I had stepped out the front door to gather firewood, but not without my camera in hand and ready (turned on and zoomed in) in hopes of catching some shots of the goldfinch at the thistle feeder. No luck, the sound of the door opening always scares him off (how do I know he’s a he: Male American Goldfinch in Winter). But then something else caught my eye (well, ear, to be exact). I turned around and found the source of the sound. Six unidentifable birds sat in a tree, singing a song I recognized, but couldn’t quite place just yet. They flew away when I tried to sneak up on them for a closer look (darn that sun in my eyes).

(Due to the sun in my eyes, I couldn’t see the tuff of hair on top of the birds’ heads, which would have been a good clue!)

So I continued on my merry way to the wood shed, getting distracted by fresh snowshoe hare tracks along the way (and a set of unknown tracks belonging to a much smaller mammal).

Chores complete, I quietly walked around the corner of the house, hoping to sneak up on some birds again. This time I was able to get a decent shot of the Goldfinch.

As I was taking these photos, I heard a ruffle of wings over my head. I looked up and was suprised to see a Cedar Waxwing!

I didn’t have much time to take a picture. I haven’t seen these birds in a while. I wrote about playing with cedar waxwings this summer. I’m very happy to have them visiting my yard.

UPDATE: do the waxwings in the tree look a little chunky? Perhaps I have Bohemian Waxwings, not Cedar Waxwings (cedar’s are slimmer) ! It’s hard to tell the difference with the bad lighting. I do think they sounded more like cedar waxwings though, and if it was summer, I’d have no doubts, but where it’s late winter, I’m not so sure.

NEW UPDATE: Gary just confirmed on my blogger version of this blog (I’ll explain what’s going on later) that it is a cedar waxwing.

Cedar Waxwing vs. Bohemian Waxwing

I have more bird photos to post later of black-capped chickadees, hairy woodpeckers, and black-eyed juncos. Stay tuned.

Pay Attention

The other week, while playing cards with our neighbours, my ears perked up at the following comment:

Neighbour: “Oh, we walk down that road all the time, too. Usually as far as the bridge.”

Me: “Brigde? What bridge? There’s a bridge down there?!”

Neighbour: “Ah, yeah.You can’t be walking very far then.”

/Apparently not. But I paid attention. About 30 minutes in, he said. That can’t be, I thought, I must be walking at least 30 minutes down the dirt road before turing back. Am I blind? How could I miss that.

So I gave myself an hour and set out with a watch. I got to the point in the road where I normally turn around, about 25 minutes in. But I kept walking. In less than five minutes, I found the bridge.

View from the bridge:

I can’t believe I just missed it before, every single time. I walk this road when I need a break from the computer or just before supper–I never gave myself enough time before.

But now I will.

I guess another rule would be just when you think you’ve walked far enough, go a little further.

A new area to explore (and get chummy with the ticks) this summer.

I said, “Oh, I love this song.”

Ryan (surprised): “You’ve heard it before?”

I was raised on John Prine and Bob Dylan.

Bryan Adams* ain’t got nothing on this love song! So for all you oddball couples out there, this song is for you.

And just for the heck of it, another great Iris Dement song.

 
*I have to admit that I am huge sucker for Bryan Adams’ love songs–I can’t help it, I came of age in the 90s.

I was out for a walk when I saw a falling leaf. It fell in that familiar, undulating pattern as it was carried gently down by the wind to be gracefully placed upon the snowy ditch beside me.

Only it wasn’t a leaf.

It was a little brown bat.

It’s odd enough to see a bat during daylight hours, but in the middle of January . . . now that was odd! Bats hibernate in the winter, living off of stored body fat.  

Getting this close to a bat allowed me to see how thin their wings are—truly amazing— when not stretched, the wings look like shrivelled lettuce. I didn’t know what to do; was it hurt? I couldn’t tell. The bat laid there for a minute or so, it’s little body heaving with each breath, its mouth opening and closing. I waited and hoped. Finally, the bat took off, flying in a zig zag pattern, as bats do, away from my watchful and concerned eye. I am happy to report that the bat’s flight was strong, easing my worry for its health.

Little brown bats are having a hard time these days. Current estimates of 6.7 million bats in North America have been killed by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that attacks bats when they are hibernating in caves (1). And it’s here in Nova Scotia, too (2). The disease is spread by contact, but the good news is scientists believe that affected bats can be saved if they are removed from hibernation and provided food and warmth (1). The disease thrives in cold caves; it’s the bats’ version of Boogey Man, only this one is real.

If you find live or dead bats affected with white-nose syndrome (signs include a white fungus growth around the nose—see picture below), you must inform your local wildlife agency or Dept. of Natural Resources. Cavers are being asked to abide cave closures and advisories, and to stay clear of all caves that are home to large populations of hibernating bats of any species (3).

Source: batconservation.org

Bats are attracted to wildflower gardens as a food source. If you have no qualms about putting out bird houses, why not include some for bats, too. Leave dead and dying trees in your nearby woods to provide shelter for the bats (3). I don’t understand why some people are so insistent on clearing out dead trees on their properties. Dead and dying trees provide shelter and abundant food for many species of mammals, insects, and birds.

I like bats. One of my blissful childhood memories includes bats. I still enjoy going outside at night to watch bats fly around my home, catching glimpses under the moonlight. If I position myself just so in bed, I can look out the window and watch for that well-known black shape to fly by.

Aside from the wonder bats can inspire (or fear, if you’re that kind of person), bats are incredibly valuable to the agriculture industry—a value worth $22.9 billion a year just from their bug-eating ways (1). Of course, we humans benefit from the bats’ diet, too. It’s unfair to complain about the mosquitoes and bats.

So let’s pray together that this undervalued, underappreciated, tiny creature survives.  

Sources:

1. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-18/bat-fungal-disease-toll-advances-to-6-7-million-in-u-s-canada.html

2. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/05/11/ns-brown-bats-fungus.html

3. http://www.batconservation.org/drupal/white-nose?gclid=COCottGm2q0CFYbe4AodzTXBkg

This is my first year putting out winter birdfeeders. One more reason to work from home (I can see the feeders from the kitchen table where I usually work). Ever wonder how the birds stay warm during the winter? Gary explains the mechanics in this post. Grizz is starting to see some activity at his feeders, too.

My little guy is feeding as I write this post!

You looking at me?Ok, ok, I guess I'll stop and pose for you.

Based on the five elements, each meditation gently guides you to connect with Mother Nature’s relaxing energies with simple breath awareness and nature-based visualizations. I usually don’t like guided visualization exercises, the descriptions are often too new agey or too complicated, but Philip Carr-Gomm keeps it simple with basic descriptions so you can focus more on the breath and sensations in the body, with his most “complex” visualization occurring in the Fire meditation. My favourite meditation is the one that combines all the elements. It reminds me of yoga nidra because it starts with the breath and scanning of the body to send you to a deep, relaxed state—indeed, sometimes it’s too relaxing and I have to be careful not to fall asleep.

At around 20 minutes each in length, they are easy to fit in you day. And when it’s just too cold or you otherwise can’t get outside, these meditations will help you to connect with nature and find your centre. Once you are familiar with the exercises, leave the technology behind and go find a real oak tree to lie under. Now if only I could find a fluffy cloud to carry me away to a secluded mountain top.

Purchase from CD Baby.

(Random photos from the “archives.” The Blue Jay picture was taken after the snow picture.

For the last two years I’ve created a mantra to carry with me throughout the year. Since I can’t remember what my mantra was for 2011, I’m not going to bother with one this year! Oh, I have goals, some superficial like dropping the extra five pounds I’ve gained since Halloween candy hit the stores, some career-based like gaining more useful skills for virtual employment. In October I signed a contract with a company I am eager to work with, but it is project-based and my first project hasn’t even started yet! So I’ve realized I need to establish a good foundation of clients. Of course a major goal of mine is still to live in France for about three months. Financially, I am not even close to being able to do this, but I have a lot of patience and I hope to get to a point work-wise where I will be able to travel and make enough money working virtually.  

Chase Night from Unbridled Existence writes in his New Year’s post about why New Year’s resolutions rarely work—they go against our natural rhythms, duh! saying “Why on earth would you attempt to turn over a new leaf when all of the actual leaves are dead?” Makes sense to me, but we humans don’t always like to take our cues from nature.

Manuel from In Space We Trust, urges us not to wait until the New Year. We should have started yesterday, or whenever it was you first had the idea. Waiting for the New Year is an excuse allowing fear to keep you from starting.

Raam Dev wrote an interesting post that puts the concept of time into perspective. Did you know it is the year 2554 in the Thai calendar and 2004 in the Ethiopian calendar?

The thing about my goals and resolutions is that they were already in progress, inching along slowly. I am always learning; my natural weight always fluctuates around those five pounds; I am always changing and adapting. Maybe I won’t make it to France this year, but it will be 2012 again someday, somewhere!  

So Happy New Year!

Best Creamy Rice Pudding

(Source: Earth Observatory)

Two recurring visualizations occur during seated, cross legged positions: sometimes I see a glowing blue hue encircling me—like the blue halo that can be seen around Earth from space (maybe I am surrounded by atmospheric gases, hehe). The other visual is of numerous lines of colourful energy (?) emanating from the crown of my head, arching downward and returning through my pelvic centre. Sometimes there are dots placed throughout the lines, like connect the dots. Sometimes I see a line “detach” from one end and continue out into the space around me! It is very weird, my brain does not usually work this way and I am a little bit embarrassed to admit this.

Alex Gray Mirrors - Spiritual Engery System

Does anyone else experience this? Can you tell me about it?

One of my dearest friends, C, visited me on my actual birthday for a hike. We ventured off the “beaten path” so I can’t say how many km we walked, but we were gone for 4 hours.

Our mini adventure started on the Aspotogan trail on the East Chester end (right before the turn off for Blandford).

C remembered Castle Rock, so we decided to try to find it, taking the first logging road on the right, but the trail was overgrown and seemed to end, so we turned back, not wanting to get lost. However, it did give me a chance to take this photo of coyote scat (we also saw bear scat, but I already have lots of pictures of bear scat from around my house so no pictures of that).

Coyote scat. Can you see the claw?

Then we took another detour to one my favourite spots by the river. It is a emerald green moss-covered sanctuary. No pictures will do it justice. We ate lunch here, listening to the river, and marvelled at a spinning “fairy cake” with tiny spiders for sprinkles. (C is the one talking about it being “the perfect cake-like formation” and I’m the one looking for and talking about blurry spiders. We have not lost our child-like wonder!)

Back on the main trail, as we neared the lake, I watched out for Bufflehead ducks. We saw two, a male and female.

Look closely, see those two white specks in the back? Those are the two Buffleheads. All zoom in attempts resulted in blurry photographs.

Further along we came to another logging road and decided to see if that would take us to the trail leading to Castle Rock. *It did! After a long, enjoyable, uphill climb through the woods (well marked with colourful ribbons), we eventually stood in front of the mammoth granite rock. Of course it ended up taking less than two minutes to scale it, but I did further rip the crotch of my old jeans during the climb (we didn’t choose the hardest part to climb because we’re not stupid—we didn’t tell anyone that we were going to Castle Rock because we didn’t know we’d end up there!).

Once atop, we took in the impressive views.

We got back to car just as the sun began its descent from the sky.

This hike is now on my visitor tour list. So when are you coming?

*Apparently we took the harder trail to the rock, the first road was the easy route.