Raspberry plants (and maybe berries?) next to the house on the evening of July 6:

A juvenile Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the apple tree near our deck on July 10:

This young grosbeak had a nice grooming session while I was nearby, so here are several pictures of this bird in many interesting poses, showing its lovely yellow underarms and other usually hidden features of its costume:

I love having families of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks around our yard every summer, even though the young birds always take some bites out of the tallest-growing plants in my garden -- especially peas and winter squashes, and sometimes they nibble on other vegetables, too. Actually, I think these birds helped me out with my squashes this year: they nipped off the growing ends of my most vigorous squash plants when they reached the top of the trellis, which made the plants send out a bunch of new growth points, and these plants ended up making way more flowers and fruit than I was expecting. Thanks, young grosbeaks!

Finally, here's a picture of a baby Eastern Phoebe in its nest in our shed on July 13 (there are some more babies hiding down in the nest, too); this was our phoebe pair's third nesting attempt this year, and the only successful one, after the first two attempts were parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds:

I'll close this post with some video clips from the trail camera in our woods, taken on July 5-18, and featuring a Blue Jay eating Black Raspberries that were growing next to the trail, a raccoon and three babies, a Virginia Opossum, an adult Ruffed Grouse with excellent camouflage (and I think some babies rustling around in the undergrowth), a Wild Turkey, and a Gray Squirrel also munching on Black Raspberries -- a fitting end to this berry-full post:

 

It's nice to look back at the height of summer as the days are now getting shorter and colder. And I still have more summer sights to share. More in a future post!

Niagara Falls Nature

Paul and I had a mini-vacation in Niagara Falls this past weekend. We'd each visited this place when we were little, but neither of us had any clear memories of it, and we figured hey, why not take advantage of our northeastern Ohio location and drive a few hours to see some crazy impressive landscapes. So that's what we did. And the falls were very impressive indeed:
 

We weren't thrilled by the surrounding cities and (mostly rundown) tourist traps, but everything we saw of the actual falls -- on both the American and the Canadian sides -- was amazing. I love the color of the Niagara River:
 

That's a lot of water! (Note the tiny people in the top left corner of the next picture for scale.)
 

We even caught the tail end of the fall foliage, and the displays on some of the islands in the river were really fantastic:
 

All that mist made for some cool rainbows when the sun came out:
 

The waterfalls were awesome, of course, but I was also very curious to see what kinds of creatures live in this tumultuous place. I didn't see much diversity (perhaps because of all the human activity), but there were some cool animals around nonetheless. Below the falls, Double-crested Cormorants and Bonaparte's Gulls foraged in the water and rested on the rocks:
 

I'd never seen Bonaparte's Gulls before, and I think they're pretty darn cute with those bright legs and little black ear-spots (part of their winter costume):
 

There were lots of gulls around -- Bonaparte's and larger Ring-billed Gulls -- and sometimes they seemed to be part of the falls' roiling mist:
 

A few black Gray Squirrels were running around in the park. I don't get to see these guys very often!
 

One ledge in the middle of the American Falls had a little less rushing water than the surrounding areas, and when we got up near the top of these falls, I was absolutely astonished to see a few Mallards and Ring-billed Gulls foraging on this ledge:
 

I mean... what?? I know these are birds and they can fly and everything, but this is the edge of a gigantic waterfall!! Here's a view of those same falls from across the river; the birds' ledge is right in the middle (and again note the tiny people in the bottom right of the picture for scale):
 

Seriously, ahhh! I'm getting vertigo just thinking about that high/slippery/downward-rushing spot! These are definitely some daredevil ducks:
 

So yeah, Niagara Falls is a pretty cool place. I'm glad I got to check it out!

Ode to a Red Cedar

We're now packing up our last boxes and getting ready to say goodbye to the apartment where we've lived for the past four years. There have been some cool things about this place (my garden comes to mind), but there's only one thing that I've really loved about it, something I don't think I'll ever quite be able to duplicate, and that's the two Red Cedar trees outside the windows. These trees have been the stage for many of my blog posts over the years because -- even sandwiched as they are between two houses -- they attract an amazing variety of creatures, giving us close-up (just feet away) eye-level views of visiting and resident birds (and more!) in every season. Seeing and identifying Yellow-rumped Warblers in these trees in our first year here was one of the things that got me really paying attention to and learning more about birds.

I'm going to miss living next to these trees very much. So to try to remember what it's been like to live here for the past few years, here's a compilation of all the posts I've made featuring these trees and the creatures they've brought to our windows, season by season. (Plus one new sighting that I haven't had a chance to post about yet.) This isn't everything we've seen here, of course, just everything that's stuck around long enough for me to photograph it. Dear Red Cedar trees, thank you for everything, and I only hope future human residents appreciate you as much as we have!

In spring:

• Migration brings unusual and fancy visitors through the Red Cedar's branches, including Yellow-rumped Warblers (Mar 2012), Pine Warblers (Apr 2012), sleek Cedar Waxwings (Apr 2013), and brilliant Palm Warblers (Apr 2014).

 

• On some soaking rainy day in late April, orange-tentacled aliens (actually cedar-apple rust galls) appear (Apr 2012).
• Sleepy Chipping Sparrows rest on these branches (Apr 2011).
• And molting American Goldfinches forecast warmer weather (Mar 2014).

In summer: 

• The year's new youngsters show up to explore this part of the yard, including
  baby Tufted Titmice (Jun 2011) and teenaged Northern Cardinals (Aug 2013), while some parents -- like this scraggly Black-capped Chickadee (Jul 2013) -- show signs of wear.
• With our window feeder next to these sheltering trees, resident seed-eating birds come in for especially close views, including Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and Downy Woodpeckers (Aug 2013).

• During occasional (or, in recent years, more than occasional) heat waves, panting House Sparrows (Jul 2011) and Black-capped Chickadees (Sep 2012) hang out in these branches trying to keep cool.
• Titmice bathe and forage here as well (Aug 2012).
• This summer, these trees have become a daily relaxing parlor for a couple of Gray Squirrels. Usually, these squirrels doze on separate branches, but a few days ago, they settled onto the same branch for a grooming session:

Fall is a huge time for these trees:

• These branches become a prime insect-foraging spot for songbirds on their southward migration. The wide variety of birds I've seen here include American Redstarts (Sep 2012), Red-eyed Vireos and Magnolia Warblers (Sep 2012), Yellow-throated Vireos (Sep 2013), Northern Parulas, Black-throated Green Warblers, and Cape May Warblers (Sep 2013), Red-breasted Nuthatches and Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Oct 2012), Blackpoll Warblers (Oct 2012), and Golden-crowned Kinglets (Oct 2012).

A Cape May Warbler in September 2013

• The biggest draw for these trees, though, comes from their crops of berry-like cones that ripen in October. One of these trees is male and the other is female, and perhaps their closeness helps to optimize pollen dispersal and cone production on the female tree. Tons of creatures seem to love these things, and we end up with a festival outside our windows. Feasting animals include Northern Cardinals, American Robins, and Gray Squirrels (Oct 2011), Northern Flickers (Oct 2012), Cedar Waxwings (Oct 2013), Yellow-rumped Warblers (Oct 2012 and 2013), huge flocks of Fish Crows (Oct 2013), and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (Oct and Dec 2013).

A feasting Yellow-Rumped Warbler in October 2013

• Fall visitors to the window feeder include Carolina Wrens (Oct 2013) and Black-capped Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos cleaning up seeds dropped on the rooftop (Dec 2013).
• Assorted other sights include White-breasted Nuthatches (Nov 2011) and Blue Jays that make funny sounds (Sep 2012)

In winter:

• Adorable birds look even more adorable as they forage among the Red Cedars' snow-covered branches, including House Finches (Dec 2013), Black-capped Chickadees (Jan 2013), Dark-eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinals, and Tufted Titmice (Feb 2013), and Northern Mockingbirds (Mar 2013).
• Several birds continue to clean up the remaining cones from fall's bounty, including Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (Jan 2014), Yellow-rumped Warblers (Jan 2014), and European Starlings that have gradually (Feb 2012) won me over (Jan 2014) to their crisp newly-feathered beauty.

• Snowfall brings crazy bird activity at the window feeder (Dec 2013).
• The cedar trees serve as part of a highway for our acrobatic Gray Squirrels all year, but the leafless maple tree next door makes the squirrels' dramatic approaches and leaps easier to see (Feb 2011).

And the year starts over again with spring. Red Cedar trees, you are the best, and I hope you will continue to enliven this place for many years to come!

Pileated Woodpecker at Bent of the River

Friday was a lovely (if a bit chilly) late fall day, and I decided it was high time for a woods walk. (How has it been over a month since my last walk in the woods? Not cool! I was feeling some serious woods withdrawal.)

I ventured out to the Bent of the River Audubon sanctuary, where I had a couple of absolutely lovely visits this past summer. The fields are now brown, and the trees are mostly bare, but this place remains wonderful and welcoming.

There were creatures all over the place, but I'll just skip right to my favorite. Pileated Woodpecker!

OK, Pileated Woodpecker butt. Let's try again. Pileated Woodpecker!

:) I think Pileated Woodpeckers are one of the best things around, and I so often see them only as flashes of big black and white wings or hear them hammering in the distance. This lady and I kept crossing paths during my walk, and I'm very glad she decided to stay and work on this tree fairly close to me on our last meeting! This is the first time I've been able to watch one of these awesome creatures for any length of time and at anything resembling closeness. I love her black and white stripes, of course, and that brilliant red crest, but now I have other things to admire, too, like the scale-like pattern on her belly, and the small yellow spot at the base of her beak.

I couldn't very well just walk away with such a (relatively) cooperative Pileated Woodpecker right there, so here are a couple of videos of the lady at work. She has quite the powerful stroke with that beak!

 




While I was watching this woodpecker, a big Gray Squirrel came ambling down a tree a few feet away from me and looked at me curiously:

On another part of my walk, I came across this rather zealous Eastern Chipmunk:
 

Birds were foraging all over, too, including a couple of funny little Brown Creepers:
 

And the fields were filled with sparrows. Hello, handsome Song Sparrow:
 

There's a lot of gray and brown out there right now, and many cool things to see. I'm definitely adding Bent of the River to my more-frequently-visit list!
 

 

Modeling Squirrel

I don't think I'm crazy -- the Gray Squirrels in our yard are looking particularly handsome right now:
 

I just love those dark red faces, pale gray and white bodies and bellies, and super fluffy tails. And they're pretty fat now, too, which can only mean extra cuteness:
 

Incidentally, we had our first snow of the season yesterday, and it was a pretty significant one (several inches of dense stuff), although it's quickly melting already. I love the way everything looks in the snow, and I'm hoping this winter will be a snowy one!

Early Spring Sights at Southford Falls

Yesterday morning, I felt like a change of scenery from my usual walking areas, so I drove out to Southford Falls State Park, a really lovely park I've visited a few times before, but never at this time of year. This park has a nice pond (which Connecticut's DEEP was stocking with trout while I was there), a stream with scenic waterfalls, and plenty of trails through a rock-strewn deciduous forest. With plants now blooming, there were some very pretty sights to be seen. I like how the red/orange flowers on this fallen maple tree compliment the dead leaves (retained from last year) of its beech neighbor:

The Spicebush buds were just opening in the woods, making clouds of floating yellow blossoms:

And on the ground, some spring wildflowers were getting ready to bloom -- I think I came just a day or two too early to see the actual flowers, but now I know to look for them next time! Tiny leaves of some violets were unfolding:

And Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa) was sending up buds not quite yet ready to open:

On the shores of the pond, a couple of Song Sparrows were hopping around in some blooming alder bushes:

Song Sparrows are quite pretty little birds on their own:

But they were extra lovely among the alder's curtains of bright orange catkins and smaller pink female flowers:

There were plenty of other creatures around, too. Two male Mallards were chasing each other across the pond:

And when one male Downy Woodpecker landed on a tree in front of me (such a pretty bird!)...

A second male flew in after it, and the two chased each other around the area -- I guess it's time for males to stake out territories!

And while I was watching all this, someone was watching me. (Hello up there!)

In the shallow edge of the pond, dozens of pebble-sized wirligig beetles (family Gyrinidae) were spinning around on the surface of the water:

While I was watching the beetles, a little nose and eyes poked up out of the water and looked at me:

And then right after I took this picture, the little Painted Turtle dove back down into the mud and leaves beneath the water.

I startled this diurnal firefly (genus Ellychnia) and it hurried up a tree:

In looking up this insect to identify it, it turns out that while it's in the firefly family, it's actually not a species of firefly that can light up. Wouldn't it make sense to give it a different name, then?

As I was on my way out of the park, I noticed a patch of ground next to the path that was all dug up, and this totally bizarre creature was lying there, dead:

I have never seen anything like this thing before. Or at least, I thought I hadn't. It was big, almost as long as my finger, and clearly suited for life underground, with huge claw/spade-like front legs and a very hard shell on its head and legs. When I touched it, it reminded me of a crustacean, very lobster-like. But as alien as this thing seemed, now that I know what it is, I can actually see its resemblance to its close insect relatives. It's a mole cricket, in the same family as crickets and grasshoppers. Here's a closer look at those front legs:

Apparently these insects are quite common, but because they live underground, we hardly ever see them. I guess some bigger predator must have dug this one up, chewed on its soft parts, and left the hard bits alone. What a strange and interesting discovery!

And now it's that time of year when everything starts to constantly change and grow. I don't know when I'll next get the chance to be out in the woods, but I know that when I do get out there, there will be plenty of new things to see!