Monday - Twenty years of working in Animal Control, and twenty five years of hunting for snakes, and I’ve never had the privilege of finding a Coral Snake in the wild. And look what my mom’s neighbor found crawling out of her swimming pool in Texas this morning! Knowing my mom and her friend, I'm surprised they had the nerve to get close enough for this cell-phone photo! Unfortunately, since nobody skilled enough (and crazy enough) like me was there to collect the beautiful specimen, they had to “get rid” of him.  

Driftwood, Texas

Sunday, 6:49 AM - This early morning backyard visitor gave me a bit of a fit. I didn’t immediately recognize it, so I had to grab the Peterson’s Field guide. Perhaps it is a Pine Warbler? I’ve seen those before in my backyard. It had the yellow ‘spectacles’ around the eyes, but this one seemed larger, and the beak was too big. Perhaps a Yellow-throated Vireo? But it looked too yellow and didn’t have the black eye stripe.

Having no luck in Peterson’s, a few days later I tried www.allaboutbirds.org, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website. This is a great resource with photos, identification and life history info on every bird. It even has photos of similar species to help clear up confusions like mine. Still no luck.

Finally, on September 30, I decided to email the photos to the vice-president of the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society. The “conversation” went like this:

• Me: Hi, Can you help identify this one from my backyard in East Athens? Seems too big and beak different to be a Pine Warbler. Yellow throat vireo?  Thanks!
• Katy:  Hi William, Thanks for the email! This is actually a Summer Tanager and a lovely shot.  Yellow-throated Vireo was a very good guess.
• Me: Wow! It wasn’t red so it threw me off. I’ve seen the red males in my yard on occasion but didn’t realize females come in yellow. 
• Katy:  Tanager females are the yellowish green, but with that one being so yellow I'd say it is probably a fall male, they lose their red in favor of a yellowy orange glow. 

​
Mystery solved. Should have consulted and expert earlier! 

​Athens, Georgia

A waxing gibbous moon hangs about 45 degrees above me to the south. I sit and enjoy a quiet evening on my back patio with my family. As the sky darkens to a deeper blue, the long bright trail of a “shooting star” blazes across the sky. It originated just below the moon and fired in a somewhat downward angle to the east until it faded out near the tree line. 

​“Wow!” I exclaimed, just after this meteor blazed across the sky. My wife and kids sitting with me all said, “What?”, so I knew I was the only one to see it. In much the same manner, so many people never notice these wonders of God. While we sit in ignorance, giant masses of stone are hurtling toward our planet. Not only are we are ignorant of our danger, but we are ignorant of His grace. Yet He protects us still! 

​Unfortunately, one day His protection will be lifted and a great judgment – a judgment that has long been withheld because of His immense mercy and longsuffering – will take place. Our souls must be prepared against this day. Not by building underground meteor shelters, but simply in recognizing and accepting His grace and salvation. That same grace which covers our planet in a protective atmosphere is sufficient to save all in the day of wrath. 

Tuesday, 7:20 PM - Waiting on the back patio for my family to come out for a walk, a pretty waxing crescent moon hanging in the sky, I saw a large Pileated Woodpecker flying in his characteristic dipping flight pattern, heading east, off to my left. I could hear his loud call several minutes later off in the woods.

In a rare moment, a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird got a chance at the feeder. He is a rare sight because one particular female hummer aggressively chases off all the others.  He was much more cautious and allowed only a poor photograph.

​A Barred Owl called three times off in the distance as we began our walk. 

​Athens, Georgia

Monday, 7:36 AM - Labor Day Holiday
​​Coinciding with a bright orange ray of the rising sun illuminating a panel of my neighbor’s wood fence, the bird songs began and avian activity really picked up. Three jays came, stayed up in a tree, looked toward the ground, and flew off. The Titmice and Cardinals showed up as usual. A bigger Brown Thrasher bullied the House Finches away from the feeder until his breakfast was over.
 
Over the next thirty minutes, new pairs and triplets of Blue Jays showed up (or re-appeared) in shifts; their piercing calls louder than any of the other bird songs.  Examining their photos later, I could see bald patches on a few of their heads. Not sure if they are molting adults, fledges that aren’t fully feathered, or bullied individuals.
 
A small rabbit hopped across the back, but too timid to stick around. At 8:47, the screech of a hawk sounded across the meadow as my cue to leave the house to work on the trail on the church property.
 
Several showed up to help clear the pathway. In great sadness, I found that I had run over a Box Turtle with my riding mower, cracking his shell a bit. I don’t know if he’ll survive. No sign of the Copperhead that I had seen here a few weeks earlier. 

Athens, Georgia

Saturday, 7:17 PM – I’m lying on a picnic table at my church, staring up into a darkening sky, waiting for the outdoor concert to begin. Far overhead a couple of birds sail through the sky making occasional dives and loops. The flight pattern, the wide white bars on their wings, and the time of day are the keys to their identity: Common Nighthawk. They are far too high, and the light far too low, for a good photograph. But why not document the meeting? (I can’t explain it, but my spirit is always lifted spotting some bird, sunset, critter or even just a cloud formation.) The resulting photograph is nothing worth posting: poor light, no detail, lots of "noise"... it won’t win any awards or even qualify as interesting.  Unless…

I’ve recently listened to a few classes by John Muir Laws on nature journaling and sketching. In one course he talks about turning a sketch that isn’t turning out well into a diagram.  “Writing all over your drawing is the easiest means of ‘journal first aid’. Any time you don’t like the way a drawing is going, make it a diagram. Add a few lines, notes and things. The density of information makes it interesting again, both to you and anyone else who looks at it.” I suppose it could work with a photograph as well. 

I tried it with my 'substandard' Nighthawk photograph and Laws is right: the diagrams, along with writing a journal entry, give the photo more depth and some context. Now it is now more interesting and memorable… at least to me, if nobody else.
​
Athens, Georgia

Friday, 8:49 AM - I love this weather! Hurricane Hermine has brought us some strong breezes and a thick, unbroken blanket of quickly moving gray and white cloud cover… perfect photography conditions! There is no harsh glare from the sun, and no discomfort from heat and humidity. Since I am mostly caught up on the animal photos, I treated myself to a quick walk up to the far pond behind the shelter after my initial shelter walk-through. That pond is smaller, but is rimmed by trees and brush and thus more secluded. The more wary birds and wildlife visit that pond more often than the larger, more open pond in view of all the county buildings.

As I approached, I could see a Great Egret (Ardea alba​) on the far end of the pond. I backed away and took to the far edge along the woods in order to obtain a more stealthy approach. As I got closer to where I assumed I was parallel to the bird, I edged up to the pond and took a few shots through the foliage. I watched her fish, and she was having a successful morning. About eight to ten times she thrust her spear-like bill into the water then jerked her head back and swallowed her quarry.

After a few minutes of observation, I got up and walked along with her… she on one side of the pond, and I on the other. She had a fairly high degree of tolerance for my presence. As we neared the narrow end of the pond, I circled around in her direction. Perhaps not wanting to end her easy breakfast, she allowed me to approach fairly close before taking flight.
​
Walton County, Georgia

Thursday, 3:13 PM - This baby watersnake was slithering along behind the shelter near where I take the “glamor photos” of the dogs. He was quite the feisty little guy, as most watersnakes tend to be; striking at every movement of my hand. No doubt he was born this summer. Perhaps he is a descendant of a watersnake I photographed here at the shelter in November, 2012.

​Walton County, Georgia

Thursday, 7:25 PM - My daughter and I met about a dozen others from our church to walk through the planned “Haunted Trail” we will be having on the church land on Athena Drive.  The land is a large wooded lot that has gotten somewhat overgrown. We walked up the trail about 60 yards from the road and were standing next to a large pile of rocks and broken cement pieces while our pastor talked about the scenes from previous years’ productions. As the group turned and proceeded up the trail, I saw a movement on top of the stone pile. I couldn’t believe my eyes… a large Copperhead; beautiful burgundy and copper coloring… probably every bit of three feet long. I probably should have kept my mouth shut so as not to freak everybody out, but in my excitement shouted, “Hey, did you see the snake!!!” There were mixed emotions of fear and fascination among the group. But I was most surprised that nobody really knew what kind of snake this was. 

I got a stick and nudged him to urge him to crawl into the crevices underneath the stone pile before someone had the bright idea to stone him to death.  Of course, I didn’t have my camera. Leaving my camera behind always ensures I'll see something incredible. 

Athens, Georgia

Thursday, 6:27 AM - ​The Barred Owls have been quite vocal in the neighborhood lately. Early this morning I could hear one as I worked on translating the Greek New Testament. It had to be close by the house to be heard so clearly from indoors. When I went out to my truck to leave for prayer meeting, I sounded my owl call four times, but it didn’t respond or come.

I had to laugh at one of the recent email posts on the neighborhood Next Door forum: “My husband saw a large winged owl or other winged predator fly over the back deck (on Tabby Lane) tonight. He heard a screetch noise and saw something flying by and looked up and saw it land on our rooftop. The shadow looked like an owl. We have noticed some of the tree frog population has gone down, and our moth and bug population is up these last few nights. I hope that thing isn't eating our other, smaller bug-eating creatures.”

Their impression of 'that thing' was like a vampire bat or predatory pterodactyl that had no right to be in our neighborhood. Luckily, the owls had some intelligent defenders post brief natural history lessons to benefit those not so familiar with nature. 

What kind of impression am I leaving behind? Are my emails and conversations scathing or uncaring? Do I leave a clean print, or are my hands muddied like a raccoon in the mud? Even if they don’t know me directly, am I making a lasting and edifying mark on someone else’s life? ​

Tuesday, 8:20 AM - As I walked out behind the shelter, my attention couldn’t help but be drawn to a noisy bird circling over the Public Works building. One of the Killdeer that is normally darting around on the ground in our parking lot was flying through the air and shouting its name. Peterson's Field Guide describes its call as, "a loud, insistent kill-deeah, repeated." The other Plovers' calls are more pleasantly described as 'a plaintive whistle', 'a musical whistle', or 'a low chucking.' But not the Killdeer, which Peterson’s Field Guide gives a one-word description: 'noisy'.  

Our Killdeer was exemplifying this boisterous description, and simultaneously living up to his Latin name, Charadrius vociferous. Vociferous is from the Latin vociferari meaning "to shout, yell." If you break it down, vox means "voice", and add it to -ferre, meaning "to carry"; therefore, vociferous describes 'voices that carry'. Vociferous doesn’t just describe volume, but also intimates annoying.

​Its loud cries sounded so persistent and urgent that it seemed to be a distress call to summon help for a fallen comrade. I don’t know the real purpose behind his flight and shouts, but he certainly made it known he was in the area. Stokes’ Guide to Bird Behavior may shed light on his purpose when it says, “At other times he may do small circling-flights over the territory, giving Kideah-calls of any type to advertise his presence to females and other males in the territory.” 

​Walton County, Georgia