Jump to content

Birding / nature / photography ~ Older Asexuals for light walking and hiking nature adventures ~


Recommended Posts

@Tunhope, the tabloid press call this "spider season" for this very reason. I like them because they keep fruitflies etc under control. 

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Our spider season peaks in August, both inside structures and outside.  I have been watching one all summer long who has built a web over my cabbage plant.  It has many insect mummies woven into it, but it is not an orb web.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

I walk into spider webs every day around this time of year. It gets annoying, but there's nothing I can do about it. I'm just glad I'm not afraid of spiders. 

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

This morning I watched a doe and her twin fawns grazing outside my kitchen window.  The sound of the coffee grinder made her look up into my window.  There are still a few hummingbirds left, and, surprisingly, a lot of robins and other birds enjoying my green, wet lawn.  I went down to the river to winterize the water pump, and startled a cow moose who was taking a nap by the pumphouse.  She looked upset that I had disturbed her.  She waded across the river, slowly, while looking at me the whole time.  

As an afterthought (an edit), the Elk are starting to bugle.  They will be heard but not seen.

 

20180916_070817.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

Two nuthatches visiting the feeder today.  Never seen them so regularly before, so to now have two visiting is wonderful.  Very handsome little birds.

  • Like 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

Rather surprisingly, the unseasonably warm weather meant that I saw a common blue and a small white (both butterflies) on Thursday 

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

The weather has been beautiful recently. As @Skycaptain says, unseasonably warm. I went a walk along the estuary of my local river (the Medway) yesterday and got the tides just right. There are wide expanses of mudflats and, in winter, many species of birds flock to them. So, as well as all the usual things ( no less valued for being usual) like redshank, lapwings, mallard and different types of gulls, there were widgeon, several little egrets, teal, a few shellduck and a few pintails (I love pintails) more godwits than usual and, up above at times, a buzzard and a hen harrier. And a whole pile of little birds that I couldn't identify (plovers, dunlins etc) Often, the Medway looks a dirty grey colour, (not a nice AVENny grey!) but the sky was blue and the water looked blue. Where I live isn't particularly pretty, but  you don't have to go far to get away from all the houses and the commerce. 

  • Like 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

I woke up to a family of six mule deer hanging out in my yard.  They were just being deer in their (and my) habitat.  I made coffee and hung out with them for over a half hour.  I saw a doe and two fawns bedded down in a corner of the yard under a tree -like that's where they spent the night.  There were other deer eating on my lawn and grazing the shrubs.  It was a cold, frosty morning (23 F).  I watched them groom themselves and each other, get up and stretch their muscles, and eliminate, then start searching for food.  My dog is so used to them that she didn't even bark when she saw them from the window or when she went out to pee.  And, while the deer were startled when I opened the door, they only ran to the edge of my yard before stopping and looking at us with those big ears pointed at us like a radar dish.    I have been watching these twin fawns grow up this summer.  Between watching them in person and observing them from the videos and photos of my trail cameras set up around the property, I feel a deep connection and understanding of these animals.

Tomorrow is the opening day of the deer hunting season.  I hope they all survive.   I do not allow people to hunt on my land, and I wish I could somehow let these deer know they have a sanctuary here.    

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

@Muledeer Have you ever seen the Nature documentary where a guy spends seven years living among a mule deer heard? It's one of the most fascinating animal documentaries I've ever seen. 

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

Yep.  I did see that on PBS a few years ago.  I agree, it was a really interesting documentary.  The lesson I learned from that show was to not get too close (emotionally) to the mule deer.   I could have some of these animals named as much as I have seen them this summer.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

This morning, I awoke to the sounds of elk bugling in the forest.   It was loud enough to make the dog bark at each bugle from inside the trailer.  Then, while driving into town, I saw a large herd of elk grazing in the sagebrush along the highway about three miles from home.  I'm sure it was not the same elk that were screaming when I woke up.  This is the only time of the year the males will vocalize.  It is called "the rut".  There is something exotic about seeing a herd of at least 20 large mammals (including a very large bull) in their habitat, just being elk.  I didn't stop or take photos because I didn't want to bother them.  I almost drove off the road.   😎  They must know that elk hunting season has ended.

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites
9 hours ago, Muledeer said:

This morning, I awoke to the sounds of elk bugling in the forest.

I would love to hear that! No elk in my neck of the woods....

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

I heard (but didn't see) what must have been red deer on a walk yesterday. Near a deer farm. Such a distinctive sound. It is definitely rutting season.

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Midland Tyke said:

I heard (but didn't see) what must have been red deer on a walk yesterday. Near a deer farm. Such a distinctive sound. It is definitely rutting season.

What do they sound like?  The elk sound like distant elephants or whale calls.  A very high pitched call whose sound travels great distances.

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Muledeer said:

What do they sound like?  The elk sound like distant elephants or whale calls.  A very high pitched call whose sound travels great distances.

 

 

And those you curious as to what a bugling elk sounds like:

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites
10 minutes ago, LVG said:

 

 

And those you curious as to what a bugling elk sounds like:

 

 

Great! Yes, that confirms it, it was a red deer.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

I used to know someone who sounded like that red deer when he belched (he used to drink a six pack of Coke every shift at work).

The elk, strutting around with the grass in their antlers and all, are kind of like the hippies of the cervine family. :P 

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

I just was listening to the bugling elk video, and the sound was making two of my dogs uneasy....

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

I could only endure one minute of the elk bugling......both my dog and the neighbor's dog went nuts barking at it.

That's exactly how the elk sound in nature.

Never heard a red deer vocalize  moan before.....pretty cool.  thanks for sharing the videos, @LVG

 

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

Another incredible experience with the mule deer tonight:

Driving the 30 miles from town to home tonight I saw more deer alongside the road than I have ever seen at one time.  They were everywhere, even in places that I usually don't see them.  They were in herds of five to ten animals.  Some were on the road and I couldn't drive very fast because I didn't want a collision.  I got here and it was getting dark - dusk to gloaming.  I let the dog out of the truck and began unloading the supplies.  Four deer showed up and grazed their way to within 50 feet of the trailer.  So, I put on my eyeglasses and just watched them graze and we had a one way conversation.  I spoke to the deer and they gave me the look of acknowledgement, then went back to eating their grass.  The German Shepherd just observed everything in silence, barely lifting her head or showing any concern whatsoever.  One bark would have sent them scampering off into the sagebrush.  After about five or ten minutes, I went back to unloading the truck and the deer continued grazing their way through my yard.   I went on with my life and so did they.  For a few minutes, I felt like we were all part of the same community of creatures sharing the same space, three species coexisting in harmony.    

  • Like 7
Link to post
Share on other sites

There was a single redwing in my garden this afternoon. I know, from observing them in previous years, that there is often a loner before the little flocks arrive, perhaps one that got impatient or lost, but I shouldn't be seeing one yet, surely? I see that  northern UK is bound for a spell of cold polar weather (it's still beautiful here in the the south east) and I wonder if this little bird is flying in advance of the cold air (not well put, but I hope that's clear.)   Redwings are my favourite winter birds. My scruffy gardening technique really pays dividends when they arrive because they eat the windfalls and turn over the leaves that I can't be bothered to collect or fork up. Most of all I love the way they perch. They all sit on the same tall tree, but on different branches: "I'm with you - but I'm not!" (Shouldn't anthropomorphise, I know)

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

@timewarp, @malory, @Twig55

 

That white bird we saw before Shawford, I think could have been a Little Egret 

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

I took my dog for a walk round a coastal nature reserve today, in brilliant sunshine, but a cold wind.  I saw three little egrets together, but the great white egret and the cattle egret are appearing here more now, and there were spoonbills somewhere on the reserve, but I didn't see them.  I did see lots of wigeon and oystercatchers, and also a curlew not too far away.

 

Strange sight in the park - a solitary leaf suspended under a tree, hanging from a spider's thread.  

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Skycaptain said:

@timewarp, @malory, @Twig55

 

That white bird we saw before Shawford, I think could have been a Little Egret 

I still think it was a pelican. They usually are.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

We saw white pelicans in Louisiana - but it is the "Pelican state" (one of its well-known nicknames, and the state bird is the brown pelican)

 

A-wonderful-bird-is-the-pelican1-760x400

  • Like 7
Link to post
Share on other sites
DogObsessedLi

I love walking in nature. Better than any relationship with people if you ask me (I'm demiromantic)

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, LizLianne said:

I love walking in nature. Better than any relationship with people if you ask me (I'm demiromantic)

Where are your favourite walks? I'm a sucker for views from high places, which means I'm always tackling climbs (walking, not actual climbing - though I don't mind the occasional stretch of scrambling).

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...