Adams County Morning

 I traveled over to Adams County, in the heart of Amish Country, to give a talk to the board of the Ohio Nature Conservancy on October 1. TNC is planning an ambitious project to build a land bridge between the Edge of Appalachia preserve and Shawnee State Forest. This is the heart of cerulean warbler country. There could not be a better time to acquire and preserve mature mesic deciduous forest in the stronghold of the cerulean warbler's range. I'm so excited about this acquisition project, which is proceeding without delay. Just look at these hills, cloaked in oaks and hickories, at the mist rolling up from the hayfields.

 I spoke to the board about all the threats facing cerulean warblers and other Neotropical migrant songbirds: mountaintop removal mining primary among them. And it was a balm, the next morning, to drive out and through the best remaining cerulean warbler habitat going. Ceruleans sing so persistently and abundantly in Shawnee State Forest that when I was there three springs ago we were laughing and calling them "trash birds," these endangered little scraps of blue.

 We were making a long caravan, snaking through the Blue Creek valley south of Peebles, Ohio, when I saw a deliquescing tobacco barn that begged to be photographed. I stopped, and the caravan went on without me.

 But I had an ace in the hole: my old Facebook friend and brand new flesh and blood (I like to say corporeal) friend, Tricia West. Tricia grew up on a tobacco farm near here. That's why we decided to have our photo made in front of skeins of drying tobacco.




We decided to turn this unfortunate event (being separated from the TNC field trip) into an expotition. And we did. We wound through the valleys and found Sunshine Ridge Road, for which TNC's "Sunshine Corridor" project is named, and we marveled at the fabulous habitat all around us.  It was so exciting to know it would be preserved forever.

 Tricia pointed out the tobacco barns, airy structures made for drying wet tobacco that's hung from the rafters. The long dark line on the left of this barn is tobacco, drying under black plastic in the field. It's then taken and hung up in the barn. Tricia said each plant gets handled a lot between planting and the final stripping of the leaves from the stem.

 

You can just see the warm brown tobacco between the cracks in the siding. I love knowing these seemingly decaying barns are active, working structures. I also love thinking there might be barn owls in some of them. Tricia said she grew up with white owls screaming in the rafters of her barn, and didn't think anything of it. Well, she said sometimes they scared the bejabbers out of her, but...Now that she's a birder, she knows how incredible that is. You can count the remaining pairs of barn owls in Ohio on one hand. And it's all because barns like these are falling down and being replaced by metal pole barns, tight as a drum, with no way for any ghost owls to make their way inside.

 This grand old house belongs to some of Tricia's relatives. I was seared with the feeling that, but for chance, this could have been my family's house, too. I wondered how it felt to drive by, recognizing a house like this from your childhood. I yearned to have memories here, too, but mine were only made today.

 The house is in beautiful repair, not a single detail anachronistic or jarring. So beautiful.

 And right next door, the little store owned by her family. How I would love to make this a studio, not change a detail. Well, maybe drown it in flowers, put a Boston terrier on the front porch. That's all.

Tricia called this the greenhouse. Green it was, with a  huge black walnut dropping alarums on its roof.

 Too soon, it was time to leave, and I raced for Whipple, snapping photos out the car window. There are so many cemeteries in Amish country. All of them lovely.

I don't know why I like this photo so much, taken as it was from my car window. I liked the laundry flapping on the line, and tried to snap it, but the G-ll was sluggish and I got a sugar maple in the way. And it was perfect.

 A lonely field, more black walnuts having taken off their summer dresses, standing naked before the winter.

 A barn, being taken over by trees.

 As so very many are. I love the ruins, but I love more to see a barn doing its job. A trip to Amish country reminds me that somewhere, there are barns that aren't slated for demolition, barns that contribute and are appreciated.

 

Hackleshin Road, a nice name for someone who likes raptors. And before I knew it, I was home, a wonderful adventure behind me. I want to come back and see the Sunshine Corridor grow and grow! Thank you, Ohio Nature Conservancy, for this gift to the planet. 

Wha-ha-Happened?

I don't know what happened, I really don't.  While I had an awkward stage that lasted from first through ninth grades, my daughter seems to be morphing from cygnet to swan without a hitch. We're all mystified. Even her super-suave daddy was a bit gawky for awhile. Not so the Phoebster.

Liam is fascinated with his older sister. He adores her. Sure, they tussle and there's an ongoing battle over who gets the front seat in the Subaru or who gets to watch Cake Boss or Avatar, but he really, really loves her. I'm not sure she knows just how much she anchors his world. She's a second mama to him.

So it was a little confusing for both of us when daughter/sister/general good egg Phoebe stepped out of her room perfumed, becurled, and undeniably ravishing, ready for her first big night out as a high school student at the Homecoming Dance.

Liam's first reaction was to sniff her, to see if it was really Phoebe. My son as a dog. He sniffs everything.

Which was OK for a little while, but she smelled really good, and Liam kept sneaking a sniff here
and there.

Ak ak ak akgg

And then there was the problem of what to do with those long stems of hers. Fold them? Put them to one side or another? They just go on and on, unlike her mother's, which have a definite end in feet.

Just one more sniff. Phoebe: "Peach deodorant is catnip for creepers."

Time for some solo shots.

                                                       Whoops, he's baaaack.

She loves him, too. Neither of them seems to believe me when I tell them he'll one day tower over her. Just give him a couple of years.

One of my favorite shots. This was a hard shove which effectively removed Liam from the composition. Oof!

For a moment or two. Long enough for me to capture the essence of Fifi that still chokes me up every time I look at it. Like I said, I dunno what happened. I'm just glad it did. By the time you read this her braces will be off. Look out, world!

Warblers Incognito

Uh-oh, Science Chimp is in quiz mode. I'll start you off easy here, with a gimme. Tennessee warblers don't look all that different in fall than they do in spring. If anything, they're prettier in fall, with subtle grays and bright grass-greens blending in their plumage.

I'm always trying to get good shots of distinctive behavior in the birds I observe, and I'm over the moon to have documented the Tennessee warbler's fondness for flowers and nectar.

The Gartenmeister fuchsia in a pot beneath my studio window is the object of his desire.

 With his needle-fine bill, he probes deep into the corolla.

Oh thank you, little warbler, for showing me this thing I could so easily have missed, you being as green as the leaves.

All right. No more Mrs. Nice Science Chimp. You have some conundra to solve. I'll start you off sort of easy.  Mystery Bird #1. Everything you need to see on this bird is visible in this photo. I know, light's bad, but it's there.

Mystery Bird #2. Ditto. There's one clue in this shot that seems terribly insignificant but clinches the ID.

 

The next three photos are all of the same bird, Mystery Bird #3. The first photo, odd as it seems, has everything you need to ID it. Hee hee hee.

 

OK, I'll give you the side of its little face.

 

I know, it doesn't help much. Unless you're into subtleties. 

And if you're still stumped, here's its throat. Jeez, giving this thing to you on a silver platter.

I'll let y'all stab at these three for awhile, and let you know who got them all right in the comments section. Have fun! Eee! Eee! Eeeeeeeee!