Last Full Week of Summer

Last week was pretty nice weather wise no real complaints for a change!  I can't seem to get the font the size I want so hope this one works for everyone...

Thru the viewfinder:

I went to my favorite cemetery nearby it's always good to find something alive....and this time I found one Loggerhead Shrike...

He found some high perches to hunt from and then he got tangled up with a couple of Mockingbirds, and they went into defense mode.

And chased him away...

From another perch not far away an Eastern Phoebe watched and made sure he wasn't going to be attacked next...

He was safe, then the Mockingbirds started to chase each other...lol so no one got to settle on the poke berries on the edges...

A Red Admiral hung onto this twig in the cedar tree I tried and tried to get him wings open but he would not co operate...just stuck h is nose up in the air!

The really small flowers on the ground attracted this Bee Fly, pretty good name for this fly that looks and acts like a Bee...

And I read that flies actually do a lot of pollination so I guess we need to think before we swat that fly! 

This flower is called Meadow Beauty...another awesome fall bloomer...

On my way out of the cemetery I heard a chip coming from the pines and found an immature Blue Grosbeak up top looking around 

Easy to see that big beak...he will eventually turn blue...

Moving to another location saw this field with a line of Canada Geese pulling the tops off this winter hay crop..

... on the way to my old stomps, of the Beaver Pond, looks very different now there is no pond to speak of since they trapped and killed the beaver...

 Im still bent about that...I did see this turtle with a garden growing on this back!

Pond Slider

And I found out from one of the locals the Eagle Nest tree has fallen down wondered why I couldn't spot it, hope they will find another tree in the area to build in come late December. 

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I made a stop at the vernal pool I have been watching for a couple years and lately this Great Egret has been fishing there, I believe there is still plenty of tadpole, frog, and small turtle in the pool...

a bit too deep for the Green Herons that I normally see here although earlier in the season they were around..

I went to Sandhills took a couple of short hikes, and had a lot of Pine Warbler scolding me along the way...

Hunting season is about to get going so I will have to be careful out and about from now till the end of Feb. 

Buck Eye 

Grasshopper with bonus spider(??) 

Meanwhile back at home look who is in the flower bed...

Writing Spider 3 inches across!!

I did find some seeds for my winter garden plans...But I had dig through the Halloween costumes, and Spooky yard decorations and push aside the boxes of "Christmas Garland" waiting to be unboxed...dear readers  we will starve to death if the Pandemic gets worse, every store is over stocked with useless junk from China and I had to dig through a disheveled box of seeds looking for some to plant....at the Dollar Store!   To me this is a real shame.  Every community should have a seed exchange in it...not talking GMO seeds either...The garden centers are full of Mums, Pansies, and decorative plants.  We can't eat that. 

What are your thoughts on this subject. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

FALL Equinox

3.2 Billion birds have been lost since 1970, 30% of the bird population in North America gone! Sparrows, warblers, blackbirds, hit the hardest.  Cats kill 2.6 billion a year!! Habitat loss and development is the main problem according to the study.  How depressing...we can each do our best to keep our lands/yards as wild and bird friendly as possible. We are their only hope.  Ordinary citizens making good choices and spending their money with companies that are environmentally friendly is the best solution we have to do what our leaders won't...Green spaces MUST be encouraged, and more citizen ownership of special lands needs to happen! Our Government can't be trusted.

                                   early morning in Mother Nature

I can't recall a more trying week...you ever get the feeling every rock you turn over has an ogre under it? That's been my experience lately.  All I can hear in my head is NO NO NO...I must turn this around to YES YES YES.

                                                      

This is an American Chestnut tree!  The only ones I know of around here!  And the nut is inside this very spiny hull.

I think this is a yellow bellied pond slider....he was one of the few that didn't dive for cover as we drove by him at the refuge on Friday!  

The mist was back at the lake when I checked it this morning...very eerie looking, this photo although it's kind of a cool photo alarmed me a bit that piece of fishing line in the tree was out of my reach I do have a plan to try and get it down tho...because this is a man made hazard for birds!

Notice how a spider used parts of it to support his web.  I couldn't reach it without falling in the water.  But I will bring a long pole with me and get it down.  

the early morning mist really adds some drama 

And the golds of the wildflowers add drama to the ordinary roadside...

And what would we do without Goldenrod?  

I got another stamp in my State Parks book when we visited Little Pee Dee State park in Dillon County.  I really enjoyed this park and want to go back.  In 2016 there was a lot of flooding in our state, And the dam of this lake broke...and this year they reopened the lake after rebuilding the dam...

There is a campground and I forgot to take photos of the campground!  Some nice sites right by the lake, looked awesome i can see myself enjoying that.  We had a refreshing picnic break, it was humid the day we were there that has changed since then we think the humidity is gone, it will be back on Thanksgiving day always is hot and muggy on Thanksgiving.  

looks like a rebuild of the fishing pier too... we had a Solitary Sandpiper down by the spillway area with some Killdeer.  A lifer for Sis...

It threw me because it seemed so much smaller than I normally see them!  

 

And the Green Heron was also playing on the rocks...

The Immature Little Blue Heron with his greenish legs

we added up 7 Little Blue Herons around the lake...

We had Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and Kingfisher on the lake too...

A really curious Summer Tanager female in the trees came to see what all the fuss was about when we phished at a Black n White Warbler.  The Warbler was not still for a photo,,,,so we kept trying to phish him into submission and we also drew the attention of the Yellow-Throated Vireo a lifer for my sis!  And the first time I got a photo of one! 

What an awesome bird!

 

There is even petrified wood here!  

And at least one woodsy rental cabin, pretty cute looking too...

There's trails to hike, the lake to enjoy, a campground, picnic areas, and they will resume boat rentals when some of the vegetation dies off that crowded into the lake when the dam was broken...

im Little Blue Heron

Cloudless Sulphurs

We do want to visit this park again!  It's about 80 miles Northeast of us, and worth the trip! Summer is Over!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.