New Market and Skyline Drive

[bec_87rb]

Starring Nephew0, sister, sister-in-law, pop, no Nephew1, or D.
Wildlife espyed:

Wild turkey: 1
Black bear: 0
Chipmunk: 3, squabbling
Snails in shells: 2
Butterflies: like, 50
Gnats: 1 bajillion
Black bear: 0
Deer: 1
Roadkill: various
Catbird: 1
Junco: 1
Swifts: many
Invisible singing birds in foliage: many
Black bear: man, I wanted to see a bear

Comments

[suegypt]

Here's to 8 year old nephews! HUZZAH!

Oh, and, I concur with his howls when I think of what Willie must sound like moaning "Oh, the towering feeeeeling!"

[bec_87rb]

You'd have thought we were killing the nephew. Mr. Nelson rendered the song as a kind of cool jazz thing, and it was kinda weird, I admit.

[chhinnamasta]

Your journey back seemed longer because it was uphill, I guess? But have you noticed that phenomenon where the walk to a new destination seems so much longer than the return trip? I find this whenever I'm going somewhere I've never been. It's as though the sensory overload of every unfamiliar step stretches time before me.

We've been enjoying a litter of four juvenile raccoons that live in a hollowed out tree on the trail near here -- we see them daily. On scorching humid days they hang their dead weight over the branches and barely stir: the very picture of heat exhausted relaxation. Do you have chipmunks there? We see tons of them on the trail also, and their intermittent angry chattering and squeaks are the soundtrack for many of our walks. As for birds of note, we see goldfinches, woodpeckers, and cardinals, mostly. My favorite are the little red-headed woodpeckers. The big find, recently, was a couple of strange lobster-like crustaceans spotted on the stream bed... crayfish, we think?

[bec_87rb]

I was just whining because the climb back up kicked my ass a bit because of the incline. I was also using a walking stick to spread the work to my upper body, which probably increased the intensity of the exercise

Did you get pictures of the raccoons?

[chhinnamasta]

I have tons of mental photographs of the little bandits. Hubby has a snap on his phone, but I haven't taken any photos -- don't want to be packing a bunch of camera equipment since our walks tend to be quite long.