I’m dismayed to see I didn’t post in 2023. I’m reading a terrific book called Our Wild Calling by Richard Louv – that’s the inspiration (indirectly) for this. I got a couple pictures I really enjoyed last time I was at Pony Pasture (2/25/2024). Here’s one:
That – if you’re unaware, or even if you are aware – is a Barred Owl. Its mate was only about ten feet to the right in this scene but the mate’s back was to me and wouldn’t have looked terrific.
But that’s an idea. I’ll get more stuff up soon. Have a great day!
PS If you’ve never looked at this blog before (or if you have looked at this blog before) you’ll find a lot of different subjects. But for three particular subjects, don’t waste your valuable life looking at this blog because you won’t find them here.
Three subjects that will never appear on this blog:
politics
religion
advertising
If you’re interested in those subjects, there’s a solid chance you can find them somewhere. But not here. Have an A+ day.
Me, Turner and Yuki at the river this morning – picture by Jaclyn – thank you!
A kind person named Jaclyn took our picture this morning. And I don’t even know if I spelled her name correctly! But she was one of the few people who chose to show up at Pony Pasture this cold, wet May morning, and she was kind enough to take our picture. Thank you Jaclyn!
Now – and I apologize for dragging my feet – to all of the many mothers out there, including the billions I’ve never met – Happy Mother’s Day! I hope it’s been superb. And I hope tomorrow is even better! Happy Mother’s Day!
I have an image of what a “birdwatcher” looks like, and it doesn’t look like me. But I love looking at birds. I’m a dog walker – no denying that – and I carry my camera with me. I also have four bird feeders and two suet feeders outside my office window. And Spring in central Virginia is overwhelmingly birdy.
Also – FYI – there is a picture of a snake near the bottom of this blog post. If you don’t like to look at snakes, bail out. It’ll be the eighth or ninth picture. So it won’t be a surprise. No fangs and it’s not venomous – it’s a harmless Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon). But it’s a snake.
Near the end of March I was at the river with those dogs in the top picture and saw a Yellow-throated warbler (Setophaga dominica) for the first time in my life. What a treat:
Yellow-throated warbler on the edge of the James River at Pony Pasture, March 29, 2022 – my first one ever!
Everyone knows I love raptors. I was at Deep Run Park (western Henrico County) with a friend about two weeks ago when someone else started looking at this Red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) – so I got a chance to photograph it!:
Red-shouldered hawk at Deep Run. I totally got lucky on this one. Saw somebody else looking at it.
Ironically – somewhat ironically – I was standing with the same friend in the driveway of his house (five miles from Deep Run as the hawk flies) a month earlier when I looked up in a Tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) and saw this one sitting on a branch:
Red-shouldered hawk perched on a Tulip poplar branch. Foot under its feathers because it was cold.
I was at Pony Pasture twenty-four hours later and saw this handsome and easily identifiable raptor perched mid-river:
Early March Bald Eagle perched mid-river at Pony Pasture
I was in the woods at Pony Pasture two weeks later when I saw this pair of Pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) picking through some rotten wood looking for a snack:
A pair of Pileated woodpeckers in late March at Pony Pasture. Male is in the foreground.
I finished photographing those woodpeckers around 1:30. Less than half an hour later I watched this pretty girl watch Turner:
Watching a deer watch Turner. Yuki was out of town that day.
Since I’ve shifted (for the moment) to unfeathered animals, I was looking into a creek at Deep Run and heard a loud “croak” and saw this pair in the mud:
A pair of early season (April 4) bullfrogs at Deep Run:
And since I’m still on unfeathered animals, I was gratified to see a Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) at Three Lakes Park:
Box turtle from Three Lakes Park:
And now – since I’m on the unfeathered animals theme – a Northern Water snake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon) from Three Lakes Park:
Northern Water snake at Three Lakes Park
More birds though. Cardinals are our state bird and we see them nearly every day. But I was fortunate to have a handsome male perch and sing in the bright sunshine at Pony Pasture a month ago:
I always feel lucky when a bird poses like this:
I saw Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Pheucticus ludovicianus) on my feeders today – always a treat in the Spring. Also, I’ll put a picture of the male first. Then I saw a female – and I thought it was some sort of sparrow or finch I’d not yet ID’d. But I used Merlin Bird ID and it told me it was a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. First the male then the female:
Boldly colored male Rose-breasted GrosbeakSubtly patterned female Rose-breasted Grosbeak:
Yikes – hard to believe I almost left these off. I have multiple pairs of Bluebirds visiting my feeders, though I can’t tell one pair from another. But here are two that were on the feeder at around the same time Saturday:
Handsome male bluebird surveys the chow
I suspect she’s looking across at her partner:
Also I’ve had a difficult time getting an image I love, but I was happy to see a Brown headed nuthatch (Sitta pusilla) show up at the feeders Saturday. They’re a bird I never knew existed until one landed on my feeders a year or two ago:
My first recent encounter with a Brown-headed nuthatch:
I think I’ve written too much already! Since I took too much of a break! Happy Mother’s Day!
Thank you again for the first picture Jaclyn! I apologize if I misspelled your name!
I read a lot of news, and a lot of it is not cheerful. I am aware that many un cheerful things happen every day – many “reasons to be un cheerful” – but they’re outweighed by the cheerful things. And I recently discovered a web site or news source called “reasons to be cheerful” and it’s worth being aware of. The subtitle is A recipe book for solutions. No dietary restrictions. Check it out.
A friend told me he enjoys reading my blog posts. It may be a polite way of saying my photography is poor. He is a deeply kind human being and a terrific photographer. No matter, I like posting (and taking) pictures so I’ll continue with that. And write a little.
My most recent blog post was January 16, 2022 – six weeks ago today. Boy I have a lot of pictures. I think I’ll just limit this to my ten favorite. And hope to get another blog post up in less than six weeks. Enjoy this one – please!
I saw this bluebird just a week ago at Pony Pasture:
What better way to open a blog post titled “reasons to be cheerful.”
I heard Barred owls this morning at Pony Pasture – I heard a pair calling back and forth – but I never saw them, and so was never able to put a lens on them. But I have seen a lot of Barred owls there in the six weeks since my last post. I even got a picture of a pair, but they were shrouded in dead vines and I didn’t enjoy the picture. Here’s one I took in late January:
I think they doze during the day. Or maybe I make them sleepy.
Coyotes aren’t around every day or even every week, but they’re in and out of the are these days. I saw one hit by a car on Patterson at the Henrico/Goochland border and another on 295 near 33. Anyway, the deer are not as sedate as they were in the pre-coyote days. I still got to watch a small herd ambling around after the the snow four weeks ago:
Face shots of whitetail does are all similar, and similarly beautiful. Those eyes. Look at her.
Speaking of owls (more precisely speaking of raptors) I saw (again) a pair or Red-tails on the same cross at the same church. Scroll down and compare this with the one from the last post; same cross, certainly the same hawks, just different poses. I presume soon they’ll be feeding babies. This is just from eleven days ago:
I first became enamored of Red-tailed hawks in high school. I have not grown less enamored.
Also, since I’m (somewhat incessantly) on the raptor theme, I came home less than a week after my last blog post to see this Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii) perched casually on a branch across the street from my house, brazenly keeping watch on my bird feeders. When I say “bird feeders” I mean feeding songbirds, but hawks are birds too and I suppose this one thought it would come feed. Yikes. They sure are good looking birds though:
This female Cooper’s hawk would have to flap her wings about three times to kill a bird on my front feeder.
I first started hiking at Pony Pasture in about 1990, when my old friends Marni and Jason lived here. They introduced me to it and although they’re in Oregon now, I’m still at Pony Pasture regularly – even this morning! So I’ve been hiking there well north of three decades, and I recall seeing my first Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola). I know it was a female because I distinctly recall looking at her and thinking “that looks exactly like a Nike Swoosh.” I was so ignorant in those days (compared with how ignorant I am in these days) that I had no idea what I was looking at. I was fortunate that the inimitable Betsy Slade enlightened me. That was probably in the winter of 1990 – they’re strictly winter ducks – and I saw her about a month ago and she is in every way unchanged. The flocks of Buffleheads on the river look just like they did in 1990 as well. They arrive here around the first frost (typically late October) and head back up north around the last frost (mid-April). Anyway, there were big flocks there this morning but I photographed this male in the fourth week of January. This is from behind, and I suspect he was showing off for a female, or just trying to show how much more fit he was than the other males in the flock:
I don’t get a million bufflehead pictures I enjoy. But this one is cool:
If you follow me on instagram you’ve seen practically an infinite number of pictures of my old cat Dash. I take them all with my phone. He’s a lifelong indoor cat and I don’t use my camera for indoor photography. They’re pretty repetitive – he sleeps a lot, usually near the woodstove this time of year. In this picture he was awake (for the moment) near the woodstove:
Warm woodstoves make Dash sleepy
I was standing in front of the Y a couple of days before I took that picture of Dash yawning. I was talking with my old friend Tom, who’s worked at the Y almost as long as I’ve been a member – possibly longer. Tom also enjoys hawks as much as I do, and while we were standing there a big Red-tail (it had to be a female; they’re much larger than males) swooped into the tree in the northwest corner of the parking lot. I went to my car and grabbed my camera and snapped a quick picture. If they’ve eaten they’ll sit around for a while but she was still on the hunt. I managed to get up sun from her and get one quick picture before she departed in search of a snack. Here she is a moment before she took off:
Keeping the Tuckahoe area rodent population in check:
I got a quick look at her while she was heading for her lunch meeting. This is kind of far away and cropped but I like it anyway:
See her up there in the upper left? Squirrels at the Y let out an audible sigh.
Flowers are poking out – you must already be seeing daffodils – and they’ll be filling our senses and this blog soon. Tuesday is March 1! To prepare, I’ll close with two from this week. They’re both from our yard (thank Evelyn if you see her) but soon they’ll be everywhere. The first is the trademark sign of Spring, a stunning yellow daffodil; this one is from our backyard:
If you hadn’t noticed, Spring is just around the corner. (Daffodil, thanks to Evelyn and photosynthesis)
This big camelia is on our side yard; I took this picture about three minutes after the daffodil:
Taken moments after that daffodil picture, about ten feet away. Again, thanks to Evelyn and photosynthesis.
16 January, 2022 “They don’t call it Habitat for nothing.” – my sister Katie
Thank you Laura! Turner staying up (I think he has sore hips), Yuki resting after our long hike this morning:
That’s not (technically) the picture that inspired this blog post title. Though it may as well be. This is the picture that inspired this blog post title:
The ornaments on my Christmas tree are never this beautiful:
In the first week of 2022 I was hiking at Pony Pasture and caught that lovely bluebird in the sun. He was one of a flock of thirty or more. Two days later I was walking past the same trail intersection and took this picture:
Same trail intersection, 48 hrs later. THAT’S why they call it “habitat.”
Our dad’s name was Mike; “flabbergasted” is a strong word but I was a bit flabbergasted to realize November will mark ten years since he’s been gone. Ten years! But if I live a hundred more years, if I see a bluebird, I’ll still think of dad. There’s nothing melancholy about it; bluebirds and melancholy are mutually exclusive. But dad loved bluebirds. He probably loved dogwoods as much, which is one of the reasons I’m drawn to dogwoods as well. But dogwoods rarely catch you off guard or interrupt your thoughts; bluebirds do. I’ll elaborate a little but let me put in some more pictures.
My relentless photographs of Barred owls in the same spot – in the same habitat – merits inclusion here. Remember the first five letters of “habitat” are “habit,” and Barred owls have made a habit of perching on the same branch for four years. Even though I’m dialed in on the reasons, I am still amazed. If there are none tomorrow and I never see them again, I will still be amazed. If you haven’t noticed, I really like being amazed. My last blog post (!) was December 19, 2021! This is my first blog post this year! I’ve seen Barred owls – on the same branch – same habitat – every time I’ve visited since New Year’s Day. This branch has never been empty. Wild. A 2022 Barred owl in the unmatched habitat of Pony Pasture. Look closely; there’s snow in the background. This picture is from January 4th:
Barred owl on that same crazy branch. Since 2019! Remarkable. See the snow behind it?
I digressed after my mention of dad (and of Katie) near the top of this post. Katie is part naturalist and part linguist. Dad and mom were each naturalists and linguists. They didn’t actively encourage those values in my siblings and me – they were just part of our upbringing. Part of our habitat, it occurs to me. Some of my siblings are stronger in each area, plus in other areas, but we can all identify most birds and plants and animals where we live. Possibly where you live too. I suspect all five of us have bird feeders at our houses. I can’t say for sure. This adult male Pine warbler (Setophaga pinus) visited my feeder on 12/21/2021, two days after my last blog post. First day of winter:
Adult male Pine Warbler with a piece of suet in his mouth, first day of winter, 2021 (12/21)
I took Latin in high school too. I think my sister Katie did too, and perhaps other siblings of mine. But the only Latin I can read in the Pine warbler’s Latin name is the word “pinus” because it’s the root word of “pine.” Notice how the word “root” is related to trees? Maybe I should branch out a little? Perhaps you’re thinking I should leave this subject alone? Maybe I’m just having fun needling my readers? I didn’t know what bird that was. There were other ways of figuring it out, but I “cheated” and used Merlin Bird ID.
I take pictures of birds – as you’re aware. With Merlin, you have an app and you choose the picture you want to identify. Then it asks the date and the location where you took the picture. Those are two key pieces of information. According to Avibase – The World Bird Database, there are “…about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds…”. If you narrow that from the entire world for a year to Richmond in January you cut it to maybe a hundred.
If you use the non-photo ID, the third question it asks (after date and location) is one of seven sizes. The smallest is “sparrow-sized or smaller” and the largest is “goose-sized or larger.” So now you have three key ID points. Next they offer nine colors and ask you to pick between one and three. Colors are the fourth ID point. After color it’s “Was the bird…?” and it offers six more choices, ranging between “eating at a feeder” and “soaring or flying.” Then it offers you a list of birds that fit those parameters.
If you’re interested (this may be boring but IMO it’s not), that list of choices is called an “algorithm.” When I google algorithm the most succinct definition is at the top (generated by an algorithm, of course). It says “a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.” If you know date, location, size, color and activity you eliminate many thousands of birds. It’s easy to pick your bird.
My boredom algorithm says I need to post a picture so here is a pair. I texted these to friends and family with the subject “good fences make good neighbors.” There’s a little overgrown fence in the woods in Pony Pasture. There were seven deer relaxing on one side and Turner and Yuki were watching them. This doe was watching her watchers:
She was in a herd of seven. Here she’s watching Turner and Yuki:
Yuki and Turner observing closely. Their leashes are tied around the fence:
Turner and Yuki watching the doe and her six companions:
It’s also (I nearly didn’t notice it) becoming the time when raptors pair up. It’s past that time really; they’re nesting. I took this picture on December 22. That’s about three weeks ago. Also not coincidentally it’s roughly the first full day of winter. The days had just begun to lengthen. A pair of Red-tailed hawks perched on the cross at Discovery United Methodist Church in western Henrico County, VA:
Pair of red-tailed hawks basking in the early winter sun. Male is on the left; he’s a bit smaller:
Also not my most amazing photo ever but I whipped around and snapped an image of this Great Blue Heron (recently) as it was taking flight at Echo Lake, a few miles from that church. If you really squinch up your eyes just right and look on the water in the upper right of the image you can see a male mallard with a female a few feet behind him. Mallards are pairing off everywhere:
Great Blue Heron flying at Echo Lake; mallard pair swimming in upper right:
Also this is the center of a flock of buffleheads that stretched for a few more feet upstream and downstream. I count seventeen birds here; there were at least two dozen total. So twelve (or more) pairs. I took this picture at 10:10. I took owl pictures at 10:20 and I photographed the second bluebird on this post at 10:30. That was a nice morning!:
The center of a long Bufflehead flock at Pony Pasture on January 9th:
I haven’t used a moon image in a while (IIRC) so here’s one. I took this on the same day (January 7, 2022) that I saw the bluebird closest to the top of this post and an owl and buffleheads. I also saw a little herd of deer near the parking lot around 12:15. I’m going to include a little deer image (an image of a little deer) I took just before I got in the car. Then the moon shots:
Young whitetail frolicking along the edge of the parking lot at Pony Pasture on January 7:
Now the moon:
I took this moon picture exactly six hours after I photographed that little deer:
Information about that moon at the time I took the photograph:
Six hours after the buffleheads, owls and bluebirds:
Have a first class week! Come back soon! All best,
19 December, 2021 Life lives on lives/more than I could swallow
Cormorant at Three Lakes Park with an enormous catfish in its mouth
I was hiking with a friend at Three Lakes Park in Henrico County last week when I saw this Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) trying to get this catfish in position to swallow. I presume. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says that cormorants “are experts at diving to catch small fish.” That particular cormorant didn’t get the memo about “small” fish.
Here’s another picture of the same cormorant with the same fish:
Same cormorant, same day. same incredible catfish
I watched for some time; I never saw the cormorant consume the fish. It’s the beginning of mating season. It’s possible that was an extravagant display of fishing prowess in hopes of attracting a comely female cormorant. But I am far from an expert on cormorant behavior.
I’m not an expert on Red-tailed hawk behavior either, but I was gratified to see this pair perched on the cross at Grove Avenue Baptist Church:
Pair of Red-tailed hawks getting an early start on nesting season – Grove Avenue Baptist Church
The light is nice now and a lot of leaves are down. I saw this Red-shouldered hawk at Bryan Park:
Red-shouldered hawk on a sunny mid-December morning at Bryan Park:
We’re getting a few hard cold snaps now – the shortest day of the year is the day after tomorrow (Tuesday, 12/21/2021). About ten days ago it was bitter cold in the morning and I was fortunate to see this bluebird facing the rising sun with his feathers puffed out to stay warm:
Puffed out facing the sun on a cold December morning
A white squirrel almost within sight of that bluebird. Fur is pretty warm but the squirrel is not toasting in the sun:
White (not albino) squirrel gobbling up an acorn to stay warm:
Two years ago I helped out with horseback riding with Friendship Circle of Virginia. We skipped it last year because of the pandemic but we were masked up and at it again this year. They had a mask inspector make sure we had enough masks:
Inspecting masks for safety’s sake:
My sisters have been dedicated horseback riders their entire lives. My involvement with horseback riding extends to walking along beside horses to make sure unsteady people don’t fall off. This pretty girl’s name was Buttercup. No one fell off of her while I walked alongside!:
Buttercup had been standing out in the cold rain before coming inside to help out. She was a sweetheart!
I spent about half the time walking alongside Buttercup and the other half alongside Cloud. They were easygoing, tolerant horses. Winston Churchill once said “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person.” I started working with people with disabilities on horseback really, really early in my career – twenty-five years ago or more. I’ve walked with dozens and dozens of people on horseback, and many of the people are entirely non verbal and have little or no muscle control. But literally one hundred percent – every person I’ve ever done this with – relaxes when they’re riding. Maybe because the horses are warm, or because they’re peaceful, or because it gets people out of wheelchairs and up above everybody else – I don’t know what it is. But people always calm down when they’re riding. I spent more time with Cloud than I did with Buttercup; no one fell off of her either:
I spent more time walking with Cloud than any other horse; I wish I’d gotten a picture of her at work:
Here’s the banner for Friendship Circle, hanging up outside the barn:
Friendship Circle banner today at Mesa Vista Farm:
Wait! I almost signed off without a picture of perhaps the most charming hostess of the entire event. This was the diminutive and graceful Tinker Bell. If you squint, you can just barely see her gossamer wings. The wikipedia entry says that “Her speech consists of the sounds of a tinkling bell, which is understandable only to those familiar with the language of the fairies.” If you can see her wings in this picture, you would have been able to understand her speech:
Tinker Bell – see her little wings? You should have heard what she was saying. So kind!
Have a great week! Come back next week! I just realized – Saturday is Christmas! Merry Christmas if you’re of that persuasion. If not, have an outstanding December 25th! All best,
5 December, 2021 Finally got to fly again (and more)
I flew most of the day Tuesday. Viruses don’t affect a plane’s ability to fly, but my schedule was disrupted by the pandemic so I took a break. I finally called out to my old friends at Heart of Virginia Aviation in Hanover (KOFP) and set up some time with a plane and an instructor. I was fortunate to fly with an excellent instructor named Dwayne; I’m looking forward to flying with him again. He took this picture of me at Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK), about fifty miles west of Baltimore:
Stopped for lunch in Frederick, MD, picture courtesy of my flight instructor Dwayne Gill
My plan was to land in four states that day; Maryland was the last one unless you count going home to Hanover. We had a few glitches getting in the air at Hanover that morning. We started out in a Tecnam P92 Eaglet which is really, really light. There was a strong, gusty wind blowing straight across the runway – anathema for really light planes. But fortunately we had the opportunity to switch from a light plane to a heavier one. When I began flying in 2017 I flew in a Cessna 172 and one was available so away we went. That’s me standing in front of it in that picture. Our first stop (our second state) was around a hundred miles north at KMRB in Martinsburg, WV. We just landed then taxied around and took off again. From Martinsburg, WV we headed to our third airport and state, W05 in Gettysburg, PA. The runway in Martinsburg was a relatively massive 8,800 feet. Gettysburg was our shortest runway of the day at 3,100 feet. Hanover (where I fly from) is 5,200 feet. Not a lot happens at Gettysburg airport. We did a U-turn at the end of the runway, taxied back up to the top, did another U-turn, took off and left.
To backtrack a few airports, just before we got into the Martinsburg airport airspace we flew over the twisty Shenandoah River:
Shenandoah River meandering beneath my left wing strut in WV:
I should have put all these in order, but I didn’t. After we took off from Gettysburg we flew to our fourth state, Frederick, MD. That’s where we took the picture of me with the plane – the picture that opens this blog post. The folks at the Frederick airport lent us a car (almost all small airports do this) and went out for lunch at a nice little place called Belle’s Sports Bar and Grill. For some reason I erred and had a cheeseburger (I love cheeseburgers); I was foolish to pass up a crabcake when I was in Maryland. I’ll go back again and I won’t make the same mistake twice.
I have seen wildlife since my last blog post. I thought Buffleheads showed up closer to Halloween; I’ve been watching for them for some time. I finally saw a little flock when I was hiking on November 26, a.k.a. the day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a. Black Friday. This little male was causing a little commotion mid stream. He may be taking off or landing but he also may be strutting his stuff for the females on the water just ahead of and behind him:
I think he was showing off. But he may have just been happy. They’re not mutually exclusive.
I don’t know what this bluebird was doing; possibly cocking his handsome little head to avoid the glare of the sun:
Bluebird getting a new perspective
I see a lot of Great Blue Herons in Richmond – they’re all around if you pay attention. Unless I’m fortunate enough to see one with a fish or a frog or a crayfish in its mouth (that’s rare for me) my pictures are disappointingly similar. I liked this one gazing through the branches. Looking at the lens of my camera;
Great Blue Heron peering through the branches
I rarely rarely rarely see Cooper’s hawks. I love seeing them but they are among the most elusive local raptors. In my decades of hawk watching I have never seen one on a high perch. That territory has been (in my experience) the sole province of Red-tailed hawks. But I looked up on a tower near our house just after lunch on Thursday and saw a long tail hanging down. That is the giveaway clue of a Cooper’s hawk – they’re the only local raptor that has a long tail. I zoomed in too much on this one (I was overenthusiastic) and lost a little image quality. But it’s a Cooper’s hawk. They’re fantastic birds:
All my decades of hawk watching, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a Cooper’s Hawk on a high perch
I almost forgot! Turner and Yuki and I had a close encounter with a female Pileated woodpecker at Pony Pasture this morning. I photographed her for eleven delightful minutes before we walked away; she was still tap tap tapping away looking for insects. I always share pictures I like with my family. One of my siblings said that was a “nice clear picture.” I said (you can take this to the bank if you’re doing outdoor photography) “short distance + bright light = 100% success.” You can’t always control for those two variables but if you get them both, you get a good picture, every single time:
One of the most accommodating Pileated woodpeckers I’ve ever encountered
Yikes – I almost left off one of my favorite pictures. Yuki’s owner lives near us; she has a son who lives in Utah. He knows a lot about reptiles and amphibians – infinitely more than I do. He went hiking with Turner and Yuki and me a week ago today. Although for some reason it feels like a century ago. Anyway, he knows how to find reptiles and amphibians. He spotted a promising looking rotten log (it’s possible you never even knew such a thing existed) and rolled it over to reveal this Marbled Salamander:
Thank you Hunter! Marbled salamander at Pony Pasture
As always, I’m running way too late. The sun was just setting as I walked out of Hanover airport to go home Tuesday.
Somebody probably told me that in kindergarten or first grade, second grade at the latest. I’ve been told that in some form or other for the past half century-ish. You can teach an old dog new tricks, but I still haven’t learned that slacking off never pays. Here is a selection of the pictures that have piled up in the six weeks (!) since my most “recent” blog post.
I almost called this post “mostly birds” since as you will learn that would be an equally appropriate title. In six weeks I build up a massive pile of pictures. I have a million favorites. Somehow in late October I went to Pony Pasture on a Friday, though I don’t recall why. I’d just gotten on the trail when I saw a person pointing their cell phone at the creek. I waited politely until they’d moved on then strolled down to see if the object of their interest was still visible. Imagine my delight when I saw this Red-tailed Hawk perched above the pipeline crossing the creek:
Red-tailed hawk waiting for breakfast to wander by at Pony Pasture
A couple of days earlier this mockingbird posed in the bright sun at Echo Lake Park:
Mockingbird basking in the morning sun at Echo Lake
To get away from birds (for a moment) I was surprised to see a small buck at Pony Pasture in late October. I was so certain I was looking at a doe, I didn’t even work hard on the pictures. I didn’t realize it was a buck until I got home and saw its antlers. You can see how well it blends in. This was really close to the parking lot. He could definitely see car windshields reflecting sunlight from where he was standing. I’ve seen (years ago) one truly enormous buck in Pony Pasture. There is zero percent chance a buck like that would get out in the open like this so close to the parking lot. Unless it was like one o’clock in the morning. This guy had a little harem of small does with him. He reminded me of a cocky fifteen year old boy squiring his girlfriend around the mall. Hopefully this little dude has some good years ahead of him:
See his little antlers there?
I took this picture of Turner the same day. I took the picture of Turner at 10:53. I took the picture of the buck at 11:09. In all my years of photography and tens of thousands of shots I have almost literally never used my flash. But I used it that morning and was gratified with the results. I hope you are too:
Turner was born eager. He hasn’t lost it.
One of the things I love best about Turner is his unrelenting enthusiasm. Turner wakes up looking forward to every single thing that’s going to happen that day, and he goes to sleep looking forward to sleeping. He thinks everything in the world is just the most awesome thing he’s ever seen. He was a little bit lost for a while when Mackey died – probably picking up on Evelyn’s and my grief – but he gradually came out of it. He is always full of wonder. Notice that combining those two words equals “wonderful.” We’re lucky to have him around.
We hiked around a while and we were clear on the other side of the park, headed upstream (west) toward the parking lot. There was a mother deer grazing on the side with two youngsters gamboling around on the side of the trail. The mother vanished into the woods like smoke. The youngsters couldn’t take their eyes off Turner. I had the sense then and I still have it that they would have liked to chase each other around – to frolic – and in another setting it would have worked fine. Not on a pretty autumn Sunday at a busy urban park though. Look at this face though. Such a punim! And look closely – stretch the picture if you’re on a phone. This is a very young buck. See those two little bumps in front of his ears? Mommy will probably be telling him to hit the road soon:
Turner was standing directly in front of me. This little buck was locked on him. In a fun way.
This picture is junky enough that if it was any other bird I wouldn’t use it. But it’s a Bald Eagle! I still wouldn’t use it if it was out in the wild somewhere in a place I’d expect to find Bald Eagles. This may not make sense if you’re not from Richmond but this bird was ten feet from the road at the corner of Gaskins Road and Ridgefield Parkway. Thousands of cars pass that intersection every day. And this was a few minutes before 10:00 AM on a weekday morning – not exactly prime wildlife viewing time. I would never have glanced in its direction but crows were having a fit and this time of year that invariably means raptor (or housecat). So I turned my camera and there it was. I’ll bet Bald Eagles and Cardinals are two of the most easily recognized birds in the United States:
Bald Eagle in the heart of a busy suburb. I am so grateful.
I took this picture in the parking lot a few minutes earlier:
Squirrel the color of an eagle’s head
I’ll do a quick segue away from birds and mammals for a moment. I’m not colorblind but autumn leaves are just not something I find thrilling. But I’ve taken two pictures of leaves purely because of their color since my most recent blog post. Alone (IMO) these pictures aren’t worth a great deal. But (again, IMO) they look cool together:
Colorful November leaves #1 Colorful November leaves #2
An almost inviolable rule of animal (including bird) photography is “if you can’t photograph the eyes, don’t waste your time.” But this enormous female Cooper’s Hawk swooped over the hood of my car and landed on a branch next to my across-the-street neighbor’s driveway, peering at his bird feeder. Birds don’t drool (that I’m aware of) but if they did, Cooper’s Hawks would drool when they looked at a busy bird feeder. She was so big and so close I had to get this shot:
Everybody has a hungry hawk:
I also saw an Eastern Phoebe this week at Bryan Park:
Phoebe at Bryan Park
Wait – I almost left out a crucial (to me) bird. Kingfishers are really, really (for me) hard to photograph. They’re even hard to see, and I hardly ever see them stop. They fly, fly, fly. In almost all birds (think cardinals), if there is an appearance difference between genders, the male is the better looking of the two. Everything in this blog is strictly my opinion, but male Kingfishers are much more muted and less colorful than females. This guy stopped in the shade long enough for me to snap a few images:
Male Belted Kingfisher on a branch
I have other pictures but maybe I’ll get another post up a week from today. Maybe not, but I’m happy with this one. I hope you are! Have an excellent week! All best,
Plus I was being lazy. Four weeks ago today was my most recent blog post! Awful. Anyway, I’ve gotten a handful of pictures I enjoy. I hope you do too! When this much time goes by it’s difficult for me to pick out a favorite. But I was happy to see this bumblebee right in our front yard two weeks ago today. I know very little about bumblebees but I know I love this picture:
That picture’s worth a blog post in itself. In our front yard a week or two ago.
This picture is not technically lovely, but I was so amazed and gratified to see it I just had to include it here. I saw this the week before I saw the bumblebee. This was from Three Lakes Park in northeastern Henrico County:
Two Bald Eagles at one time! On a weekday morning! In Richmond, VA!
When I was young(-er), Bald Eagles were endangered. DDT is unbeatable as a synthetic insecticide. It kills mosquitoes so thoroughly it practically eradicates malaria in areas where it’s used. But it makes egg shells so weak that they break when they’re being incubated. Bald Eagles almost went extinct until we got rid of DDT here in the States. I will never not be amazed to see a Bald Eagle. And to see a pair is just amazing and stunning and remarkable and rewarding and I am beyond thrilled. Bald Eagles eat lots of fish (though they’re equally satisfied with road kill) and Three Lakes Park provides plenty of opportunities to fish. The tower they’re perched on is at a radio station on Wilkinson Road, just a couple of hundred feet from the water’s edge at Three Lakes. There’s an even bigger lake in a neighborhood just on the other side of Wilkinson Road, and the Chickahominy River is just a few wing flaps to the east. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) says that “the Chickahominy River provides the angler with tidal river fishing at its finest.”
I hardly ever saw whitetail deer when I was growing up either, but I didn’t live near Pony Pasture. I took this picture earlier this month. “Intense” and “serene” are (IMO) dissimilar adjectives, but they both seem describe her accurately:
“Intense” and “serene” in the same animal at the same time – amazing
On the same day I saw the Bald Eagles (in the same park) I saw this Great Egret hunting from a branch over the water. It was only when I looked closely at the picture later I noticed the turtle a few feet to its left on the same branch:
Great egret on the right, turtle on the left
Late summer at Pony Pasture remains colorful. This Silvery Checkerspot is from the third week in September:
Silvery checkerspot
Turner and I had a nice walk down there this morning. We met a kind lady named Hunter and her polite and energetic daughter August and their enormous and well-mannered Bernese Mountain dog Patron (second syllable rhymes with “bone”) just as we got to the water’s edge. Hunter graciously agreed to take our picture:
Thank you Hunter and August and Patron!
The sun was warming the bricks on the wall beside our driveway last week and this skink decided it was a good place to warm up:
Skink sunning itself on our driveway wall, safely out of reach of Dash
A skink made it into the house recently; if Dash hadn’t been on the lookout it might have escaped alive. Now Dash likes to wait by the front door to see if any more crawl in. But he’s unable to resist the smell of cardboard:
It’s safe to say there are no skinks in that box
I almost forgot a new (to me) flower Evelyn’s been growing. Possibly you’ve eaten “ginger snaps” or “gingerbread cookies” or had a bubbly glass of “ginger ale.” Evelyn grows ginger – yes, it’s the same ginger – in our yard! I’d never even imagined it as a flowering plant but there you go. And the smell is beyond compare. But you’ll just have to feast your eyes. Or grow your own!:
Elegant, fragrant, graceful ginger flowers – grown by Evelyn in our backyard!
I’ve mentioned Surrounding Counties in a previous blog post – Oxtail kolache from back in May. Their real specialty (in my opinion) is providing warm-hearted and friendly service in an excellent easygoing spot for coffee and food and other delicious treats. But what truly sets them apart is their kolaches. If you’re unaware (I was unaware), wikipedia describes kolaches as “a type of sweet pastry that holds a portion of fruit surrounded by puffy dough.” They sometimes have sweet kolaches at Surrounding Counties but more often – much more often – they have savory kolaches. Pulled pork, sausage egg and cheese, chili egg and cheese, and many more, plus what seems like an infinite variety of vegan and vegetarian options. They’re wildly creative and when I visited recently I was even able to get one wearing glasses! And it was delicious! Like looking in a mirror:
Kolache from Surrounding Counties – like looking in a mirror!
I hope to get a post up next week but I’ve become a little unreliable in that regard. We’ll see! Meanwhile, enjoy this one. And have a great week!
12 September, 2021 Back on track – at least for today
Back on track – at least for today
Photo by Evelyn who told me “That dog would follow you into a burning building.”
Two days later Evelyn and I each went to work in the morning. That afternoon we came home and loaded Mackey in the car and the three of us drove up to our vet’s office. Behind their office is a grassy, shady space surrounded by the building on one side and woods on the other sides, and they brought a blanket out for Mackey and Evelyn and the vet and me to sit on. It was the right thing and the best thing and I know my parents would understand that I felt even worse than when they died.
Another thing my parents would understand is the world does not come to a standstill to accommodate our personal grief. There is no better example than the river. It just flows and flows, no matter what else happens. Turner and I still go down there. It took a while though. This was our first trip back, three weeks to the day after Mackey died:
Our first trip to the river in the post-Mackey era
Another thing mom and dad understood was you don’t sit around and hope you’ll finally begin to feel better. Like most excellent things, feeling better takes energy and effort. Walking with Turner at the river is an outstanding way to wake up. Fortunately I was registered for and more or less trained for a short triathlon. I rode up to Luray, Virginia in August with my friend Pat and his wife Megan and the three of us completed the Luray Sprint Triathlon. Megan got an award in her age group! Crazy. I didn’t photograph it (I finished almost an hour after her!) but it was awesome. As usual I got a finisher’s medal, shown here. My first triathlon was at William and Mary – in 1987! So this finisher’s medal commemorates my thirty-four years as a triathlete! I just sorted the race results of the Luray race by age. There were sixty-seven finishers who hadn’t been alive as long as I’ve done triathlons! And this was a small race! I loved it. Here’s my awesome finisher’s medal:
Finisher’s medal from the Luray Sprint Triathlon – 8/22/2021
This is not every medal from every triathlon I’ve finished since 1987 (!), but this is a lot of them:
34 years of finisher’s medals. I train and race so I can eat ice cream.
I’ve gotten – as you may imagine – more than a handful of pictures I enjoy since my last blog post. I normally don’t have a favorite picture after one week between blog posts and I really don’t have one this time. But a few weeks back I saw this Five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) with what appears to be an inchworm in its mouth; it’s a nice picture. Unless of course you’re the inchworm:
Five-lined skink having fresh inchworm for breakfast
I took a reasonable picture of a Green heron (Butorides virescens) around a month ago:
Green heron (Butorides virescens)
I also haven’t seen a million toads this year but I got a reasonable image the same day I photographed that heron. This is a Fowler’s toad (Anaxyrus fowleri):
Fowler’s toad. The only way you can see these guys is if they hop.
I nearly forgot – I got a surprise picture Thursday evening – in our backyard! Turner and I were getting ready for our evening walk when he sprinted to the back garden. I suspect this Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) climbed (as quickly as possible) one of our back trees to reach the top of this fence:
Opossum glaring down at Turner (and me) from our back fence. Evelyn held the flashlight.
The bags of seed I buy are labeled “bird” seed and the containers I pour them into are called “bird” feeders. But these little chipmunks (Tamias striatus) are (or anyway pretend to be) illiterate and they love to eat it. I’d just parked in front of the house and this one was eyeballing the feeders, probably making sure our neighbor’s cat wasn’t skulking around:
Chipmunk doing surveillance on our bird feeders
There are a lot, lot, lot of butterflies around this time of year. I saw this pair (and a whole lot more) of Silvery Checkerspots (Chlosyne nycteis) when Turner and I were hiking at Pony Pasture this morning:
Silvery checkerspots at the river this morning
Also speaking of butterflies (indirectly), we have Monarch Butterfly caterpillars in our front and backyard garden. Monarch butterflies begin their lives as eggs; I didn’t see the eggs this year. Caterpillar (shown here) is the second stage of their life cycle. If they’re lucky (and if we’re lucky) they’ll form a pupa (chrysalis). A few formed on our front bushes last October. Some of them didn’t develop past that stage – nothing came out of the chrysalis. But a few reached the final stage and we “fledged” at least a couple of butterflies, the fourth and final stage. I hope we end up in a few weeks with actual butterflies, but at the moment we have caterpillars. They’re pretty!:
Monarch butterfly caterpillar devouring our front milkweed
Evelyn and I visited the Uptown Community Garden at 2201 Parkwood Avenue last weekend. It backs up to the Downtown Expressway between Addison Street and Shields Avenue. The sign says “No Pesticides or Herbicides Allowed” and there are butterflies (and flowers and vegetables) everywhere. We don’t use pesticides or herbicides either, but we don’t have quite their population of butterflies. Here is a Monarch we saw there:
Stunning Monarch butterfly at Richmond Community Garden
We saw a Black Swallowtail a few plants over the same day. I have tentatively identified this as a male; I am open to correction if someone points it out. Whichever gender it is, this is a nice looking insect:
Black Swallowtail a few flowers away from that Monarch at Richmond Community Garden
I’ll close with one more flying creature, though considerably larger and less colorful than the last two. This is a Great Egret (Ardea alba) and it is no less attractive. It’s graceful in a manner that (IMO) is difficult for insects to achieve:
Great egret
I changed my mind about closing! I will instead close with another magnificent hibiscus that Ev has growing in our backyard. True story – I have the most enormous iPhone ever manufactured by Apple, but it does not begin to cover one of these blooms. They are just enormous. I hope to put up another blog post next week. Meanwhile, enjoy this one! All best,
Jay
Cartoonishly huge and bright hibiscus in our backyard
I often hike at Three Lakes Park in Henrico County, near where interstate 95 North intersects 295. It’s east of 95 and slightly south of 295. It’s roughly 1.5 miles east of Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. The biggest lake (#1) is 7 acres and #3 is 5 acres. #2 is the nature center lake and is closed to fishing. It appears to be 4 or 5 acres.
I read that “The three lakes are actually old borrow pits dug during the construction of I-64.” I didn’t know what a “borrow pit” was so I googled it. I read that “A borrow pit is a term used in construction for a hole, pit or excavation that has been dug for the purposes of removing gravel, clay and sand used in a construction project such as when building an overpass or embankment.” Fascinating. I don’t learn something new every day, but pretty often.
The temperature Thursday (when I visited the park with a friend) topped out at 94º and the humidity was approximately sweltering. My buddy and I sat down for a break in a shaded picnic shelter. A small bird popped out of the woods and perched on a branch ten feet away. I didn’t know right away what it was but I knew it wasn’t a “regular” so I snapped this picture. It’s an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe):
Phoebe on a branch:
I was grateful for that image; that’s a very pretty picture. That’s one of the little treats about being a photographer. You can be hot and sweaty and uncomfortable, and as soon as a picture like that appears, all your discomfort vanishes as if it never existed. I knew I’d gotten a good image too, so my discomfort stayed vanished for a while. Anyway, I’d barely taken my finger off the shutter button – my camera says I took both pictures in the same minute – when the phoebe hopped off the branch and started taking a dust bath!
Same phoebe after it hopped off the branch to take a dust bath
A website called The Spruce says that “Dust baths, also called dusting, dirt baths, or sand bathing, are part of a bird’s preening and plumage maintenance that keeps feathers in top condition.” That was a fun little sequence to watch.
Evelyn’s flowers evolve each week to grace our yard throughout the season – even when it’s hot. This is one of the many hibiscus following the sun around each morning. They’re enormous; I couldn’t resist adding a quarter for scale:
Massive Hibiscus with a quarter for scale.
Wednesday was Bastille Day, similar to our Fourth of July. The Red-tail gazed down on it all from the cell phone tower at the Westbury Apothecary:
Bastille Day Red-tailed hawk at the Westbury Apothecary
The same day I saw the phoebe at Three Lakes Park I saw a Great Blue Heron stalking along the third lake:
Great Blue Heron stalking the middle lake at Three Lakes Park
Evelyn and I drove out to RAY’S ITALIAN WATER ICE & FROZEN CUSTARD. This is a true story – we got ice cream with rainbow sprinkles – and looked up in the sky and saw this:
Rainbow at Ray’s Italian Water Ice:
I said to myself/thought to myself “OMG!” – and had to snap this picture before it melted (and before I ate any more):
Which came first – the rainbow or the rainbow sprinkles?
I’ll close another blog post with Dash. He was snoozing on the living room windowsill yesterday morning around 10:00. Notice my sunflower slowly growing behind him. I put that seed in the ground on April 21. It’s ~6.5’ tall as I type these words. It’s not bursting with good health, but it may get another foot or two (or more) taller. It’s a fun experiment. Always a great day to take a picture of Dash!
Dash turning sunlight into a nap while the sunflower turns it into leaves
NEWFAZE 