red-shouldered hawks

All I Can Do – ND #86

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Tonight’s sunset – Photo: L. Weikel

All I Can Do

Sometimes it’s all I can do not to just collapse into doom and gloom. I know that’s true for so many of us, watching from afar as chaos unfolds in Ukraine. We’re essentially helpless to stop the carnage. Sure, we can donate to organizations that can help the Ukrainians directly, either by providing food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and even defensive protection or by signing petitions, showing up in person at embassies or elsewhere – in other words, engaging in peaceful protest.

But then we’re confronted with insanity. How do you counter a leader who is muzzling his own people, shutting down all news organizations other than those spouting state-sanctioned propaganda, and even forcing his soldiers to drag around mobile crematoria that will clean up the evidence of Russian deaths, keeping his people ‘back home’ in the dark.

And we all know the tenterhooks the world is on now that we’re seeing shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear facility. Shelling a nuclear facility? What fresh hell is this madman aiming to create? And why would he shell a nuclear plant so close to his own border?

Today’s Fox – Photo: L. Weikel

Shift In Focus

There’s just too much unhinged behavior to even contemplate at the moment.

So I want to share with you the sweet sighting I had today as I walked. Nice little fox, wouldn’t you say?

I’ve tried to make it bigger, but it was still a stretch for my iPhone.

I also saw at least five red-shouldered hawks. I got a photo of one of them, but it’s hard to pick the bird out because it swooped down and against the backdrop of the trees at the edge of the field. If I could translate the ‘live’ action of iPhone’s live photos into the blog, I wouldn’t hesitate to post it. But I can’t.

Finally, Karl and I saw at least 28 turkeys cross the road ahead of us. Crossing from a field into the woods for the evening, where they’re undoubtedly roosting this minute, we counted at a minimum 28 birds. Amazing. And what an abundance of blessings.

Sorry – no photo of the turkeys we saw tonight. I couldn’t get close enough. But here’s one of other turkeys we’ve encountered.

Turkeys in the ‘hood – Photo: L. Weikel

(T+86)

November Sunsets – Day 1098

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Tonight’s Sunset – Photo: L. Weikel

November Sunsets

For all the wild and wooly wind and rain that thrashed through our area earlier today, Karl, Pacha, Brutus, and I still managed to get a walk in. And oh my – there’s just something so exquisitely Maxfield Parrish about November sunsets.

The colors and cloud configurations we witnessed made it seem as if we were walking inside a kaleidoscope, they shifted and changed so fluidly before our eyes. When we first set out, I was smitten with what appeared to be a massive cloud raptor rising in the east, reflecting the pinky-peach rays of the sun that was just barely sinking below the horizon in the opposite direction. When I looked at the photo, I was shocked to see the pointy chin and just-a-little-creepy expression of a devilish looking man on the right.

Cloud Raptor and “Onlooker” – Photo: L.Weikel

Hawks Abounded

Our walk was littered by several substantial chunks of dead tree branches. Swirling gusts of wind were still with us, mostly high up in the treetops, rushing and whooshing and occasionally making us wonder if we should take cover.

Hawk 1 – Photo: L. Weikel

But the best part of this walk, in concert with the colors and clouds, were the three hawks that were swooping and diving, soaring and skimming the field beside us. We think they may have been Sharp-shinned Hawks. Whatever type they were, they put on a joyful aerial display, riding the gusts and quite obviously playing with (or showing off for) the others.

Hawk 2 – Photo: L. Weikel

Watching them play, I was reminded of the Red-shouldered Hawks that were so raucous in the springtime, doing their mating dance right in front of me for the first time in my memory. Well – they are back, literally waking us up every morning for the past week or so. Shrieking from the treetops literally outside of our bedroom windows.

Needless to say, our bird feeders have been a bit like a ghost town recently!

Hawk 3 – Photo: L. Weikel

What’s the Message?

I have to wonder. Honestly, I’ve been inundated with Hawk medicine lately! What a gift – and what a challenge to discern what we’re being asked to pay attention to.

How am I supposed to write with this on my arm? Photo: L. Weikel

(T-13)