Of bird omens and forest news

Life sometimes gets so hectic, what with multiple trips to big, bad Atlanta-town, and the accumulating weight of the cancer epidemic around us, it is often too easy to forget how simply stunning and beautiful nature is in these wild mountains we call home.  I am certainly no St. Francis, but the big birds seem to like me and watch over me.

In the past week, many wise old crows and the street sweepers of north Georgia, the turkey buzzards, have crossed my path.  So have multiple wild turkeys.  And pileated woodpeckers.  And the broadwing hawk that watches over me from the telephone wires on Warwoman Road.  And a few days ago this big, 'ole barred owl dive-bombing over the truck back in the Glades. This past Thursday, our good friend, "the Glade Road Hawk," another broadwing, came up the property and swooped down the driveway in front of me.  A solitary hummingbird and a baby hummingbird have found the feeding station on our porch.  Good bird omens, I call 'em.

Same day, a red fox and a baby red fox skittered out of my way near the firehouse.  And within the past week, I was lucky enough to visit one of the secret places of the Chattahoochee National Forest with a loyal hiking friend, which presents itself in Spring as a virtual carpet of wildflowers -- trillium, bloodroot, showy orchis, pink and yellow ladyslipper.  All framed in a halo of green (see photo. and please do note that I have not lost all my hair).  There was enough wind in the treetops to make the trees come alive -- the sound, to me, is that of a woman moaning (I know, I know, not politically correct -- but that is exactly how it sounds.)  It is a wonderful sound in the distance.

It is all worth remembering and savoring, no matter how much turmoil surrounds us.  I am grateful for these experiences!

Birds are back -- again!

My good avian friends, mostly raptors, are back in profusion in recent days.  There's a new almost-balloon-shaped barred owl overseeing the garden.  Barred owls are pretty much shaped like a rugby football ball, with a head attached and those two huge eyes. There's a  new, small broadwing hawk watching over me and my truck from the telephone wires on Warwoman Road.  A pileated woodpecker matched me tree-to-tree on a parallel path on Glade Road recently.  And, not often seen this close to roads, a Ruffed Grouse flapped its way madly in front of the truck again -- where else -- but Warwoman.  That is one cool road, full of good bird omens.

Broadwings are back!

It's not every day that we spy our favorite hawk, the broadwing hawk.  But two days ago, a pair of broadwings was perched on the telephone wires along, what else, Warwoman Road.  I had a feeling maybe this pair never went south for their annual migration.  There were very friendly and forgiving, unconcerned by the man in the white truck who stopped to say hello.

Of a bizarre barred owl, hot hawks & a baby black bear

This recaps what I have seen in recent weeks in and around these parts:

--  A baby black cat (that looked more like a panther than pet).

--  Red foxes and grey foxes.

--  A barred owl sitting in the middle of the road in broad daylight, just plunked there on the pavement.  It flew away with some difficulty when the truck approached and then perched on a nearby branch forever, it seemed like, until a barred owl buddy came to its "rescue," flying over my head, perching on a nearby branch forever, it seemed like, until both winged away into the deeper woods.

--  One hot hawk, our "Glade Road broadwing hawk," as we call it, soaring yesterday in broad circles high above our home, like a watchhawk.  Then, its observations completed, it made a straight beeline due South.  Other broadwings here and there are beating the bushes on the local rights of way.

--  Coming home this morning, a baby black bear is loping along the road just above the Law Ground Creek waterfall, not in any hurry.  These beasts of the mountains, even as babies, own their territory.  Then, it crossed the road and scrambled up a vertical rock wall to its own place in the deeper woods.

We are blessed to see such abundant wildlife in our midst, even the ones that seem a bit awry.  Good omens, overall.

About that Glade Road broadwing

Our big, beautiful (and incredibly fast) hawk decided to grace me with a head-on dive last night, just as night had fallen.  Framed in the headlights, it bulleted toward the truck -- going so fast the only way I recognized it was by the white bands on its tail.  I take this as a good omen of change.

Wild-time

It is still wild enough in these parts to see wildlife here and there.  Chipmunks, squirrels, all manner of migratory birds, crows galore (more so than usual, it seems), other raptors (turkey buzzards, broadwings, barred owls), oppossums, racoons, red and grey foxes, a huge gang of wild pigs (which kept on moving, hosannah!), box turtles, doe deer and fawns, and in past two weeks, two mama wild turkeys with their respective broods but a few yards from the roads.  And today -- a baby black snake in the vegetable garden beds and a juvenile black bear loping slowly up the driveway.  It sniffed at the mint patch behind the house and then moved on the back woods.

Not yet seen this season:  The bobcats and the mountain lion.

The birds are baaaack ....

Now that Spring is officially Sprung, two harbingers of the Season are making their way back into the byways of this mountain region -- the Pileated Woodpecker and the Broadwing Hawk -- both magnificent beasts of the airways.  Looping, diving, soaring, usually right over the truck.

It is comforting to see nature naturally take its course here even as the rest of the world heads to meltdown.

White Christmas 2010

A white Christmas, 2010.

Daybreak, 12.25.10

Mid-afternoon, 12.25.10

The next day, 12.26, with 5=plus inches on ground.

First snow of season ...

'Tis the first snowfall of the 2010-11 season, about 2 inches so far this morning.  Pretty slushy, wet stuff.  Folks who know more about this than me say that we are in for five or six "snow days" this winter (based on the number of foggy days we experienced in August!)

Myself, I like the "woolly worm" prognosis. When the front tip of the worm is black and the back tip is black, too, (with the middle remaining brown in color), we are in for a cold winter at both beginning and end.

Of course, the National Weather Service sees things differently. We shall see.

Just before sunrise ...

For a very few brief seconds  before sunrise at 7:32 a.m. this morning, the rising sun illuminated a startling cornrow of fluffy clouds visible outside our windows.  Really a very pretty way to wake up.

Winter is coming ... to the mountains

In case anyone had forgotten, this was the scene on January 30 this year, when ice covered the snow (and mountain folks around here were without power for about 52 hours).  Predictions for this coming winter, based on woolly worm observations, old almanacs and the musings or old neighbors is that we're in for "seven snows" this winter.  Of course, the National Weather Service notes that we're in for an upcoming prolonged drought, with very little precipitation in coming months.  We shall see.

Footnotes:  What's with the woolly worms?  Here's how the predictions work.  If the worm is black at both ends, and brown in the middle, as they have been in recent weeks, we are in for a severe winter both at the beginning and end.  How does one know we're in for "seven snows?"  Well, because there were seven foggy/misty days in August, of course!

Something seems awry ...

... with the weather, or mother earth or something. We have noticed some strange and wonderful and not common doings in recent weeks, even as we move into fall, with leaves turning, colder nights and mild days. To wit:  Some plants are flowering, even though this is supposed to be the dormant season:
--  One of our viburnums is putting out flowers.
--  Yellow day lilies are blooming in the highway medians leading into Asheville.
--  Nodding ladies tresses, never before seen in these parts, are flowering in large clumps on the side of the local road.
--  A friend in Lakemont reports 15 days ago that her azaleas are blooming, too.

Can someone tell us just what is going on?

My bird friend

Got a nice sighting on the edge of the driveway very early this morning -- our friendly neighborhood broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus).  He flew up to a nearby poplar tree branch and cleaned his beak on the branch.  Then, we looked at each other for a while.  He flew away when I got out of the truck to get closer.  I take his presence as a good omen.

Photo courtesy of Cornell Lab or Ornithology

More big birds

It was a stare-down contest Monday between me and the big barred owl (Strix varia) who lives somewhere near the country lane that serves as public road in these parts.  It swooped over the truck to perch on an overhanging white oak branch, its head swiveling like a top.  I cut the motor and stared.  It stared back.  I hooted my best version of the barred owl hoot.  It stayed silent.  There we sat for about 5 minutes, hooting, staring, head-swiveling, and then staring in silence.

When it flew off, it looked like a big fat football with wings.  (Images courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.)

© Peter R. Stettenheim/CLO

Later that day, I had the pleasure of crossing paths with a pair of wild turkey, the regal birds of the forests.

© Bob Schmitz/CLO

To find out more about birds, check:    http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search

Big birds

The broadwing on Warwoman swooped from telephone line to telephone line and then ever-so-rapidly into the forest last week.  A very sweet sight!  This week, a neighbor and I were graced with a rare sighting -- a big bird, we weren't sure if it was an osprey or an eagle -- diving into the West Fork of the Chattooga for a meal.  A very powerful sight!

Broadwing on Prado

Surprise!  I was in Atlanta yesterday and one of my favorite birds, the broadwing hawk, is seen dancing over and ahead of my truck on The Prado in Ansley Park, in the middle of one of the most urbanized areas of Midtown.

The bird them followed me back toward the mountains, displaying himself again in a swooping dive over U.S. Route 441 on the way to Rabun.  Or, was that one of his country cousins?

Disconnections in the outback

So, what is it with the birds and the bats in recent weeks?

One the same day recently, my truck ran down a little blue-ish bird of some species or other, then promptly managed to "bounce" a big turkey buzzard off the windshield, which was slow in getting out of the way of the roadkill it was eating on Warwoman Road (where else?)

A couple of days later, one of those ever-so-fast bats glanced off Fran's car.  Huh? I thought they had unerring radar!

Yesterday, I awoke to a pressing dream:  A mountain lion swimming in the Chattooga River, with only it head and ears peeking out of the water.

What are these connections all about?

 

Happiness is ...

... getting a glimpse of all these big birds that have been flying around in recent days.

Had four sightings of the big pileated woodpeckers in two days -- and also glad to report that the Glade Road broadwing hawk is back on station.

These woodpeckers are loud and insistent when they drum into trees -- so loud and insistent that some friends believe they are my "totem"  -- hey, am I really that loud and insistent!

One of the woodpeckers was gliding at ground level over the little stream that courses around our pasture and garden.  Most times, they are higher up, beating their wings hard to stay airborne.

The hawk is pure joy to watch in the air -- fast and direct and no nonsense.

It is very good to know these big birds are still my friends.

Bats are back, and more.

In recent days, the temperatures around here have been getting warmer, into the high 70s and low 80s -- a blessed change of pace from what had been a fairly frigid winter.  This has occasioned a veritable birthing of critters and peepers we had not seen (or heard) since last year:

--  The carpenter bees are buzzin' around the house.
--  The gnats number in the millions, and every one knows how to bite at my eyelids.
--  Saw two lemon-gold colored butterflies yesterday.
--  That same pair of birds, as every year, is building nests in the overhang of the porch.
--  The wasps are spitting out new homes, and attacking the window screens.
--  And the bats are back!

The other night, this nice friendly bat danced in our headlights the last 0.2 miles to the house.  Now, that was a treat, and a true harbinger of a new season.

Pileated

© Warren Greene/CLO

My first pileated woodpecker of the season flew away in front of me yesterday.  The flight of this big, prehistoric-looking (but also magnificent) bird is ungainly.  After each flap of wings, it seems pulled downward by its weight, but then rises again with another tremendous flap, its brilliant red crest shooting through the nearby forest like a signal of spring.  (The daffodils bloomed yesterday, too.)