September 19, 2008
A great blue heron was seen flying high above the backyard earlier this week. Traveling in a southwest direction, the heron came up over the mountain perhaps after a day of feeding at Spruce Run Reservoir. A pair of eastern goldfinches were spotted feeding on purple coneflower seeds last weekend with their already molting feathers acting as a sure sign of the imminent return of fall. A passing train was heard in the distance each night this week as it sounded its horn, bringing back childhood memories of sounds in my hometown.Backyard tip of the week:
Want to bring back some childhood memories of your own? Take a moment this weekend to go for a walk outside. Notice the leaves that are already beginning to change. Did you ever collect leaves and make a scrapbook of them? You could plan to do that this fall, maybe with your children or grandchildren. Or, just walking around barefoot in the grass can be a nice way to re-focus and get back to the real you. Maybe stop and pick up a rock, see what crawls out from underneath. Sometimes you'll even find a cool salamander or something like that. Try it, you're sure to love it.
Backyard sightings for last week:
Including northern cardinals, American robins, rose-breasted grosbeaks, bluebirds and catbirds. Chipping sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, Carolina wrens, house wrens, eastern goldfinches, house finches. Red-bellied and downy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, the tufted titmice, black-capped chickadees, blue-jays, American crows, a red squirrel and a few grey squirrels, a mostly white skunk, chipmunks, an opossum and some bunnies. Also seen were mourning doves, still a bunch of different butterflies, and plenty of bats!
Cool sighting of the week:
A hawk was seen while making a fly-by attack at the songbird feeder the other day. Just a few feet from the bedroom window, the hawk showed its belly to me as it scared all the songbirds into flight, hoping for a chance to grab an easy lunch. I'm not sure if the hawk was victorious this time or not, but catching a belly shot of a red-tailed hawk three feet from the window this week was very cool!
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