Unwinding

Late yesterday afternoon we left for one of my favorite places; my parents farm in rural West Virginia. It seems like we spent most of the night driving. Due to my back my wife took all of the driving duties. We had a little rain that always makes night driving a little more stressful. The trip here is just shy of 400 miles and always follows the same pattern. The closer we get to the farm the sky gets darker and darker. Trees become the predominant feature of the landscape. Gone are the fast food places and strip malls. The weight of the human population becomes less and less. I can feel my head clearing just thinking about it. All day today I’ve not heard one siren, helicopter or jet engine.

My dad is a retired wildlife biologist and has spent the past 8 years of his retirement managing the farm for wildlife. He has planted hundreds of trees and spends much of this time of year mowing wildlife clearings. I’m not talking about a lawn. The mower is a 5 foot brush mower powered by a big 4 wheel drive Ford tractor. Much of what he is mowing is 2 to 3 year old Sumac about chest high and waist high grass fields. The idea is to create diversity in the habitat by having areas of different plant types; grass fields next to Sumac thickets next to young woods next to old woods. My dad and I went for a walk this morning and we looked at his most recent mowing. It is amazing how fast clearings from two years ago have grown up.

I spent some time today watching the butterfly bushes next to the house. I’m going to keep track of all the different butterflies I see while I’m here. The first picture is a Monarch that would have hatched within the past week or so. The beat up butterfly is called a Fritillary that hatched out this spring and is at the end of its life cycle. The Monarch will migrate south and return in the spring to lay eggs for the next generation. The Fritillary already laid its eggs and the caterpillars will winter over as pupae to hatch in the late spring next year.

I’m sitting on my parent’s front porch and I had to take a break to watch a large flight of Night Hawks feeding over one of the fields. They are a very distinctive bird that is fun to watch. Their flight is like a dance with constant quick changes in direction as they scoop up insects with their mouths. Their wings are long and pointy and they don’t have a distinguishable neck. They remind you of a very large barn swallow and are clearly built for maneuverability. I say mouths because their beaks are tiny but their mouth is almost as wide as their body and can open very wide. It works like a butterfly net scooping up insects. This is why their flight is erratic as they spot an insect and fly to catch it.