 |
| Oliver |
 |
| Photo Sunday at Noah Clark |
Buddy and Oscar will follow John to the end of the earth.
Porcupine quills at the bottom of the cliffs.
John thinks the porkie may have fallen off of the cliff (and survived)
because of the number of quills that were there.
The very bottom of the cliffs.
Oscar poses for the camera.
Scarlet Waxy Cap Mushroom (Hygrophorous coccineus)
Another unidentified fungus.
Up the tree!
Insulators
The transformer is nearly eye level because the slope of the
mountainside is so steep under the cliffs.
Well, that's all there is about this great hike. To view the other photos:
Introduction: Strangers on the mountain
Hiking the ROW: Part 1
Hiking the ROW: Part 2
Hiking the ROW: Part 3
_/\_/\_
Fairpoint Communications telephone pole ID
On our property there is a right of way (ROW) up to the ridegeline of Barton Mountain for electricity and cables to the cell towers up top. This past September, Fairpoint put in fiber optic cables on those poles. I wrote about this invasion in an earlier post. Because of our concern about the Fairpoint activity we saw from the house, we decided to climb up the ROW to see what damage had been done to the land. We saw plenty. Unfortunately, I didn't take photographs of the damage, but it is still visible and will be visible for years. I will return after mud season to document the damage better. The photos here in this multipart photographic essay are of our activity on the hike — of John, me and the cats Buddy and Oscar. Despite our anger at the invasion, we had a wonderful afternoon. I took only my 70-250mm lens, which was inadequate for most of the macro photos here. Next time I'll take the whole kit and caboodle.
Looking down the ROW.
Our home is through the woods to the left.
Looking up the ROW.
All trails end at the bottom of those cliffs, which is where bear and bobcat live.
Buddy wanted to rest here.
He actually wanted to turn back and go home, but continued on with us.
A couple of chickadees kept a close eye on us the entire hike.
We found even more apple trees from the orchard a century ago!
White Worm Coral Fungus (Clavaria fragilis)
Bear scat full of chokecherry pits.
To be continued . . . .
To view the other photos:
Introduction: Strangers on the mountain
Hiking the ROW: Part 1
Hiking the ROW: Part 2
Hiking the ROW: Part 3
_/\_/\_
Sepia Possum
s
Above & below: Leaping Oscar
American Tree Sparrow takes off
_/\_/\_
 |
| Buddy wants to go thataway . . . |
 |
| . . . but grumpily follows Oscar. . . |
 |
| . . . as Oscar shows off his two-legged Godzilla stomp. |
Leaping Oscar
Carolina Grasshopper (Dissosteira carolina)
I ended up spending the summer stalking Oscar as he lept after bugs.
Two-Striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus)
Skidding to a dusty stop.
Female Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa)
I managed to rescue the dragonfly above and release it outside. But unfortunately, Oscar often brought in other dragonflies. He ate all but the wings. I never saw which species he would catch.
Oscar, 4 months, relaxing after hopper hunting.
_/\_/\_
Yup, that's Oscar, our little yet great grasshopper chomper. Here he is after leaping through the air and catching, in flight, a Carolina Grasshopper (Dissosteira carolina). Those are the big grasshoppers you see during the last half of summer flying with the black wings. We probably all think at one time or another that they are huge butterflies, but they are big, prehistoric grasshoppers. You can view the original photo size here for more detail. After spending the summer learning how to expertly catch these hoppers, Oscar is now the champion mouser of the family!
_/\_/\_
Oscar in July, 3 months old
You probably know that the cats hike with us in the woods up the mountain. Oscar developed his knowledge about the area and the creatures of the forest from these hikes. Some of the hikes were very long for a small kitten and he tired easily. But in this photograph, half way through the hike, he was still bouncy and full of curiosity and wonder about the forest. I like his right rear leg perched on the log behind him, ready to take off to run and see another interesting sight. Whenever Oscar is out of sight of us, he yowls pitifully until we wait for him to either catch up or, as is usually the case, return to us. He's one of those kids that runs all over the woods without watching where his folks are going!
_/\_/\_
Song Sparrow
The cats and I walk together every day we possibly can. Because of the cats, the birds keep a close eye on us as they perch in the trees at the edge of the woods. John has made benches for me from trees that he culled in the woods. I sit on a bench as the cats hunt mice and the birds come out of the trees to watch and be photographed. As the summer progressed, I was able to get my first photographs of many different birds. I never realized in all these years how many species we have here. I miss those long summer days!
Young Oscar watches the birds watch him.
American Goldfinch
Cedar Waxwing
Waxwings always seem to stay at the top of trees.
At the end of our walk, we saw Grumpy Pansy scowling behind the barn.
