Nature Diary #9

8.29.2011

After The Storm

    Yesterday there was a hurricane! (Well, not really--by the time it reached MA it was just a tropical storm with hurricane gusts.)  Anyways, the media completely overreacted...but I guess overreacting is better than not reacting at all.  There was a really really tall pine in our backyard that kept swaying back and forth.  My dad got a little nervous and kept asking, "Is that our tree or theirs?  How do you know?"  Well, in the end we were just fine.  We didn't even lose power!

    Today you can barely tell that there had been a storm!
                                                 
                                                 
                                                           AFTER THE STORM

 

The sky is blue and cloudless

While the sun shines bright  

The shadows of trees don't move

There is no wind to rustle their branches.

All you can see After The Storm

Is the remains of scattered leaves and twigs

But other than that the storm seems

To have brought peace from rage.

Because her rage
Was full of sadness and when she left
Her sadness blossomed back to happiness
Because everything is fair in Nature's eyes.


      That's a poem I just came up with after I looked at the photos!  Isn't the sky so blue?

Nature diary # 9

8.11.2011

Cliff View/ Art of Nature

    My family went on the hiking trails today.  We climbed a pretty high mountain and saw the view off the edge of a cliff--straight down, maybe even tilted over that point.  We also saw some nice flashes of nature...Anyways, let these photos do the talking:

These Mushrooms are very very orange---More orange than this photo

There is a little fruit growing on this plant that looks like a cactus blossom 

S<= MIDSTATE TRAIL =>N

A thick carpet of moss

Very Berry

Carefully balanced...  By who?  By what?

A huge stone

Rock road and overgrowth

This is a trail and hiking sign

A pretty spiky fallen tree trunk

Three round 'Shrooms

Nature Diary # 8

7.23.2011

Talking Cat

     I    think that I might know how to talk cat a bit since I've been observing some in my neighborhood and "Talking" to them.

        Or maybe they've just gotten used to me.

Nature diary #7

6.30.2011

The Perfect Home

         Today I keep seeing a chickadee of some sort that keeps going into a hole in the tree and coming out with small strips of wood in its beak.  It drops the wood onto the ground and continues going into the hole.

          I figure that it is trying to make the space in the hole bigger so tat it can build a nest in there.

          By the end of the day, piles of woodchips are scattered on the sidewalk...I wonder how it would be like to live in a place like that--especially if I were a bird.  I suppose that it would be more adequate and sheltering than the classical nest on the fork of a branch.  Then again, it might be more stuffy.

          I really do wonder sometimes...

Nature diary #6

6.24.2011

Some Things are Missed

         It seems like the baby birds are not present in their nest but somewhere else.  And furthermore, I have missed their departure!   Now I will never see the birds grow up.
     
         I suppose some things in nature are missed and other things are meant to be missed.

NATURE DIARY #5

6.11.2011 

"Let me feed you!"

     

     Recently I've been seeing the mother bird feed her babies.  When the mother comes, those little creatures will start making a huge ruckus and chirp like mad.  Then I see the mother jump to the edge of the nest and lean over.  Then two tiny gray beaks will protrude from the nest and open their mouths.  The mother then "feeds" them.  

        When she leaves, her offspring are once more silent.  

Nature Diary - #4

6.4.2011

Hatched Fuzzballs

They hatched! They hatched! The birdies finally hatched!

I climbed up a ladder to check if the birds hatched yet. When I looked, I saw two fuzzballs curled up in the nest, sleeping. I have to admit that the fuzzballs looked really ugly. I could slightly make out the fact that there were two birds but it was hard to tell. They haven't grown feathers yet.

After I took a few pictures, I retired down the ladder. I didn't want the mother to get so anxious about humans that she would abandon her babies.



I can't wait to watch how the birds grow up and learn how... ...

... ... To Fly.

*see NATURE DIARY to view entries in chronological order.

Nature Diary #2

5.29.2011

Everything Heals

         
Today-as if my encounter yesterday was just a dream-the birds are singing again. I was reminded of the nest that was in my yard. I know that there is an egg in there and the mother occasionally comes to sit in it. I'll record it when the egg hatches.

    But don't worry, I know not to mess around with the nest.


*see NATURE DIARY to view entries in chronological order.

Nature Diary #1

5.28.2011                          

The Way It Was, and The Way It Is

     Today I saw something that I  will never forget.  I hope that most of you out there won't be snickering when you read this but thinking about the title:

         In my yard, a bird sat there, not noticed by anything but the flies.  Soon my father found him and saw that it had been in a fight.  All the feathers on his head had been plucked out and all what was left was a red rotting head and two sullen eyes.  He was Alive, Breathing, And in pain.  But what struck me most was that he was only a baby bird.

         My father said that he most likely was in a nest or tree and fell out.  Then another bird must have mulled him.

         Occasionally, a fly would crawl up the still body and onto the head to lay maggot eggs on the rotten scalp.  As soon as the fly made contact with the exposed skin, the baby bird would shake it off.

          If this wasn't enough, I saw an older bird land onto the ground next to it.  The elder noticed the baby and nudged it.  Then she hopped a few yards away.  A moment later, she came back and stayed there for a while.  It struck me that this might be the babe's mother.  But after a long stay, she flew away. 

          Then, If That Was Not Enough, I heard a call from an anonymous bird.  The injured bird peeped in reply and started hopping into our neighbor's yard. He kept hopping and calling back.  Unfortunately he was going away from the sound.


*see NATURE DIARY to view entries in chronological order.