View from my sister’s kitchen sink in late August. Her (robin’s and not sister’s) third litter of the summer.
Here the birding is easy and wonderful. Keep in mind that good birders make 90% of their IDs by ear. Learn the songs and calls; that will keep you from wandering into too many thickets and bogs. I’ve been birding for decades. I keep an extra pair of binoculars in the glove compartment of my car and am constantly almost driving into ditches due to the interesting birds who get flushed by the car.
Quilting
Gardening
Knitting, crocheting, doing needlepoint, rug making, stencilling, découpage
Turning part of my 20 acres into the Gailcalled Nature Conservancy for future generations. I’ve had my guy clear trails, rebuild stone walls, limb and prune unruly trees, rip up bramble bushes, plant hundreds of small shade-loving bulbs in the woods, lay down rapidly- spreading ground cover (myrtle, sweet woodruff, lamium, ferns, trillium, wild violets, forget-me-nots) and drag hundreds of large stones from the creek to line paths with. (If my guy quits, it will be the Gailcalled Jungle.)
Two nights ago I watched a charming DVD about the amateur birders who haunt Central Park in New York City and the amazing (astonishing) number and variety of birds they see. Birders: The Central Park Effect. Joining any group of local birders is an instant way of meeting new people and making lovely friends.
I had a red-tailed hawk alight on my deck railing last week and sit there for several minutes…long enough for me to have a memory of a life-time.