Monday, September 17, 2007

Shiloh

We made a trip to Shiloh over the weekend. I have umpty-million photos to download, but so far this one is my favorite.


Spotted fawn in the Union cemetery. (Click to enlarge.)

His cute little fuzzy close-up:



Awww.

-----

It was a very birdy weekend. This wasn't really a birding trip, but we did have our binoculars, so we looked every time we happened to see the branches moving. The list of warblers we saw without even really trying:

Yellow-throated
Black-and-White
Magnolia
Canada
Chestnut-sided
Redstart
Pine
Palm
Brewster's (!)
Tennessee

The gorgeous male Canada warbler was a special treat since we hadn't seen one in so long. And the Brewster's, wow! They are a hybrid between the Blue-winged and Golden-winged warblers, and we'd only seen one once or twice before, at Dauphin Island.

If we'd had more time, we'd have turned it into a birding trip until the migration fallout ran dry, and finished exploring the battlefield later. The weather was beautiful - the first fall-like days of the year.


Just resting.
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis).

14 comments:

sugarcreekfarm said...

That fawn picture...wow. Just, wow.

robin andrea said...

What a sweet shot of that fawn in the cemetary. I've been reading on other blogs about all the warbler sightings. I saw a few briefly in the beginning of summer, but have not seen another since. I think they've all of our migrators have already south. We're down to the birds that over-winter here.

Anonymous said...

such a wonderful fawn picture and great list of warblers that you found!

Anonymous said...

I'm loving the knobby knees in that second picture.

SantaBarbarian said...

I was away at a retreat this weekend and have a ton of photos to download, too.

I thought of you this weekend when I was introduced to "Ginger", a retreat resident chicken who was attacked by a coyote and was being closely monitored for her health. Her caretaker was joining in on the sessions and was traveling with Ginger and had her out wandering around at lunchtime...she having her "lunch" along with us.

Stopped by and saw her fellow feathered friends in their little hutch with a big "escape hole" for daytime wandering.

The rooster was "sexy" and very loud. He was doing his job waking us up bright and early.

But...thought "gotta get a chicken photo" to share with "Rurality!"

Omelay said...

what a beautiful fawn picture. i thought it was a statue at first glance.

KFarmer said...

What a special treat to see such young beauty in old. Very nice :)

Ava said...

That is an absolutely wonderful shot of the fawn in the cemetery! Just awesome!

I'm a bird watcher too! I haven't gone on an official birding trip in the last year, but will be doing it some more. It's so enjoyable. I, also, always have at least three pair of binoculars in the car!!!!

lime said...

oh that top photo is a perfectly captured magical moment!

Anonymous said...

Unbelievably gorgeous photos of the fawn! They look Photoshopped, they're so perfect. You have a phenomenal eye. There just aren't enough superlatives!

PS - Really love your blog. :o)

Rurality said...

Thanks y'all! Hubby is the one who spotted the fawn and alerted the rest of us. I took about 15 or 20 pictures of him but the very first one was the best. He was wary but not that frightened of us for most of the time. Then something spooked him and he scampered off very sweetly.

SCF, it sounds corny to say so but it was kind of a magical moment. :)

RA, fall migration is definitely on in this area. I have no idea how it works out west though.

Tom we felt really lucky to see all those wonderful warblers.

Wren, me too! It was funny when he bounded away, it was like he hadn't grown into his legs yet.

Jill I am looking forward to seeing your chicken pics! It's funny, when we were seeing all the state monuments at Shiloh I was thinking about all the bloggers I knew from those states. :)

Karl, he was still as a statue at first. Then he decided we weren't much of a threat and munched a little grass.

KF, I thought of that too... also of stillness and innocence in that place of great destruction.

Ava, we don't weem to be able to get away for actual "birding trips" any more, but we do try to take binocs with us if we'll be outdoors. We got really lucky with the weather on this trip.

Lime, thanks, every now and then I manage to be standing at the right place! :)

Citygirl, thanks, no photoshopping on this one except for cropping. I am somewhat of a cropping fiend. :)

kris said...

Love the fawn photo - the bird too - but the fawn is just so sweet!

DeeMom said...

Serenely, tastefully and lovely…speaks volumes
Great shots

lisa said...

LOVE LOVE your pictures! As far as I'm concerned, you can post as many pictures from this trip as you like! I really enjoy travelling vicariously through other people!