Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Steve’s Bird Of The Day #29.
Hi once again and welcome to our bird of the day! Today we have the “clay-colored sparrow”, another small sparrow about the same size as our chipping sparrow, so they are tied for our smallest species. This is another summer visitor which comes back about the same time as the chipping sparrow, so again tied for the last to return. It is not quite as friendly as the chipping sparrow, but can be attracted to feeders or especially to seeds spread on the ground for them. Their ‘song’ doesn’t really sound like something a bird would make, just 3 or 4 buzzes. Their food is seeds and insects. In this area they are at the northern edge of their breeding ground, but further west they will go further north. Have a great day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Art In Nature #9.
Hi everyone and welcome back to our weekly look at art in nature! I hope you all are having a great day, it’s cloudy and rainy here today. That rain is helping to soften and melt the snow nicely. There is actually very little snow left here now which is so nice. I am enjoying it anyway, especially after the last 4 years of having a late spring. And, of course with spring comes lots of opportunities to see so much art in nature all around us.
Like these leaves above poking through the melting snow. They are leaves of a wildflower called Pipssissewa, a unique looking flower with evergreen leaves. That means their leaves stay green year round. I didn’t see any flowers around this year or last, most likely because people pick them. Like many wildflowers, when the flowers are picked, they will never produce a flower again. Please don’t pick wildflowers, take pictures instead and leave the flower for others to enjoy as well. There are many wildflowers that can be safely picked and they will continue to bloom each year, but it’s better to be on the safe side and leave them.
Then we have this hole, in the pic above, in the little bit of ice that’s left on the river, making a nice frame for the rocks under the water. The water of this river is nice and clear, plus always cold.
Moving on to a warmer time last summer, we have in the picture above, a rose hip. This is the fruit of the wild rose. Wild roses are quite abundant here though it seems they are producing less flowers each year too. And even less rose hips seem to develop. But they are quite interesting and backed by some nice green leaves can make for a beautiful picture of wilderness art. Then we have the featured image at the top, something many might not even notice though it is a large surface area of granite rock along the river’s edge. It’s the many different colored stripes and striations of the rock, with bands of different minerals swirling their way through the main granite rock. It can be very interesting to look closely at these different bands of color and texture. But then, I like rocks and minerals, I enjoy collecting them, so it might be just me that would find such rocks fascinating. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 