Diving Head First into a New Adventure this weekend. It is my birthday weekend, I am turning the big 60 years old. A year ago I picked where I wanted to be on my 60th birthday and these photos will give you a little hint. . But this adventure does not end with just a weekend. 60 is the new 30, we are never to old to make our dreams come true, faith and trust.
Of course a lot has happened over this past year and I never write my plans in stone. One never knows if tomorrow will come, I take one day at a time and enjoy it to the fullest.
So I am going to say; Have a wonderful weekend a little early today.
Under His Wings Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
The Young Eagle This beautiful young eagle has been visiting our place lately. He is very noticeable just from his size alone. Even hidden in the shade of these trees, his silhouette is quite breathtaking when I notice him on the branch of this aspen tree.
The plumage of juvenile and immature bald eagles shows a good deal of variation. In fact, immature bald eagle plumages are among the most complicated and difficult to classify among North American birds.
Wide Eyed Look which is referred to as Doe Eyes, literally in this case. 🙂
Well, this one does not have doe eyes, she has been hanging around with the deer. Just one turkey, the fawns are having fun running around trying to figure out what this bird is though.
I Was Waiting For Them this morning. Every morning about 4 groups of geese fly over head towards the east. This first photo shows the sun is just coming up as they fly over, so you can see the sun light on the front of their wings. I have not seen geese all summer but come September they do this fly over everyday, I am not sure where they are going and in the evening they fly back towards the west.
They start about 7:30 am, when the sun is just coming up and by the 3rd group that fly’s over, it gets a little brighter and the sky starts turning into a beautiful blue instead of gray.
Until We Meet Again – to the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds in my yard this year. I have made a note on my calendar, for the first time this year, I have not seen these beautiful little birds. I believe they started their long journey south. They have been all over my fall flowers and feeders throughout August and now they are gone.
So here are some of my best photos during 2021 of the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. Safe travels.
What Day is It – Varietay Friday, Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Stay cool, it is warm in my neck of the woods. Enjoy the Great Outdoors if You Can. 💕
Orange is the Color of Autumn, this is my first sighting of the Monarch Butterfly this year, it is late in the season, so I am surprised to see it but thankful I got to see at least one this year. Early this spring I saw a few butterfly’s or moths and their wings were pretty scraped up from the long flight up here. But this one looks pretty healthy.
I hope he makes the long journey to its winter home. It is written in their design, from the moment they are alive, to go to the same place, even though some have never been there before. They just know.
Before Migration Begins, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds double their weight from 3 grams to over 6 grams prior to departing. They don’t stay pudgy for long, though. In northward migrations, it’s not uncommon for a hummingbird to weigh around 2.5 grams when it reaches U.S. shores!
Each year, hummingbirds embark on two migrations – one north and one south. These migratory journeys, which can span hundreds or thousands of miles, require immense preparation and a shocking amount of energy from these small birds – the smallest in the world.
In the fall hummingbirds can set out as early as late July and the last stragglers will cross the southern U.S. border by late October. It’s this amazing cycle of hummingbird migration that can also bring a sudden swarm of activity to your hummingbird feeders. If you have a well-maintained hummingbird feeder, expect plenty of new visitors as they try to boost their energy before the next stage of their journey.
I am taking lots of photographs of them right now before they leave. I look forward to seeing them again next year.
Young Eagle Stopped By today, I have not seen many eagles this year. Only on occasion when they fly by and sometimes stop and hang out in a tree for a little bit. This one here just glided right in, he was so far away, I wasn’t sure what it was at first.
So I got the big camera lens out and that is when I realized it is a young Eagle. I never get tired of seeing them.
So I thought I would share some of my favorite Eagle photos below.
Small Wildlife Around the Water, these tiny little creatures are called Damselfly, such a strange name. They are not a dragonfly. I did not realize until today that they are two different species. These are so tiny, very hard to photograph also. But Damselfly eyes are separate, there is a space between their eyes and a Dragonfly has eyes that are almost connected, looks like one giant eye on their heads.
Dragonfly
I have not seen any monarch butterflies this year. But this one here was hanging around my porch. Its wings look a bit torn up, probably from the long flight to get up here. But it was flying around just fine all day. It was taking a rest on my porch chair.
It had two tones of color, under the wings it was a brown tone and on top of the wings it was black and white.
So I will leave you with a photo of one of my favorite lakes, hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
What Are Your Words when you look at this photo. It is hard not to say Awwww 😉
They finally came out of the woods with Mom, I was hoping I would see them while they still had their spots. That is my lilac bush they are both having a look at. Or my Lilac stick, it has not grown much this year.
Natures Roving Reporter, the young red squirrels are out and about. It is hard to tell the difference right now between the young ones and the adults, they are all so small. I have not seen the bears in a few days and I don’t mind that at all, here in the yard.
So I set up a camera on the ground the other day because the squirrels were so active. This one kept sitting right in front of the camera. It probably liked the blinking lights, and then it turned to face the camera and the next photograph appeared.
Aka; Little Red – to the locals, she just looked like she was giving an exclusive report as she looked right at the camera. Story has it there is a food shortage going on because of some bears visiting there territory. She interviewed one of the locals first.
“The trays are empty”, he yelled at the reporter ” Those darn bears, human won’t put out any food now because of those two.”
“I found one little shell left and not a seed in it”, she said quietly.
So then, Little Red decided she must risk her life and went right to the source of the food shortage. She asked, ” Mr. Tuck, what have you to say about the uproar you are causing to all the critters who want some food?.”
“Hmmm”, he groaned,” I have just one thing to say about that”‘
That answers that question.
It is hot here so my imagination went over board today 🙂 Never stop having fun, Imagination is a terrible thing to waste.
Full Moon and Black Bears, what excitement I had last week starting on Tuesday. This is my first encounter of being this close to Black Bears and they payed me a visit in our yard 3 nights in a row. At first I only saw the young bear when I looked out my cabin window. I thought how cool, it looks like a nice little black bear. But than all of a sudden, Mama bear came out of the woods and I believe my heart skipped a beat, she is just beautiful. The hair rises on my arm just writing about it. (video below)
When we were kids, my siblings and I, our grandfather would ask, ” Who wants to go to the dump?”, one of my most favorite childhood memories. Why you might ask?, we went there to watch the bears come out in the evenings. We did not have movie theaters back then. That was our weekend entertainment and that is where I begin my journey of the love for wild life, from my Grandfather.
I have only seen a couple bears over the last few years. I was beginning to lose hope that I may never see another one. From loss of habitat and food for the animals. So you can guess my delight when I was sitting at the table by the window and saw these two beautiful creatures walk out of the woods.
They were checking out my bird feeders which were pretty much empty, but it kept them entertained for a short while. I slipped out the side door of my cabin to take some photos that would be a little clearer than through the window and then I just stood there and watched them until they wandered back into the woods.
I set up my trail camera for the next night and they came back, actually they visited for 3 nights. I have made a two part video that I will be putting on my You Tube Channel as well.
Some of this video was taken with a trail camera. You can see the full screen version on my You Tube channel by clicking here; The American Black Bear by Sandra J
Portraits of the Wood Duck, this is my first year seeing the Wood Duck and it is quite amazing to me. I took all of these photos through a window so they are not extremely clear. But it still shows the detailed color of this beautiful bird. As if he was painted by hand, to create such beautiful lines, curves and color. Nature, wildlife, truly amazing to witness such extraordinary beauty to me.
The Merganser Ducks, there are 4 types of Merganser Ducks and Merganser means fish eating ducks. This first one is called the Common Merganser. The females all look like they have mohawks when their head feathers are up. These photos did not turn out as clear as I had hoped for. But I wanted to show them anyway. I will be going back to the lake to get better photos next week.
The rest of these are named Hooded Merganser’s. The female is in the front with her fancy feather doo. Her hubby in the back looks a bit perturbed. Like he is saying, ” Now where are we going?” She just keeps on going. 🙂
Time to Shed Winter Coats, lots of shedding going on this time of year. All sorts of deer hair around the bird feeders as they are trying to reach the itchy spot with their hooves. Or rubbing up against trees. This one here is enjoying a warm day, scratching behind her ear.
Then she heard something behind her and looked up to see if anything was there.
It was just me, she is looking at me like she is saying, ” What”
Spring Birds are Here and the deer have lost their winter coats already. The Common Grackles are here wondering around on the ground foraging for food. They are lanky blackbirds with long legs, a long tail, and a long and heavy bill. Adult males appear dark overall, but have an iridescent bluish head and bronzy body in good light.
The bird in the for ground is the Red Winged Black Bird, one of my favorites for its song. I love hearing them in the spring. You can see the difference in size of these two birds.
Here is one of the younger doe’s coming out of the woods. This is a good time of year for them. Green grass is uncovered by the melting snow and the bugs are not bothering them yet.
It is Strutting Season This has been such a treat to see these wild turkeys up close. Some of these photos were taken through a window. Maybe they will get to the point they won’t run off so quick if they see me out and about trying to get a picture of these beautiful birds, as they get used to me be around.
Turkeys almost always spit and drum when they strut but also do it when not strutting. Unlike a gobble that can carry up to a mile, the ruffling feathers and spit and drum sounds can be difficult for humans to hear beyond a hundred yards, even in the best conditions.
It is quite comical to watch these males strutting around, they are always right next to each other trying to out do the other as they puff up all their feathers. Along with trying to grab the attention of the girls, who on this day were not paying any attention to these two at all.
Does Anyone Know What This Is, well I did not know until the other day. I have seen wild turkeys from a distance. But never this close. The male turkeys, called Tom’s, are so much more colorful than I knew, especially during this time of year and if the sun is out.
These feathers sticking out from the males are called beards. Males typically have a “beard”, a tuft of coarse hair (modified feathers) growing from the center of the breast. Beards average 230 mm (9.1 in) in length. The longer the beard the older the turkey.
The body feathers are generally blackish and dark, sometimes grey brown overall with a coppery sheen that becomes more complex in adult males. The male is substantially larger than the female, and his feathers have areas of red, purple, green, copper, bronze, and gold iridescence.
Adult males, called toms or gobblers, have a large, featherless, reddish head, red throat, and red wattles on the throat and neck. The head has fleshy growths called caruncles. Juvenile males are called jakes; the difference between an adult male and a juvenile is that the jake has a very short beard and his tail fan has longer feathers in the middle.
Their heads are very colorful, from pinks and blues. Now, their face is a little odd, but their beautiful feathers really make them shine. Tomorrow I will show a couple photos of the Tom’s strutting their stuff. I never know when they will show up and they spook real easy. I hope to get some video of them one of these times.
Two of My Favorite Large Birds, The Raven and The Bald Eagle. I actually witnessed this weekend an Eagle flying by my place and two Ravens were pestering him as he was flying by. The ravens stay around my place so it must be their territory. I would have thought, the eagle being so much bigger, that they would fly away from him.
Where is Wall Doe (Deer), boy did we get dumped on yesterday with some snow. Over a foot of snow in just 6 hours and than it was all over. The deer came out for a little snack, but I could hardly see them it was so heavy at times.
I did get the plowing done before the snow ended and it got dark. Luckily it isn’t that cold this time. So it wasn’t so bad until the snow plow comes by later and heaps it all up at the end of the driveway. But I will just have to put the ole jeep in 4 wheel drive and have some fun.
Oh, and I did get a photo of the illusive partridge. I took the photo through a window. That is the only way not to spook it.
She is Getting Chipmunk Cheeks and she is always sticking her tongue out at me. She isn’t very shy anymore. I was standing pretty close to her, so this photo came out pretty clear. I just seem to click the shot right in time with her tongue. Pretty good timing 😏
She is Getting Chipmunk Cheeks
Oh when you smilin’, when you smilin’ The whole world, smiles with you Yes, when you laughin’, when you laughin’ Yes, the sun come shinin’ through; by Louis Armstrong
She is Looking Right at Me, I opened the door to go outside and happen to have my camera. She did not run away right off like she usually does. She just stood there looking at me, so I took a couple of photos as she was licking her lips of the fresh bird seed.
I think she is telling me to bring some more food.
And when I told her No, she stuck her tongue out at me.
Under the Shadow of Wings, I hear whispers in the wind. These tiny little birds are flying all around me, not afraid nor shy. They land on my camera at times as I am standing there near by.
I hear whispers in the wind from the fast beats of their wings. Who, who are these birds with their mighty wings?
But of course the tinniest of birds, the Chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee
If you stay there long enough, you might see the Shadow of the Wings. May your spirit take refuge in what follows; In the Whispers in the Wind.
