A Touch of Summer

Animals at Old Bedford Village

Animals played an important part in early Pennsylvania life. While we were at Old Bedford Village we met several. There were a couple of horses, Belle and Nikki. One, I don't know which, came to ask for some treats. After a few pats, we walked away.

Belle or Nikki, whichever one it was, didn't seem to appreciate that we didn't give her any treats.

Next we met Molly and Martha. Their names were on the fence, but they didn't choose to say which was which, so again I can't tell you if Molly was white.....

Or brown.

They too came over to ask for treats.

Molly, or perhaps it was Martha, seemed a little more insistent about getting a treat.

In her frustration with us, she resorted to tasting the fence

I do not believe it tasted good.

There were also birds flying around, and many more singing in the trees.

There was a resident cat who was lying on a bench surveying her kingdom. She asked to be scratched behind the ears, but in the contrary way of cats rewarded me with a scratch when I complied with her request.

At a hitching post there were a number of mighty steeds waiting to be mounted and perhaps rode off into war against the Indians.

No village is complete without some friendly animals.

Song Birds in the Backyard

In my backyard I see and hear a lot of little songbirds. The most common bird I see is our resident Chickadee.They are very polite and will land on low branches and don't care if I'm close to them.

In fact, they seem to say, "Did you get that shot?"

Others like to hide in amongst the branches. I have a hard time identifying some of them, like the guy below. I think he is some kind of Sparrow.

This time of year it is especially difficult to identify the songbirds as the juveniles are out and about. The one below looks to be a juvenile Robin.

I can recognize the Yellow-rumped Warbler. That telltale yellow spot gives them away. You might know them as a Butter butt.

So many of the little songbirds like to sit on a high branch, and that makes it very hard to get a clear photo of them and require a lot of cropping to be able to get a close-up. The one below is some kind of Sparrow.

Even if I am unable to identify them, I enjoy seeing them flitting around in the trees. They also fill the air with beautiful song.

Looking for a Handout

It's a sunny day in the Golden Heart Park along the river downtown. The Mallard family are strolling along looking for something to eat. Oh, Mabel, look, there's a lady with a camera. Surely she has something for us. Well, she was a total bust! Guess we'll have to look somewhere else, Henry.

Hey, over here! There's people sitting on that bench. I think the man has a lunch bag beside him.

Well, I've never been so insulted in my life. Imagine, shooing us off! Well, who else is there around that might have some goodies?

There's only some guy sleeping on a bench over this way.

There's no one over this way.

I felt sure the camera lady would be a soft touch. This park may be called the Golden Heart park, but I think all these people have selfish hearts. Let's get out of here.

It's really a crying shame when you have to catch your own food.

In the old days everyone would give us something. What's the world coming to?

Sandhill Crane Landing

We have had rainy weather the last few days, but this morning the rain stopped. It is still cloudy, but the sun is peeking through and drying things out. I decided it was a good day to run over to Creamer's Field. More birds have arrived, the greatest numbers being Canada Geese and Sandhill Cranes. Below is a series of shots of some Sandhill Cranes coming in for a landing.

White-crowned Sparrow

Saturday when I was at Creamer's Field I walked around the Boreal Forest Trail , which is a 1.5 mile loop through the trees. I heard a lot of songbirds and saw several, but most were not cooperative about having their photo taken. However, one little guy posed for me to take quite a few shots. It was a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow, and had obviously not learned to be afraid of people. At times it was within about 4 feet of me and was totally unconcerned that I was there.He hopped around the observation platform that was built along the edge of a meadow, searching for tidbits to eat.

White-crowned Sparrows breed in Alaska and Canada, so most of you will see it during the wintertime as it is common bird throughout most of the U.S. The juvenile bird's head is striped with rusty-brown and gray. The adult bird has a black and white striped head.

The feather pattern on the back is quite attractive and looks much the same as the adult.

This little guy really looks to have a bit of an attitude, but then I think a lot of baby birds do. He appeared to be on his own. At least I didn't see an adult bird around.

The White-crowned Sparrow has a very pretty song. You can hear it at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website by clicking here.

You can also learn more about this little sparrow at the Cornell website, and I recommend the website if you want to find out more about any particular bird. I especially like that they you can listen to the songs of the various birds.

Signs of Fall

This morning I headed out to the Farmer's Market for my weekly supply of fresh vegetables. Then I planned to go to Creamer's Field to check out the bird activity. Shortly after I left home, I looked up and saw a sight that we in Fairbanks both dread and look forward to. It was the V-formation of a group of Canada Geese as they arrived in town on their southbound flight. We dread seeing the geese in August, because that is a signal that the seasons are preparing to change. The days are already getting much shorter and we again have darkness, with sunrise at about 5:00 a.m. and sunset at 10:30 p.m., but twilight adding daylight on either side of that. The photo of Creamer's Field was taken last year on August 28th, and I am using a photo from last year because today there is smoke haze in the air. We have had a long period of dry weather and many forest fires around Fairbanks. For the last several weeks we have had smoky periods in town but the last week has seen heavy smoke. We have had about 1/2 inch of rain the last several days and that has helped, but there is still a definite haze in the air. The photo below is a bit clearer than it was today. You will notice the haze in the other photos below that were all taken today.When I arrived at Creamer's Field, there were many Canada Geese and Sandhill Cranes. Some of the cranes stay in the Fairbanks area over the summer, but the majority of them head further north for their nesting. Creamer's Field is a stopover spot for a big variety of birds on their migration north and south. I posted in April about Creamer's Field and you can read it by clicking here. Remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Another of the signs of the approaching fall is the Fireweed. Earlier I posted about Fireweed being summer's timepiece. You can read that by clicking here. In this photo you can see that the Fireweed has progressed up the stalk and most have reached the top. That's a sign that summer is coming to a close.

Some of the birds that I saw today in the front fields were Sandhill Cranes, Canada Geese, Mallards, and Pintails.

The Sandhill Cranes are one of my favorite birds. The next two photos shows some dancing. If you want to see more Crane photos, go to my sidebar in the Label section and look under Birds-Sandhill Cranes. I have posted Crane photos several times.

Sandhill Cranes are also a very vocal bird. Below you can see two birds calling in unison. You will see many of the cranes walking around in pairs. They mate for life, and this is likely a mated pair.

I'll be posting more of the photos that I took today at Creamer's Field in the next several days and will be making more trips back to Creamer's Field over the next few weeks. The fall migration is just beginning, and we will see huge numbers of birds stopping off for a rest before heading south.