My favourite little hen Pheasant is back in the garden again, after being absent for several weeks. Though the Pheasant shooting season does not start until October 1st, one never knows, with wild creatures, whether the absence is ominous or not. In her case, I think she has either been raising little chicks - or just off in the field next door, finding plenty of seed without resorting to shovelling up mine!
She is particularly recognisable because she is the boldest pheasant I have encountered here. I cannot quite feed her by hand, but she does come within inches of my fingers when I throw the seed down, and shows no fear when I approach her. She also has squeak-conversations with me - when I talk to her, she responds with her own squeaks - quite different to the raucous squarks of the cock who often accompanies her. The chaps are getting their tail feathers back now - and very glintingly magnificent they look too. He disappears fairly rapidly now when I put in an appearance, but I know that as soon as the weather gets cooler, there will be others who will 'come visiting' to see what the restaurant at Autumn Cottage has to offer.
Journal Prompt - are you noticing any changes around you that signal the increasing speed of change of the season? Are the birds singing a different song? (the Robin's song changes markedly at this time of the year) - Have any leaves started to turn? Are you noticing the days drawing in? Start a bullet list of changes, maybe only minute, you are noticing in your 'neck of the woods'. Add to it daily for a few weeks, dating each entry. (If you do this in a 5-year diary, it can become an interesting tracking of the speed of environmental change: 250 years from the days when Gilbert White tracked daily changes at Selborne, minute observations by individuals can still be invaluable 'citizen science').
Yesterday morning there was mist - real, early Autumn mist.... made me so happy :D
Posted by: Claire | Friday, August 30, 2019 at 09:52
We have a fine drizzle this morning. The maple leaves are just beginning to turn to honey gold. Vine maples should be brilliant in another week. The tomato plants are sagging under the weight of the green tomatoes. I have stripped most of the leaves off to give them full benefit of the sun when it shines. Mornings stay dark longer, Baxter sleeps in a bit...good little beagle that he is.
Posted by: Ardi | Friday, August 30, 2019 at 14:28
We have more insect sounds instead of bird song. A few of our robins, carolina wrens and chickadees are still vocal but not as often.Our Baxter is a cat and he is sleeping later too.
Posted by: avis | Saturday, August 31, 2019 at 20:28
Crickets...lots of insect sounds mean the season is winding down and shifting into fall...
Posted by: CatherinE | Sunday, September 01, 2019 at 02:35