18 October, 2020 Don’t get your hopes up!
OOPS! I GOT INTO A LITTLE STRUGGLE WITH MY BLOG PLATFORM YESTERDAY AND HAD TO WAIT UNTIL THIS MORNING TO POST. HOPEFULLY THAT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN. THIS WAS A SHORT ONE ANYWAY.
I regret my lack of success with both my camera and my phone this week. Of course I saw a decent number of hawks, but this is the only picture worth posting. Notably (IMO) I photographed another pair of Red-tails together, on Tuesday near the Westbury Apothecary. The light was poor and the distance and angle were unfavorable and although I got pictures for my records, none were blog worthy. I saw this healthy looking female at the corner of Westbury Drive and Bentridge Lane. If you look closely on the lower right you can see a crow; there were three up there. They were harassing her, but not with any vigor. I’m sure noone has any offspring around; I had the sense they were just going through the motions:
I saw another Red fox on my block yesterday. Unlike the one I saw this summer it was scrawny and had terrible mange. A biologist friend of mine stated very flatly that animal will not live through the winter.
Evelyn took this picture Monday. I put it on social media and a lot of people have already seen it; sorry if this is 2x for you. But it’s a fun picture. Ev gave me the shirt years ago. Dash was pointing out that, although I may “LIKE DOGS,” only cats are allowed to sit in my lap. He never lets them forget it:
Our first monarch chrysalis is turning black and shriveling up so I think it’s a goner. The second one still looks healthy but no sign yet of a butterfly. We’ll keep watching it.
Evelyn has a pretty rose growing in the backyard (still). Maybe it’ll last into next week! They don’t have the unmatched enthusiasm of Spring flowers, but this is gorgeous, especially for mid-October:
Remember my opening sentence about the lack of pictures? I wasn’t kidding! Hopefully next week will be more active. I opened with a Red-tail; I’ll close with (of course) Mackey and Turner and Yuki at Pony Pasture this morning. Come back next week! I’ll get some content together! Maybe I’ll even write something, though don’t hold me to that. Have a great week,
Jay
NEWFAZE 