Unravel my week...

Last Wednesday

was a low humidity day for me, so I took the bike and rode a trail in Sandhills refuge...to see what I could find.  The trail I picked is one I've shown you before it ends up at the back side of Pool D...it's only half mile round trip but it's thru a mature pine forest and it's not all flat it has an up/down hill section also.  The Trial in red, 

and I heard way more than I saw...The trees and bushes are so overgrown it's hard to find birds if they are trying to hide which most do,

BUT not all, these young Barn Swallows were in harsh light but at least right out in the open..

They were practicing bug catching from this perch...

Its a swampy area once you get back there as you can see the Ham creek spreads out and keeps this whole little boggy area moist.

One Prothonotary Warbler swooped past me calling very loudly but then disappeared in the thick stuff, all that racket brought out a couple of Common Yellowthroats, and I got a not so good shot of one of the male...

And a Red Winged Blackbird was hunting from just above the water's surface...

I don't know anything much about Dragonfly except I enjoy seeing them...I tried to get the correct name of this one but could not pin it down conclusively, so Im going with Pond Hawk. 

The wings were all clear. 

I pedaled back to the van,

and moved over to the Lake Bee Recreation Area they are refilling that pond I will be happy when they open it back up cause there is a wetland I enjoy checking on the opposite side of the earthen dam. 

Bee Lake refilling 

I had a cool drink and a snack here and then

Drove up to the Oxpen Lakes area. 

 Parked and headed out on foot for a walk in the fields looking at plants and insects.  And checked the Yellow Pitchers, they are doing well...

AND a lot of Hat Pin is flourishing by the waters edge...with the world's smallest insect sitting on one

Could be a dragonfly nymph?  A Buckeye butterfly along with a Variegated Fritillary 

Along with some other insect on the ground there,..Busy doing what butterflies do....

There was even more Common Yellowthroat around 

Along with Eastern Kingbird

Orchard Oriole 

This Common Crackle found a worm...

And an Immature Red Winged Blackbird was learning the ropes down in the lily pads...

I visited the one and only public restroom on the refuge and in the parking area an Eastern Wood Pewee was flycatching...

Found something new!

And on the wall of the building I found this really weird creature...it may not look it but he was big, at least 4 inches long! And  creepy antennae, his wings seemed  almost be armored...

He definitely had the steampunk look going on..

When I looked this up I found out it's called a Dobsonfly and those long things at the front is a mandible! Like Jaws of life!  Its actually an aquatic insect...and it only lives a couple weeks and during that time it doesn't really eat anything.  There is one species of this insect in China that gets a big as a human hand! 

Later on in the week...

 I took a walk around Goodale park, one of the mornings when it was clear but hot...

And there was one Wood Stork flying around in lazy circles, I don't know if he landed a man came up and started talking to me and I lost track of the stork...

He was photographing the pitcher plants there and then I showed him where I just spotted some

Sundews...another carnivorous Plant that I have found there....this is the first time I've seen them in that area that has tried to be a BOG, the staff keep fighting this, I don't know why they don't let it evolve into what it wants to BE! So here are the tiny little Sundews

These particular ones are only an inch tall and barely 2 inches wide....

And a young Tufted Titmouse was keeping track of his parent while he learns the ropes of life...

So that pretty much unravels my week..

My van has an issue...SO until I can that diagnosed and repaired I won't be going far from home. I don't mind walking but in 89% humidity its really TOUGH...I worked on my property a little this morning.   A wild grape vine had grown it's self thru the wire of my pasture field fencing, and  was creating an issue...so I took the chainsaw, yep that's how thick it was, to cut it off the fence and get the fence attached to the post again, I need some more metal post to replace a few of the old cedar posts that are getting  rotten they have been in the ground 45 yrs.  I am keeping the fence in repair so my dogs can play in there and I don't want to worry that other stray dogs may be in there, the deer jump in but fox or coyote I really don't want in there.  Anyways I was soaked as if I had been out in the rain from the humidity when I finished up.   Now inside in the ac recovering.  

And can we all say "WTH" is up with this picture?  Are the veggie sausage people not paying attention?

Hope your week unravels in a good way. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

HIT or Mismanagement...

Well here it is Thursday again and My blog comes out at Midnight tonight so I better get busy and create a post!  This week sort of got away from me.  

So the first part of the week I was  not 100% then latter part of the week it rained, right there in the middle of all that I went in search of harmony.  Did I find it?  Some of it found me right here at  home. 

I see deer almost daily in my field

 One of the coolest spots I found was on my way to somewhere else.  I have taken to driving the even farther back way to get to Sandhills because US 1 is so busy with log trucks and other semi's I like to mosey, they are in a hurry.  SO I take the back way and even bypass 2 small towns that are only one block long LOL...I know I've drifted well beyond hermitress. 

So I pass through this area where there is some big Ag fields, and open space and I saw these Spanish Bayonets' in bloom.  

And some really Big garlic plants.  I believe this was an old homestead lot as I saw some old foundations here and there.  

And all this lovely stuff is growing under the watchful eye of the Blue Grosbeak up on the wire, 

And the Eastern Towhee on a prickly briar stem...

Once at Sandhills, I spooked a Great Blue Heron up a pine tree...

And a stop at Pool D gave me a look at a young Eastern Phoebe learning how to hunt on his own...I know they had their nest under the boardwalk of Pool D.  

And this shy Grey Catbird hid in the shadows but couldn't resist singing and gave away his location...

I pulled over and watched this Red Headed Woodpecker showing off his brilliant feathers. 

The ponds are kept too deep for waterfowl to flourish...why you ask? So hunters and fishermen can get a boat in the water...too shallow they get stuck...hmmm 

I was on my way to Dove Field A,

...where I never  see any Dove, actually I saw NOTHING there.  It was rather bleak.  Sometimes I have to wonder at the "managed" areas, there is nothing there to see.  But I came to ride my bike across the field and back.   The last time I was here grasshoppers were everywhere and  American Kestrel...today since they plowed up the field Nothing! The field is "managed" so white men with guns (Im on the verge of a rant)  can come to kill Dove...in the process they kill everything that is natural and even the Doves don't fall for it.  BAD management is at the root of why this Refuge has so few success stories in the area of waterfowl and grassland species. They are managing for the WRONG activity.  Plant some millet lets get some Painted Bunting, and some Dickcissel and some Blue Grosbeak in here and Birders will come by the hoards.  Hunters are has beens!!

Almost came a "dirter" here...my start and end point is over at the green tree line in the distance.  

They are growing quite a bit of Wild Onion, in other areas where they burn, then let grow what nature has put there birds are there.  Those areas are marked no Hunting.  So my ?? is does Hunting provide good habitat management? I don't think so. 

And on the edges where the tractors couldn't go some passion flowers

Over on the verge of the field where some natural grasses were growing an Eastern Kingbird was keenly looking for a meal...

Observing wildlife and birds is my hobby and my passion...it makes me happy and it fills me up with good feelings, I don't think setting wild life up for slaughter is a good thing.  WHEN will this tide ever turn left?  Just goes to show the current way is not the best way.  SO Many of our refuges are being mismanaged for the purpose of hunting.  IF they were managing for observation  and continuation of the species more people and more wildlife would benefit, currently a few white men in pick up trucks toting guns have more SAY then a middle aged couple in a Subaru. 

 According to the report I read  put out by the Fish n Wildlife Service in 2016, 43 million people identify as birders, they are on average earning $70,000 a yr and spend $80 Billion dollars in the process. Where as HUNTING:  13.7 Million considered themselves as hunters and spent $12 Billion annually. OK big difference, and yet where is the political clout?

After my dusty ride there and back and some near misses in deep sand,  I drove to lake Mays and had a sit by the water and ate a snack before driving home.  

So in closing I guess what I am saying is let it be known what side of the aisle you're on, we've been fed this line  of misinformation long enough that Hunters are the ones funding our wild spaces, I call BS on that one! Just one more Incorrect piece of info that is driving policy in this country.  

Speak your truth..

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

May Day!

I'm happy  to get this week out of the way.  The SHOT I will let  you know later in this post how it went.  

my Earth Day pick up was an entire bag of cans dumped on the road in one spot!  ALL picked up and recycled now! I pick up trash every single time I go out in nature not just Earth Day.  Im tired of  some lazy ass who thinks Nature is a place to trash?? GROW UP!

I had a quiet weekend at home I worked on my bike rack put new straps on it, because a squirrel did a job on it when I had it stored in the old shed....for a cost of $7 I bought strapping replaced it, and it works fine, but I have anxiety with it even tho... I don't want to worry that the strap comes loose and it falls off so after my shot tomorrow I will  see if they have one at Harbor Freight, the website says they do but I will see.  

The Pink Moon from my deck

I did replace the bike front Gear shifter did not make a video because I just didn't want to mess with the camera and I didn't feel like speaking.  Some days I do not speak to another human in fact most days I do not speak to another human, I do talk to the dogs, the birds, the squirrels. 

And even dragonflies, and Im perfectly fine with that...

It took a lot of fine tuning to get the bike to change gears properly...tweaking the high and low screws and making sure the cable was the right length.  What a dinosaur piece of engineering...lol BUT it works.  So I took it out today.  Put it on the rack and hauled it out to Sandhills.  

Perfect day the sun was warm but the humidity is low.  

I had planned to ride thru 2 areas, so I parked and off loaded my bike.  I am having problems with putting my binoculars and camera around my chest like in a sling manner.  They press on my neck I think of poor George Floyd as the pain becomes unbearable...I think I want to find a Velcro attached  tote of some kind, so I can whip it on and off of the front handlebars.  I want something soft but with a foundation I may end up making one myself.,,so a bump can't send my stuff flying,  I want to be able to whip it out fast. 

While getting things ready I heard this....My ears perked up!

And I was so very excited, the Bachman's Sparrow! Not just one but many calling to each other.   I found one close enough to get a photo.  

Bachman's Sparrow

It was nice to hear so many and to know they are flourishing, I hope they have a successful nest season. 

And then off down the trail...Almost immediately there is a tree across the path..

  had to bush whack around that and then eventually I arrived at the back of Pool D. 

SO many birds were singing  A Great Blue Heron took off, along with a Wood Duck, Orchard Orioles were already protecting territory and Eastern Kingbird was really belting out a song!!

"OH I just love Spring Breeding," I think that is what he is singing.   

I parked the bike and went tromping around I scared an Eastern Towhee off her nest...they nest on the ground or in/under a short shrub, I had no clue I was so close to a nest...but once she flushed I moved away. 

 Common Yellow Throat scolded me and stayed mostly hidden...there was a pair. 

Back at the van I moved to a shady spot for lunch this is one of my favorite spots to sit and listen to the pond,,,

I enjoyed listening to Great Crested Flycatcher whistling up high in the pines, and the Frogs calling,.,

A blue Grosbeak showed up to take a quick dip in the pond,.,

I moved the van to the photo blind parking area and rode the bike down to the blind,,,

I didn't expect to see much but I was wrong, the Dutch Iris was in bloom...

I stirred up a couple of Grey Catbirds, they seemed to be defending a nest site as well

And an Osprey sailed in to see what he could find from his perch,  

On the way back I had wanted to pedal the road by the lake but there is no way to get from the Blind to the road with the bike, it's been plowed and where it's not plowed it's briars.   By then it was hot so I made my way back to the van and packed it up for the day.  

The  butterflies love the Spring Thistle

I am enjoying incorporating the exercise of the bike into my nature and bird  outings.  

So I had the shot, it was crowded but they had their process down pat so once my name was called I had the shot then 15 min wait n see they made an appointment for my second dose that will be 3rd week of May. I have my white card with one check mark, and after that I stopped and got the bike rack will have to show it to you when I get it assembled. 


Since I was on that side of the river I went up to the Lake and Dam...

an Imm Bald Eagle soared over the river 

Singing up in the leafy tops was the White Eyed Vireo..

The Cliff Swallows found a couple of mud puddles to help shore up their Adobe Condo's lined up under the edge of the generating station...

Some birds had more luck on solid ground...like the Brown Thrasher...

AND with all the skeeters and gnats we need every Blue Grey Gnatcatcher we can get

A splash of Red is always welcome...

Northern Cardinal...

Wilma sent me on this short cut from the river to the lake, turned out to be a good short cut 

I heard Bob Whites singing, as well as Field Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak, Summer Tanager and the Prairie Warbler..

and a good thing for me got my FOY Indigo Bunting and the Yellow Breasted Chat...

And he was singing his heart out...I just listened to Joe Biden's address to Congress...a real President laid out a wonderful plan for our future; I only hope the GOP will realize we are  in ALL OF THIS TOGETHER not just the pandemic, but all of it, what holds one down holds us ALL DOWN. The economy will only flourish when we feed it, by giving a decent wage to those who don't get it...that means more spending and more spending means more bottom line GDP.

WiN WiN 

 IF that is not the truth then why did the Republicans  support the TRUMP stimulus? ?????? And tax break to the rich?? ANY break for individuals mean more spending in shops, eateries, and saving for a rainy day so how can giving people more money to spend put a business out of business?? ITS trickle UP people,,,we all know that is how it works, You give me more I spend more then I need more services keeping my new Home up etc...

AND the DEMS supported it also because spending is how our economy works.  THE GOP is the obstruction party they are in a word USELESS to the f this country. Their platform is to keep people down why do you think they don't support the child care portion of the bill?? They think Women should stay home with their kids not go off to work and be independent WHY else would they NOT want to help people with decent child care???? What is the problem with that?? And it's an attempt to keep minorities from having a family and realizing the American Dream. 

Until voters (US) are able to squash this rise of the bigotry and the double talk of the Right, we will get no satisfaction as a Nation. The Right Wing of this nation is the Taliban of the USA!

Hope your week was as interesting as mine was. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.