I Just Want To Enjoy Nature Not Fix It

I think most people spend a great deal of time thinking about ways to organize or improve things throughout the course of a day. What I like about about hiking is that I can just observe and appreciate nature without feeling the need to change it. Imagine if people could make adjustments to their natural surroundings using a remote control. I'll bet there would be some people straightening branches, changing the paths of streams and lining up trees in neat rows. This is one of the reasons I don't always keep a complete species list on every outing. I want to experience nature not organize it. I just take notes according to what interests me at the time and keep a complete species list when I feel like it.
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I went birding with Ed and Sarah a couple of days ago at Gay City Park in Bolton. I was giving them a little introduction to birding. We had a nice view of a few interesting birds including a female Scarlett Tanager, male & female redstarts, Veery, Ovenbird, Wood Thrush,Yellow-throated Vireo, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler, and Eastern Phoebes. It can be really difficult to find birds through binoculars when you are new to birding so we really took our time trying to get good looks. We worked on learning some of the songs too. I enjoyed introducing them to new birds and liked birding at a slower pace. Ed pointed out the Lady Slipper to me in the top photo.

Can you identify the plant with the red and green leaves ?

What kind of bush plant do these pink flowers belong too?

Last Tuesday I went camping for a night at Devil's Hopyard. The only warbler that came close enough to me for a photo was this male American Redstart. You can see the little bristles on the side of its bill. I suppose I should buy one of those birdjams so I can call warblers in for better photos but it's a little late now since I wouldn't use it during nesting season anyway. I read a sign in Vermont that seemed to say that using such devices was banned there. I'll have to look into that law a little closer.

I really like Gray Catbirds. Not so much when I'm birding because there are too many of them but catbirds seem to be friendly around humans. I had fun watching a pair of catbirds that were nesting near my campsite. A few pieces of dried fruit mix that I had fell out of my bag. One of the catbirds shot over to grab them the minute they hit the ground.

Chipping Sparrows don't seem to have much fear of people this time of year either. This one looks like it got a hold of some fishing line.

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Here's a few of the birds I saw at various parks during the past week: a Hooded Warbler and a Canada Warbler at Hurd Park, Yellow-billed Cuckoos,Indigo Buntings, Prairie Warblers,Blue-winged Warblers, and Worm-eating Warblers at Machimoudus park, and I heard an Acadian Flycatcher calling at a small nature preserve off of 151 in East Hampton. The call does not sound like "Pizza" to me at all. I would describe it as sounding like a chipmunk who had breathed in some helium then came down with the case of the hiccups.

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I caught this Black and White Warbler in action while at Devil's Hopyard. Two weeks of vacation went by for me quickly. It's back to work tomorrow.

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I'd like to give thanks on this Memorial Day to the brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our country.