Now that the harsh glare of summer is gone, the light is much better and the landscape is taking on its Fall colours, though this season has many stages.
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Ten days ago, just the earliest of these stages could be noticed, if you looked carefully, though the height of the corn fields itself is a clue, and the quantity of wildflowers.
Someone who came by one day observed that the ragweed was early and this, according to him, indicates an early Winter. He was actually looking at our field which is full of golden rod which is not the same thing, but both grow in the same season.
Winter will arrive in due course, whenever that may be.
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When the landscape looks like this, it is hard to imagine the snowfield it will turn into within a few weeks. For a moment, I almost feel regret, but then I recall the thrill of Winter scenery.
With each changing season, I sigh foolishly: “What will I photograph?”
Yet I doubt there has been a day in 8 years when I failed to find a subject.
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Even if it’s a dog in a parking lot. This was one I’d never laid eyes on before, a Borzoi, no less. I wish I could have seen the rest of it. But we have to be satisfied with inquisitive faces. Only rarely do they scowl or bark at us.
When the window is open like that, it is so tempting to go and say hello. One assumes that the owner would not leave their dog with its head out of the window if there was likely to be a problem, but I would never risk upsetting the animal.
If I was the owner, I would be concerned about theft. Perhaps they depend on the dog defending itself, but that could get all sorts of messy.
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This morning for the first time I had breakfast before going out to top up the bird feeders and distribute carrots. Admittedly, it was especially dark because of a heavy overcast, but dawn is coming much later now,
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The waiting room tree has long since dropped the few leaves it managed to produce this Summer. There are fewer each year, the poor tree almost dead.
There is a whole list of diseases and pests killing off trees in New York State
The waiting room often gets in the way of photographs, but we cannot take it down because the birds so like to perch in it – waiting for the seed trays to be filled. Hence: waiting room.
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Saturday morning saw a rare visitor on one of the feeders. When we drive out to the state route, goldfinches are often seen flitting about across the lane. They seem to favour the woods down there, but these cheerful little birds seldom venture up our way.
That same morning, another wee bird came to pose for me:
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All summer we’d bemoaned the apparent absence of the Phoebe, then just recently Grant spotted one and since then they have been turning up quite often.
As a matter of interest, I checked to see what time of year it was when we first became acquainted with these birds. It was in fact September, three years ago and the following year we saw them in August.
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It is unlikely the Phoebe was absent last year, but apparently we failed to notice. Now here it is again in August, so perhaps it is a late Summer bird in these parts.
Or it could be that in the Spring, a small brown bird is unnoticeable amid the frenzy of starlings, red-wings, grackles and cowbirds. Phoebe is an unobtrusive little bird, after all.
Or so it seems. I am no ornithologist. I only know what I observe.
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