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.