That Fall feeling…I can breathe
It happens so suddenly, that first cool night and takes you by surprise. I can’t get enough! After the heat and humidity this Summer I love the first feel of Fall. The air is cool, but the lake water warm enough to keep swimming:) I’m waiting for the morning mists to hover above the lake. This evening here, the cloud reflections made the dock look like it was a pathway to the sky, absolutely gorgeous. Mother Nature is such a talented artist:)
Migration has started, the hummingbirds are few and far between, the ducks have been flying over and the honking of the geese is not far off I fear. The juvenile Ospreys are grown up, except for their eye colour, they will turn yellow as they get older, they still look orange now. They have practiced leaving the nest and coming back, one is braver than the other, checking out the tree branches near the locks where they live.
For two days a small flock of Pine Siskins invaded the American Goldfinch feeder much to their dismay but they shared, and then they were gone. South, to spend the Winter where it’s warm. It never ceases to amaze me the distances these small feathered creatures go. Thousands of miles at times!
The dead pines are taking a beating, from the Pileated Woodpecker pair, their call and constant hammering let’s you know where they have found bugs under the bark. You can see the bark flying as they chip it away! I can see where they have been by the bark chips on the ground. They are insect eaters and bore into the trunks of trees to get at the larva form of bark beetles and wood-borers. The birds are not indiscriminate and don’t start poking into the wood just anywhere. They have both exquisitely sensitive hearing and keen eyesight. They can hear larva under the bark and zoom in on that area for boring, just deeply enough to access the insects and then extract the worm-like critter with their long tongue. I sat for an hour and watched a female at work.
Many people think they kill trees but in all reality, they are boring holes into trees that have already been attacked by insects and are quite likely to suffer serious damage from the insects anyway, a sort of pest control you might say;)
The Hairy Woodpeckers are quite keen at the feeders, picking out a sunflower seed at a time and hammering on it against a tree until it is open and ready to eat.
The squirrels and chipmunks have been busy. I left a new bag of seed beside the trailer and within a few minutes a cheeky red squirrel had a small hole in the bag and was helping himself greedily! They are Groot’s antagonists, too fast for him and then they make a stand in the branches and gleefully yell at him, calling him names no doubt in squirrelease;) Groot has decided the black squirrels, although fun to chase, are perhaps bigger than he thought they were and simply puts on a show, Gamora is still hell-bent on capturing one, good thing neither have come too close, the leash usually pulls them up quickly;)
The days are getting shorter, the sun doesn’t linger as long over the pines and the night sky has started to pop once again as the humidity drops. Time to get the tripod out and point it at the Southern sky and Milky Way…or at a racoon;)
This little girl has been sifting through our recycling and rummaging around for left over bird seed, I caught her trying to do a high wire act as well as I sat and drank my coffee yesterday morning and watched her antics. Cuteness overload, the cats watched from the trailer window and later on the leash from a distance. Gamora was going to go right up and Ms. Racoon was having none of that, our big brave Groot, well, I had to carry him by to go back to the trailer…sometimes it’s good to have a human around;) Being brave is not always wise says Groot;) no photos he pleaded..he doesn’t want his fans to know;)
This is a magical spot. We ended yesterday with fabulous pizzas from Regan and Sheila’s wood fired portable pizza oven with friends and enjoyed a stunning sunset as a bonus. Today with the rain and gloom, temperatures haven’t gotten above 55° on the flintstone scale, about 12° celcius. I welcome the change but I think Summer is not quite done with us, forecast for the weekend we are back in the 80’s so this is just a subtle reminder of the changes of the seasons, a reminder that nothing is static, all things change, something we should not be afraid of, but perhaps welcome into our lives.
Saludos amigos, you can remind me about this if I start to whine about the cold;)
Your pictures are amazing as usual! I love your stories too! Keep them coming xo
and pics, Pamela. Very enjoyable and that picture of the dock is award-winning. Thanks for sharing your Fall with us….were still waiting for cooler climes here in Arizona!