Drops of Beauty #147

November 3, 2023

“It’s funny how things change slowly, until the day we realize they’ve changed completely.” - Nancy Gibbs

Hello friends! The change of seasons is in full swing here. It’s warm, it’s cold, it’s warm, it’s cold, it’s Missouri in the fall. Some trees, like most of the stately oaks, haven’t changed at all except to drop their meager supply of acorns after a tough growing year. Some trees are now completely bare. I often say it’s hard to notice the change from day to day but week to week it’s remarkable.

Out on the lake the flock of Franklin’s gulls has shrunk from our record setting numbers, but there are still a few hanging around (or passing through, I can’t really tell). The number of ducks have increased and though the cold and wind make it tough to tell what kind of ducks are out there, the circling flocks are definitely much larger in number. My little cootie friends are swimming in groups organized by hundreds now and today I saw my first hooded merganser of the winter.

Here are some favorite recent photos:

Sunrise, October 30, 2023. The word for this is “COLD”. Had to get out the long winter coat and thicker mittens!

First loon of the season and he flew over my head calling that awesome tremolo. Obviously asking to have his picture taken!

Remember the little wood duck I wrote about in August who appeared to have been raised by mallards? I think this is the same little duck, now in his full adult regalia.

He was hanging out with a group of mallards and steadfastly keeping one of the mallard males away from a female he was sticking close to.

My biggest clue was that unlike wood ducks - but just like mallards - he tolerated my presence. Male wood ducks are just unreal works of art!

There have been lots of flickers around - sometimes at least one too many. Some days I want to say hey, boys, it’s not mating season! If you look closely you will see that the flicker on the back of the branch reached over and plucked feathers out of the other flicker’s belly!

He didn’t even keep the feathers. That wasn’t the end of the alteration, more flickers to come in a future newsletter.

I still can’t get over how many Franklin’s gulls we had hanging around - and how wonderful it was to have them! So many videos to try and compress into a few minutes.

Franklin’s gulls really are graceful and to watch them swoop and circles is like ballet.

Any bird in - or over - beautiful water is among my favorite things to photograph.

Sometimes something unexpected catches my eye, like the way this grass lit up at sunrise.

Or how lovely this yellow tree looked behind all those gulls.

I was amazed the little franklin’s gulls just sat there as the kayaker went by.

Kingfisher was hiding from me as usual, but she didn’t know I could see her through the leaves.

May your weekend be filled with peace and joy in whatever ways are possible, big or small. There are lots of horrors in the world today - and there are lots of little beauties too.