WalkingSquares 13 through 19
Lots of weather changes this week and a few good pictures!
Sunday, November 13, was a beautiful day, clear and cold. I was able to get some nice clear pictures of Pine Warblers. They are year-round residents but they usually stay pretty high up in the shadows of the pine trees.
Pine Warbler.
Tuesday was cold and rainy again. I didn’t go out until almost dark, not planning well for photography! There were two deer in the pasture and one really couldn’t be bothered to run away.
White-tailed deer.
Wednesday was another glum day, and nothing caught my eye on my usual loop. So I wandered along the shoreline of the pond, and spotted this baseball lying there. My nephew must have hit it into the pond on one of his visits, and it had floated over and then been beached during this summer’s drought.
That doesn’t belong there!
Lonely baseball.
As I was looking at it, some evidence of recent beaver activity caught my eye. The only time we have had beavers here before was during the big drought in 2011 — this year’s drought must have been enough to make one consider our pond to be a good home.
Chewed saplings.
Practically down to toothpick size.
As I was studying the cut saplings, suddenly a sharp crack of a noise startled me. My first reaction was that it was a gunshot, very close by. Then I immediately realized it was the beaver slapping its tail. Knowing that they do that, and experiencing it, are two very different things. 🙂
I went around the pond to the house, and told my husband a beaver was back, and then I saw it swimming in the pond. It got out and stayed on the shoreline for a while, paying no attention to me. I got some pictures of it but it was close to dark and the pictures did not turn out well.
Taken at dusk, so the camera had a hard time focusing.
So Thursday, I was prepared! I went out earlier in the day, and went to the part of the pond where I had seen the beaver, and scanned the water for any sign of it or the branches it had been harvesting. I heard a quiet splash and realized it had been sitting on the shore just about 20 feet from me. I got some very nice pictures of it in the water, and enjoyed the rest of my walk, knowing I already had my picture for the day.
I like the water patterns in the background on this shot.
On Friday, I had to go to town and take my mom shopping. We went to a favorite resale shop and I settled for snapping some “wildlife” there. Then, back at home, after dark, I did take a real walk — I walked up to my mailbox and pulled out a giant box of books I had ordered.
Sloth at the thrift store.
Mailbox full of welcome books!
Saturday was again, rainy and cold, a perfect day to stay in and read my new books, but I did venture out in the afternoon. I tried to sneak up on the beaver again but did not see it. But as I was inching my way through a very woody area, I spotted this weird ring of fungus. I can’t find it in the Texas Mushrooms guidebook, so it is possible that the tiny frost we had a few days ago killed it and changed its normal appearance.
Mystery fungus.
I have really been enjoying my daily walks with Becky B and all her lovely community. Not only am I getting out and walking every day, and looking for something fresh and new to photograph, but I am also exploring new blogs and reading about walks all around the world.
oh this is just so lovely, and I am envious you are able to see beavers. How fabulous – they have only recently been returned to this country. and your photo of the pine warbler is fantastic. Robert would have loved your walks this week
One of your posts that I read this week was remembering when you convinced Robert and your parents to walk up the Tor in the cold and wind — I think I am brave here for going out even when it is cold and rainy, but I think all of you would consider our “cold” weather balmy! I am glad you liked the post. 🙂
hee hee, guess it is all what we get used to!
I totally agree with BeckyB! Just lovely! Thanks for sharing!
What an uplifting post. It would have been wonderful to find the Beaver. I would be going back all the time to watch 🙂
Yes, I could easily spend my entire life just sitting out by the pond and watching whoever is there — minnows, dragonflies, etc. I love it when people come to visit because then I can sit out there with them, guilt-free! 🙂
I would never feel guilty for the first while and then of course it will be – there’s washing to be done, what am I going to have for dinner, should glue and clamp those chairs in the shed – well maybe in a few more minutes 🙂
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought of this, but cross-linking your blogs might be useful. I had closed out this tab before commenting, and it took me forever to find it again, since I couldn’t remember “Little Wild Streak,” and ‘textile ranger’ just wasn’t doing it in the search engines! Being able to click a link on your other blog would have been handy. (And vice-versa — with a link here to Textile Ranger.)
That said: what great photos! I follow a fellow who lives in Canada and who often posts photos of beavers and their lodges. I knew we have them in east Texas, but I had no idea they’re so “close to home”! That’s a fine photo of the warbler, too. Last year I had exactly one that showed up at my feeders. With no pine trees around, I have no idea what it was doing in the neighborhood, but there it was.
I so admire your willingness to get out and about in this weather. No walking or working for me today, thanks to the rain, but I’ll be more than happy for a little more warmth in the coming days. Still, we need the rain, so no one’s really complaining.
Thanks, Linda! On textileranger.com, I did have a cross link to Little Wild Streak, which appears on the sidebar to every post, but after reading your tip, I did cross-link from Little Wild Streak back to the textile blog, and I set it so that excerpts from the posts appear as well as the featured image, so hopefully that will make things more navigable.
We had no idea there were beavers left anywhere in Texas, until the drought of 2011, when at least one showed up here in August. Back then, we saw lots of damage on big sweet gum trees, and we could hear it chewing at night, but we never saw the beaver itself until January of 2012, when it came out during the day on a rainy day. And then it apparently moved on. This one has been eating mostly small water oaks but also my favorite black willow, and it has been out during daylight several times. It will be interesting to keep watching it!
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