Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Spring Solitude. #5
Good morning on this cloudy Saturday! There sure is a big difference at the feeders now, not many birds are around anymore. I still saw one male redpoll this morning and 4 pine siskins. There were also 4 female purple finches and 8 evening grosbeaks. I have not seen any chickadees yet but there was one nuthatch. Plus there were 5 juncos and a white-crowned sparrow. Sir George and Lady Pearl were here early for their breakfast.
Yesterday there were no chipmunks all morning, but then Skitter showed up at noon and within half an hour all 5 were out here. And now we come to the name for our new chipmunk. All names were on crumpled pieces of paper, to make a nice ball for Muffin to scoop out of the bowl, I got down on the floor with Muffin, showed her the contents and…nothing. She just sat there staring. That was hard to believe. She looked at me.
I promised her treats if she would scoop out one of the balls of paper. She looked, then walked away. Not nice. So I waited. After a while she came back. Great, here we go as she put her paw in the bowl and kind of moved the balls of paper around a bit. She walked away. Sigh. She always likes this game. Guess we will have to try again later. It was such a nice walk to the river on Thursday, as I mentioned previously, even though I had to walk through snow and water.
Hopefully next time most of that snow will be gone, although the water will be around for quite a while. Especially since we are getting a lot more rain over the next 2 days, then again next weekend. And maybe some in between. But May is supposed to be like that, wetter than normal. That will make walking a bit harder because once the ground thaws that one area will be quite deep with water. Oh well, might have to get wet feet.
Walking along through areas that were dry there was that beautiful scent of warm, dried pine needles. I love that. That is solitude. There were many birds all along the path. Yellow-rumped warblers were amazingly plentiful, but they are an upper canopy bird so they stay high in the trees. Since they are so small it is impossible to get a picture of them. Later when they are nest building or feeding young, they will come down lower, so that is a good time for pictures, providing the birds can be found among all the leaves.
In one area full of pine and spruce trees there was a larger number of evening grosbeaks. I wonder if they are planning to nest in that area. It would be the kind of spot they look for. They like to nest close together. It did look like they were picking up nesting material on the ground and bringing it back into the trees. That is solitude. I will have to keep an eye on that area just in case. There were chickadees all along the way, plus juncos and white-throated sparrows. I heard a song sparrow singing just before getting to the river.
All this is solitude. Down at the river I could not hear anything due to the rushing noise of the river. It sounds nice, though I don’t really like not being able to hear other sounds. I stayed there for about half an hour and then returned home. Must admit, that walk back seemed harder than usual, but it has been 8 weeks since my last trip down there. The beauty of wilderness, that is solitude. Outside feeding the birds I heard the loons again. Now that is solitude. I hope you all have a beautiful weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (Praying for the people of Ukraine)
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Solitude, that is quiet a view 😍😍 I can imagine why you love this place and solitude 🥰 it’s such kind of place ✨☺️ Wish the spring is long 😲 Take care of yourself and don’t strain much, stay back some more time if time persists and walk back safe without getting tired . Enjoy the spring solitude ✨😍❤️
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Yes, I will wait a few more days before going back to the river. Well, right now I don’t mind if spring is short and just move into summer so we can have a longer summer instead.😃🌞😎🌳🌲 But we’ll get what we get and that will be fine.😁🌞😎
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Enjoy what we have, and be grateful 😇 Have a nice Morning ☺️🤗
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Most definitatively! And good morning to you Simon!😁☔☔
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Good Morning 😄❤️ And good evening to you uncle Steve☺️🥰
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Good morning🌞 and good night Simon!😁🌙 Time for me to sleep again, morning always comes so early in the morning!😂😂🤔🌙😴😴
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Ha ha ha morning comes early 🤣🤣🤣 if it comes late then we call it a night 🤣
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Ohh, I like that thought!😁🌙😴😂😹
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How wise isn’t it? you should be motivating me with more positive words 🤪 maybe I’ll be a philosopher one day 😁🙄🤔or a mad man 🤣🤣
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Philosophy, that’s fun! Like, “if the wood is wet why are the geese flying east?”🤔🙄
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Ha ha that’s nice, you can make a lot of philosophy quotes as such 😍😍😍
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I like doing things like that!😁😁
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Pour some more for me😁
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Did you say on you?🤔😂😹
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Ha ha ha 🤣🤣 on me sounds better, how does that tatses😜
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😁😂😹🤪
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😜😂🤣
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Good that you could once again enjoy a walk
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Thank you Sheree! It was nice to get out there again!
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Glad you got home safely ! The river looks unsettling…kind of eerie ! 😲🤔🙂😻 The choir of bird songs must have been beautiful ! Sleep well ! 😴
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The river is definitely on its wild side right now! Lots of rough water and upswells. But it is interesting to watch it, ever changing its shape. Have a good night too!😊😻🌙😴😴☔☔
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