As many of my readers know, I'm a little busy these days. My husband underwent surgery on May 21st and we are working on coming back from that. So, I'm home, unless we go to the doctors. However, in the evening my daughter takes the dog for a walk and the last few days I've been going with her.
Here they are, the dynamic duo. He is so strong that my daughter has to wear a waist halter and a collar leash in order to keep him secure.
We live in a rather defined, middle class suburban community. It is, however, part of a larger historic area of Long Island and much of the natural surroundings remain undisturbed. Less than a mile from our home is an established old-growth forest, and the shore (Oyster Bay) is less than two miles away.
In my modest neighborhood there are many mature, if not old-growth trees and thus there is a rich resource for birds to nest and perch.
Here is a picture of an area we pass through on our walk. This section of our excursion is alive with the sound of birds, and with birds flying. We often see raptors coming from these trees. In the summer we see bats. When the bats are around I choose to take another route. I'm not interested in having a bat in my hair.
One of the joys I experience on my walks is listening to and watching the birds as they carry on with their lives far above our heads. Sometimes I get distracted in pursuit of this goal. Here is a small clip where you can hear my daughter rescuing me from an oncoming car. I'm sure I didn't need rescuing, but that's how she sees it.
We have a variety of bird species in the area. The tree in our own backyard hosts a family of sparrows. Here is a still captured from a short video I shot of one bird a few weeks ago. You can barely see the tiny bird on the ledge of the birdhouse.
This is a legacy birdhouse, left from the previous owners of our property.
We have owls nearby, which we can hear at night when we try to sleep, and we have woodpeckers. And we also hear the unmistakable coo of morning doves. The doves may be essentially diurnal, but are known to coo at dusk if they are reaching out to a mate or if they are in distress.
Blackbirds are quite common to our area. From the size of the birds that I've seen, I would guess we most likely are observing crows. That bird is quite large, and fits more the descriptions I've read online. Nesting blackbirds are wary of crows because the larger bird steals babies and eggs from nests.
There is also the possibility that we are looking at ravens, which are even larger than crows or blackbirds. Less than a mile from our home there is a nature preserve where ravens may be found. I understand ravens need tall trees in which to perch, and we do have those.
However, my evening walks are about more than birds. They are about being with my daughter, and enjoying the evening air. They are about enjoying the dog's company, and watching him prance. Here he is enjoying his evening jaunt.
The walks are also about cats, and rabbits. We saw several cats (there are two pictured below) on our walk. In the first video, the cat seems to be on the verge of being sick. In second, the cat is aware of us, but indifferent to our presence.
This cat's body language: My house!
And then there were rabbits, munching on grass and whatever vegetables they could find. Gardens are quite popular in my neighborhood.
The first rabbit we saw was on our side yard. The dog alerted us to the presence of this tiny animal. You can hear the dog's yelp in the short video (below).
We restrained the dog, so I was able to get quite close to the rabbit before it hopped off into the bushes.
Freezing in place is a rabbits first defense. However, they have other, though not robust defenses. They can run in a way that will confuse a pursuer, and they can actually fight back (I didn't realize that). A rabbit is a prey animal and unless protecting its territory from other rabbits, it will not attack.
Here is the rabbit in my yard after I got pretty close. It decided to simply run away and eat grass on another lawn.
We saw other rabbits, on other lawns. Here's one, running off also:
Here is a rabbit we saw on the following night.
Dusk seems to be dog walking time. Our dog walks with ears raised, and looks for other dogs. He knows the word 'dog' now and gets quite excited when he sees one, even if that dog is behind a window. Our dog is never aggressive when he meets others of his kind. Here he is meeting a little 'friend'. They had just exchanged sniffs and were about to part when I took this shot.
Not all dogs are friendly when they encounter our dog. There is one neighbor who has three dogs. He walks them all at the same time. This is a pack, and a pack can be quite aggressive. When we see this group we stay far away. I wonder, if the animals ever became aggressive, could the owner manage them? I wouldn't want to test that. As you can see, these are not small dogs and they always react quite angrily when they see our dog.
As I looked for birds to video, I captured a nice short of trees rustling in the wind. I love that sound and could go to sleep listening to it every night.
Here is a picture of some neighborhood treetops, which are so inviting to birds. When those birds circle above the treetops, they are beautiful. And yet, below they are likely bad news for the rabbits and other small animals that try to survive. Certainly the owl, which I have yet to see, would spell trouble for the little critters.
My evening walks may not be very exciting, but right now they are lovely for me. I find on each one that the landscape has changed. We are not the same from day to day. The neighborhood likewise is dynamic, something new to witness--many things new--each time I venture out.
Here's a shot of a street at dusk as we are approaching home. I think this captures the mood of the evening perfectly.
I hope you enjoyed taking this evening stroll with me, my daughter and our dog. Our neighborhood is typical of many on Long Island (NY)--perhaps quieter than most. For us, that is one of the main attractions.
Peace and health to all.
I used my cell phone (OnePlus Nord100) to capture these images. They were taken on the fly so perhaps lack quality.