Bird Post #1280

According to Blogger Stats, this is Post #1,280 that is labeled "Birds." I have 9,350 posts total. I keep an eye on those statistics because they amaze me, or maybe they appall me. Have I really been doing this that long? Well yes, I started in 2005. 

Virginia is now seeing winter weather. Mornings have been well below freezing, and snow is predicted for this weekend, possibly 20 inches. Then again, the storm could go to the north and miss us again. In the meantime, here’s take a look at the birds that have been visiting my feeders this week. These are motion-activated pictures from the Birdfy camera.

We’ll start with the cardinal. The male is brilliant red. The female is subtle olive with touches of red.
 

The male house finch has some red feathers too. 

The slate-colored junco is gray and white but a charming bird. It’s also called a dark-eyed junco. This one appears to be starting to land. 

And just for fun, here’s a junco coming in from the other side. 

Both Forks in January

 Yesterday on the North Fork

Today on the South Fork

Wordless / Mosaic

Sunflowers Mural in Sperryville

Sperryville is a small town that has become a center for art, like its neighbor Little Washington. 

I was able to find a signature on this mural, the name Scarbrough. I found the artist’s page and I see he has done a number of murals in Culpeper. That’s a longer drive for me, but it’s near some historic attractions so I’d like to make a day trip there before too long.

Monday Murals / Garden Affair

The Miller House on Cougill Road

 Middletown, VA

I put the name of the road in the title of the post because Miller House is a common place name, plus I have forgotten the name of the road several times when I was trying to find this historic site. It is mentioned in written accounts of the Battle of Cedar Creek (1864). This property is on the corner of Mineral Road and faces a railroad track.

The property was recently acquired by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, which will preserve it and possibly open it for tours. 

I’ve written about this place before (see the 2009 post about it). The ruins that are close to the road are sometimes referred to as a mill, but they are actually the ruins of a smaller house that was styled similar to the one that still stands. I photographed the smaller house in 1997, and it was still standing, but just barely. I suspect it predated the larger house, but I don’t know when they were built. 

I saw a photo of a lovely painting by artist John Chumley of the smaller house. I’ve seen an exhibit of Chumley’s work (see this post). He died in 1984.

I’ll spare you my rant about how the park service and others keep calling the ruins a mill when it was actually a brick house. Instead, allow me to complain about the update I just downloaded today on my iPad, OS 26.2. Things look different and I’m getting too stubborn to deal with changes all the time! The Photos app doesn’t have the parallax correction in the same way and I’m going to have to view a video to find out how to straighten lines. This probably doesn’t matter to most people, but I tend to take some photos a bit lopsided with my cell phone, partly because I’m trying to walk the dog and take a picture at the same time. So then I straighten them out on the iPad. I may have become picky when I was taking photo classes years ago, and we used medium format and leveled the camera with a bubble like a carpenter uses. It seems extreme now, but I learned a lot from that experience.

On the plus side, the Photos app now has a place to click to open the picture in “Extensions,” and one of them is SKRWT, which I downloaded some time ago. I can modify receding lines in that and then go right back to Photos. I like the ease of Apple’s Photos app, especially since I no longer subscribe to Photoshop. I don’t like paying for subscriptions. They add up, and my income doesn’t go up because I’m retired. Or maybe that’s an excuse and I’m just cheap!

Cat, Beagle, and More, for Saturday Critters

Let’s start with a picture for Caturday. I used PhotoEditor to add a filter and frame. The cat was available for adoption and we saw it in Petco.

I know Charlie’s fans like to hear his report so I’ll turn this over to him.

<<We went for a ride today. I saw people holding signs

But this post is about critters so here is a big one for you

Big cattle look scary. You know what else is scary? The mean cat! We came home from a walk at night and it was waiting for us on our front porch. I got up the courage to start up the steps and it hissed at me! I stopped and looked and then it ran off. I was glad to get safely inside.

Here’s a small animal that’s kind of funny. It’s a gray squirrel. They can move fast, but sometimes they just sit still and eat the birdseed.

Mostly, I had a good week. I went to visit Sadie a couple of times. Mom took me to different parks to walk and sniff. Yesterday we went to the state park, but it was really cold so we didn’t stay very long

When it’s cold, I had to curl up in my chair. I think I’ll do that now.

Reflection Intruding

I was taking a picture through a window and the sky was behind me.

This image reminds me of a double exposure.Years ago, I traveled to Florida to take a short course taught by Jerry Uelsmann, master of the double exposure. He did amazing things with photo manipulation, long before digital photography was invented.

Supermarket Skywatch

After physical therapy this morning, I stopped at Food Lion to pick up some vegetables. The cashier invited me to take some free flowers. They were past their prime, but still pretty. I got a bouquet for myself and one for Deborah, who was taking care of Charlie while I was gone.

The second picture shows a sunset from the same spot, but looking in a different direction. I took that photo in late December.

 

Birds in Trees, Birds on Feeder

Years ago, I went on a guided nature walk in Huntley Meadows. It was late winter, so the colors of the warmer seasons were not there to delight us. Our guide told us to look up at the trees in the winter. With the leaves gone, we could easily see birds and squirrels, and also the buds of leaves that would be coming out in spring.

I have remembered that, and found that bare trees can look especially nice at sunrise or sunset.

These pictures were not taken on the same day, but I took them both while I was walking Charlie. I think it’s the same tree.

The Birdfy camera continues to take automatic pictures of birds. Here we see a junco.

At the Bakery next to the Exxon Station

Woodstock, VA

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday 

Mural at Vault and Cellar

This mural is on the rear of a restaurant in Middletown, Virginia. It faces a small outdoor area and parking lot.

I think the bat-like creature is the legendary Mothman of West Virginia.

Mosaic Monday / Murals

The front of the building does not look like a typical restaurant, and I learned that it was built in 1890 to serve as a bank. 

The sign out front actually says “Appalachian Cuisine.” My first thought was, “What? Do they serve fried squirrel?” It turns out that that’s not on the menu, but they do serve fried catfish, venison, and a variety of unusual and gourmet dishes. 

My first husband was of Appalachian heritage, and I learned to cook his favorite foods. They were not gourmet by any means.