First Day of 2020

I got up early enough yesterday to see the sunrise. The clouds were too low and thick for it to be a great one…but it was the first of 2020. I did the same thing last year….with clouds making the color smudgy.

We decided that the clouds were going to clear off enough to make a trek to Conowingo Dam to see the bald eagles worthwhile. It was a cold morning, so we wore snow pants and took hand warmers. As we drove in, I noticed the seagulls first; we hadn’t seen any gulls last time we went to Conowingo (in late October). As I got out of the car, I heard some eagles and saw one flying with a stick. It circled around and went up to the platform near the top of an electrical tower. I later zoomed in for a picture of the sticks accumulating for the nest. There was a nest there in previous years so the pair may just be adding new sticks…making sure the sides are high enough to contain the chicks until they are ready to fledge.

The water was high from recent rains and the dam was generating power. Both gulls and eagles were benefiting from the fish available – stopped by the dam. We didn’t see any cormorants or great blue herons this time.

The eagles were active but very far away on the rocks and abutment…swooping above and into the water for fish. It is very close to out of range for my camera so most of my pictures are a little blurry.

There was an interaction between two birds on the abutment. They both looked rounded with their feathers fluffed and I wondered if it was from their ‘argument’ or just being cold.

Another interaction – two juveniles. One was on the rock but flew off just as the other came in for a landing.

Another juvenile was fishing…but didn’t manage to land a fish in this foray.

My husband’s camera did a bit better. He managed to photograph an adult catch a fish, jostle it into position, be chased by a juvenile…and then take the fish up to the nest. Was there a mate at the nest? We couldn’t see.

He also got some good pictures of juveniles; we are both beginning to appreciate the wing patterns of the juveniles – lots of variety in their look before they get their adult plumage.

I took a picture of one of the two cranes that are on the top of the dam facing the lake. I assume they are used to get large debris that washes down the Susquehanna from points north out of the water.

Zooming – December 2019

December was not a big month for photography. I did enjoy birds and wildlife…the decorations too…but I found myself in observational mode rather than trying to take photographs. I did quite a lot of volunteer work early in the month, and there never is time for very much time for photography when I’m paying rapt attention to people during a volunteer gig.

Enjoy the slide show for December 2019!

Happy New Year 2020!

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 28, 2019

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Colourful Birds – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Starting off this last gleanings list of 2019 with birds! My favorite picture of this set is the scarlet macaw with a stick. Is it eating it or using it as a beak-pick?

Artistic Photographs of Mushrooms and Myxomycetes by Alison Pollack – Focusing on small things in the forest.

In Search of Australia’s Amazing Rainbow Finch – A bird survey experience…and some pictures.

Patchwork of Corn in the Snow – As of late November a lot of corn was unharvested because it was too wet. Corn needs to dry on the stalks before it is harvested and this 2019 crop may not be harvested in some areas until February or March of 2020.

Watching Wildlife on Skis – Winter wildlife….another benefit to being out and about (with proper gear) during the winter.

Life Rides the Wind in the Desert | The Scientist Magazine® - Finding life in the Atacama Desert.

Decking the halls of history: the origins of Christmas decorations – A little historical note for after the holiday.

Image of the Day: Horns and Wings | The Scientist Magazine® - Technology that can turn off genes is the enabler of this research into how horns and wings develop in dung beetles…and maybe other insects too.

Children’s Book Review: Wake up, Woods – A book about native woodland plants for children.

Real Reindeer Are More Amazing Than You Ever Imagined – Another Christmas themed post…about an iconic animal that isn’t just a cartoon.

Brookside Gardens – December 2019

I walked around Brookside Gardens on Christmas Eve. It was sunny, but still only in the 40s with a little breeze; I was wearing my coat and gloves…put my hood up for part of the time. I noticed a tree has been cut down recently near the junction of the boardwalk to the Nature Center with the path from the Conservatory parking lot toward the Japanese Tea House (Brookside map here). The shelf fungus growing on the stump still held the saw dust!

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I noticed some birds too. The only two I managed to photograph were a White-throated Sparrow that was searching a mat covering electrical cords for the seasonal lights (the bird found at least one snack) and

A Northern Cardinal near the fragrance garden. I saw a lot of Cardinals…or maybe it was the same one following me around! Their color certainly makes them stand out.

The gardens are full of dried flowers and seeds. The sumac is the most colorful. I find the shapes of the dried ferns very appealing. They have a feathery look to them. Some of the grasses do too.

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The Conservatories were my last stop – for poinsettias and the model train.

There were quite a few families enjoying the garden while I was there. The excitement and joy of the children in the model train exhibit is like experiencing a seasonal group hug!

Through my Office Window – December 2019

We are seeing more birds come to our deck for the bird bath now that the weather is cold enough that other water sources are frozen most mornings. Having a heated bird bath is a big draw.. The jays are too big for the feeder….but they come for the water and feel secure enough to sit a bit. Otherwise they are further away in the trees.

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The titmouse is at the feeder and the water…but nervous enough in both locations to require a quick response to capture an image.

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The Carolina Wren likes the deck railing as a stage for song…but it also likes the seeds in the feeder.

The Cardinals frequent the new feeder. Our previous one was a little smaller and they tended to only get seed that fell to the ground from it.

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The finches and juncos can sometimes share the feeder….sometimes it is a contentious situation.

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The doves are too big for any feeder that is squirrel-proof, but they like the survey the yard from our deck railing, get a drink of water, and clean up any scattered feed.

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The starlings could probably get seed from our feeder but, so far, they haven’t found it. They tend to stay in the treetops in the forest.

The nuthatch seems to not be around as much right now. Maybe it’s found another nearby feeder.

My favorite birds right down are the woodpeckers. The downy is around and occasionally comes to the feeder.

The red-bellied is s frequently visitor…both male and female enjoy the bounty of the feeder. They are big enough that when they come, they are the only bird at the feeder.

Ten Little Celebrations – December 2019

Happy Holidays!

My December had a lot of little celebrations already. I picked my top 10.

Coming home – I traveled over Thanksgiving and didn’t get home until the first of December. As usual after being away, I celebrated being home again.

Weather Conference for 6th graders – The weather was great…the students were focused…the speakers geared for the audience. It’s another annual volunteer gig that is now part of my celebration of December.

Maryland Water Monitoring Conference – This was my third year to go to the MWMC and I learn something new every time. It’s a pretty intense day of learning.

Howard County Conservancy Natural Holiday Sale – I love stocking the cookie table and keeping the urn full of Russian Tea. The event is always a celebration of the season.

Touch tank at Robinson Nature Center – I have a new volunteer gig! I chose something different than my other volunteering and easy to do during the winter since it is indoors. I really like the sea stars…watching the children observe the ‘feet’ through the glass and what happens when I ‘tickle’ to help the sea star let go so I can pick it up.

Flying Wild and building a nest – I took a train-the-trainer type class for activities intended for grades 3-8…and one of hands on activities was building a nest. I celebrated that the one my team made managed to meet all the criteria: holding ‘marble’ eggs even when the nest moved and holding (weights) of fledglings!

Fog in the forest, birds at the feeder – It was a beautiful time looking out from the window of my office…the quiet of the forest holding the fog in the soft morning light, the birds coming to the feeder for breakfast. A moment to celebrate.

Maryland State House Christmas Trees – I enjoyed seeing all the creativity of the garden clubs…getting idea for upcoming years (maybe). It was just one of the things that put me more in the mood for all the other celebrations of the month.

The Rise of Skywalker – It was a good ‘book end’ with the other end being the original Star Wars movie back 1977. I liked that so many story lines were resolved. Now I’m ready for a marathon watching of the other movies!

Bird feeder camera – We’re still perfecting how to mount the camera to optimize the view or our bird feeder. I’m celebrating getting the squirrel climbing the ladder as one of our early successes.

Camera on the Birdfeeder

The new ‘toy’ we are playing with over this holiday week is a camera on our birdfeeder!

So far, we’ve been experimenting with temporary mounting on ladders to decide where to position it more permanently and adjusting parameters. The camera is not very big physically (the white blob on the right side near the top of the ladder is the camera).

This was my first image I clipped from one of the videos – a female red-bellied woodpecker.

I’ll get better with my editing over time. It’s very different than my usual pictures through my office window.

Ever see a squirrel climb a ladder? This one climbed right up to the camera after it was unsuccessful in dumping the seed from the bird feeder!

Next steps are to mount the camera from the eve of our covered deck and put out the small solar panel to help keep it charged. I’ll share some the technical details of our set up…once we get it working a bit better. My husband and I are enjoying the project!

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 21, 2019

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Waterbirds and Camouflage and Forests and Birds in Pairs – Starting out this week’s list with some bird pictures….catching up the backlog

Liver cancer deaths climb by around 50% in the last decade -- ScienceDaily – Survival rates are low too. Obesity and smoking are two preventable causes.

How Climate Change Will Affect Maryland's Birds | Audubon – I looked at the page for Maryland because that is where I live. The red-headed woodpecker is on the ‘high vulnerability’ list. The data is available for other states as well (scroll down on the ‘home’ page and select by state or zip code). The red-headed woodpecker appears on the high vulnerability list for Texas and Missouri too (those are two other states I checked).

First Global Map of Saturn's Moon Titan Reveals Secrets of Earth's 'Deranged' Twin | Smart News | Smithsonian – There are plains, sand dunes, mountains, labyrinthine valleys…and lakes of methane.

'Self-cleaning' concrete could keep buildings looking new -- ScienceDaily – Maybe a new building material…but can it be made in a ‘green’ way?

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Turkeys – I’m just catching up on some reading…this would have been more appropriate for the Thanksgiving week gleanings…but better late that never. Turkeys are interesting birds!

Air Pollution Tied to Brain Cancer: Study | The Scientist Magazine® - Combustion-related nanoparticles can reach our brain! The concentrations of these particles in highly polluted areas are also causing other health related problems as well. For example, the air pollution in Kabul, Afghanistan may be causing more deaths than war in that area

Owling: A Field Guide to Finding Winter Owls – Seen any owls? They are often easier to hear than see.

Slideshow: Images from The World Beneath | The Scientist Magazine® - A few pictures from a new book about sea creatures and coral reefs. Lots of vibrant color and camouflage.

Eating in sync with biological clock could replace problematic diabetes treatment: An early-morning, carb-filled meal improves glycemic control among diabetics -- ScienceDaily – We are shifting our meals…largest one at midday…smallest one at night. If we eat a high carb meal it will be at breakfast. I had gingerbread cake this morning!

Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival

It was a cold evening last week that we drove through the Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival. I appreciated the warmth of the car. It’s a 3.5-mile drive through Seneca Creek State Park near Gaithersburg, Maryland and the display continues from 6-9 PM each evening (except Christmas) through December 31st.

The length of the winding road provides plenty of room for light scenes on grassy areas and in the lake. We were behind a slow car which suited us just fine. I had my window rolled down at least half the time getting pictures and other people must have too; children’s excited chatter about the lights coming from the cars around us was part of the holiday cheer of the place. My husband had Christmas Carols playing out the car sound system, so we added some sound to experience as well.

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My favorite picture of the evening was a simple one….of three bright trees in the darkness.

There was a teddy bear land area that was a lot of fun.

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And then we came to the end with a bear-in-the-box (rather than a Jack-in-the box! Time to head home in a holiday mood.

Tracks in the Snow

Last week we got a little bit of snow. It was an easy snow to deal with: less than an inch, pavement warm enough to melt it. There was no delayed opening for schools or cancelled events. It was pretty on the surface of our deck and the grass in the yard. The juncos were out at our feeder and in the snow. I took some pictures of their tracks on the deck floor. Some areas had been so heavily used that the tracks were overlapping – showing the density of bird traffic for the whole morning. The tracks look a lot like the theropod (dinosaur) tracks I used as a Zentangle pattern with the summer campers! The campers were quick to tell me that birds are our ‘living dinosaurs.’

Of course, I made my own print in the snow when I went out to take the photographs.

By the end of the day, all the snow and footprints had melted away. Maybe the next time it snows there will be enough to make snow ice cream.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 14, 2019

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The Two Genomes in Every Eukaryotic Cell | The Scientist Magazine® and Infographic: How the Mitochondrial and Nuclear Genomes Interact | The Scientist Magazine® - A lot has been discovered about mitochondrial DNA (and genetics) since I was in college in the 1970s!

Yellowstone's Wolves: Infusing Wildness into The Landscape – The story of wolves in Yellowstone over the past 25 years – the positive impact on the ecosystem as a whole

Sunlight-Tracking Polymer, Inspired by Sunflowers, Could Maximize Solar Power | Smart News | Smithsonian – Another way that solar panels can gain efficiency.

Springfield Plateau: Yellowjacket Nest – A yellowjacket tale from Springfield MO. I was surprised that ice was the treatment for a sting. I’ve always used baking soda with ice as the backup plan if there isn’t any baking soda available.

Why biodegradables won’t solve the plastic crisis - BBC Future – There are only pieces of a solution at this point….nothing comprehensive. It seems like the best strategy for at home is to reduce all single use plastic as much as possible. There are some easy things like reusable shopping and produce bags, but it becomes hard quickly. So many groceries and toiletries only come in plastic containers.

Remote Sensing Data Advances Soil Health Science – Cover crops and no-till practices were an advantage in record-breaking rainfalls of spring 2019.

How the House Finch Conquered Your Feeder…and A Continent – A little history of House Finches – originally from the southwest and Mexico…now in found widely across North America.

How the Aztecs could improve modern urban farming: Chinampas: An old technique might provide new solutions to sustainable urban agriculture -- ScienceDaily – The article made the multiple harvests per season seem feasible in tropical wetlands…not so much in the temperate zone where the artificial islands would go through a real winter although maybe it would just mean the use of cover crops during that time period.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: December – Bird photography to enjoy!

Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics - Yale E360 – An up and coming technology for remote sensing of birds, insects, frogs and other animals.

Blog: Insect Collection Photographs – Part II

I remember my own experience making an insect collection during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of high school. I used thin black pins from the local university book store and found some light green Styrofoam that I cut to fit in a rectangular box. One of my friends and I made insect nets: Netting sewn into a sock-light shape with the open end gathered onto clothesline wire that was looped and duct taped to a dowel or old broom handle. They worked reasonably well! Butterflies and moths were my favorites – but I also was very pleased with dragonflies I captured as well. I included at least 2 cicada killers but not captured with the net; I put a jar over the hole I saw them disappear into! It was a memorable experience  from the late 1960s.

I never did see a cecropia moth back then…but my son-in-law has several specimens. The one with the bushier antennae below is the male. The female is the larger of the two.

There are adult and pupae in my son-on-law’s boxes.

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He even managed to preserve a caterpillar with emerging parasitoid larvae! I never developed the expertise to find and preserve anything like that.

Insect Collection Photographs – Part I

My son-in-law has an insect collection that he’s mounted in wooden boxes – carefully labeled – to use for reference and outreach. He took the top covers off to make them easier to photograph.

The dragonflies look very much as they do when alive.

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He pointed out the Dobson flies – what hellgrammites (benthic macroinvertebrates) grow up to be. It’s always very exciting to find the larvae in our stream surveys…we don’t see the adults as often. Both specimens appear to be females since the males have longer mandibles.

Not an invertebrate I want to see in a house when it’s alive!

Some of the insects are pinned to display their wing patterns with one side folded…the other unfurled.

I’ll share more for other boxes tomorrow….butterflies and moths.

Last 2019 Student Event at Mt Pleasant

Last week the annual Howard County Conservancy ‘Weather to the Extreme’ conference was held for 6th grade students from half the middle schools in our county. I volunteered as a session moderator. As usual – I was too busy to take pictures after the students arrive…but there was a little time just after I arrived. As I got out of my car, I heard a noise in the trees just above me and the squirrel continued to work on the black walnut long enough for me to take pictures. It’s amazing that the squirrels can get through the tough shell of these nuts.

There was a tiny amount of snow overnight…still evident in a few areas…no enough to cause any traffic challenges.

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The witch hazel is still blooming, and the seed pods will be forming soon. There are buds on the witch hazel that blooms in February now. I’ll try to check them every time I go to Mt Pleasant over the winter.

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Very few of the cone flower seed heads look intact. The birds enjoy the seeds….and probably knock some to the ground that will grow next spring.

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There are always things to see around Mt Pleasant….even on a cold and damp day!

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 7, 2019

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Red Tides Under the Microscope | The Scientist Magazine® - It’s surprising what we don’t yet know about the organism responsible for red tides – Karenia Brevis. Spanish explorers of Florida in the 15th and 16th centuries described fish kills in Gulf waters. The first official documentation was in 1882 – published in the Proceedings of the US National Museum. This article is about what we know….and where more research is needed.

The woman who reshaped maths - BBC Future – Hilda Geiringer…a refugee from the Nazis. A BBC Future column celebrating a ‘missed genius’ whose contributions are still notable in the world today.

NOAA weather balloons find no zero-ozone regions above South Pole during 2019 ozone hole season | NOAA Climate.gov – A little science…a little history…a projection. The positive message – if the trend continues, it’s estimated that the ozone layer will recover around 2070.

Abrupt shifts in Arctic climate projected: Likelihood of an abrupt increase in wildfires also noted -- ScienceDaily – With specific modeling of permafrost as it continues to degrade….it appears that the changes won’t be as gradual as  previously assumed.

Lake On Bottom Of Halema‘uma‘u Crater At Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park Now Bigger Than Football Field – The lake was noticed back in July….and is being studied with instruments on drones. More information is at the National Park Service site for the park.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Wild Birds – National Geographic Society Newsroom – I always enjoy the bird photography compiled by National Geographic every week.

Offshore Wind Has the Potential to Fulfill Global Electricity Demand 18 Times Over - Yale E360 – Hurray for this potential….the transition is the challenge.

AP: At least 1,680 dams across the US pose potential risk – There is a link to an interactive map that shows where the 1,680 dams are located. The last paragraphs of the article are the most troubling. There are a lot of dams with unknown status. Roughly 45% of Texas dams are exempt from regulation…in Missouri safety inspections are only done on 650 of its more than 5,000 dams. And states that know about problematic private dams often can’t identify the owners to address the dam’s issues.

Aging in good health: The inequalities are widening -- ScienceDaily – A study with over 11 million people tracked for 25 years!

Susquehanna Sediment in the Chesapeake Bay – Imagery of big rivers and the Chesapeake Bay after a storm at the end of October…. close to where I live. On a positive note - the sediment (even after the record rains earlier this year) has not damaged the underwater grasses on the Susquehanna Flats as much as was initially feared.

Christmas Cactus

My daughter got a cutting from her grandmother’s Christmas cactus a few years ago. It is much travelled; the cutting originated in Texas…was potted in Pennsylvania… moved to Missouri last summer.

It has grown into a lush plant and is getting ready to bloom – right in sync with the season. It is on a glass topped table in front of a window…making the cloudy and cold days more cherry.

I took some closeup views of the buds. I like the curves and the color fade from white to pink to red. The spines at the base of the buds show up as well.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 30, 2019

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

US-born residents more than 5 times likely to use prescription opioids than new immigrants -- ScienceDaily – Evidently new immigrants are often healthier than non-immigrants despite their poorer background….which is a clue that there is something about American culture that influences opioid use.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Spectacular – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Enjoy the birds! We are enjoying the birds coming to our feeder and (heated) bird bath…in the trees around our house. They are easier to see now that the leaves have fallen from the tees.

50 Fish, 50 States: Small Stream Wonders – Cool Green Science – Lots of small fish! When we are in the streams with high school students, we often find small fish but since they aren’t what we are looking for – we simply put them back without identification. Maybe I should look for a simple small fish ID to take a long and start to photograph them too.

A Giant Treehouse 'Like A Castle' Is Destroyed By Fire In Tennessee: NPR – My sister and I visited this giant treehouse in 2012 when we were in that area of Tennessee. Sad that it’s gone.

Hurricanes have become bigger and more destructive for USA -- ScienceDaily – An expensive trend.

When Turkeys Attack – I’m glad the wild turkey population is recovering….hope we can develop strategies to co-exist!

Scientists study impact of sediments and nutrients from Conowingo Dam on Chesapeake Bay -- ScienceDaily – Close to home. The base of Conowingo Dam is where we go to view Bald Eagles. There is a lot of concern now about the sediment build up in the reservoir --- state governments and the utility are working to determine best options for prolonging the energy generation capacity of the dam and improving water quality into the bay.

Big Box Stores Leading the Shift to Renewable Energy - News | Planetizen – Wal-Mart and Target are all in….what about other big box stores? What about owners of shopping centers? Lots of stores are in leased spaces.

Five Architectural Firms Retained to Redesign National Mall Tidal Basin – Another ‘close to home’ in this set of gleanings. This one is in the District of Columbia. Think of the Jefferson Memorial and the cherry blossoms. Flooding has increased over the time we have living in this area (now over 35 years). Hope they can develop a good design and get the funding to implement it.

Manta Ray Populations Have Complex Social Structures | The Scientist Magazine® - A study of the reef mantas as they aggregate around the reefs of the eastern Indonesian archipelago Raja Ampat. The study showed two distinct groupings: one dominated by older females and the other a mix of sexes and ages.

Zooming – November 2019

November was busy with activities that didn’t include a lot of photography…..but still enough to show off some great zoom photos. Museum photography is easy using the zoom since I can get the shot I want while standing well back from the object to avoid reflections off glass cases. Usually the lighting of objects is concentrated so that my camera’s autofocus works very well. Then there are the pictures from outdoors – birds and autumn scenes. The zoom allows me to frame the picture the way I want – avoiding the need to crop later.

All the images this month were taken with my small point-and-shot Cannon SX730 HS rather than my larger Canon SC60 HS bridge camera. The smaller camera is easier to carry in my purse and faster to turn on and get the pictures of birds at my feeder!

Mt Pleasant in November 2019

The Howard Country Conservancy fall field trips for elementary students are over for the season. I took a few pictures at Mt Pleasant as the place moved through the fall – between hikes with the students. The meadow is shades of brown now. The students almost always ask about the yellow fruits of horse nettle that are nestled down in the grasses; the color makes them stand out. Many times, we see black or turkey vultures soaring over the meadow.

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Some of the dried foliage and seed pods are worth a closer look….for their complexity or the seeds attached to fibers that easily carry the seeds away (thistles and golden rod and milkweed).

There are vines on some of the trees that are colorful – invasives like oriental bittersweet usually.

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On a very cold day, I rolled over a small log. I didn’t see any squiggling critter but there was a small mushroom and amber droplets (maybe fungus?).

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On a log at the edge of a brush pile, fungus was continuing its decomposition; the bark had already sluffed off.

There is always something interesting on every hike….I’m always in awe of what the student notice and ask about….glad that they enjoy being outdoors as much as I do.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

My favorite birds in our backyard this month has been a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers. They are probably the largest bird that comes to our feeder. They contort themselves to move seeds around until they can get the larger sunflower seeds. Both the male and female take turns. The red feathers extend to the top of the head on the male…and are just on the back of the head/neck on the female. These birds both look like they are in prime condition.

I’ve also discovered that our neighbors have a feeder that the birds frequent. The birds are getting a lot of support in this neighborhood!

Sometimes the birds fly away with their seed and sometimes they seem to take it to the roof edge of our covered deck. I am beginning to wonder if they are slipping the seeds under the shingles for storage. Both the male and female seem to be doing it.

Most of the time I haven’t been able to photograph the birds in the trees but now that more of the leaves are gone in the red maple, maybe I’ll see them more frequently.