Some Photos From An Evening Walk Near Home.

It was another nice  evening yesterday in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It’s so hard to stay indoors this time of year. So, even though I had some chores to do, I ventured for a short walk out through the reclamation area and to the railroad tracks near my home to see what there is to see. And there is always something this time of year.

The first thing I noticed was the remarkable growth of the trees and plants. Everything is growing so quickly now including the staghorn sumac trees, which seemed to sprout new leaves overnight.

The comfrey also sprouted up so quickly with the first small buds appearing too. This plant will attract many bees, wasps and other insects in early summer. If there are any bees left, their numbers are diminishing every year, and I have only seen a few so far this year.

The birch, aspen and maple trees continue to sprout new leaves and the maple trees are producing their seed pods now.  How often, as a child,  I watched this pods spin from their trees in late mid summer.

As I walked through some ponds in the wetlands  in the center of the reclamation area I scared some mallard ducks.

They took to the air, scaring a killdeer, and some other birds, which were too quick to photograph. I did manage to still photograph the fleeing ducks.

I saw a few black capped chickadees in an aspen tree and took some photographs.  It was only when I got home, and cropped the photos, that I realized the chickadees were not feeding on the young aspen flowers and leaves, but rather the insects and worms that were feeding on the aspens leaves and flowers.

I was also surprised to find they weren’t all black capped chickadees either. Upon cropping the photographs I discovered that some of them were in fact yellow rumped warblers. I never knew they lived in the woods this near my home.

But I am learning, with my zoom lenses and cameras, and with help from my birding friends, that there are many species of birds living near us that we often overlook. I am glad to notice them now and understand how important it is to protect them and their environment so that future generations can enjoy them too.

I walked for a short distance on the railroad and was disappointed not to see a train pass by. I have always enjoyed watching them pass as a young child and still do as an older one.

I walked out to some pond, and didn’t see any turtles, snakes frogs or  dragonflies, as I had hoped but did manage to scare up this bunny rabbit. You can see why they call them a cottontails.

I also ran into  a few of the noisy and active catbirds which have returned to our area. They continually hop from tree to tree sounding amazingly catlike at times.

The sun was playing hide and seek with some high clouds, and when it appeared, reflected off the young green leaves of the trees.

I wish I could have stayed out until sunset but had to head home. I saw a few more critters on the way, including a few more rabbits,  chipping sparrows, red winged blackbirds, robins,  a turkey vulture, and this woodpecker.

I didn’t get all of my chores down, and I now have even more to do tonight, my bear returned and deposited a neighbor’s  garbage in my backyard, but I never regret a walk on a pleasant May evening. Here is a link to some more photographs from my walk..https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-page-2/nggallery/photographs-page-two-blog/railroad-hike-may-10-2016

“When nature suffers because it is destroyed by human activities, thenotion of beauty is really losing its meaning, because nothing is more aesthetic than the natural beauty.”
― Marieta Maglas