Several days last week I noticed a little house finch hanging around the feeders. We have a lot of birds that hang around, but this little guy sat on the feeders, leisurely pecking at the seed, seemingly unconcerned about the comings and going of other birds.
He wasn’t concerned about me coming and going either. He never moved, though he kept an eye on me, as I was filling feeders, until I reached for the one he was occupying. Then he’d fly up to the roof, or over to another feeder to wait. I walked right by him several times, within inches, and he didn’t move. He actually flew up to land on a feeder I was carrying one afternoon.
I knew he wasn’t well, his beak didn’t seem to work right, bits of oiler hull stuck to it. His eyes seemed faded.
I looked for him every morning to see if he had survived the night. Two mornings ago he watched me fill the feeders, walking by him in the process. He wasn’t moving at all, wasn’t eating. I avoided the feeder he was resting on, so as not to make him move.
A few hours later he was dead on the deck railing. I buried him under the ninebark bush, at the base of a lily plant, with a few bright red maple leaves to mark his place.
Bye-bye little guy. I hope you enjoyed your time here with us, you sure did make me smile.
Longtime readers might remember that every October many of us bloggers deliberately take a walk, then post a few (or a lot) of images and descriptions. Robin, over at Breezes at Dawn, hosts the Walktober, compiling everyone’s posts into one at the end of the month.
This year the official dates for Walktober are October 8th through October 24th. But if you need a little bit more time just let Robin know and she’ll try to accommodate you.
Let’s go on a walk!
It’s so much fun to take you all along on a walk. And it’s fun to read everyone else’s post, to explore a part of the country, or the world, that we might never get to visit any other way.
In the last couple of weeks I’ve been on two walks, complete with friends and their dogs and I’ve considered whether I should use those walks as my official Walktober.
Deuce and Ace patiently posing.
After all, I was walking, and it was October, and better yet, there were dogs!
But ultimately, though these were both really fun walks, I decided to take you with me to a place I’d never been before. And today I explored a new park.
Jasper enjoys a spot of sunlight.
But today’s images aren’t ready for the public yet, and I knew you wouldn’t want to miss pictures of dogs…so I’m sharing those here.
Maybe you’ve done a Walktober in previous years, or maybe you haven’t but think it would be fun. Either way, I encourage you to take some time out of your day and get outside.
Robin’s rules are easy. Take a walk or ride a bike, jog or go for a drive, just get outside, grab an image or two and then post about your experience. Link your post to this post of hers and she’ll be sure to add you to her list of people enjoying the beautiful October outdoors.
A dignified Jasper pauses for a pose.
And if you’re worried that you don’t have any country trails to share, maybe no autumnal color, well, one year I took everyone to downtown Detroit for my Walktober submission, and had a wonderful time showing you that a city is a great place to walk too.
There are plenty of beautiful days left in October!
Look around you, there’s bound to be something, perhaps your own yard, that you’d like to show us.
Let’s spend October sharing our wonderful worlds with each other. I can’t wait to see something of your part of the world!
The maple trees around here are turning colors. They are brilliant reds and oranges and golds this year.
Out on the main road is this little pond. It puts on a show every fall.
Each year I notice how beautiful they are, each year I think the colors are the prettiest ever.
In our small local cemetery the sun focused on a single branch.
Just like this year.
But today I also feel tinges of sadness as fall progresses because my little girl, the one who loved fall and who believed the trees turned color just for her isn’t here to enjoy it.
Ms. Downy Woodpecker spent a lot of time on the new feeder yesterday.
They wait every morning, growing more impatient every hour I’m late, for their feeders to be filled.
She was curious about me, just inside the window, but not frightened.
Yes feeders. As in multiple.
They already had an oiler feeder, a thistle feeder, a flat feeder and an oriole and/or hummer feeder, depending on the season.
I love capturing her fuzzy fluffy feathers.
But I follow a bird photographer who just purchased a new feeder that seemed to be a bird favorite, so I ordered one too.
Then Mr. Downy showed up, chasing her off. He thinks he’s special I guess.
The birds love it. I don’t know if it’s just because it’s new, or because the bigger birds who can’t fit through my caged feeder have a new source of snacks.
He’s fuzzy too.
Yesterday it enticed three different types of woodpeckers to spend time near our windows.
And then Ms Red-bellied arrived, chasing Mr. Downy off the feeder.
I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as we did!
And Ms. Hairy Woodpecker arrived too, with her long beak. She at least shared the feeder with the little birds.
And go over and read Backyard Bird Nerd’s blog. You’ll love the variety of birds that she attracts to her yard!
Hey! What about ME? I’m pretty too….but they won’t let me on the popular feeder.
I’m looking forward to spending more time with my birds, but I’ll try to get up earlier to get those feeders filled before they go on strike and demand one treat per image taken. It’s possible Katie left them a copy of her contract and I don’t want that kind of thought process to spread.
I’m new around here (red breasted nuthatch, I’ve never seen here before!), so I’ll just look for seeds over on the railing.
It all started early one morning when we noticed a visitor breakfasting in the back yard.But wait! Look who else has arrived!A young buck enjoys our house special, succulent turf du jour.Are you looking at me, lady?Just a moment…do I hear something over there?I guess it’s nothing. If that lady is going to be taking pictures I better spruce up a bit.Meanwhile, another visitor approaches the buffet.Just one moment! Who are YOU?Why, no one important, sir!OK then. Just so it’s clear who’s the big buck around here.Yes sir, of course sir!Shhhhh! Just a word of warning, watch out for the big guy over there.Thanks for the tip!And another thing, you two youngsters need to show more respect!I swear, this younger generation has no idea. The things I had to put up with when I was a kid. Why I walked to school in blizzards, uphill both ways!I’ll just grab a quick snack to go…Need to find me a quiet place for a nap.Kids today…gotta keep em in line. Yep, always something….
Today marks three months since you went over that bridge alone. I think about you every day. But you know that, don’t you.
It’s your favorite time of year, sweetie.
This morning I went to your park to take a walk. It’s the first time I’ve been there alone since you left.
Morning light made the flowers glow.
You know your daddy and I were at your park just after that day, with your Aunt Beth, and she played the bagpipes for you near the pond.
You’d be upset at how much algae is in your pond.
I haven’t been able to go back since, sweetie, not without you. It hurt so much to be a Katie’s Park today, but I had a mission.
I’ll get to that in a bit.
The goldenrod is beautiful this year.
First of all I parked at the township office instead of where you and I always parked. I didn’t think I was ready for everything to be the same and yet so different. So I parked in a different spot.
That helped me get out of the car.
Blue sky and yellow fields.
The park was beautiful, as always. You would have loved it, the air was cool and the sun was just up over the treetops.
Loosestrife, I know it’s invasive but it’s so pretty.
But you wouldn’t have loved getting your feet wet. The path was overgrown, here at summer’s end, and the grass was long and heavy with dew.
You always spent a long time sniffing that corner at the beginning of your path.
The good sniffs might have made up for your wet paws though. I imagine you wouldn’t have grumbled too much, you loved walking in your park so much.
I smiled at that thought.
Lots of wet spider webs. You’d have stuck your nose into a few of them for sure.
I was pretty proud of myself, that I smiled at all. Because mostly I was crying as I walked along. I imagined you everywhere. All our favorite places.
Leaves are beginning to turn. You always looked so good in the fall foliage.
Your turtle friends were out but I didn’t see much else. That might have been because my eyes were all leaky.
I think they were wondering where you’ve been.
It was even hard for me to tell if stuff was in focus on my camera. Yes, silly, of course I brought the camera. Though it wasn’t as much fun without you.
I took a picture of my favorite trees, though it’s hard to understand how they can still be standing when you’re not here.
Anyway, my mission was to hang a memory tag on the remembrance tree. You remember when your Aunt Karen and you and I hung some tags for Reilly and Denny and Norwood, right?
Three beautiful boys remembered. Now there are more we should include.
Well, she had a special tag made for you and she gave it to me after you had to go. I haven’t been able to hang it on the tree until today. I put it right next to your handsome fiancé Reilly’s tag.
Can you read what it says, sweetie? Of course you can.
I know you and Reilly are together now, and you’re both loving the beach and the woods while you wait for your people to arrive. It makes me feel better to know you have so many friends there with you.
Everything in it’s season.
Today I hung your tag at your favorite park, sweetie. I just wanted you to know. Miss you baby-girl.
Love, Mama.
See you around the next curve, Katie-girl.
Well, of course I know mama! Where do you think I was while you were wandering around and crying all over my park? I was right there beside you. Silly mama, I’m always right there beside you. Thanks for hanging my tag, it’s real pretty. Thank Aunt Karen for getting it for me too, OK?
Love you always, mama. Tell daddy I love him too. Got to go now, Reilly wants to go run on the beach.
So most of you know that I’ve been fighting kidney disease for much of this year. I go to the vet every month and donate my blood so the lady vet can see how I’m doing.
Me at my park where they have a children’s storybook walk.
Daddy and mama took me to the vet yesterday, they say I shouldn’t be so scared every time, but they aren’t there in the back room when those vet techs get my blood! I’m starting to feel like a pin cushion, all those needle pricks over the past nine months!
At a rest stop on our way home from the vet yesterday.
It’s scary back there, I tell you, and I’m so glad when they take me back to my daddy; I’m always ready to go go go back out to the car where mama waits impatiently for me.
During one of my neighborhood patrols.
But the lady vet and daddy always have to stand around and talk after I give away my blood. They usually look at all the test results, but this time they just talked about my poop!
Checking out my yard.
Geeze! Can’t a princess have a little privacy about anything? Mama and daddy have been taking pictures of my poop for weeks! I guess having soft runny poop is not a good thing. Who knew?
My yard has a katsura tree and all the leaves fell off in one day!
Now I have medicine to help my poops get back to normal. Mama says we’ll see. Literally I guess, right?
My yard has a ginkgo tree too. It’s leaves also fall off in a single day!
And the test results? The ones that will tell us if I’m getting worse? Well, the lady vet sent my blood out to a lab instead of running the tests right there, so we won’t know until sometime next week.
At my park.
I’ll keep you posted, cause I know you want to know!
Meanwhile, I’m chowing down like the food hog I’ve always been and that makes mama and daddy smile.
A little snow.
I hope you all have a great week, and those of you in the United States enjoy Thanksgiving! Mama and daddy say they are very thankful for me. Well of course they are. And I guess, if I’m honest, I’m very thankful for them too.
Another favorite park.
And I’m also thankful for each of you, my loyal subjects. Thank you for stopping by and reading about my poop during a holiday week. I should probably talk to mama about being more appropriate, but you know how mama is. No sense of decorum, that woman.
I love being in the woods with mama!
Anyway, these photos were taken the past couple of weeks during all the walks at my parks and around the neighborhood that mama’s been taking me on. She says she knows how much I love the colder weather and she wants me to get out and enjoy as much of it as I can.
Just another thing I’m thankful for, fall in Michigan!
Come on, mama!
Talk later, your cool air loving, pincushion girl, Katie.
So where did I leave you? Ah yes….at the viewing platform overlooking the wetlands, about two miles from the car.
An excellent place to watch the birds.
Since we’ve been lugging the camera backpack filled with lenses and spare batteries all this way, this would be a good time to change to the long lens. Don’t you think? And perhaps take a sip from the water bottle that’s been adding weight to the bag for the long trek out here.
I loved the stripes of color.
There, that’s better.
So, out here in the open marsh you can here sandhill cranes and Canadian geese as they fly in and out. A few trumpeter swans too. No pelicans this time, and that’s disappointing, but I’m too late in the season for much of a variety.
These guys decided to move on to a place less habited by nosey humans.
The other people on the viewing platform have high powered binoculars, and they are watching a northern harrier harrass a young bald eagle. I can’t see any of that of course, but I enjoy listening to them talk about it.
Yep way over there is a tree that often hosts eagles. In fact that might be one to the left, or that might be the harrier.
Mostly I watch the geese that were nearest to me and enjoy the sun and the sitting down for a bit.
And then I decide I’ll head back, but take a path I’ve never chosen before, out past the tree where, on a previous visit, I’d seen so many eagles, out along the edge of the wetlands, because you just never know what you’ll find.
It was a beautiful day, even if I didn’t get any great shots of an eagle.
And I do find the juvinile eagle, I think, though I can’t get a close enough view of him to be sure. I have a longer lens than I had last year, but he was still a long ways away. For all I know, this is the harrier, rather than the eagle. He (or she) is fun to watch either way, soaring high above the grasses, searching for a meal.
A super cropped image of a bird. Might be an eagle. But I think it’s the harrier. Cool either way.
I come across a passel of cranes, standing around out there in a clump. No noise, just hanging out. When they see me noticing them they begin to walk away at a fast clip, so I move on, not wanting to upset them.
Moving quietly back into the grass so as not to attract any more attention.
And then I begin the long wander back to the car. It is a beautiful day and I’m not at all disappointed that I don’t have anything spectacular to shoot. But wait! There’s an eagle’s nest! Wow, that thing is huge! Now I know which way I’ll walk next spring when there might be some activity there, maybe early in the season before leaves obscure the view.
This won’t be easy to see once the tree leafs out.
It’s not far from the tree where I’ve seen eagles, adult and juviniles…and it’s in the direction I always see them flying from out there. Now it all makes sense. I’m excited for next season!
But other than that my walk back is just filled with beautiful fall sights. I am walking on a path less traveled, and mostly not mowed, so I am glad for my waterproof hiking shoes keeping my feet dry.
Even though I am on the lookout for birds of any size, and though I hear a few, I don’t see any. I probably need to sit in one place, as I’ve considered on other visits to this park, and wait for something to come by in stead of tromping noisily through the woods.
But I am hungry, and tired, and still a long way from the car, so I trek on.
I like the spunkiness of the little tree growing in the remains of it’s ancestor.
The views don’t disappoint. Just about any direction I look there is something pretty.
Another dyke flanked by leaning trees. These always remind me of Marines at a wedding, with their swords forming a tunnel for the bride and groom. Actually, a wedding woud be amazing here.
I can’t stop taking pictures, but that’s no surprise to anyone. Right?
Such great colors and shapes, it’s impossible to resist taking just one more shot.
But eventually I put the lens cap back on, resolving to move faster toward the car and the banana waiting for me. I even pass up the opportunity to sit on a bench, because I know I am only half a mile away from the parking lot.
A tempting bench. If I’d had my lunch with me I might have stopped.
I promise myself I’m not taking any more images. Just going to forge ahead, eyes front, no stopping. Really.
Hmmmm….what’s making all that noise over there?
But I can’t ignore the huge ruckus coming up from a field just beyond the trees to my right. When I come to an opening I see what must be the party room for cranes. Because they are dancing up a storm. So I had to take the lens cap back off. You would have too, I’m sure.
And then I hear this little guy, and since he is the only little bird I’ve seen clearly all day, well, the lens cap comes off again.
It’s not even a good shot, but he is the only one that cooperated, so he gets to be in the blog.
And then, finally, I make it back to the car. My 4+ mile walk through the woods is over, and I know I wouldn’t be back until spring. Unless I decide a winter hike is in order. I guess I’ll put that idea into the ‘things to ponder’ file drawer and see what the winter weather is like this year.
Always notice the light.
More likely I’ll be back in the spring, when northern migration is happening and there will be more activity to wittness. I’ll be sure to bring you along whenever I go back. Maybe I’ll even carry a banana with me so I can stay out there longer.
Come along with me, the walking is marvelous!
You’ll be responsible for your own snacks. And your waterproof shoes.
