Pine Grove Farm

We're back again on the road in early October in New York with some more drive-by shots of a barn we passed.

Check out the decoration on the top of the silos.  Because the photo below is cropped heavily, it's lost some clarity, but it's obvious the owners are proud of Pine Grove Farm.

And one last drive-by shot out the back window showing the other end of the barn.

So many of the lovely barns that are featured on Tricia's Barn Charm are worthy of being a jigsaw puzzle, so I thought I would try this one out.

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Check out some more of the wonderful barns at Tricia's Barn Charm.

I Won't Share!

I recently received the gift of a new bird feeder.  It was made by a local fellow and it is a ferris wheel, birdie style.  It has six food cups that revolve like a ferris wheel.  The Redpolls love it, although they are light enough in weight that they don't set it to spinning too often.

When the cups are full they perch mostly on the edges to eat.

As the seed goes down they hop inside.

 Redpolls are chatty little birds, and when they have found a good spot to eat they aren't shy about telling their buddies to back off.

The communication is not only verbal but involves a great deal of body language.

The communication gets a bit testy at times.

"This is MINE!  Go away!"

"You've been hogging it long enough.  It's my turn!"

"And don't come back!"

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On a side note, in my last post I had several editing variations of my moose photos.  Almost everyone preferred the photo with no editing at all done to it.  But because I didn't like the lighting, and the more I looked at them, I've decided I prefer the last shot.  I printed the various versions out and it was by far the best.  I printed it on both matte and glossy and liked both versions, but I would like to see it printed on canvas.

Moose Variations

I saw this moose just down the road from my house shortly after noon today.  It was overcast and she was back in the trees, so the light wasn't the best, as you can see in the first photo that is just as it came out of the camera.

 So I did a little editing.....

Hmmm, I can't decide which I like best..... 

NY Barn Politics

While in New York in October we spotted this barn.  (Another of those drive-bys.)   It was supporting some candidates for office, but it doesn't look like it's used for much else.  I imagine the election was in November.  I wonder if they got elected....

If you like old barns be sure to hop over to Tricia's Barn Charm to see lots more from around the world.

A Rare Bird

Every day I have many dozens of the Common Redpoll coming to my feeders.  They are in the finch family and breed in the north in Alaska and Canada and other countries that ring the Arctic Ocean.  Many migrate south in the winter and are seen in the northern U.S.  They rarely migrate as far south as California, but one has recently been seen coming to a feeder in San Diego.  

Birders from miles around have been coming to get a chance to see it.  I got a chuckle out of the headline, "Rare bird has humans flocking to Julian."  Click HERE to read the article.  Living in Alaska, they are anything but a rare bird.  It's all about where you live.  Some of the Cool Facts listed on Cornell's All About Birds website (click HERE) is that their numbers worldwide are estimated to be tens of millions; in winter they eat up to 42% of their body mass every day; and they can survive temperatures of -65 degrees Fahrenheit.  The -50F that we had a few weeks ago didn't faze them--they just fluffed up their feathers.  Click HERE to see that post.  I've done a number of posts on Redpolls over the last few years, and you can check the label section in my sidebar for Birds-Redpolls.  I always enjoy watching them and you'll probably see many more posts featuring these cute little guys.  Hopefully you won't get bored with my "rare" bird.

Winter Birch

Pennsylvania Barn

This is another of the barns we saw in late October near Reading, Pennsylvania.  It sits on the corner where two roads form a Y.  The first view is the approach on the bigger road.

The next two views are coming up along the smaller farm road.

It had lovely cupolas.....

....and a couple of interesting silos.  It needs a little TLC!

Check out more old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm.

Lace in the Sky

I took these yesterday afternoon about 4:30, a half hour before sunset.  We're gaining seven minutes or so of daylight a day now, and are up to eight hours.  We've had some wind, so the tree branches are mostly bare and they look like lace. Our cold weather has migrated south, and the lower 48 is getting some of that arctic cold we were having a few weeks ago.  Our temps are in the upper 20s during the day and the forecast is for more of the same all week.  While it's not above the freezing mark, the extra warmth and light feel mighty good. 

A little closer view.....

....and even closer.

Redpoll Portrait

When it's 20 above you can take a little time to have your portrait taken.

Another NY Barn

This was another barn we saw in New York in late October, and another drive-by shooting.  I think the cupolas are the most interesting feature of this hardworking barn.

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Check out more old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm.