September Ends
I got out yesterday for a nice hike, nature walk, some naturalizing. I'm still not sure what to call these walks. With the weather changing somewhat precipitously I wanted to grab the opportunity to spend what the forecast indicated would be the last sunny day of my long weekend. As luck would have it, the clouds moved in before I got out. Consequently it was difficult to get decent photos, especially in the woods. Still, it was a nice, rejuvenating outing.
Despite there still being flowers in bloom there wasn't a pollinator to be seen. The temperature was around 50°F/10°C. In the prairie there was a lot of bird activity but that and the occasional pile of coyote scat were the only signs of animal life. Seems I nearly always see something new and interesting on my walks and this time was no exception. It was very quiet out so a rhythmic tapping sound in the prairie caught my ear. A little searching revealed a downy woodpecker hunting on a tall forb's woody stem. Makes sense but I haven't seen that before.
September was kind of a disappointing month here for me. There was so much rain and then when we went north to do some camping there wasn't much to see. Still, even though we came back a day early because of the cold and boredom, I did get some last-of-the-season observations of pollinators, a good, long look at an accommodating ovenbird, and an encounter with a wonderfully-disguised hemlock looper moth caterpillar. I also made some fungus and moss observations I'll work through trying to identify before I post them this winter to combat cabin fever. I've also got dozens of bumble bee observations here I want to add to Bumble Bee Watch, but their system isn't as streamlined as iNat's, in my opinion.
As autumn turns into winter my walks are going to be more for exercise than nature observations so I'll resume listening to podcasts while I'm out. My search for good natural history content hasn't yielded much so I'm open to suggestions.
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