SO HOT I'M MOLTING

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(JUNE 29, 2010) Beautiful male cardinals glisten in the morning sun. However, upon closer look, one seems to be wearing a mask and is a bit mussed up while the other looks right prim and proper in its cardinal red feathers.

One is likely a juvenile male, molting into a beautiful adult male that will be the handsome male to attract the female during mating season. But right now, the cardinal looks a bit like it has had a rough night and needs to sleep it off, yet it was singing pleasantly as we passed by this morning on the Riverwalk.

In the parking lot we saw a couple of brown-headed cowbirds. I took some pictures, but at 6:15 the lighting was not the best and the shots came out blurred. We also saw a heron fishing near the dam as several Canada geese floated by and an osprey settling into its nest above the Brantley Steam Plant. There were a handful of new yellow goslings near the train bridge being supervised by family and extended family. And, the flowers were blooming, the bees were buzzing, the damselflies were lighting gently on the leaves, and Sadie and I were enjoying the coolness before the heat of the day came upon us.

But, the most interesting sight was the molting cardinal. There are already signs of the green headed mallard molting as I saw a sad male walking about not knowing that his green head had turned a blackish color. I think that we, as humans, "molt" in our own way. When wooing a mate, we often put forth our best attractions, but once the mate is wooed, we seem to care less about our physical manner or, for that matter, hygiene. The Scottish poet, Robert Burns, in his poem "To a Louse: On seeing one on a lady's bonnet at church," provides a humbling thought when he wrote:

"O would some Power the gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion:
What airs in dress and gait would leave us,
And even devotion!"

Did the molting cardinal not know that he was disheveled and rough looking? Perhaps not as he sat on the tree and sang a lovely song while not being able to see himself as other saw him. He, really, isn't that bad looking, but with time will be marvelous.

It was another good day on the Riverwalk.

A TURTLE TAIL - er, TALE

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(JUNE 28, 2010) At 6:15 this morning turtles were the last things on my mind. We had walked a half mile when a biker stopped, noticed my camera and said, "There's a large turtle up there near the fence. It is the largest one I've see, except at zoos."

He showed the size with his hands, making a circle that looked like a couple of feet in diameter. The place he pointed to was about an eighth of a mile from where we were, and I thought that the turtle would be long gone when we got there.

This started a conversation on turtles. I told him that when Sadie was about 6 months old, we were walking on the trail, and there was a turtle on the trail that was the size of a large footstool. I told him that a small child could have sat on it and that Sadie wanted to go near, in her puppy dog curiosity, to see this giant monster; I pulled her back because the turtle's mouth was so large that he could have almost swallowed the puppy. Besides, even if the turtle had just snapped her and held on, I have been told that when a turtle grabs something in its strong mouth, it won't let loose until it thunders (that day, I recall, was bright and sunny with no rain expected for days).

Now I told this man this story, and then I couldn't help but to relate to him the "fish tales" I have heard along the trail. One was recalled a few months ago (April 28) which was actually a "fish tale" told about an English setter. I told him that my rule was that when a fisherman told me the size of the fish that got away, to take the size the fisherman says, divide it by two and add a couple of inches/pounds.

Having realized that he might have thought I was telling my own "fish story" with Sadie's encounter with the large turtle, I was about to point out that the story was true when he said, before riding off, with a mischief look on his face, "Actually, the turtle was only this big." (he made a circle with his fingers about two inches in diameter). We both laughed and off he rode.

Stories. We all tell them, and each time we tell them, they become bigger. Part of that is to add entertainment value to those who listen (often with disbelief); part of that is because we almost all live what we see as mundane lives and need these embellished stories to make our lives seem more exciting, but sometimes we just tell stories that we had hoped would be the way things are or were. Whatever reason, it is fun to hear stories from others - whether believable or not.

It was another good morning on the Riverwalk.

WHAT'S NEW?

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(JUNE 27, 2010) Each morning when I go to the Riverwalk with my camera, a thought always goes through my mind. "Is this the morning when I won't see anything to take a picture of? Will there be nothing new?" I've taken pictures of geese, ducks, osprey, eagles, cormorants, mergansers, many varieties of lovely flowers/plants, and some very curious insects. I've also taken some pretty good landscapes and even shots of people. So, what else is left? Hmmmmm.... What's New to take a picture of?

I will see something early on my walk and take a picture of it. It may be a weed or an unusual tree branch formation, but, I say to myself, I have at least one or two pictures. I NEVER even get back to those pictures because there is ALWAYS something new I haven't seen before. In the several years I've walked the Riverwalk, I have yet to be disappointed in seeing something new. What I see may be something others have seen, but for me, it is something I haven't seen - it is WHAT'S NEW to me.

Early in the walk this morning, I saw two blackbirds (grackles) standing on a street light. Since it was right at dusk, the light was still on making an interesting picture with the silhouettes of the blackbirds and the brightness of the lamp. I then came upon the white and gray geese with their goslings enjoying the morning coolness. They, as always, started their march to the river when they saw Sadie coming. We made a wide circle, so they didn't have to go all the way to the water.

Up near the Martin Luther King Bridge, I saw a bird I hadn't seen before. This was something new to me. I snapped away, and I think it is a yellow warbler. Someone on the trail said he thought that, with my description, it was a female scarlet tangier which he has seen around. I checked my bird book upon coming home, and think the yellow warbler is what I have (pictured above).

Beyond the bridge near the White Mill I noticed some activity on a tower above the covered walkway that goes across the river. On top of the tower was an osprey, having just landed in a nest built there. Shortly afterwards another osprey came and landed in the nest with some new sticks for the nest. They are awesome birds of prey and look majestic as they fly and land.

Moving from "majestic" to "dainty," I'm not sure how long the damselflies will be about, but they seemed plentiful this morning. I saw some very small blue and brown and black damselflies resting on the leaves along the trail. Nearly every bush we came to from the Union Street Bridge to the bridge going over to the train station held several of these lovely creatures flying around and landing gently. The bees were plentiful in the flowers with some individual flowers containing more than one bee. I have noticed that some of the bees will circle their bodies around the bottom of the flower and just lie there for minutes.

There was also a beautiful blue flower (shown above) that I hadn't seen before. It was very small but attractive with the yellow and green surroundings.

On the way back, I noticed that the young swallows were gathering again in the tree near the Fall Creek bridge that is beside the Public Works Department. A few days ago I observed them practicing taking off and landing in the same trees, and I had supposed that they had mastered that and had gone on to other training in learning to be swallows. They were sitting there more securely than they had when I last saw them. They seemed to have learned their lesson well.

So, WHAT'S NEW? Well, this morning I got an interesting photo of two damselflies resting, I got some pictures of geese and ducks (the mother mallard and her six ducklings I had been seeing during the last few weeks - the ducklings are almost as large as their mother), I got a picture of a lovely blue flower, a couple of ospreys building their nest, a young swallow sitting securely in a tree, a yellow warbler, some moths and butterflies, a couple of blackbirds on a lamp post, and bees resting in flowers.



It was another good morning on the Riverwalk.

SADIE POINTS

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(JUNE 26, 2010) I got out to the Riverwalk this morning at 5:45 - kinda dark; kinda early; kinda in a hurry. I was to pick up Elizabeth in Chapel Hill at 7:30, so I did a short walk (a little over a mile) before leaving the house at 6:30 to head down Highway 86.

As the result of this, I didn't take any pictures, but I had over 500 pictures from yesterday, and some of them provided the idea for today's blog entry - Sadie Pointing.

Though it was hot yesterday, Sadie was in a "working" mode - that is, she was "working" at pointing at anything that moved (including leaves falling from the trees). She pointed at bees (which I discourage), damselflies, butterflies, moths, and an occasional bird.

One blue damselfly seemed to especially intrigue her since she would get close to it, it would fly away, Sadie would step back, and the damselfly returned right to the spot where Sadie had just seen it. This happened 3-4 times before I decided we needed to move on.

Now, Sadie's pointing sessions may take as long as 5-6 minutes as she goes into her "stealth" mode - moving very slowly by gently placing one paw down while lifting another one. Yesterday, I told someone, who was watching her, that she is like "poetry in motion. SLOW MOTION." And she is.

About a year ago Sadie was pointing at a moth when two bikers came by. The two men are acquaintances of mine, and they stopped and were fascinated by Sadie's pointing and stillness.

One of the bikers said, "That's amazing!"

I said, "Yep."

He then asked, "Did you teach her to do that?"

I said, "Sure did. I got down on my hands and knees to show her how it was done."

He laughed and said, "I'll give you $20 if you will demonstrate."

I said, "Make it $40, and you've got a deal."

In actuality Sadie started pointing when she was about 8 weeks old (she's now four and a half), just a ball of white fur with not one spot on her at all. I had taken her into the back yard, and she saw a moth - instinctively, she lifted her small front left paw (she always lifts that paw), became rigid, and her tail went out - not straight out like she does now, but up at about 45 degrees.

Pointing is in her genes. That's what she does.

Several months ago we were out in a field where she had spotted a butterfly. She was rigid and concentrating on that insect. She stood that way for several minutes - paw lifted, nose pointing and tail out straight. A couple of bikers rode out into the field, and one said, "I thought that was a statue."

I said, "I'm sure she wishes she could fool birds in the same way - they would flock around her, and she would grab them." They laughed, Sadie continued to point, and they left.

I like to give her some opportunities to point during our daily walks. There are times, however, when I get impatient and will go over to the insect she is pointing at and make a movement to hurry up the activity. She won't attack a bug until it starts to move, so her rate of success is only about 1 in 100.

By the way, no insects were killed or maimed yesterday. The damselfly and moth above are healthy and flying around today - unless some other dog has been more successful than Sadie.

It was a short walk today on the Riverwalk, but a good one.

OASIS

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(JUNE 25, 2010) An oasis is a place to renew oneself, to get refreshed, to rest. Along the Riverwalk there is the symbiotic relationship between insects and plants as the insects find rest on the plants and refreshment with the pollen and nectar the flowers produce.

There is a white flower with purple tips that seems to attract insects of different varieties. It is not unusual to see several varieties of moths and butterflies, different types of honeybees and bumblebees, and smaller insects like ladybugs resting in the bell shape petals. It seems to be an oasis of choice for these bugs although other plants seem to provide the same service to the small residents on the Riverwalk.

The leaves also provide temporary resting places for the insects. Different varieties of damselflies can be seen on the leaves of the many different plants where they remain until disturbed and then return immediately to the same location. Trees also provide an oasis for insects - this morning I saw a bumblebee, a butterfly, and a number of smaller bugs parked on the white and pink flowers of the mimosa tree enjoying the moisture of the flowers in the morning sun. Some insects even prefer the warmth of the rocks as their oasis.

The larger animals also have their oases, often in the water. The turtles gather on fallen trees or rocks in the middle of the river or at water's edge. They sun themselves and often share their perch with water birds like the cormorant.

The geese have their oases along the shore of the river, although some also prefer the fallen trees in the river or river rocks. This morning one oasis for the ducks and geese was made more special with the distribution of bread by a couple of young women. The geese came flying in from across the river to feast on the small white morsels being dispersed by these two young ladies.

The heron also enjoys the refuge (oasis) near the dam and at other locations where fish are plentiful. They can be seen waiting patiently for the fish to come along.

A couple of bikers I met this morning on the Riverwalk mentioned that a great blue heron came into their back yard a while back and found a tasty retreat in their pond. The pond held a number of beautiful koi fish and some frogs. The heron swooped down and made a nice size meal from these exotic fish and the frogs.

Humans, too, need an oasis - a place where they can take refuge from the rest of the world. Some escape in the world of books or television; others find a hobby to immerse themselves in, while others take refuge by just being at home around family. I enjoy the escape of all of these, but my favorite refuge (oasis) is the Riverwalk. It quenches my visual thirst by providing me with sights I cannot see at home; it quenches my physical thirst by giving me a delightful place to walk, and it quenches my social thirst because I encounter people there who are friendly and experiencing the same visual and physical opportunities I am enjoying.

It was another good day on the Riverwalk.

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (extra)

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(JUNE 25 2010) Today on the Riverwalk, someone was asking about the red-winged blackbird. As an extra blog entry today, I am posting some pictures taken of the bird this spring.

It was another good day on the Riverwalk, and another group of today's pictures and an essay will be posted later.

"COME ON, STINKY!"

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(JUNE 24, 2010) "Come on, Stinky," Elizabeth called out this morning as she took the leash and led Sadie out of the back of the Jeep.

Elizabeth uses that term of endearment for Sadie, and the English setter obligingly responds. This morning, however, the air was full of smells of nature, and Sadie, with her super sensitive nose seemed more alert to the odors that surrounded her as we walked on the Riverwalk. Her nose is regularly to the ground as she smells the scent of animals that have gone before us - sometimes a dog that might be a quarter of a mile ahead or perhaps a deer that had wandered down to the river, crossing the trail earlier this morning or the night before.

The smell of nature was around us as we entered the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is a sensory experience each morning, playing with all of the senses of those who visit it.

The lovely sweet smell of the honeysuckle is no longer evident as those aromatic beauties have blossomed and now have gone back to just a green dormant plants in the woods. However, there were other smells from the woodsy pungent aroma of the dark woods - the woods that a few days ago smelled like a spring rain now smelled more like the dryness of leaves. There was also the smell of creosote near the bridge carrying the train across the river - not natural creosote, but the creosote used to preserve the wood used by the railroad.

The beautiful flowers along the trail each have their own distinct odors, but they do not fill the air like the honeysuckle does in the springtime. By sniffing the flowers, there is a perfume that can be detected that is less likely there to attract the nose of the wanderer and his dog, but more likely to attract the honeybees or other insects that spread the pollen that continues to keep the plant species around.

A few days ago, as I was walking near the river at Dan Daniel Park where the fishermen often drop their lines, I smelled the distinct odor of fish. There, a few feet ahead of us, was part of a fish that had been left there by a fisherman earlier that morning or the day before. Fortunately, Sadie's olfactory senses were tuned to something else, and she missed what she would have considered a tasty treat.

There are a number of non-nature created odors as we walk the trail. Near the Public Works department the morning air is touched by the smell of diesel fuel with the workers starting their vehicles to begin their daily tasks throughout the city. Near the highway that comes within a few yards of the Riverwalk, there is the smell of automobiles traveling only a short distance from nature. Over the years of walking on the Riverwalk, I have accepted these aromatic intrusions into the natural smells of the woods, realizing that these are the folks who repair our highways and pick up our trash.

Oh, and that is an odor I don't smell along the Riverwalk - trash. Those who work on the Riverwalk picking up the trash and cleaning the restrooms and emptying the trash cans do their daily tasks and keep the Riverwalk facilities clean and the trail free from human littering.

And finally, back to the term "Come on, Stinky!" which Elizabeth called out this morning. Today, Sadie smelled more like the lovely aroma of the flowers around us than like a dog since she had spent yesterday at the spa where she was bathed, brushed, and manicured.

Therefore, the comment could not have been aimed towards Sadie, but I was the only other one who was around. Hmmmmm.....could she have been directing that comment to me? Nawwwwwww....well, maybe.....Nawwwww.

It was another good morning on the Riverwalk.