Late September, Crooked Run

I visited Crooked Run Nature Preserve several weeks ago, but was unable to share it with you due to lack of photo storage space. Now that I have worked out those problems, I'm back on line and ready to take you with me on a walk along the trails.

For such a small preserve, Crooked Run has a wide diversity of habitats. The prairie, the pond, the wetlands, the estuary, the river and the woods all beckon me, and I can never decide where to spend most of my time.

I usually end up skipping through, picking and choosing what to focus on today.

I started at the small reclaimed wetland area, hoping for a Green Heron. One stayed here until some time in January a couple of winters ago, so I always check it out in the fall.

Unfortunately, not even a Red-winged Blackbird or Mallard duck could be found, so I headed on along the neighboring meadow path. This is prime sparrow country, and though the field was full of chips and flutters, I couldn't get a good ID on anything in the tall, thick weeds. Trips in October will reveal Song, Swamp, and Field Sparrows here.
That large green mound in the background is a huge thicket of Pokeweed, and the berries were ripe. Lots of little birds flitted out of it as I passed. Could I put a name to any of them? No.
Next stop - the Ohio River. In winter, there can be any number of interesting ducks on the water, but today, only this lone tugboat and barge. Flying overhead, I saw a large unidentified flying object, and pulled up the binocs for a closer inspection. As the bird wheeled and soared towards me, I realized it was an Osprey! First raptor of the day, and a goodie, to boot. I was so excited to watch it flying south, going with the flow of the river, that I forgot I had a camera slung over my shoulder.

Not long after the Osprey was out of sight, another large bird came behind, that I first mistook for a crow. I soon realized it wasn't flying like a crow, with long, deep strokes that looked like it was rowing a boat, but with shallow, graceful wing beats. As it shot passed me, the sharp, bent-back wings and long tail proclaimed it a falcon. Peregrine! Another great bird! And still, no photos. I know, I know - I'm a pitiful excuse for a nature blogger.

You want pictures? How about pictures of flowers? They don't move as quickly as birds, so I can admire them and then photograph them.

Wingstem was just about finished by the last week of September, but I did find a few in bloom.

going...

going ...

gone to seed.

Want to know why it's called wingstem? Check out these "wings" on the stem of the plant.

Sometimes, the names actually DO make sense.

Asters. Love 'em and hate 'em. Actually, I love nearly everything about the family Compositae, to use the older nominclature, except trying to put a specific name to them. Ever since high school biology, I have struggled with identification of fall flowers. I know these are some kind of aster, maybe New England Aster, but I doubt I will ever be sure of the exact name.
Still, they are beautiful, and as an old gentleman once told me, passing me on the trail while I struggled to ID a wildflower, "We don't have to know their names to appreciate them."

aster close-up

wingstem close-up

close-up of a pretty white flower,

also unamedan unknown goldenrod

Isn't this fungus pretty enough to be considered a flower?

Leaving the wildflowers behind, we stroll along the wooded trails.
Chip notes of cardinals bounce above us, but we don't see too many birds. Never mind, a favorite stop is just ahead.

I like to visit this grove of pawpaws in the fall. When other trees are beginning to lose their leaves, the pawpaws are still cloaked in their summer greens.

These young saplings have grown up in this grove since I first started visiting Crooked Run, but this is the tree I really come to see.
She's the grandmother of them all, and the oldest pawpaw tree I have ever met, but here's her real claim to fame.She is riddled with sapsucker holes from the base of her trunk to as high as I can see. Generations of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have tapped her every winter for her life-giving fluids, and yet she survives and continues to produce fruit and more offspring every year.
Looking up, the pawpaw leaves make me feel like I am in a jungle forest, a feeling accentuated by the exotic looking fruit over my head.
It's the last of its kind, the only pawpaw I can see in the trees around me, so I leave it where it hangs, and move towards the estuary.

Don't give me too much grief about the quality of the next picture. We both know it stinks, but it is the best one I got that included a Belted Kingfisher (on the wire, upper left) and a Great Blue Heron (in the water, lower right) both fishing the estuary.
I always wish I had a big black permanent marker in my hand when I see this "educational" sign. Along with other, correctly labeled, bird drawings posted on one of the bird blinds along the estuary is this one, of a chickadee. I can't help shaking my head in dismay when I see it.
The Black-capped Chickadee is the northern species, almost never seen in southern Ohio, where the Carolina Chickadee is our year-round resident. I wonder how many people have read this sign and been mislead.

Leaving the epic "Fail!" sign, I start back, planning a stop at the small woodland pond before leaving the preserve.

Creeping up on the pond as I made my way back to the trail head, I was hoping for something really special to end my morning.
Something flushed from the edge opposite me, but without the characteristic squeaky call of the Wood Ducks I was expecting. Instead, there was a harsh squawk and I caught a glimpse of a crow-sized bird fluttering awkwardly into the trees on the oppposite side of the pond. When it settled down, I got my look.

There you are!

Green Heron!

I settled in and got comfortable. Knowing Green Herons to be much spookier birds than their larger Great Blue cousins, I knew that too much sound and motion would scare it away, and I really wanted some good pictures. So, I hunkered down and waited, with my camera on "burst" mode, to maximize my chances of getting just one good picture.

One word of caution. When skulking around in pursuit of a Green Heron, keep one eye on the edge of the pond. It may be slippery.

the place where I almost got wet!

After a while, the heron moved to my right, ending up in a clump of wild grape vines. More waiting and fruitless shooting finally got me my picture.

Thank you!
Thank you very much.

Lots of Pots, part 2

Technical issues with getting more photo storage space has kept this blog on hold for a while. Now that I have resolved that crisis, I hope to be back on the air with more regularity than lately.

Continuing with my latest pottery pieces, I give you first - 24 spoon rests.

What got me into Production Potter mode? My mother, of course.

"Can you make me some spoon rests to give as Christmas presents?" she asked. "Sure, Mom, no problem."I went into the studio one Saturday morning and threw 10 spoon rests in two hours. I was on fire. I called her - "Mom, I made you ten spoon rests."

"Thanks, honey. Can you make twenty?"Sigh. Sure, Mom, whatever you ask.

Now, when your goal is to make X number of items, every potter knows you need to make X+, to allow for breakage, glazing errors, or general failure of the thing to be what you envision it to be. So, back to the studio I went, spending another 2 hours throwing 10 more spoon rests. Later I added a few more, for good measure.

I called my mom. "Mom, I made you 10 more spoon rests. There will be at least 20 for you."

"Thanks, dear, but I'm not sure I need that many."Sigh. OK, Mom, whatever you say.

Anybody need a spoon rest?

On to other projects. Textured Kiwi, a Spectrum glaze, is quickly becoming one of my favorites, as if you couldn't tell by this series of pieces.
This plate is made of brown clay, and is 10 inches in diameter. It only has a very slight wobble to it. Getting a plate to be totally flat is quite a challenge.
This bowl is one I made at my pottery retreat back in June. We used a white earthenware clay, from a local supplier called Highwater Clays. It took me a while to decide what to do with it. Textured Kiwi to the rescue!(Sadly, there is a teeny flaw in the glaze where it didn't stick.)
This lidded vessel is also of Highwater Clay, from my trip to North Carolina. I stenciled the bluebird onto the bisque-fired clay with underglazes, then covered that with clear glaze. The rest of the vessel is kiwi again, with satin white in the interior.One of the reasons I love this glaze so much is that it looks equally good on brown clay, as in this piece below, as it does on the white clay of the bowl and lidded pot above.
Cat food bowls. Simple, quick, easy, fun - one can never have enough cat food bowls, right?
(3 Coyote shino glazes. left to right: Goldenrod, light green, light blue. Cat stencils in black underglaze)

This large, deep bowl is glazed in Textured Navy. I love the color, but the glaze gives me fits. If I get it the least bit too thick, it runs and drips terribly, causing it to adhere to the kiln shelf it is sitting on, and getting me in hot water with Peggy.
A small, simple bowl of brown clay, glazed in Chun Plum.
Finally, a piece in progress. This lidded vase was made in two pieces and has been bisque fired and glazed. It is now at the studio, awaiting its final fire. This is the point when all potters begin sacrificing to the kiln gods, praying for a successful outcome.
Can't wait to share the final results with you!

Good Times aboard the "GoodTime I"

Our first event at the Midwest Birding Symposium was a sunset cruise on Lake Erie. We walked through the picturesque entryway to the Lakeside dock to board our cruise boat, the "GoodTime I."

I don't think we could have had a better time if we were aboard the "GoodTime II."

Boating birders (birding boaters?) ready themselves for the ride.

Cruise organizer and all-around party girl Cheryl Harner, taking pictures as the boat gets underway. That's photog Ernie Cornelius in the orange hat in the background, doing the same thing.

Ben Warner's job was to chum for gulls, using popcorn as bait to draw the birds in for their close-ups. Ethan Kistler's job was to supervise Ben.

Liam tried chumming for gulls with a carrot stick. I don't think he had much success.

The popcorn worked a treat, allowing us many good photo-ops of gulls, mostly Ring-billed, in action.

(click to enlarge)

A view of one of the small islands we passed.

[I forget the name of this one.]

As promised, a sunset ended our cruise as we returned to the dock.
Ssshhh. Listen closely. Can you hear the sun sizzle as it hits the water?

Look How Cute!

This Gray Treefrog was found in our kennel area this evening by an employee. My tech rescued him and put him on a leaf of the Bradford pear tree outside our back door. When I heard about our visitor, I had to borrow the office camera to snap a pic, then take the memory stick home to upload the photo and work out the ID.

He is about the same size as my thumbnail. Isn't he the cutest thing ever?