Theme day: Virtue

The theme for February 1 is "Virtue."   I've always heard that hard work is a virtue.  This pileated woodpecker has certainly been hard at work on this tree.  

 

Killdeer

A lone Killdeer strolled the edge of the lake.

 

Reflection

The reflection of a tree branch in a quiet pond.

 

Baubles

Seed balls hang off the sweet gum trees like Christmas decorations.

 

Resurrected

After a good rain, the resurrection ferns are green and thriving.

 

Seedy

A natural dried flower arrangement.

 

Twins

Napping mergansers.

 

Copy cat

The bluebird seemed to be trying to match the silhouette.

 

Peekaboo

A pine warbler and a Carolina wren shared the suet feeder.  Neither one was willing to give up their place.

 

Belted Kingfisher

One way to get rid of graffiti is to encourage art.

This picture has the hashtag RaleighArts  and #callbeforeyoudraw.

Unfortunately it's painted on the side of a sewer vault and is a bit stinky.

Here's the real deal.  

 

Spring in mid-winter

The first sign of spring.  

 

Amber waves

 

It was weeds, not grain, but the wind made waves.

Sky

The clouds looked like they had been combed on a windy day.

 

Is this love?

This poor tree seems to be the one chosen by lovers.  

I wonder how many couples are still together.  The tree will last longer than most of them.

 

Can you spot the bird?

There's a reason why sparrows are brown and stripy.

 

Cairn

A mossy rock by an old farm shed.

 

Roots

I wonder how long before this tree topples into the river.  

 

Lost history

I wonder what the story of these buildings is.

 

If walls could talk

There are several old buildings on this property.  They must be over 100 years old but I haven't been able to find out anything about their history.

 

Zoom

A group of bikers flew past us on the greenway.

 

Elusive

Little kinglets are very hard to photograph.  They flit so fast that you only get one shot.  This one seemed happy to hide from the camera.

 

What is it?

What does it look like to you?

It's a piece of ice floating on Durant park lake.

 

In flight

Just as I snapped a picture, the woodpecker flew.  With luck, I caught him in flight.

Here he is just before.

 

Lizard wall

There is a nice warm brick wall at Durant Park.  The lizards come out whenever there's sun.

These guys look like they're playing follow the leader.

These two just wanted to laze around.

They're green anoles, even if they aren't green.  (see here)

 

Cattails

The cattails are letting their seeds fly.

 

Planet walk

The Prairie Ridge Ecostation has a new "planet walk."  It starts with a sign for the sun and then at a proportional distance it has signs for each planet.  The first four are fairly close.  (in the picture the sun is on the left in front and then Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are in order down the path.)  We had  to walk pretty far to get to Jupiter and Saturn.  We thought that the sign for Uranus was missing but found it way down the path.  Neptune was clear across the park.  Poor Pluto doesn't even make the list anymore.

 

Hollies

It didn't quite look like holly, but it is-Yaupon holly. (see here)  It's latin name is: Ilex vomitoria, named after the unfortunate aftereffects if you eat it.

And here is our more common, American holly (see here).

 

Back to the nest

The eagles are back at Shelly Lake.  

 

Angry bird?

The yellow eyebrows on this white throated sparrow makes him seem particularly angry.

 

Lichen

When the forest is mostly asleep for winter, I start noticing the smaller things. Lichen are really unusual, a symbiotic partnership of moss and algae.  This one lives on rocks.  It's a greenshield lichen, I think.   (see here)