Winter/Spring Notes
This is just a few notes about happenings early in 2023.
January 26, 2023
 | We all celebrated this great news of Elyse being awarded a good scholarship. She has been a very good student, and we kept inquiring about what kind of path she would take in college. Besides doing well in all her coursework and on the standard exams, she has been active in sports, dance, and drama. With all those interests besides her academic work, we kept wondering where she would land in an education path after high school. Our current understanding is that she will enter Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in the fall to pursue study in Environmental Engineering. As of March, she has made trips to Baton Rouge, has a place in the Engineering housing, and has made a trip with her Dad to survey the facilities and programs at LSU Baton Rouge. |
Arrival of the pine warblers and goldfinches
As a part of this crazy variable weather, we had a mild spell in early February, and two flocks of pine warblers arrived about February 10. I saw the first goldfinch about February 16. These two groups tend to travel together. But previously they have stayed for two to three weeks, and this time they were gone in about half that time. We saw our first hummingbird on March 26, so we put out the hummingbird feeder on March 27 and had a visit from an obviously hungry hummingbird late in that day. He sat for a long time taking in the sugar water. During this same week we had a return of three bright goldfinch males and, I think, two female goldfinches on the hotmeats feeder. It's really hard to distinguish a female goldfinch from a pine warbler.
On March 28, about the time we thought the only similar birds left were a pair of goldfinches, a large flock of 15-20 birds showed up. I thought they were all goldfinches, male and female, because half of them were the brilliant yellow. But close examination at the feeders shows what appears to be a few with the narrow sharp beaks of the warbler.
A wild first quarter of 2023
 March 3 | From mid December to mid March, we have had the craziest rollercoaster of weather that I can remember. Below on February 20, we had a mild spell that brought the jonquils into bloom.  February 20 From the extraordinary polar plunge at Christmastime which delayed our visit to Louisiana, to a relatively warm period in January, to freezing weather in March which kept us worried about our plants. And then there were the episodes of violent weather like the January 12 local tornado that took down our fence and severely damaged at least 20 houses starting just a half mile to the south of us across the creek. |
The crazy weather kept us very attentive to the Weather Channel on our phones. We watched the approach of the thunderstorm line on March 3 and I took the picture above left in the middle of an intense thunderstorm with sheets of rain blowing past the house. The blue marker shows our location at 5:10pm.
Do animals know how to take care of themselves?
 | On about March 10 I was looking out the back window at some squirrels high in the trees, which are about a hundred feet tall. Suddenly I saw a squirrel fall from a height that must have been 75 feet! I saw him flatten out and pull in his legs. When he hit, he laid there a minute, but then was up on his feet, and a minute or so later he was sitting, chewing on a nut! I was shocked, but then pleased to see that he had survived. Only one previous time in my long life have I seen a squirrel fall out of a tree. At least 20 years ago I was walking through the grounds of the GA state capitol building on my way to lunch with Jerry Stargel. A squirrel fell off a limb some thirty feet high, and was able to walk away from it. I read that a squirrel can stand the impact from its terminal velocity while falling - apparently so, I've seen it twice now. |
On March 21 I was walking through the back yard and saw this chipmunk's head sticking out the end of an orange cone that we were using as a warning about a hole there as outlet for my drain from my shop door. The hole was a trip hazard - but I knew the chipmunks had used the hole as quick shelter for a long time. But trying to crawl through the cone I had not anticipated!  |  |
I picked up the cone to try to push his head back through the opening, but it was extremely tight. After getting a nip from him, he seemed to realize that I was trying to help, so he became docile. It took a couple of minutes and a very hard push to get his head at a slight angle back through the small opening. It was amazing that he had gotten it in there. But with a hard push the head popped through and he lay apparently unconscious on the grass. Then his eyes opened and he scampered away - I was relieved that he could move that well.
OK, I won't worry much about squirrels falling from trees after that 75 foot drop. But I hope the chipmunk doesn't try the cone again!
| Community Easter celebration at Mableton First Baptist |
2023