Discovering the world around me.
It’s hard to get an exact set of syllables that mimic or illustrate a bird song. We attach words like the robin’s “cheerily cheerily cheer up cheer up” or the white-throated sparrow’s “O Canada Canada,” but it’s not exact. We keep trying to get it just right. One of the most familiar and recognizable birdsongs […]
Continue reading Conkeree: Red-Wing Blackbird
Several fairly aggressive little songbirds tend to dominate the bird feeder, giving the house sparrows a run for their money. Like the sparrows, these little birds are not native to Owl Acres but have moved in to stay. Their story is similar to that of their rivals the house sparrows, but took place nearly a […]
Continue reading Charming Invasives: House Finches
Yesterday, as Dave and Clancy and I took our daily stroll, the world was quiet. The cawing of a distant crow gave the soundscape some depth, and the cheeping of a bird flying across our path reminded me that we were not alone. A slight breeze out of the south carried the rustle of dry […]
Continue reading My Compass: Interstate 80
On a cold and windy January day, Bryan and I and my Seeing Eye dog put on our boots and trudge through the snow in the field across the road. The snow is knee-deep, and the crust that had formed on it can’t hold our weight. Each step punches through the crust to land knee-deep […]
Continue reading The Newton and Northwestern Railroad
We’ve decided to build a new building to serve as a shop. But before we can do that, we have to clear the space where the shop will stand. In that space are trees that must be taken down, including two particularly tricky ones, a hackberry tree and an American elm. Along with the trees […]
Continue reading A bit of Sleuthing: Milk House
The barn was one of the aspects of Owl Acres that drew me to the place. It’s old, proudly flaunting its birthdate—1915—in big white numbers on its red front. The brothers who farmed the land around Owl Acres in 1915 probably used local timber to build the barn. They had a sawmill powered by a […]
Continue reading Paean to the Past: Barn
Owl Acres is a busy place after the sun goes down. Owls and skunks are out hunting, raccoons are out foraging, and mice and rabbits are out and about looking for supper. All this activity goes more or less unnoticed most of the year, but when there’s a new snowfall, suddenly there’s a whole story […]
Continue reading Ferocious Hunter: Least Weasel
On a winter day just after a blizzard, Bryan was cleaning the snow off the bird feeder when a small hawk swooped past him. At only three feet above the ground, the little raptor skimmed between the house and the bird feeder and glided up to perch in one of the elms in the north […]
Continue reading Little Raptor: Sharp-Shinned Hawk
One morning when the sun was just coming up, a red fox strolled across the driveway near the road on Owl Acres. In the time that we’ve lived here, that’s the only sighting we’ve had of Mr. Fox. That’s not too surprising really. Foxes are generally nocturnal and will claim and defend an area of […]
Continue reading Ever So Clever: Red Fox
The wind is blowing at 30 miles an hour, and snow is flying sideways past my study window. The birds on the bird feeder are facing into the wind, and the dogs are joyously cavorting in the snow. The temperature is around 32 degrees. The snow is wet and sticky, plastered to the vertical surfaces […]
Continue reading First Snow