Stuff we've seen recently . . .

Some folks, including some Scouts, have expressed interested in things we've seen recently in the Battlefield.

Yesterday, I saw these turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo), just north of Wilder's Tower:

Thinking about crossing the road . . .


Ok, I'm going!


And, the rest of the family follows, oh so gracefully.


Now you see them; now you don't!


Two days before, we saw a pair of fawns (Odocoileus virginianus) in a field near Thedford Ford. A nearby thunderstorm was causing a strong wind from the south, and we were approaching from the north, so the fawns couldn't smell us, and probably couldn't hear us over the wind noise. One ducked back into the tall grass on the left of the photo, but the other continued crossing, finally freezing when we were about 10 feet away. After a few moments of trying to decide whether we were a threat, and how to respond if we were, it dashed off to the right.



There are more things to see in the woods, than anyone can possibly see. But we continue to be amazed, amused, and even mystified by all that we see. And we are delighted, again and again, by the opening of our eyes to see more and more of what's happening around us. Here are two mysteries, one avian and one of a six-legged kind, for you to puzzle out.

Here's the avian mystery, seen along the trail south of the Hunt graveyard:



And, here's the other, a photo of 3 day old horse poop, along with a family clue:

The clue is Scarabaeinae.

Sometimes, things in the woods come home with us, at least for a while. Here's Uh-oh, our pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) and refugee from the windstorm around the first of May:

He was about 3 weeks old when we discovered him; his nest mate was already dead and he was starving. We tried releasing him a week ago, in an area about 200 yards from his nest site. He was initially very enthusiastic about his new home. Unfortunately, his local relatives -- probably including his parents -- were not so enthusiastic about him. He quickly decided that he wanted to be near us again, preferably on a tree within 10 feet or else on our shoulder, so we had to bring him back with us.

Currently, he's living in woods near us, but coming in for nightly feedings of banana and ground beef, after grazing daily on whatever ants he finds.

More later . . .

Bird feathers & Spiders

For 4 years now, my wife and I have been on the avoiding-back-pain exercise plan. If we walk, my back's fine. If we don't, it begins to hurt after about 3 days of inactivity.

Now, this plan works for me, because the pain makes it easy to stay motivated. Lots of things that motivate other people don't motivate me. But I find it only takes a little pain, before I'm scrambling around to avoid any more!

Unfortunately, I also find walking around a track to be a pain, too.

I think I always suspected this, but after about 6 months of walking the 2 mile track around East Ridge's very nice Camp Jordan park, I was experiencing pain. Not the physical kind of course, but the monotony of going around the    s-a-m-e    t-r-a-c-k    a-g-a-i-n    a-n-d    a-g-a-i-n    wears me out, and not in a good way.

So, we began walking and talking and thinking in the Battlefield. After four years of walking and talking and thinking, we've seen some things we find interesting and significant. We've learned what a "buck snort" is -- or for that matter, a 'doe snort'-- and why they do it.* We have two prized wonderfully stiff Flicker tail feathers . . . and we know (now!) why they are so stiff.

We've seen things that are slightly horrible, but still amazing, like spiky butt spiders:

More info on Micrathena gracilis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spined_Micrathena

And, we've decided to start keep notes, showing pictures, and telling tales both old and new.

Ben

* And now, we've solved the mystery of why anyone would have named that town west of Nashville, "Bucksnort".
(Map of Bucksnort)