Monday, September 1, 2008

Stars and Owls

A warm day in the 80s with blue skies gave way to a quickly cooling night with dark skies that brought out the stars in abundance. The Milky Way was a white smudge across the sky from the south to the north. Cygnus the Swan, the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, and the Pleiades were easily seen. While walking and watching, I heard a screech owl. I called back and after a few minutes, I had him on a branch not more than 10 feet away. It was dark, so only the silhouette was visible. While not time for a meteor shower, three white streaks from shooting stars crossed the sky over a twenty minute period. It was quite wonderful. After the screech owl left and was gone for 20 minutes or so, a great horned owl began hooting about fifty yards away. I returned home to work with some fond memories of owls and shooting stars. A night to remember for years to come, I'm sure.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Cardinal Flower



Three weeks ago, I became very excited when I found two cardinal flowers blooming in my yard. Since then, I have found almost 60 on my property or along the edge of the creek. While many people would not want to have wetland soils on their property, I've been very happy with the plant life and wildlife it brings to area. I remain a bit soggy and happy!

Owls around Home

The past week or two has been a time of increasing owl calls. Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, a screech owl was sounding off from the front yard. I've been hearing screech owls mostly after 10:30 PM and before 1AM, but two nights ago on a short evening walk at sunset, I heard one to the east of the house. There is nothing quite like the whinny call of a screech owl.

While screech owls have been heard most frequently, I have heard one barred owl to the west of the house and Monday morning, August 25th, I had a great horned owl hooting to the east. The calls of owls really bring out the wild side of the night. May they hoot and whinny forevermore!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

August 3rd - Sounds from the Porch

This is really the first relaxing night I've had in weeks. Work on teacher institute presentations have consumed my life since early July. I'm on my porch working on finishing some university work and I've been here since my daughter went to bed at 9:30PM. The annual cicadas were first replaced by katydids. A high pitched chatter occurred on the north side of my house and something went under the porch (under my feet) to the south side of my house. I watched a shooting star briefly appear in the southwestern sky. A screech owl was heard around 10:30 to my north. Later, what might have been raccoons were heard vocalizing (fighting maybe?) to my northeast. Around 11:30PM, I heard my first ever pair of coyotes vocalizing, one almost due south and another probably a quartermile away southeast of the house. They were followed by a barred owl southeast of the house. Green frogs have barked, a bullfrog has sounded, and I can only remember one car going by in the last two hours.

It's good to be home and recharging, even if only for an evening. Tomorrow, another chapter in work begins. Tomorrow night, I'll be back on the porch letting nature rebuild me.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Newts and Lillies






























I was able to spend the entire morning back in Game Lands 166 on July 1st. The cicadas are waining, with their buzz being much quieter than the past weeks. The rains of recent days brought the red efts - a subadult of the spotted newt - out in force. I believe 16 were seen. A rather impressive Canada Lilly (red variant) was seen also. The squaw root is up as is another parastic plant - the indian pipe. A pretty amazing morning to say the least. I've included several pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Monday, June 16, 2008

The Cicadas are Here!





For over a week, the buzz of the periodical cicadas have been heard throughout the area. This brood seems to be from Frankstown down into Huntingdon. None have been heard by me in Hollidaysburg, Duncansville, Altoona, or Loretto. The black stocky bodies with orange trimmed wings are spooky. The red eyes make them look positively satanic. I've attached a few pictures and a video of sound to mark the event.


video

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Flowers and a Whip-poor-will

Today was one of the first days I’ve actually spent some time at home. While the morning was filled with work, the afternoon consisted of digging up some wildflowers and replanting them. A friend was removing excess plants at her house in Hollidaysburg and offered me some great plants. We dug up some purple cone flower, bee balm, feverfew, turtlehead, and yarrow. I started some of these species from seed, but they are so small (< .5 inches) that I don’t think they’ll make it. The rootstock of these transplants should do well. I placed them strategically in the yard with the idea that they will be the start of a meadow full of wildflowers.

The past month has been rainy and cooler than expected. I tried to plant a small garden in what I thought was a high spot in the yard, but the soil remained saturated with water until the past few days. I scattered some wildflower seed there, but I think that area will need to be planted with wet-loving plants. I’ll gather some seeds from cardinal flower, joe pye weed, and ironweed this summer after I get some advice from a friend who knows more about wetlands than I do.

A short walk this evening yielded two deer and a distant calling whip-poor-will. The diversity of birds on and around the house is amazing. I’m including birds seen within a half mile of the place over the past three months.



SPECIES


SPECIES


SPECIES

Canada Goose


Blue-headed Vireo


Yellow Warbler

Wood Duck


Red-eyed Vireo


Ovenbird

Mallard


Blue Jay


Common Yellowthroat

Ring-necked Pheasant


American Crow


Eastern Towhee

Great Blue Heron


Tree Swallow


Chipping Sparrow

Turkey Vulture


N. Rough-winged Swallow


Field Sparrow

Red-tailed Hawk


Barn Swallow


Song Sparrow

American Kestrel


Black-capped Chickadee


White-throated Sparrow

Killdeer


Tufted Titmouse


Dark-eyed Junco

American Woodcock


White-breasted Nuthatch


Northern Cardinal

Mourning Dove


Brown Creeper


Indigo Bunting

Yellow-billed Cuckoo


Carolina Wren


Red-winged Blackbird

Whip-poor-will


Blue-gray Gnatcatcher


Eastern Meadowlark

Chimney Swift


Eastern Bluebird


Common Grackle

Ruby-throated Hummingbird


American Robin


Brown-headed Cowbird

Belted Kingfisher


Gray Catbird


Baltimore Oriole

Red-bellied Woodpecker


Northern Mockingbird


Purple Finch

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher


Brown Thrasher


House Finch

Eastern Phoebe


European Starling


American Goldfinch

Great Crested Flycatcher


Cedar Waxwing


House Sparrow