Thursday, November 5, 2009

A Report of Fall

Michigan is on the upside of a warming trend again this week. We've been in the cold and damp for a while, but it's suppose to hit 60 degrees this weekend - woo hoo! It will give me the chance to do some tiding up on my garden which looks very rough right now. The frosts we've had has left so many of the plants dead and brown, or dying.

My sweet autumn clematis will remain until spring as a hiding place and momentary safe haven for the birds from the hawks that haunt our grouping of houses. We have quite a number from this avian family that swoop and dive 'round our feeders throughout the year.

The goldfinches are still visiting the remnants of my sun flowers and cone flowers despite the brown stalks and flower heads. Those finches seem to ride the stems in the wind and they bob and weave through the air on those slender stalks. I've had many varieties of birds at the feeders around the yard, many more than we've had in previous autumns. I've had three kinds of woodpeckers, and a bevy of sparrows!

I had a sad moment yesterday when I lifted the lid to my squirrel feeder and found a dead red squirrel all curled up inside on the hulls of the sunflower seeds. Death is not an unusual thing this time of year, but I am never prepared for it. I still have two tiny reds dipping in and out of the trees so I'm still enjoying those tiny comedians of the squirrel family.

Our flying squirrels visited off and on most of the summer but are now back in force to beef up before the cold hits. I turn off all the lights in the kitchen to be able to catch these little flyers. They're great to watch gliding to the seed or suet during the evenings.

We also have rabbits back under our shed in the back yard, which means I will have to put mothballs under there to shoo them away. There are plenty of other places of hiding places for them to escape to in the neighborhood thank goodness. My dogs go crazy chasing their smells all around the shed and dig like crazy to get at those darn cotton tail critters.

You know, there are many other wild critters that frequent our part of the world here, but as I clean and sweep the yard in preparation for the onslaught of the snows of winter these are the little wild things that I've watched passing through lately - and all are enjoyed, photoed or simply observed as they sail the skies or wander the grasses near our home.

It's finally fall, and I'm getting into the season by enjoying all the things wild here in my world.

7 comments:

  1. We have one bird feeder at our house; it is attached to the window of my husband's office. Bob installed film on the window. He can see out; the birds can't see in. We enjoy watching the birds at the feeder. You might enjoy seeing a couple of Bob's blogs about the birds.

    http://bobo-bolinski.blogspot.com/2009/05/fine-feathered-friends.html

    http://bobo-bolinski.blogspot.com/2009/05/kissing-cardinals.html

    http://bobo-bolinski.blogspot.com/2009/07/nightcrawler-brunch.html

    By the way my stepdaughter visited your fine state last weekend. She and her boyfriend went to Hell, Michigan. The boyfriend was mayor for the day.

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  2. Michigan and north-central British Columbia have much in common weather-wise this year. On Wednesday, it was 60 degrees, and it's been wet also.

    We have had three or four types of woodpeckers in the yard, and I have been trying unsuccessfully to photograph them. I can never get the camera out fast enough, and having three cats in the yard probably doesn't help either!

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  3. I didn't know that, Chris. I some how thought that BC was warmer than us much of the year.

    I love our woodpeckers and have actually seen a red headed woodpecker in our neighbors trees in the past few days too! I would have to sit outside for a long time to be able to get pictures of the birds in my yard, but I sure enjoy them from my kitchen window.

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  4. I miss fall ... we have it down here in Florida our own unique way ... but it's not quite the same as "up north." Then again, I don't miss the cold weather come winter.

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  5. Robert,
    I love to visit Florida, but I cannot take too many days of the humidity, so we're even!

    Are you from up North?

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  6. I'm also fascinated by the wild life in our back yard..I've watched dear, a red fox (that concerned me as it was still light out) all kinds of birds, squirrels and yes those darn rabbits..

    Enjoy, and breathe quietly as we watch them live in our world or are we living in their world..and oh yes we have the woodchuck who has the nerve to peak in my living room window...

    Dorothy from grammology
    grammology.com

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  7. Dorothy,
    You have a few more creatures than we have pass through our piece of ground! But I have seen fox this time of year during the daytime and a local naturalist said they are beginning to look for more food before winter and might be out at times during the day.

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