Quiet and Peacefully

Hawks have a special meaning for me.

They often can be seen soaring above our field.

Sometimes we see them perched, as here.

This is a Red-shouldered Hawk.

Red-shouldered Hawks hunt by patiently waiting,

perched in a tree or similar high point.

.........

Then there are Red-tailed Hawks, which was

the hawk I saw Tuesday, on my hike in the woods,

- they alone have a certain raspy "Kre eee arr" cry-

which is used in movies to

represent any eagle or hawk anywhere in the world.

They are considered a large hawk that

spends most of their time soaring.

.........

This, I believe, is a Cooper's Hawk-

They are a medium sized, dark gray or gray-brown hawk,

they have a longer tail that ends in a white band.

I only know these things because I "googled" hawks!

..........

Now this just doesn't seem fair!

They like to perch on our fence railings too-

only to fly away, before I can get a decent picture!

This was taken through my window just before lift off.

...........

Soaring hawks bring up memories of my Mother.
She would sit for hours on my front porch watching birds.

On the morning she passed..... while thinking
of her and sitting where she normally sat.....

a hawk swept down and took a small bird in mid air,
only ten feet in front of where I sat.

Agitated at first, but calmed with the thoughts of.....
how quiet and peacefully it had happened.

............

In My Woods!

Being that I'm a morning person, I always catch the sunrises.

Despite the cold temperature, yesterday's sunshine drew me outside.

I first walked out to the field to view the clouds better-

but decided to head for the woods back behind the garden area,

where I eventually hiked for 2 1/2 hours.

Just as I was entering the edge of the woods-

a Red-tailed Hawk let me know I had disturbed him.

He gracefully circled overhead over and over, all the while

vocalizing his distinctive raspy "Kree eee arr" cry.

After the hawk flew off, I was so aware of the stillness of the woods.

I took a steep path that led down to the creek.

The creek bed was barely flowing with water-

I found a small heart shaped rock

in the creek bed,

a tree growing a large white ear,

and a moss covered rock that

I wish I could take home.

This is a photo from last spring of a decaying log which

woodpeckers seem to have visited often.

It now looks like this. Time changes everything.






While hiking back up the hill, I noticed this decaying tree

with it's exposed "clawing finger like" moss covered roots.






Then a dark shape catches my eye - it looks like -

a dragon?

But, on closer inspection it became -




Scooby Doo!

Remember the cartoon & song >Scooby Doo...Where are you?

Well, he's here -

- in my woods!

After finding him I went home.

Miscellaneous

I thought some miscellaneous pictures

would do for a post today.

These are two Northern Flicker Woodpeckers that visit often.

These squirrels hang around and guard the trees like this all the time.

Here is a Pileated Woodpecker from the heavy wooded area
that surrounds us.



This fawn was aimlessly running down the yard straight towards me.




This was the smallest squirrel I've ever seen on
the property. The body of the bell is about 4 inches.



I think this chipmunk is wondering just how he can get that home !




A Scarlet Tanager could easily be mistaken for a Northern Cardinal.
We just have a few Tanagers, but at least 8 pairs of Cardinals.




This baby Bluebird peeking out was the last to leave it's nest, and
was offspring of the last Bluebird family to occupy it.

Here we have a Chickadee pulling fibers from a pair of drapes on the porch.

I've seen them in the past, pull hair from our sleeping dog's tail.

These are small Carolina Wrens from a nest on our porch.
They graduated to sleeping on this blind at night.

A Ruby-throated Hummingbird at a feeder on the porch.
Sometimes there's three or more darting around recklessly.

This small fawn was just a few feet away before running off.

A few baby foxes shyly come around once in awhile.

Unlike baby foxes, baby raccoons aren't shy, they even pose for pictures.

I want it to warm up so it will green up!

Hurry Spring!

Valentine Gifts

It's Valentine's Day

So, Happy Valentine's Day to all nine

of our grandchildren..... here in this collage of photos-

and here's a collage of just a few Valentine cards saved over the years.

This next photo is of the unusually bright planet Venus.

It was taken during that very brief thunderstorm we just had.

Because of my "shaky camera syndrome"-

the blurred image came out like this -

-HONEST-

"a heart shape I will be keeping "

Another heart shape I've had for a while is this

"enormous"

pink heart shaped box, which was full of chocolates back in 1962.

.
.

.

But our favorite St. Valentine's Day Gift is from February14,1965.

.

.

.

Our daughter--- Annette Marie!!!

Happy Birthday Annette!
&
Happy St.Valentine's Day!