Fall Color Report

This past weekend was my annual trip to the mountains of West Virginia to enjoy the Fall color.  I knew before I left that it was too early in the season for the full development of the brilliant reds and oranges, but this was the only weekend that I could travel.  On top of that, there was a good chance of rain on Sunday and Monday, which would spoil my chances to take long walks in the woods and marshes of Canaan Valley.  Sure enough, it rained as predicted and the Fall color had only begun to progress.  Meanwhile, I had a nice visit with friends and family in that area and quite enjoyed a leisurely drive around the Canaan Valley area before returning home.  And I did snap a few photos for reference in doing my watercolor journal entry.

For those of you who can take a long drive to the mountains of West Virginia, I predict that the peak color will begin this coming weekend.    

Canaan Valley Wildlife Refuge - Freeland Road



Yes, I can spell potatoe

At the Market yesterday, the fruit and vegetables were bountiful, the colors were beautiful, and the signs were entertaining.  Luckily, I had my iPhone.

Ugly bird!

A few weeks ago, a friend told me about seeing a bald cardinal and sent me a link about them from the internet.  Apparently it's not uncommon.  There were several photos and descriptions and people guessing why the bird was bald.  The two suggested reasons were 1) molting; and 2) lice, the latter of which seems to be the most likely.  The reason for the feathers being missing only on the head is that birds can preen their feathers on the rest of their body to clean out the lice, but not the head.  Hmmmm.  Whatever. 

Only a few days after I heard about this, I noticed a strange looking bird at my feeders and jumped up from my chair for a closer look.  And guess what it was?  It was a female cardinal with an ugly bald head.  It took me about a month to get a decent picture.  I do believe this is the shyest bird in the neighborhood... and rightly so :)  Poor thing.  Don't look at the photo closely if you have a weak stomach.

More from Out my back door

Two of my four-legged visitors are appendage-deficient, i.e., bob-tailed.  One has about half the average size tail of its species.  The other has only a nub.  The nub-tailed squirrel is cute---sort of like a rabbit, as it lopes across the lawn.  Check out these photos of "Bob" visiting my deck bird-feeders.  Isn't he cute?

New Toy for Photography

I recently caved in and got an iPhone.  My old phone was fine, but three years old and didn't do "apps".  I read about this great "app" for photography called "Hipstamatic" on a blog I follow and that was the final straw -- I had to have it.  What fun it is!  Now, instead of playing mindless games when I am bored, I can play with photos.  For example, when eating out by myself, I can take pictures like these while I wait to be served:

These are untouched photos.  Hipstamatic does all the lighting/filter and grunge effects.  There are lots of setting choices and you can even have the app choose random settings by shaking the phone.  Isn't that crazy fun!!!  There are lots of other photo apps that are nearly free - usually 99 cents to 1.99.  I also downloaded one called Nightshot, that adds flash to the photo when it processes it and allows photos to be shot in very low light.  Magic!

All the little brown birds

Today was a bird watching day.  Lots of visitors at the feeders on my deck, so I set up my "big" camera on the tripod to try to get some clearer shots than I normally do.  My favorite little bird, the Carolina wren (actually, there were two of them today -- good news!) came several times so I got some good pictures for a change. 

 

I tried and tried to get a good shot of the tufted titmice, but those little devils move too fast for me to focus and shoot. They are pretty shy. I thought about making a blind to hide me, but didn't have ideas about how to do that in an easy way, so I will do that some other time.

I almost got him... :)

I'm paying particular attention to all the little brown birds.  It's easy to identify cardinals, blue jays, and mockingbirds.  It's more challenging to recognize the different sparrows, finches and other less colorful birds.
A bird that I just identifiedthis winter is a frequent visitor.  It is the white-throated sparrow. 

When you really pay attention to the little brown birds, you realize that they are not all the same.  This one is quite pretty with its white throat and two yellow stripes on its head.  It likes to pick up things off the floor of the deck.  Sure wish they would clean off the seed hulls and other dirt as well as the little bits that the other birds throw out of the feeder.