What a difference...with the lower temps of the approaching fall I have been outside doing chores, walking, birding, and relaxing some too!
The change is already in the air. I see birds chasing each other...hmmm this means Get out of the Nest! I'm done feeding you, go find your own worms and your own home...lol.
This looks like 2 dragons meshed into one.
Annie was raising a ruckus in the yard a couple days ago a snake was coiled up under one of the shrubs and she had cornered it! My son to the rescue he was for a while into herps so he grabbed it..(don't do this if you don't know snakes the way my son does, he is sort of an expert)
Even tho this snake looks menacing he is a big faker. The hog nosed snake has many defenses..one is to hiss and flatten his head to look like a Cobra...if that doesn't work he will lay on his back and open his mouth and play dead...If that doesn't work, he has a musk gland and he will let loose an odor...he will open his mouth wide like he is going to swallow you whole...he did all that but he never offered to bite even when my son tossed a towel on him and got a hold of him to get him out of the yard!
So even tho we keep taking him off the premises he returns, this is his home too!
Lots of Pine Warblers are back home agian in the trees this week. I watched an episode of Expeditions with Patrick McMillan. He is sort of a local hero here in our state with his own nature show on PBS. In this episode he answered my question as if I had asked him directly..."why did we have so many Prairie Warbler, and Yellow Breasted Chats this year?" I was on the right track of the "re- growth" from the clear cutting. This is what these birds need....disturbance...in order to breed and raise their young. Unfortunately the way man disturbs is not the way nature intended so these birds are having a hard time...
summer tanager
The Summer Tanager has always come to my place to live and the surrounding area I think they are happy to have the little open area of my field and the surrounding woods to provide them with the food and protection they need to raise their young...see the dead leaves? That's why I got so upset when they sprayed the clearcut with some sort of herbicide. It kills the plants the insects need, that in turn destroys habitat and food the birds need.
a secret pond I found home to many frogs
I know the clearcut will regrow and the birds will use it at least another year or two then it will become a "fake forest" again...Like McMillan explained how the Oven Bird, that I never hear anymore around here, needs old growth forest to survive...at least 8 acres of it per bird. Since they planted the surrounding area in yellow pine there is never any old growth forest, and the Oven Bird wants dry not wetland habitat...Keep these things in mind if you are managing a piece of land...maybe one day the wooded part of our lands will be mature enough to host Oven Birds. My trees are now 42 yrs and older.
We took a short drive to the Carolina Sandhills NWR to go birding and have a picnic.
Sis, this does not count as a picture of you...so my promise is not broken. :o)
And for my sis this lifer we found in the old growth Longleaf pines that the refuge has worked hard to conserve....these Red Cockaded Woodpeckers cavity nest in live mature LLPine. We saw 3 this day. Thanks to all us Liberal Tree Huggers and a pre Trump era Department of the Interior!
And for my sis this lifer we found in the old growth Longleaf pines that the refuge has worked hard to conserve....these Red Cockaded Woodpeckers cavity nest in live mature LLPine. We saw 3 this day. Thanks to all us Liberal Tree Huggers and a pre Trump era Department of the Interior!
Red Cockaded Woodpecker
...still makes the rare sighting list on ebird...considered endangered since it was almost eradicated by the planting of the much faster growing yellow pine, a cash crop...
3 in this shot they live in small family groups
3 in this shot they live in small family groups
We found at least 2 species of Pitcher Plant growing there...here is one growing low to the ground..see the water inside? And note the flower...
And the taller variety...click to enlarge!
These plants need a "bog" situation to survive...we didn't see many around, only a few remaining as funding to manage habitat is not happening! The water level of the pond nearby has fallen to such a level the bog has dried up...if there is no Money in it what good is it...(the current political attitude toward the Natural World). Understanding how and why nature works is one of the most important pieces of life's puzzle that we need in order to continue to survive...The burning of the Amazon Rain Forest is a huge tragedy...yet no million dollar homes are in the way so what's the big deal?
Female Blue Grosbeak
No hurry cause now there is more room to grow Palm Oil...that nasty mess that is in everything we consume these days....This is a big deal...habitat loss is the biggest threat to the birds and animals we love; without them what would our lives be like? I just can't imagine. Use your voice to scream out
I'M NOT OKAY WITH THAT!
I'M NOT OKAY WITH THAT!
But Im okay with this.....fall color is springing up all over the place...love it!
the Plant that announces fall the Goldenrod!
This plant is called "Rattlebox" due to when the seed pod dries it can be shaken like a rattle. It is poisonous to livestock...
Who knew a Disco Spider lived on my place? Wow what a work of art..
Who knew a Disco Spider lived on my place? Wow what a work of art..
Oecobiidae Spider Web
So when our birds go to South America this winter will they have a home to go to? The Yellow Billed Cuckoo goes all the way to Northern Argentina What a shame some will face a dire situation. Is there anyway we can tell these American Corporations we don't want PALM OIL in our food?? Maybe write letters! I stopped buying mircrowave popcorn, due to palm oil...but it's in almost every product that is processed...like the coffee creamer I love.
There is no place like home...
PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.
We try to avoid palm oil too, Sondra, but it is really difficult. It is in just about everything and goes by a dizzying array of names and is in so many different compounds. The people who create these products surely must know of the long term and far-reaching impacts but they continue regardless. Yet they are people like us with families, and children who will have to face the future. We talk about corporations seeking only profit, and that is true, but those companies are made up of people like you and me.
ReplyDeleteIt is about choice and until we do stand UP to them it will continue. Profit over Decency is the way of this world and it is destructive.
DeleteYou had a great birding day and I'm happy to hear you are having better weather. As for these so called government fools who thing Global warming is a fake news will never understand because they are to ingnorant and more than likely never spent a day in nature. Like I said in my own post tonight it all falls on deaf ears.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jo, the main issue besides the fact they pretend ignorance is just the blatant non caring attitude of the multitudes. They don't listen to us anymore until we can get $$ out of elections nothing is going to change.
DeleteYes the seasons are changing here too Sondra with the winter migrants appearing. Its good to see them. That Summer Tanager is a striking colour and it must be uplifting to see it around. We had a young greenfinch fly into a window yesterday and unfortunately it died, but its an opportunity to examine them close up.
ReplyDeleteI'm scared of, but fascinated by snakes and could never do what your son did, as you said he knows what he's doing.
We try to avoid palm oil but it's hard, and very often the food labeling is unclear.
Hi Dave, sorry about your greenfinch, that is always painful to see...I read the label and there's 2 products I can NOT buy without the palm oil...it's margarine and as mentioned coffee creamer. I'm always looking for substitutes. I'v seen my son handle venous snakes too he used to have a snake prod,,,but over the years he lost it. Normally we would use the prod to put them in a 5 gallon bucket and take them out of the yard because of the dogs...But this one he just picked it up since it's not a dangerous snake.
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ReplyDeleteThe willful ignorance of the government and big (and small) corporations over the environment is always devastating to see :(
ReplyDeleteHowever it's always uplifting to read blogs and see the photos of the good things out there :) The cobweb is beautiful, we're inundated with them around the garden at the moment!
That cobweb is a work of art...I was in awe of the craftsmanship. I would like to take all the leaders of this planet and airlift them to the Appalachian Mountains for a week...and if they survive they would have a change of heart about the decisions they make. I just hope the ship can be turned around when we get the current bums out of our white house.
DeleteYes Autumn is on the way, our temperatures have been cooler.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy seeing all of your photographs.
All the best Jan
Thank you Jan, Autumn is the season of color and I am looking forward to all those orange yellows and reds that will dot out landscape.
DeleteGlad to see you had some relief, but how is everything with the hurricane going? Hope all is okay for you and that you're all safe and protected.
ReplyDeleteHi Jen thanks for your comment....as of noon today all we have here in my county is rain and some gusts...I think our barrier islands and coastline will suffer a lot of damage. By 6 pm is should be finished with us. Wish the people in the Bahamas some good weather now to begin their recovery. So sad....
DeleteSondra, I hope you dont feel any effects from Dorian. ... Thank you for being a Liberal Tree Hugger and for using your voice! (Do you think the current so-called pres. and cabinet even know what a tree is?). More seriously, do you think they listen to our voices? ..... Wonderful birds. Beautful green.
ReplyDeleteWe had a rainy day with some gusts one tree fell across the road and the neighbors came along and sawed that one up I had some limbs to pick up but we dodged the bullet! Happily. AND not they don't listen...hope we can stir up more gusto in the ones that do!
DeleteDo you have a favorite candidate among the pack?
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting to see who actually makes the primary ticket to begin my push I will vote for whomever makes the ticket tho! I do like Tom Steyer! He is not a politician and he seems fair and smart, he does not pull his punches so he is also tough. I think he would lean more toward equality and good sense and what is best for the Majority, not his base! All the others coming up via political ramps could become puppets of the corporate machine and it would be more blocking by the insane Senate we now have!
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