Birds
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Another migrant hummer
This tiny visitor was as interested in us as we were in her.
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Oblivious
Yesterday, trying to create a new email address, I stumbled upon my gmail account — the one through which Feedburner sends out the emails of posts on this blog. I discovered a number of emails from readers, responding to different posts over the last year. Presumably they were sent by simply hitting “reply” to the blog posts — something I didn’t realize could be done.
It was a great encouragement to me to read these emails. I’m very grateful to the readers who have been so appreciative of my attempts to document my family’s nature sightings! Thank you!
I was also very embarrassed not to have responded to those emails. I haven’t realized my gmail account was accumulating them; the address I check regularly, and which sends me notification when comments are made on the blog, is the one I have listed in my sidebar here.
I’ll be sure to check my gmail account more than once a year in the future! Please accept my apology if you are someone who has sent some kind words my way and received only silence.
Fledgling osprey, Moss Lake — 8/13 -
Mrs. Hummer
This female hummingbird has been hanging around for awhile, chasing away other hummers who venture too near. She’s recognizable because she’s on the big side, with a little dark fleck on her breast.
This morning, she was actually on the feeder when we came out to breakfast. We think she spent the night there, in torpor, and was just coming out of it — just sitting there, fluttering her wings occasionally, and then finally taking a drink.
She flew away, and I think it may be the last time we see her.
Fascinating to read here and here about both torpor and migration. Her departure for the south seems a little late, but I wish her a happy journey.
She was quickly replaced by another female today, more skittish and slender — probably a migrant passing through.
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Fall exploring
The girls, the dog, and I had a great walk today. Our dog, we recently learned, has a tumor in her spleen, and the doctor speculates that she has perhaps 2-6 months to live. We are grieving, but trying to give her good quality of life in the time we have. She’s always loved a good woodland explore.
It was a brilliant, clear day, cool and comfortable. Here a few of the sights we took in.
New York Aster 
Pay no attention to that munk behind the curtain… 
See ya! 
Black-throated green warbler, non-breeding plumage 
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Sabbath
Wendell Berry has a whole series of poems called Sabbaths. Accumulated over several decades, they represent his forays into the woods on Sundays — not every Sunday, but a portion of them. Usually we’re in church, but today we went into the woods instead. There is a particular kind of rest, a particular settling and composure, in the solitude of a walk in that setting.The first “wildlife” sighting happened before we even got out of the house: this Carolina wren, who had apparently spent the night in our garage. It was a confident little bird. Maybe it enjoyed the warmth, and whatever bugs it found on the window sills. But when we opened the doors, it paused only to give us a considering glance before flying gracefully away.
Off to the woods, on a morning blanketed in mist.
The moisture in the air made certain usually hidden things visible.
We saw a few deer, but for the most part, it was a time to look closely at the microworlds of mosses and bracket fungus, ferns in their fall stripes, woodpecker work and chipmunks.
My husband was surrounded at one point by small, alarmed rodents, filling the woods with their squeaking.
We were near this stream, a favorite spot, when the sun came out.
It’s interesting to me that although our bird feeding station at home was swarming with birds, the ones in the woods take longer to get up and moving. Maybe they wait for their prey to wake up — not being a welfare state, like our back yard. There were quite a few cardinals, chickadees, robins, nuthatches, hairy woodpeckers, cedar waxwings, Eastern towhees and other birds coming alive and chattering in the trees as we came back out. The gnats were certainly awake as well.
At last — all things come to her who waits — I saw a Tennessee warbler, who scolded me roundly and flew away.
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Redstarts
We’ve had what I believe to be a female redstart around our yard this summer. Recently she was traveling up the trees beside the driveway with a whole band of others. I never did see a male, but I assume the birds with her were juvies. They certainly acted like it — including the one who seriously considered landing on my head.
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Mystery solved
In 2011, I heard a bird song in the Adirondacks that I couldn’t identify. This year I heard it again. Finally it occurred to me to ask the folks over at Cornell Lab. I sent them a link to some video clips I posted of the song on my other blog, and they identified the bird for me. It’s a winter wren!
Here is some video of a singing winter wren over at YouTube. I’m so glad that next time I hear the bird, I’ll know what to look for!
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Blackburnian warbler
This was my first sighting of a blackburnian warbler. We spent a few days in the Adirondacks, and this fellow was part of a crowd of warblers making their way through the yard.
Most of the others were, I think, black-throated greens, though the only ones I got pictures of were in their non-breeding plumage…
…or perhaps, in some cases, juveniles.
On a hike up Bald Mountain, flocks of golden-crowned kinglets were working the treetops. It’s amazing to me how many caterpillars there are for them up there!
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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.
