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Buttermilk Falls
We stumbled upon this state park in Ithaca the other day. I pulled into the entrance to turn around, and the girls took one look and wanted to explore.
So we did.
A trail, mostly stone stairs, led up beside the falls for 3/4 of a mile or so. It was filled with fairylandish vistas; around every corner was a new scene to exclaim over. Out of the rock walls beside the trail, water trickled. It was one of the wettest and most lush walks we’d ever taken.
Can you see the bird’s nest disguised on this wall? 
Pinnacle Rock The walk down was, in a way, more challenging. It’s hard to have the brakes on all the way. The trail down also skirted the falls much more widely, and we couldn’t see them very often. But we surely got an eyeful on the way up.
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Green Heron
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Goldfinches
They’re like falling stars in the back yard — bright fluffs of yellow with dramatic black accents.
The volunteer sunflower patch that grew beneath our bird feeder looks pretty rag tag, but this is when it gets most interesting to the goldfinches.
The females are much more discreet, but equally fond of sunflower seeds. We have several feeders with them, but the finches prefer to harvest their own.
Sometimes, polite requests to share are met with stony refusal.
Their chatter always makes me smile. They’re later nesters, and this time of year they are especially evident. They’re one of the treasures around here.
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Bean there, done that
This little rabbit loves to hide out in our beans. They are a perfect cover, and the fence that we erected to keep him and his kin out is in all probability a nice protection against the neighborhood foxes and cats.
As far as I can tell he’s not actually eating beans or bean plants, but rather weeds. We saw him on Sunday for the first time, and I suggested that my daughter catch him in her butterfly net.
We let him go outside the fence, and he hid in a hole in the wall. But he may already be outgrowing that mode of escape.
I need to get some finer mesh fencing for that half of the garden — like what’s around the lower half to keep out the woodchuck I observed lifting cucumber vines in both paws and chomping down with relish. But meantime, this is a cute little garden ornament, and as far as I can tell he’s not doing much if any harm. At least, not yet.
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Kaleidescope
These are all flowers and other beauties from my in-laws’ place.
Hummingbirds love these trumpet vines. At one point I watched a female drinking from the feeder while a male watched quietly from the clothesline. Then they both flew to the flowers, and the male swooped up and down in impressive arcs, a courtship ritual I assume. It was a cool thing to see.
Mr. Hummer 
Such glorious color, everywhere you look. I’m posting this to return to in the white wintertime…
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Gray morning walk
I’ve noticed that birds love the kind of warm, overcast morning I took my walk in. (So do mosquitos. Note to self: use bug dope next time.)
Mostly I heard them this morning: wrens, a huge ground bird spooking and beating away, “bush tickers” (as my daughter calls the many small birds that hide in the bushes sounding the alarm), cardinals, robins, ovenbirds, catbirds.
But I did get to see not one but two wood thrushes, which was a treat. I saw a flurry of juncos among some hemlocks, feeding and discussing. And at one point in the trail I came upon a veritable convocation of small birds eating and, I think, feeding young: redstarts, yellowthroats, vireos, chickadees. The light was no good for pictures, so I enjoyed just standing among them for awhile. They fed on bugs, and mosquitos fed on me.
I contented myself with photos of things that stayed still.
Several deer allowed me into their space, and one studied me closely. They’re a rich cinnamon color this time of year. Though all of them appeared to me to be does, I saw no fawns. I did see coyote tracks. 🙁
It was nice to be out. Even though it kept threatening to rain, it never did. When I got home I was greeted by more wildlife — or semi-wild life — on the front step.
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Back Yard
I love having an active back yard. Our dining room table sits beside a 12-foot window, and without fail a glance out back reveals creaturely activity of some kind: birds, foxes, woodchucks, rabbits, deer. Squirrels power-lounging on bark or stone. Showdowns between red and gray squirrels beneath the bird feeders. Fledglings begging their parents for food.
Last week I brushed the dog, and placed the pile of black and white hair it yielded out at the edge of the back bank. After the chickadees fledged in our nest box, we removed the nest and discovered its top layer was a cozy cushion of dog hair. It’s late for most nesting, but I put the hair out just in case.
10 minutes later I glanced out and saw two crows scolding harshly around the same area. I looked for a hawk, but after watching for awhile it became clear that the crows were scolding the pile of dog hair. They bent their heads and descended ever closer to it for another ten minutes, crying out in their most explosive, grating voices. They must have thought it was a skunk!
Last night I noticed a cardinal trying unsuccessfully to snatch a small moth. It caught and lost it several times before giving up. As the beleaguered moth fluttered away, a phoebe swooped down and nabbed it in one graceful flutter. “Leave it to the professionals,” it seemed to say to the watching cardinal.
This morning as we ate breakfast, my husband and I got a kick out of this rabbit peering over the stone wall between our garden and our neighbor’s driveway.
The funny part was that it appeared to be meditating on the lettuce.
As far as I’m concerned it can have the lettuce. It never tastes good to me, much though I like the idea of it. Maybe the rabbit likes it better.
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House Wren
This house wren was busy feeding babies — but not too busy to scold, machine-gun fashion.
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Pilot training
My husband’s family is filled with pilots. This wooden airplane is a weathervane, and it’s always fun when we go to my in-laws’ and see various birds sitting on it. This day I saw a sparrow, a bluebird and, as this photo shows, a hummingbird.
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Round the bend…
