In 2016 I’m doing a 365 Nature project. Each day of the year I will post something here about nature. It may be any format, a photo, video, audio, sketch or entry from my nature journal. It could be a written piece. Each day I will connect to nature in some way and share it here by the end of that day. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to the RSS feed or be notified by email. See all the 365 Nature posts.
Red-winged Blackbirds in groups are noisy and loud. This morning my ear caught a sound while I was inside, doors and windows shut, with music playing and I knew the Red-winged Blackbirds were somewhere near. They have visited our front yard several times to eat the sunflowers seeds, but this morning I didn’t see any at our feeders. Instead I found them in our neighbor’s Sweetgum tree foraging around at the top. When I went outside to listen to them a Northern Flicker flew up to add its call to the chorus. At the same time I could hear the Black-capped Chickadees calling and regular crow caws. It was really quite a bizarre symphony of diverse bird calls, not a combination of typical backyard bird song.
Yesterday afternoon we had a Sharp-shinned Hawk visit yet again, for the third day in a row. I knew it was coming several seconds before I saw it because I saw all the songbirds fly straight away from the feeders to the nearest shrub. About five seconds later the hawk came swooping up to land in the maple tree where it perched briefly before harrying some chickadees which had made the mistake of poking out of the Camilla. It then retreated to the top of the tree and I likewise followed suit to our upstairs window which overlooks the tree. There I was able to get some shots of the hawk from a great view.
Last night I finished reading Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet by Mark Cocker. It’s a collection of short essays he has written over the last few years for different publications about the wildlife and nature in Claxton, England. The book traverses through the year detailing the changing seasons. It was an enjoyable read and it gives a great overview of the diverse wildlife that inhabit that corner of the world throughout the ever-changing year. The individual essays are widely diverse and not many topics are repeated, but I felt each ended much too soon. As a whole however, the book is a wonderful account of the nature of one place.
