Nature Journal

Notes about birds, mammals, wildflowers, insects, and more



	Saturday, October 11, 2003

	Heard two more flocks of geese fly by last night around midnight - one right after the other. The downy woodpecker has been much more vocal over the past several weeks. I mostly hear its whinny-like call. Have also seen it foraging in nearby trees.


	Thursday, October 9, 2003

	Here's a beech leaf I found in the woods. Most beech leaves I've seen have more uniform color than this one. They tend to turn yellow first, then a reddish-yellow, and finally reddish-brown or just brown. There were quite a few chipmunks in
	the area where I saw this leaf - making their "chip, chip, chip" sounds. I think they were busy competing for the beech nuts on the ground.


	Tuesday, October 7, 2003

	The Nodding Ladies Tresses have been blooming for about 10 days. There are also several species of asters still blooming, including the New England Asters. Most of the goldenrod has gone to seed, tho' there are still a few in bloom. Saw a brown creeper this morning, foraging on several maple trees near the house. This bird moves around and up one tree until it reaches a certain point (usually not the top). Then it flies to the bottom of another tree and starts over.


	Sunday, October 5, 2003

	Found this tiny waterfall in the woods. This brook often dries up in the summer. But, since we had a very rainy spring and summer this year, the brook is still flowing. Brooks like this are an important source of water for the deer and
	many other animals. When this brook dries up, the animals have to cross a road to get to the next closest brook - a dangerous situation for the animals and the drivers.


	Friday, October 3, 2003

	Heard three or four flocks of Canada Geese fly by during the day. And two more flocks this evening - in the past half hour. There was an early flock that came by on Sept. 3rd, but haven't heard any geese again until today - a whole month later.


	Wednesday, October 1, 2003

	When I was in the woods yesterday, I came upon two whitetail bucks. For few moments, they both stood still. Then one of them moved away. The other buck stood for 10 minutes or so, just watching me. During that time I managed to take a few photos
	without scaring it off. (Enlarge the photo to get a better look.) I expected that the buck would run sooner or later. Instead, after it decided that I wasn't a threat, it put its head down and grazed a bit and then just kind of wandered off.


	Monday, September 29, 2003

	Over the past week or so, I've been hearing quite a few bird songs and calls that I don't recognize. I'm guessing that these are from migrating birds that are not resident or breeders in this area. This morning I heard a "huff, huff, huff" kind of sound. I thought it might a bear, since I had seen them recently. Then it became apparent that the sound was coming from a nearby tree. The "huffing" sound was interspersed with what was clearly a bird's call. No luck in spotting the bird, but I sure would like to know what it was.


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