Late Summer

Sunset thunderhead

I know that I've been very negligent in posting, but truth to tell, Kali and I really haven't been doing much of anything that's worth writing about.  The last few weeks have been miserably hot and humid, so we haven't even ventured out onto the trails of my preserve let alone go anywhere else.

Long shadows

However, the seemingly unending heat wave finally broke on Sunday evening with a round of rain that ushered in the passage of a real, live cold front.  On Monday, the humidity was pleasant and temperatures rose only into the low 80s (instead of the mid- to upper 90s we had been suffering through).

The birds missed a few ripe black cherries

A friend posted on Facebook that he had participated in a nighthawk watch in a state park not far from my preserve and had seen 25 Common Nighthawks - one of my favorite birds and a sure harbinger of autumn when they begin to pass through on their way southward.  So, after dinner last night, to enjoy the salubrious weather and to look for migrating nighthawks, I got Kali to lace up her walking shoes and take a short hike through our late summer meadows.

At one point, the setting sun was shining directly through some of the meadow grasses and thistles, so I thought I'd make some "artistic" shots.  The following two images were the result; I boosted-up the contrast on both images a lot, so they're not strictly what the camera "saw."  I'm not sure if I like the result, but I thought I'd share them. 

Thistle, backlit

Indian-grass flower head, backlit

We didn't see any nighthawks (I usually see them during the last week of August and the first week of September, so if we had seen them, they would have been early).   But we did enjoy our first walk in the preserve in quite a few days.  I'll go out again this evening in search of nighthawks because the weather is still delightful.

Kali, heading home

Late Summer Dusk

At dusk every evening in late summer, hundreds - maybe thousands - of American Robins fly over the fields of my preserve.  Almost all are flying from north to south, though I don't think they are migrating.  I believe they are headed to a communal roost somewhere beyond the horizon.  This astonishing passage can continue for half an hour, with birds materializing out of thin air in the north and then fading into the ether to the south.

Sometimes the birds are clumped together.  Sometimes, they are flying solo.  Usually, though, they are flying in small groups.  All pass silently overhead, earnest to get to their destination before nightfall.  I can watch, mesmerized, for the entire spectacle.  Poor Kali, whose eyesight is nowhere as good as mine and who has lots of "floaters," only sees the occasional bird and doesn't understand my open-mouthed astonishment.  

Curiosity overpowering the instinct to flee

Last evening, I went out to see if any Common Nighthawks were migrating over my preserve.  Kali and I watched nine of them wheeling over the meadows on Sunday evening, August 23, but I haven't seen any since.  Because their migration is a harbinger of autumn, and nighthawks are fascinating birds in their own right, I'm always excited to see them, but was only fortunate once this summer.  Instead, last night I was treated to several does and their fawns browsing in the meadows and...

Heading back to the evening roost

...a small flock of tom turkeys sauntering through the grasses, reluctant to end their day.

Foxtail

This spring, our native grasslands were infested with Canada thistle, a Pennsylvania noxious weed that we are obligated by law to control (and which we want to manage in order to minimize competition with native grasses and desirable forbs).  We hired an herbicide professional to treat our fields, and his chemical magic did the trick - we had no thistle problem this year.  Instead, the fields are now a sea of non-native foxtail (Setaria spp.), an annual grass that is common in disturbed areas.  Once the native grasses regain the upper hand, foxtail will gradually disappear.

Foxtail seedhead

Dusk landscape with fields, forest, and distant towers

I won't miss the passing of summer, but it does have its moments.

A Seemingly Endless Supply of Broken Glass

Meadow trail with rising gibbous moon

I haven't posted in a while, so I just thought I'd let my followers know that I'm still around.

I really don't enjoy going outside when it's hot and humid, and it's been that way here for the last few weeks.  So, after working in my air conditioned office, I go home after work to my house (where I generally don't have to use the air conditioner because the thick stone walls keep the house tolerable), cook, eat and clean up after dinner, and then watch some television before Kali and I head to bed.  Pretty boring, huh?

However, last Sunday afternoon, Kali and I tackled a job she loves to do: pick up broken glass on a trail in my preserve.  This glass is not from malicious youths who bust beer bottles.  This glass is from the 1920s or earlier.  At that time, my preserve was farmed, and one of the farmers used a ravine as a garbage dump.  Now, the ravine is eroding deeper and deeper, and the broken glass is washing out of the soil onto one of our trails.  The glass drives Kali mad when she sees it.  So, we've been making periodic forays to the ravine and trail to collect the shards.  There are some really big pieces of glass, and most seem to have been parts of milk bottles.  Occasionally, we find pieces of what I describe as blue Delft-ware, but the fragments are always small.  Kali likes to go into the ravine and onto the trail after a rain because the water exposes debris after each storm.

On the way back home after our glass collecting expedition, we were crossing one of the large open meadows on my preserve and the sky was bristling with Common Nighthawks catching insects on the wing.  I love nighthawks, but only get to see them a few days a year during their fall migration.  So, last night after dinner I cajoled Kali to take a walk to see if the nighthawks were there.  They weren't, but the evening was really pleasant with relatively cool temperatures, low humidity, and clear blue skies, so we had a nice long walk.