Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Steve’s Bird Of The Day #48.
Hello everyone! Today’s bird is the Wilson’s Snipe, a beautiful sandpiper with a very long bill as you can see in the pic. It has sensors at the end of it’s bill to tell the bird it has found food and it can open the end to pick up and swallow what it has found without bringing it’s bill out of the ground. It can fly at 60 mph (96kph). A relative, the common snipe, lives in Europe and Russia. The Wilson’s snipe breeds throughout Alaska and all through Canada except for some of the northernmost tundra regions. Also breeds in some of the northern states. It winters generally from the southern US to South America. They nest on the ground, the female makes the nest from fine grasses mostly in a well hidden spot. The female lays 2-4 eggs and once the young can fly, the male takes the older 2 and the female the younger 2 for looking after them, the mates don’t stay together after that. They can be found in most any wet area, along lakes and rivers, marshes, ponds, wet fields, swamps and bogs and are one of the most common shorebirds. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Art In Nature #13.
Hello again everyone on this beautiful, sunny spring day! It’s soon time to get out for a nice walk to the river, but first let’s take a look at some more of our beautiful nature’s art that can be found anywhere, even in cities. Now the art might be different in cities than in smaller towns and country locations, but it’s still there. Just stop and look around instead of being in a hurry all the time.
Now talk about a work of art! These blueberries just above are beautiful to look at, and they were also very delicious to eat! Okay, these are definitely a more country pleasure, but still, real art in nature…You will find that stopping to look at the art in nature will actually help you to stay calm and have much less stress in your life.
And in the pic above we have some Saskatoon berries. Definitely another work of art in nature, and the nice ripe purple ones were also delicious! Although I don’t really care for the large seed inside, but for taste, it’s great…And it’s true, nature has that natural calming effect on us, even just a small bit of nature. Perhaps looking at the trees along the street. Many cities are planting more trees and putting in green spaces wherever they can because it really does help people.
And in the pic above we have some ripe wild raspberries. There was a lot of them last year, but these were the only ones I saw that actually made it to the ripe stage. A lot of wild critters like to eat them before they get ripe, such as my friendly chipmunks, who don’t seem to mind climbing around those prickly plants….
And by helping to reduce stress, it also helps make our bodies healthier as well. Good reasons to get out more and take a look around us to see what we can find. There is a lot of beauty around outside and just going for a short walk each day is a good thing in itself. It’s just good to be outside as much as we can. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
