An Hour at the Cemetery

Monday was the day that cabin fever finally took it's hold on me and I could no longer be in my house. I have been taking advantage of the winter hibernation by catching up on some reading and read numerous nature books during the past couple of weeks. I had just finished Julie's book called Letters from Eden and the book inspired me so much I needed to put on my boots and go search for my own mini Eden, if only for an hour or so.

I got out of my car and heard a new bird call I had never experienced before. I tried to pinpoint the bird by its sound. It was coming from the river which had me perplexed because it certainly didn't sound like a water bird to me. I tried to stand on my tip toes to see if I could find it because I didn't want to have to walk in the 15 inches of snow we had. The tip toe method didn't work so off I went to trudge in the snow. I looked down in some brush and there before my eyes was a Carolina Wren! HA!! I have two wrens in my yard this winter and had never heard this. It had such a wonderful call and I am hoping to hear it in my own backyard very soon. I am convinced the bird was singing because she was as happy for the warm weather as I was.

I heard all kinds of bird songs this past Monday that I had not heard before. I think it's the birds way of letting us human folk know that spring is another day closer. The days are getting longer, the plumage is getting brighter and the songs are getting louder. I started singing a little song of my own over my discovery on this beautiful winter day.



I came across this hole in a tree that was rather large. My imagination started immediately as I pictured a sleepy owl in there snoring peacefully in a deep slumber. I was surprised I had not noticed it before because I pass this tree every time I pay a visit to the cemetery. I also started thinking of how lucky I am to have caught the nature bug this past year. If I had seen this tree last January, I would have passed right on by not even giving it a second glance. This year I am drawn to the tree and every thing else around me. It's as if I woke up one morning to a whole new world of wonder and beauty that is there for me if I pay attention to it. How sad is it that others don't see this beauty and life because they are too caught up with work, bills and other responsibilities that have made us lose sense of our role in the natural world.

A female mallard duck taking advantage of unfrozen water on the river. I could see water fowl every where I went this afternoon. They saw me too and away they flew before I could even adjust my camera. The whole flock of wood ducks and common mergansers took flight before I could even touch my zoom feature. Such skittish little creatures they are. I suppose they treat humans with suspicion since so many of us look at them through a barrel of a gun versus the lens of a camera.

I was very disappointed that I did not hear any golden crowned kinglets during my visit. I had worried about them so much last week and was hoping they were able to find food. It is frustrating that they won't eat any seed because I would have gone there and dumped 40 pounds of whatever it is they fancied if I thought I could help them. I am trying to be optimistic in my thinking and hope they went deeper into the woods to search for insects in trees they had not discovered before. I will search for them again next week when there is not as much snow on the ground which has made deep woods exploration close to impossible.