Welcome to the 35th edition of the Windows on Wildlife Blog Carnival! If you have a recent post or photo about wildlife you’d like to share (it can be anything: birds, insects, mammals…) scroll down to the end of the post and add your site. I will compile and post a summary of all additions the following week. Please don’t forget to link back here and visit other blogs in the carnival. Thanks for stopping by!
Due to my daily radiation treatments, our family wasn’t able to take a full week vacation in the Catskills this summer, as we’ve done in the past. Very disappointing, but we made a point of getting up there for a long weekend in July and in August, and we’ll be back at the cabin for Labor Day weekend.
One treat this year was the timing of the Perseid meteor shower – it peaked over the weekend, with a clear sky and very little moonlight. I don’t go many places that are as unaffected by light pollution as our cabin in the Catskill mountains, and star-gazing there is such a different experience than anywhere else. I forget how covered in stars the sky really is, and what a wonder it is to peer up at the Milky Way and know that you’re staring at the edge of our galaxy.
- melfoody / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
The meteor shower wasn’t as active as I had imagined (or hoped), but we had some good sightings. Actually, I was just content to sit out on the front lawn in an Adirondack chair and stare into the sky for over an hour. The only sounds up there at night is the rushing of the stream (Friday’s heavy rain swelled all the local waterways) and the chorus of crickets. A Great Horned Owl called from a distance for a while, and the squeaks, chirps and chitters of bats (some swooping so low I think we could have touched them) kept us company for the first 1/2 hour.
The next day we were out playing ball with the kids when clear as a bell I heard a coyote pack howling. It was about late morning, which wasn’t a very typical time to hear coyotes but there was no mistaking the beautiful, eerie chorus of howls that briefly filled our area in the valley.
- curtzsi / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
What did you hear in nature this week? Share your finds in this week’s carnival link-up below!
Linking up with Nature Notes this week:
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Beautiful sky, and animals!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
Thanks Boom and Gary – hope you both are doing well!
I should have come to visit you. I didn’t even look – my son just reminded me that we have too much pollution in New Jersey, and I sighed.
Unfortunately it’s everywhere, Leora. That’s why I enjoy reading other’s posts about nature – it reminds me that I’m not the only one who cares. 🙂
It’s always nice to see and hear nature, no matter where you are. I’m waiting for a meteor shower that is visible here in the southern hemisphere. I live out in the country, so it will be quite a treat. I hope your health returns quickly.
I agree, Betty. I especially love seeing what people share when they live in a different part of the world. Thanks for visiting!
I’m not certain about the fascination with coyotes and coyote scat, but two things come to mind. One is based on my experience living in the Urban/Wildlife Boundary where coyotes seek to co-exist with the general population. MANY people call the Audubon Society in a fearful state and we try to calm them down. However, the coyotes are losing habitat and are becoming bolder. If people leave dog food or even bird seed outside, it attracts them. Of course, if people leave little “Fluffy” outside, it’s goodbye Fluffy. (We see countless “LOST” signs on telephone poles). I think people are fascinated by creatures that are so like dogs and who have no compunction about trotting down the street in the middle of the day! As far as the scat, Audubon Society regularly sells out of an Owl Scat package because kids love to see what the owls eat and try to re-assemble the bones of the small animals. Owls are major predators. Perhaps coyotes are becoming more and more in that category as they seek to survive. Anyway, just some thoughts.
Hi Susie! I think you’re right that people really want to know about coyotes due to the increased interactions we’re having with them. And they’re definitely becoming a top-level predator here in the northeast. It’s always fascinating to come upon signs left behind by wildlife – I’d imagine that there are lots of people out there trying to tell the difference between domestic dog and coyote scat.
When we were in Cobscook Bay last week, the stars were amazing. It’s awesome to be able to see that clearly. Sad that we have to travel to do so.
Ooh, I bet you had some good stargazing opportunities! It really makes me sad how far we have to go to see the true look of the night sky. I knew a naturalist who took on the challenge of trying to teach about light pollution and the effects it has on humans and wildlife; but he’s the only one I know of. I wish this were a better-known issue.
Wonderful nature shots. I’m glad you’ve managed to get some short trips in spite of treatments interfering with regular summer plans. I hope that the treatment are a big success.
Thanks Carver, wish they were mine! But I was too enthralled with my stargazing to bother trying to see if I could capture it. 🙂 We’re keeping our fingers crossed that radiation, hormone therapy and anti-cancer meds will keep me (breast) cancer free for a very, very long time.
I tried to watch the sky, but too much light here….I hope your treatment is over now or soon. I hope you are feeling more normal or the new normal…. Check the milkweed tussock moth cat. It sounds like what you are seeing on your milkweed…thank you for linking in.. I can add my hawk post in… Michelle
I’ll definitely look up the moth you mentioned – and I did get a picture of it! Hopefully I’ll have an id to go with my photo next week. 🙂 Definitely add your hawk post!
I will have to remember this meme for next week…I hope!! Your coyote image is outstanding!!!
Would love to have you join us, Anni! I wish the coyote photo was mine, but I’m content with having heard them. 🙂