Long-legged Beasties...

It's Halloween again!  Time to celebrate the creepy, spine-tingling, eerie delights this autumnal celebration offers! 

I like to spotlight the macabre artistry of folks who really get into the spirit of the season. This house has been overrun by big, hairy spiders. (Don't miss the white one creeping around off to the left of the house - it looks positively poisonous.)

I'll admit that I'm happy this isn't my bedroom window.  I might just wake up in the wee hours having nightmares of being carried off into the depths of the Forbidden Forest. 

What a perfectly horrifying display for a fright night. Most excellent, don't you think? 

Happy Halloween!

A Little Local Color

I simply couldn't let the season go by completely without sharing more of the spectacular autumn color we had this year.  The weather had been so dry during the summer that I thought any fall color would be far more muted than usual. That will teach you just how much I know about anything!!

 

You're spared any extra rambling thoughts today - I didn't think I could possibly say anything that could add value to what the trees communicate so eloquently. :)

Spooky Spinners and Ghost Frost

These pictures were taken last October while I was walking with Baloo in his Big Field. It seemed fitting to continue with the Halloween theme, since All Hallows' Eve is nearly upon us. 

On chilly mornings, frost will linger on fine grasses and spider webs. The sun's lower angle backlights the ice crystals, bathing the field in a ghostly glow. 

This frost-fringed wild asparagus plant is a perfect example of the effect. Usually bright green, the fine ice clinging to tiny leaves creates an otherworldly white aura. 

Baloo happily snacked on autumn olives in the background of this picture while I took a quick break from trying to get the right angle to capture the spider webs in the grasses nearby. He wondered what I found so interesting and why I didn't come and nibble, too. (I miss that boy so much!)

The right lighting can be hard to find, but sometimes it makes the spiders' handiwork positively ethereal.

Mad Mycology

With Halloween coming right up, it's only fitting that these bright beauties are showing themselves again. After all, they are a lovely autumnal gold and orange -- and a little bit scary. 

The bone-shaped bulb and stem to the right of the mushroom adds a little extra eeriness, don't you think?   Then, there are the little tattered veil remnants along along the edges of the cap and down the stem that make it look like unraveling mummy wrappings (click the photo for a larger view). I know - I  have a vivid imagination. 

Some people use this mushroom as a psychedelic, and while nobody has died from ingesting this particular member of the Amanita family in quite a few years, identification can be troublesome and mistakes disastrous. I am of the opinion that anything that can do serious damage to the liver or kidneys should not be ingested unless absolutely necessary. 

Besides, nature provides enough magic to dazzle the senses every day, right?

Rowdy Raptors

Here is a dramatic trail camera picture from earlier in the season (you can tell because the trees are still green).  I have a number of great candid shots from the trail cameras and, since I'm not at home to download and share my trusty old portable camera's pictures, I thought I would take the opportunity to give you a different glimpse of life out in the family woods. 

The adult eagles (one golden and one bald) are vying for food to give their youngsters and they're getting pretty testy about the whole procedure. 

I cropped the picture so that you could get a little closer look at the food fight (once again, click on the picture to enlarge). 

I always enjoy seeing things that I wouldn't otherwise get to observe in the wild and the trail cams capture rare moments that are hard to see in person. I hope you enjoy it, too. 

Night Visions

The trail cameras sometimes catch interesting action during the night - both unexpected visitors and sometimes humorous poses.

This was one of the bean-eating culprits discovered in the act by the bean patch camera. I'm just glad the beans were finally able to keep ahead of the mice - it was touch and go for a while!

Another mouse was caught scampering along by one of the other trail cameras. It was such an earnest little fellow that I had to include him.

Sometimes the predators come around at night. Here's one of our resident bobcats trotting along the trail.

A doe was caught passing very close to the camera. We've actually gotten pictures of just noses and whiskers before, but this was more recognizable, if not quite as humorous.

Once again out in the bean patch, this woodcock came to look for worms. I always love seeing those guys. In the spring we like to sneak out at dusk and watch and listen to them do their mating spirals.

Cool Beans?

I thought it might be fun to share a few more candid photos from the bean patch trail camera.

A charming little goldfinch came to take advantage of the garden puddles and bugs.

She's not quite as brilliant in color as her male counterpart, but she's still a beauty. 

The grasshopper above made a break for it - I wonder if a bird was about to swoop in to try and catch dinner. I have often surprised grasshoppers into flight when out walking and they're surprisingly pretty, with their dark wings rimmed in yellow. They have always been too fast for me to photograph, so I was glad to see that the trail camera caught the action.

There was also a cute house wren that came to visit.

It took over the bluebird house when the bluebirds had finished with it and would scold like anything whenever we got near it and its brood while tending the garden.

Finally, I was delighted to see the portrait of this lovely yellow warbler. I can spot them sometimes, but have never managed to get a photograph. What a marvelously sneaky little candid trail camera!

Evening Entertainment

Walking around by the marsh at twilight is always a treat. Birds and other creatures are finding their last minute before bedtime snacks and getting ready to bed down for the night.

This great blue heron was patiently trying to find an unsuspecting frog along the water's edge. 

The wood ducks are so shy that it's hard to get a good picture of them at the best of times and the fading light made it even more of a challenge. These three were dabbling along and finding goodies in the shallow water out toward the far edge of the marsh.

They also found places to stand and take a moment to get all their feathers oiled and in order before settling in for the night. 

The heron finally took to the air to find a place to roost. I always enjoy watching the herons in flight, with their necks curled in and their legs straight out in back. They have a strange sort of grace about them.

Six Bad Moms

What can I say? These six hens didn't manage to raise a single baby among them this year. They're clearly not very good at the whole mother hen routine. At this point, they should be sneaking around the woods and fields with young poults, teaching them how to be successful turkeys.

Instead, they have gathered together for a hen party to hunt for grasshoppers, eat fresh rye sprouts and tease the group of Jakes that occasionally follows them around gobbling and displaying fine feathers.

They also like to find sandy spots to bathe, preen and generally take luxurious spa days.

They may be frivolous, but we still like seeing them stalking about and refer to them as the six bad moms. We are hoping for better luck next year!

Four Tall Birds

Every  year, my brother plows the big field (the one where we do the annual butterfly rescue) and plants it with all kinds of good things for the critters to enjoy.

 

This year, the sandhill crane family kept him company while he was doing most of the work. I was out in the gardens picking good things for us to enjoy at the time, so I got to stop in and watch a bit of the fun.

 

These cranes have been successful in raising youngsters a couple years in a row now, so we're very happy about that. They kept an eye on the tractor's progress and were particularly fond of the point where my brother refilled the seed dispersal unit and it would leak a little pile of grain onto the ground, but bugs that got unearthed in the process were very popular, too.  The crane on the right noticed something moving in the dirt and pounced on it very enthusiastically.

Here's another picture of the family milling around at the edge of the field a couple weeks later, after the seeds had germinated and started making tender sprouts to nibble on. Not to mention nibbling on the grasshopper population that had moved back in to enjoy fresh green shoots. 

The young cranes don't have their red caps yet, but they are starting to turn rusty. (Mom and Dad are on the left and right and the two not-so-little ones are in the middle. Click on the picture, if you want a closer view.)
 

Introducing Spike

Spike is one of last year's babies and he is curious enough that he allowed me to get a pretty good picture of him.

He's lost the velvet on little spiky antlers now and the shift from his rusty summer coat to his winter gray suit is farther along, but I haven't gotten another picture quite as good as this one from a couple weeks ago. I just thought he had a very sincere look about him and wanted to give him a wider audience than just my brother and me, although we are appreciative viewers. 

Once again, if you want a closer look at his fuzzy antlers or his mottled rust and gray outfit, click on the picture to enlarge it. I think he's a cutie!

Have a Holly, Jolly - Not Christmas

 It's not anywhere near the Christmas season yet, but it is the season for Michigan Holly.

 

I started taking these pictures back when Baloo was still taking me on several daily walks. We would go and see what was happening at one of our favorite trails and watching the Michigan Holly through the growing season was one of my treats, while he preferred muskrat and chipmunk action.  

The plan was to capture the ripening process and share the beautiful color changes here on the blog.

So, here's the last one in the series. Aren't they magnificent? Baloo would still be more interested in the fauna, but he was always so patient about my fascination with flora.

Back Among the Beans

Remember all those really cute pictures of birds in the bean patch? Yes? Well, there they were, enjoying the grasshoppers and other bugs when Bigfoot invaded their little Garden of Eden, scattering them and forcing them to hunt in other parts of the field.

Sorry. It just made me laugh when I saw the trail camera had caught me out in the garden picking beans.

There were quite a few ready to pick (the bean plants were finally able to stay ahead of the marauding mice).  I harvested far more than we were able to use for dinner, so I took them home to process for a taste of summer in January.

It always amazes me that when I blanche purple beans, they magically turn green. I looked up the reason why that happens (insatiable curiosity...) and the story goes like this: the color is created by anthocyanins in the plant - the same stuff that gives us purple cabbage, purple cauliflower and other vegetables that range from blueish purple all the way to magenta, depending on the soil's PH level. It's a pigment that is very sensitive to heat, so blanching or boiling will cause the plant cells to break down and release the colorful anthocyanins into the more neutral PH water bath, leaving behind the green chlorophyll which the purple had simply masked. The water from the blanching process had a definite blueish tint to it when I was finished, since that's where all the anthocyanins ended up. (Bean tea! Does anyone else out there drink it? My mother always shared it with us whenever she cooked green, purple or yellow beans and we all still love it.)  

In any event, I now have a nice stack of (green) purple beans in my freezer to enjoy through the winter months.

Bumble Stumble (Sensitive Content Warning)

While wandering around in what I always think of as Baloo's big field, I happened to stumble across bumblebees mating!

The queen is absolutely enormous in comparison to her consort and, while I hesitated to share their special moment, I thought it was interesting and unusual enough that perhaps I should. So, I apologize to anyone I might offend by this post (including the bees!).

I tiptoed in a bit closer for another quick picture before leaving them to their amorous embrace.

I've told you before that I never know what I might find on my ramblings. And I did put a sensitive content warning in the title.....

Exhibitionists

Hah! I'll bet you were prepared to see almost anything with that title. Sorry to disappoint those with more prurient interests, but I'm merely talking about showoffs, showboaters or hotdoggers.

While most foliage is still green, some plants start sporting fall colors early. Wood ivy (a.k.a. Virginia creeper) turns red ahead of just about everyone else. I always enjoy the intense color against the green background.  This plant climbed a slender sapling to make a beautiful column of red.

Here's a closer look at the leaves.

Then, I spied this grape leaf, which was so very dramatic surrounded by bright green. I love the lighter yellow-green along the central veining in contrast to the deep red of the outer edges. 

I'm sure I'll bore you with other autumnal colors along the way, but these just seemed to cry out for attention - as exhibitionists usually do.