March is moving along toward Spring. No blooms or foliage yet, but the temps are warmer. With the snow from the three storms we had recently plus the torrential rain Saturday night/Sunday morning, the ground is definitely damp; even atop the hills the ground is squishy. And bird song is starting to fill the air - on my walk in the park today I heard a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds and Cardinals, as well as a Red-bellied Woodpecker. I also saw three Red-tailed Hawks cruising over the park, and a cheeky Mockingbird greeted me at the beginning of the nature trail; the little bugger even mooned me before he flew off! I kept an eye out for the usual Daffodils growing along the nature trail as it runs by the creek, but nothing yet.
One odd thing, though. One of the big old Norway Spruces by the south duck pond was fatally injured in that crazy wind storm we got last month; its roots were partially pulled up out of the ground but not toppled over, so they cut it down before it could fall over on somebody. Well, somebody put a shrine/installation/effigy/something on the remaining 5-foot stump - a blob of wax and pebbles splatted on the bark and embedded with feathers. It has the look of something out of Blair Witch, or from the M. Night Shyamalan movie The Village. There's just something very creepy about it, probably deliberately so.
After that it was hike up to the meadow to get a view of the area from the top of the hill. Even with snow dotted here and there, there's a Spring-like feel to it all.
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| This Mockingbird welcomed me to the park down by the ball fields |
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| Cheeky little bugger mooned me! |
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| The creek in the park looking downstream from the new bridge; you can just see the red bridge through the trees |
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| The weird whatever on the stump of the Norway Spruce |
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| Looking north toward the mountains from the meadow |
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| The rolling hills of Central PA |
© 2019 by A. Roy Hilbinger
Great second shot, and that "weird whatever" is just that. Weird!
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