Picture of the year

Happy New Year!

This month's theme is "picture of the year."

I don't know if it's my best picture of 2022, but I really like the blue sky and blue bird together.  (also, I finally got the bird in sharp focus for once!)

 

Peace

Wishing you all a peaceful new year.

 

Mossy log

Moss is thriving on every forest surface.

 

Ominous

Looming clouds.

 

What is this?

Mr. Heron didn't seem to know what to do with his frozen fishing spot.

 

Frozen

The cold front that swept the country during Christmas got to Raleigh as well.  Most of Shelly Lake froze.  The sea gulls had to stand on the ice.  

 

Alien?

You can almost believe in alien spacecraft looking up at this sky.

 

Merry Christmas!

Have a joyful holiday!

 

Christmas is coming!

Everybody's getting into the act.

 

Yellow belly

We could hear him long before we spotted him.  A yellow bellied sap sucker.  You can see the slight yellow tinge on his chest.

 

Lacy fungus

The mushroom was broken and turned over.  It looked like a lacy fan.

 

Wounded tree

Is it romantic to carve your initials into a living thing?  

 

Falls Lake

Clouds over Falls Lake.

 

Elves, trolls or fairies?

It's really just an outdoor play area for kids.  But who knows if the villagers come out at night?

 

Nuthatch

Nuthatch on the lookout.

 

A little green amongst the brown

Tucked in the brown leaf litter are small plants.

Crippled cranefly orchid,

Adam and Eve orchid,

and Little Brown Jug.

 

Star

Who knew there were so many different kinds of moss.  (see here)

I think this is a star moss, atrichum.  

 

Turkey tail?

This lovely little fungus is a Turkey Tail mushroom.  Supposedly it looks like the tail of a wild turkey.

 

Red belly

No, she doesn't seem to have a red belly, but that's who she is, a red bellied woodpecker.

 

Leaf litter

How many shades of brown are there?

 

Forest walk

The forest walk is bare and brown.

 

Sweet gum

The rest of the trees are bare or brown, but the sweet gum saplings are holding onto their color.

 

Patience

This little female downey woodpecker patiently waited her turn at the feeder.  Her little claws gripped the metal pole.

 

Her mate took his time at the feeder.

Old house

This little house sits on the Stagville plantation.  

Who lived here, and what stories could these walls tell?

 

Heron again

And yet another heron picture.

Why not?

 

Two old friends

I've posted these two before, but I just enjoy these two old trees telling jokes to each other.

 

The Japanese Maples explode

The Japanese Maples have exploded with color.

Even the ground beneath them is bright.

Amazing color for the end of fall.

 

Leaf litter

This would make a mean jigsaw puzzle.

 

Still colorful

It may be snowing somewhere else, but here fall is still holding on.

 

Fingerprints from the past

These bricks were made by enslaved workers for a chimney.  You can see a roundish impression in the clay...a fingerprint from one of the workers.

 

Hart House

This house was originally one of the slave quarters on the Stagville plantation.  After emancipation the Hart family, a formerly enslaved family, sharecropped here until 1957.  They lived in and renovated the house.

 

Fall holds on

Fall might start slow in North Carolina, but it lasts a long time.

 

Horton Grove

These three buildings were home to enslaved workers on the Stagville plantation.  Each building housed 4 families with as many as 26 people in all.  The buildings were occupied until the 1970's as many of those enslaved on the plantation continued to live there and work as sharecroppers.  (see here)

 

Bennehan Cemetery

This cemetery is a short walk from the house on the Stagville plantation.  It is very small and was reserved for the family only.  Enslaved workers were buried elsewhere.

 

The great barn

This barn is BIG.  It was built by enslaved workers for the Stagville plantation in 1860.  It was one of the largest agricultural buildings in the South.  

It takes a lot of tobacco to fill a barn this size.

 

Stagville Plantation

The Stagville plantation is an historical site in Durham, NC.  It was the home of the Bennehan/Cameron family.  This house, the Bennehan house was built between 1787 and 1799.  It was the home of the family until 1847 when they built a much larger, grander mansion nearby.

The Cameron family was one of the richest slaveholders in the South.  By 1860 Paul Cameron owned 30,000 acres in North Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama, and enslaved 1000 people.

The historical site sheds light on the lives of the enslaved workers on the plantation.

 

Lonely

This cormorant seemed to be contemplating his lonely life.

(or looking for fish)

 

King of the pond

Dr. Zeus said that Yertle the Turtle was the king of the pond, but in this lake, heron is king.  

Mr. Heron surveys his kingdom.

 

Ruddy Duck

This little Ruddy Duck was diving in the lake with her friends.  They must have just arrived in Raleigh. (see here)

 

Turtle nap

Turtles make great subjects.  They don't move around much until they plop into the water.

 

Old cabin

This cabin has been preserved near the Yates Mill.  

Here's a picture from the Library of Congress from 1938.  (see here)  Is it the same building?

 

Turtles

It was a chilly day, so the turtles weren't exactly basking in the sun.  

 

Sidewalk art

The sidewalks in part of downtown are decorated for walkers.

A hopscotch game.

A view of the Raleigh skyline.

It's part of the "Sip and Stroll" zone.  A large area in which you can buy alcoholic drinks to go and stroll through the area.

But don't leave the zone!