The Sunday Walk in the Park

This week's Sunday walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park features some more blooms, a pair of turtles sunning, and my friend Wade Asper heading off to start the season's first haying.

The Arrowwood Viburnum along the Dykeman Walking Trail is in full bloom

More Blackberry blossoms in the wetland

Two Painted Turtles sunning in the bog pool

Wade heads off to start the season's first haying

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Feels Like Summer

It's still only May, but it's feeling like July. I took a walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park this morning to beat the worst of today's heat and humidity. I shot flowers in the wetland which are still only Spring flowers; it may feel like July, but the Summer Asters and the Day Lilies haven't made their appearance yet. And then I went up on the meadow to show you how high the hay is getting, and also the sky, which today was definitely a Summer sky!

The Multiflora Roses were definitely scenting the air today

Looks like there's going to be a bumper crop of Blackberries this year

Daisy Fleabane

The hay is getting deep

Looking north from the top of the meadow

Looking across the meadow from the southern leg of the Meadow Trail

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Small World

I went for a walk on the Rail Trail this morning and ended up spending a lot of time in a bank of Multiflora Roses observing nature in miniature. In that single bank I ended up counting five Orchard Orb Weaver spiders in their webs; these are my favorite small critters in the woods, a small green dot to the naked eye, and a rainbow observed up close. I also found a Multicolored Asian Ladybug munching on the leaves of those roses. Come take a look.

Walking along the Rail Trail

Leucauge venusta, the colorful Orchard Orb Weaver

The same Venusta escaping my camera

Harmonia axyridis, the Multicolored Asian Ladybug

A small section of that large bank of Multiflora Roses

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

A Little Ramble

I did a brief ramble in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park this morning, getting it in before the heat settled in for the day. We're getting in to the 80s this afternoon, but while I was in the park it was in the mid 70s with a pleasant breeze blowing. Lots of flowers, a Song Sparrow, and a Painted Turtle sunning on a rock in the north duck pond were the chief subjects today, plus a panoramic shot of the pond from my favorite bench under the Kentucky Coffee Tree. It was all very laid back!

The Multiflora Roses are adding their sweet scent throughout the park

This Painted Turtle actually let me get quite close

My favorite view in the park

Daisy Fleabane along the trail in the wetland

A Song Sparrow singing away

Yellow Wood Sorrel along the trail in the wetland

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

This Week's Sunday Walk in the Park

So this weekend is the unofficial start of the Summer season, being Memorial Day weekend, but you wouldn't know it - it's overcast and gloomy, threatening rain, and cooler than the seasonal average. But it's certainly lush enough for Summer, and there are plenty of May flowers in full bloom. This morning's weekly walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park was proof of that.

Stork's Bill blooming along the Dykeman WalkingTrail

Yellow Flag in the marsh by the ball fields

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hoppin' down the Dykeman Trail...

After 10 years I still haven't figured out what this plant is

A female Redwinged Blackbird keeping a wary eye on me by the north duck pond

Blackberry blossoms up on the meadow

 © 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Up One Creek and Down the Other

I decided to follow the local creeks today, out into farm country along Burd Run via Fogelsonger Rd. and back into town along Middle Spring/Branch Creek. And along the way there were definitely things to see.

I started in the Burd Run Riparian Restoration park in hopes of getting another shot at that Green Heron, and sure enough there it was, fishing in the collection pond. It caught one frog and ate it right there, and then caught another and flew up to eat it on a tree branch over the creek, which allowed me to get much closer. I spent about a half hour with that bird and took close to 30 shots, and ended up using the last one.

Of course I also found cows along Fogelsonger Rd. And I got surprised going back down North Earl St., where a very large Pileated Woodpecker flew into a tree right in front of me and proceeded to pry bark off in search of tasty bugs. He completely ignored me, so I got pretty close and shot another 20 or so photos. This ended up being a very productive hike!

The Green Heron strikes a pose

Burd Run at Fogelsonger Rd.

Holsteins on Fogelsonger Rd.

Daisy Fleabane by Middle Spring Creek

The Pileated Woodpecker digging for lunch

A Yellow Poplar, also known as Tulip Poplar

The flowery, and shady, banks of Branch Creek

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Visiting the Burd Run Restoration Park

I decided to go over to the Burd Run Riparian Restoration Project park, just a little downstream from the Brookside wetland. The Spring floods and windstorms haven't been kind to it; there are a couple of places where broken limbs and other flood debris have dammed up the creek somewhat and a good part of the paths at the north end aren't walkable because of mud or water. So I didn't get as many shots there as I usually get. I did, however, finally manage to get a shot of a Green Heron, sitting in a Willow over the wetland pool and observation deck and pretending I couldn't see it for all the leaves. It didn't work, which it finally figured out and flew across the pool to a Maple across the way and out of my range. All in all a pleasant walk on an equally pleasant day.

A Catbird nattering away on a branch over the creek

A small Willow grove by the creek

Green Hawthorn, also known as Southern Hawthorn, growing by the creek

The Green Heron pretending it's hiding

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Today's Walk

I decided to walk out into farm country on Possum Hollow Rd., out past my brother's house and up to I-81, and came back into town on Olde Scotland Rd., where I cut over to the woods on the other side of the railroad tracks to visit the old filling pool along Gum Run. The filling pool is a leftover from the days when trains ran by steam power and periodically had to stop to fill their water tanks. The old tracks ran along Gum Run; they're gone now, but the old pool is still there, way back in the woods and very picturesque.

Stripes and swirls of color in a field along Possum Hollow Rd.

The Mennonite farm across Possum Hollow Rd. from my brother's house

A Mourning Dove in a front yard along Possum Hollow Rd.

Wenger Feeds' grain silos along the RR tracks off Mt. Rock Rd.

A path in the woods near the filling pool

The old filling pool

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

A Visit to the Brookside Wetland

I went to visit the Brookside Ave. wetland today because I hadn't gone there since I switched to shooting in RAW. It being May, I was hoping for butterflies, but it was a little chilly and fairly windy, and no butterflies were out in those conditions. But I did get some good landscape shots, and a Tree Swallow portrait. And on the way home I found two kittens playing on a farm. So it was worth the trip!

A view of part of the collection pond

Walking along the berm around the pond

A Tree Swallow atop its nesting box

Another view of the pond

The boardwalk at the entrance to the wetland

Two kittens playing. You can just see a bit of Mama behind the gray one

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger