When on a Summer's Morn

Cattails and Clouds at Heckscher State Park

I'm enjoying reading The Autobiography of Super-Tramp by W.H. Davies. The author (a Welsh poet) spent his early adulthood in the 1890s as a vagabond, working odd jobs and hopping on freight trains to travel throughout the United States. Nature is often mentioned in his poetry, so I couldn't resist including one of his poems here.

When on a Summer's Morn

When on a summer's morn I wake,

And open my two eyes,

Out to the clear, born-singing rills

My bird-like spirit flies

To hear the blackbird, Cuckoo, Thrush,

Or any bird in song;

And common leaves that hum all day,

Without a throat or tongue,

And when time strikes the hour for sleep,

Back in my room alone,

My heart has many a sweet bird's song--

And one that's all my own.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in Heckscher State Park

 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies are often seen floating about during the warm days of July and August, enjoying the sunshine and sipping the nectar from the flowers. Being such a warm and sunny day, it was no surprise to see these winged beauties on a butterfly bush in Heckscher State Park. I believe the one I photographed is a female because it has a blue bar of spots going across the lower portion of its wings. Males don't have that bar. 

Rabbits Again

                                                     Rabbit at Heckscher State Park

                                                Rabbit in Oakdale, New York
I'm not sure if the rabbit population in our area is increasing or I'm just noticing them more. Whatever the reason, I see a lot of rabbits during my walks.

Rabbits Again

This evening there was a rabbit on my front lawn. Another one was on the property across the street from me. I suspect they are the same pair that visited me this morning. This time I went outside to take the photo instead of shooting through a window, as I did this morning.  Surprisingly, the rabbit wasn't startled by me or the camera, so I got pretty close to it.  

Rabbit Visitors

Looking out my living room window this morning, I spotted a pair of rabbits nibbling on the dandelions and clover on my front lawn.  This isn't the first time that they have been here, however it's the first time I've gotten a photo of them.

Morning Walk

Screaming osprey

Chipmunk eating a mushroom in Heckscher State Park

Because I had to work yesterday evening, I walked my usual loop around Heckscher State Park in the morning.  When I came to the osprey nest near parking lot 7,  I met a photographer who was watching the nest. We spoke about the birds and he told me that his goal is to photograph an osprey capturing a fish in the Great South Bay. I was content with just snapping one of the osprey chicks looking as though it was doing an imitation of a screaming goat. Nearing the end of my walk, I came upon a chipmunk nibbling on a mushroom that had been growing under an oak tree. He was enjoying his snack so much so that he was oblivious to how close I was.

"The Moon Eating Up the Clouds"

Pastel drawing

There is a pastel drawing in my living room of the moon peeking through dark clouds.  It is an eerie but also romantic image. I thought of it when I stood in my backyard and looked up at this evening's sky. Thoreau wrote the following of such a scene, "...the moon traversing, or appearing to traverse, the small clouds which lie in her way, now obscured by them, now easily dissipating and shinning through them, makes the drama of the moonlight night to all watchers and night-travellers.  Sailors speak of it as the moon eating up the clouds.  The traveller all alone, the moon all alone, except for his sympathy, overcoming with incessant victory whole squadrons of clouds above the forests and lakes and hills." 

Photo of tonight's Sky