Sightings Along the Trail

I haven't been seeing a lot of deer lately, maybe I hike too late although it's usually between 8:45 and 9:45am.  Maybe I need to get up and moving earlier.

One day Cincinnati Bell was coming to work on our fioptics and I wanted to get out of the driveway before they showed up and blocked me in, so I got out the door a bit earlier.  This was my view of one of the hills I climb on the long loop.  You probably can't see the deer, but he is on the left side of the picture about half way up the hill.

 These next two pictures are a bit fuzzy but all I had was my phone camera and I zoomed in on the deer.

Some pretty little flowers alongside of the trail.

These are some shots along the portion of the short trail I hike.  The next picture, is a shot I take often.  I like the way it looks during various seasons of the year.  This one looks so peaceful and serene.  I love it!

Again, I zoomed in with my phone camera and captured a Great Blue Heron in the water (on the left)...a bit fuzzy.  These last two shots are right near the bridge that is closed, so I still like to hike there to see what wildlife might be enjoying the water.  Many times, I see deer there as well.

New Birds to Me!

I've been "counting" birds for Cornell University every year for about 9 years now.  I keep records of the birds that come to my feeders from November through April.  However, I think this was my last year counting birds.  It just was too time consuming.  You have to pick 2 consecutive days to count birds, and it has to be the same 2 days throughout those months.

There are so many other things I enjoy doing, I just didn't want to commit 2 days every week to counting birds.  The weather was always terrible when I needed to fill the feeders too.  I love feeding the birds, but I want to do it when it's convenient for me...not when it's raining buckets or the back steps are full of ice.

So, I've been watching birds now when I have time, and recently I saw some birds I had never seen before!!!  I took a bunch of pictures, and even though I've posted a lot here, there are many more I didn't post.

After identifying the species, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, I discovered they are migratory birds where I live.  These pictures were taken 2 weeks ago, and since then I haven't seen them again.  I'm so glad I got to see them.  They are so pretty.

The brown bird in the next two pictures, are of a female grosbeak.

The following day, I saw another bird I've never seen before, a White Crowned Sparrow.  So, it looks like I'll be watching birds in the warmer months more often...to see what I've been missing all these years!

The following is not MY picture, I wish I had taken one!

The Bridge

I've finally gotten around to posting a new entry.  Though I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately, I do have some that I want to share.  They are all of different story lines, so it may take a couple of entries to post them.

I decided to start with a few of the trail that I normally hike.  Depending on my mood, the intensity of the heat, the number of people on the trail, and how much time I have, I sometimes hike the trail 3 times around.

There is a short loop and a long loop.  It's ideal when I can do both, and go around two times.  Back in March we had a lot of rain, and the rain actually moved a foot bridge on the short loop.  The movement wasn't too serious but it did move it enough where you'd have to step up to get on the bridge.  I was managing just fine with that, until they decided to "close" the bridge and it looked like this.

As you can see there are some "caution" tapes that have been torn off.  I want to make clear, I DIDN'T DO THAT!!  But, apparently, other hikers did.  I always duck under the tape and did just fine.  I also want to say, I didn't jump up and down on the bridge either...I wasn't taking any chances.  😊There is a slight dip in the center of the bridge, but I think that was there before the bridge was moved.

So every day I'd plod over to the short trail to see if I had to duck under the tape, or if the tape was torn down.  It made my hike much more adventurous.  Then one day, I heard some hammering and I was so excited that they were actually working on the bridge!!  Yahoo!!  Two months later they are finally repairing it.   So, I stayed away so as not to get in the way of the workers.  I hiked the long loop 3 times that day.

The next day I returned and was anxious to see how the "new and improved" bridge would look like.  To my dismay, this is what I found!!!

What??!!  Are you kidding me??!!  All the time and effort they spent blocking the bridge even more, they could have spent repairing it!!!  No side rails!!!  This old lady can't jump over or crawl under that mess!!  I'm sure someone will give it a go....but not me!  Two months and they still haven't made it accessible.  I'm really bummed.

I still hike the short trail when I have time, but I have to approach differently.  I walk the top of the trail down to the bridge and then turn around and go the other direction...hence, it is no longer the short loop, since I walk it twice.

This is the road block they have at both ends of the short loop.  I just walk around it.  I'm such a rebel!