Musings

Raindrops from last night’s precip lasted through the day…in a few places.

Look near the crossed wires and you’ll see a small flock of sandhill cranes. These were much lower than the group I saw the other day. I suspect this group was looking for a place to stop overnight to rest and feed—central Atlanta is a poor choice for that…keep heading north, birds!

Evidence that film shoots are once again outside the studio….

And, yes, the family of the stinkhorns in the scientific classification system is Phallaceae. Hard to put one over on taxonomic specialists.

Posted at 6:57 PM | Comments Off on Great walk-finds

1. The days are noticeably longer—and the nights are shorter.

2. I practiced shadow-walking for the first time this year (sunshine avoidance—too hot!). This was rather tricky as nothing’s leafed out.

3. I heard sandhills overhead for over two minutes. They were very high, and I couldn’t see them, but I could hear their distinctive calls for long enough to suggest a large flock migrating.

Posted at 6:39 PM | 3 Comments »

Walked to the Big Park today, and found brilliant sunshine…

…and birds. Canadas (left), of course, and Muscovys (right, bathing). In the middle, an anhinga, I think. Didn’t have binocs.

Tried to take my fav-oh-rite trail: closed. Must be a maintenance problem (perhaps a washout?); can’t be a Covid limitation…. Discarded jacket probably is from volunteer out of frame to left removing invasive species (my guess).

Posted at 8:24 PM | Comments Off on Park views

I labeled this photo dragonfly then wondered: is it? Or is it a damselfly? I do think the artist was going for dragonfly based on wing position (horizontal, away from the body). HOWEVER, by definition, dragonflies have a broader hindwing than forewing—not true of this wonderous creature.

At least that’s the rundown based on WikiPee, which I don’t think is always right, but it’s easy to find and I believe mostly correct…regarding this type on natural history topic, anyway. IMHO

Posted at 6:42 PM | Comments Off on It’s art

Had a lot of fun with this pair and a laser pointer (including body slams against the wall while stretching upward as much as possible), until they decided it was feeding time and became no longer interested.

Posted at 9:27 PM | 1 Comment »

Loaded cone flower, weighted with double bees.

Delicate and fine-scented ginger: mmmmm.

Posted at 8:50 PM | Comments Off on Of the moment

Mum bee.

Leaves: real and reflected.

Posted at 7:58 PM | Comments Off on Word play

This makes it clear why our ancestors named them white-tailed deer. And to the right out of this frame, two more groups totaling about this number again. The groups should be heading north into the swamp soon—most of them anyway….

I managed to be down at the beach when the sun almost came out for the day. Thankfully the rain we’ve been having has not brought up the lake level noticeably.

Posted at 7:57 PM | Comments Off on Oooot and abooot

Arose this morning to outdoor temps so low we had frost on the roof, although not on the grass (…small favors). We are clearly in autumn, yet winter is making a reminder-bid.

Had laid a fire in the wood stove (really a coal stove repurposed) last evening, so fired it up when I came downstairs. Soon the place was warm, and I’ve kept a small fire going all day. We’ve been toasty!

Afoot during my afternoon walk, these two didn’t notice me for quite a while; I was downwind and not moving much. I was interested that the fawn saw me first and jumped, which mom noticed, then looked around to see why. And they both turned tail and leapt back to the field on the right, where a half-dozen of their buds were grazing.

Posted at 5:08 PM | Comments Off on Simple pleasures

I’m not burying the lede. Our lede. We went to the Refuge, and saw swans. And a few other waterfowl. And a raptor-type something or other, I think.

The light was odd and not always helpful. And I forgot the binocs.

Pouring rain for this shot. Lasted about two big minutes, and this is near the beginning. The wind came up and the rain came in and I rolled the window up. Goodbye, cattails.

In WashDC, the lede this evening is something else entirely.

Posted at 7:51 PM | Comments Off on Refuge quietude