Seattle skyline at night, a recent pic.
We're now nearing the end of the second month of summer here in the PNW, and summer so far has been medium, in that the temperatures have been moderate, if sunny.
The last few days have been typical, with temperatures about 75F to just under 80F.
However, the last few nights have been nice -- I go out on an evening bike ride many evenings, and the last couple of evenings it's been 68-70F as late as 10 p.m. (21C). In some of the northern European countries they have a word for it: "Tropenatt" (Tropic-night), which I think is more colorful than our American "wow, it's warm out tonight!"
The mystery plant that grows on my birch tree, which blooms in early June.
Some people wading in the river during low water season.
Robins getting the 'early worm' down at the local river park. They basically ignored me snapping away with my Nikon L32 camera.
LATER THAN USUAL SEASONAL CHANGES
I think that although we're apparently in global warming, it feels like it's actually cooling. Maybe it's the sun's output slackened during the solar minimum. The frogs kept croaking and chirping in the ponds much later than they usually do; the cottonwoods put out very little cotton this year, and the season only lasted a week or two; there are fewer moths out than usual -- my cats have less of them to bat at and run after. And at night it somehow feels like autumn out, even though the trees are all green.
Trees near the clutch of cottonwoods where the local owls hang out at night.
AN ENCOUNTER WITH OWLS
Unfortunately, I have no pictures -- but I was almost sideswiped by a OWL a couple nights ago while riding my bike!I was pedaling my ten-speed down a wooded part of the Cedar River Trail, where it is lined on each side by groves of cottonwood, alder and firs. The past three weeks I've been hearing these unusual skreeeeee noises coming here and there from the trees to each side of the trail, seemingly coming from trees maybe 20-50 feet away or more, with some more of these unusual sounds echoing down from higher up in the hills. One animal would make this skreeeeee noise, and then others would answer.
Three or four nights ago as I was riding I heard a skreeeee and then I suddenly heard and felt the flopping of wings off of my left shoulder: a large bird had swooped down to get a small animal and I apparently had scared him. He flopped his wings slowly -- as owls do -- and went up into a nearby branch of an alder tree that bordered the Trail.
I stopped my bike, and turned, and shined my LED flashlight at the animal: it was a Barred Owl!
Suddenly, he made this skrreeeeeee noise. Then he made another.
Several other skrreeeeeee noises answered his call -- it was as if there were several of these owls in the area, all warning each other of the intruder on the bike (probably my headlight disturbed him).
Now I knew what sort of animal was making that noise in the hills -- only in that one section along the Trail.
Apparently the Barred Owls like that section, perhaps because there is a large, large field nearby, and they probably can hunt mice and small rabbits easily.
The funny thing is -- I never had heard so many of them before. Not before this summer. I'd heard the noise before, but only rarely. Now there seem to be at least five or six of these owls, calling out during the night time.
You learn something new every day.
I've heard such owls before, up in the hills -- although you don't hear them often. They have a higher pitched 'hoot' than a Great Horned Owl (the kind you always hear in the movies, hooting at night).
Apparently the government wants to kill off a lot of Barred Owls, thinking they are displacing the Spotted Owl -- an owl that I doubt has ever seen this area in 100 years. The idea of killing an Owl for just being an Owl seems a bit displaced.
More recently, I was riding my bike at night and heard one of these owls skreeeeeeing by the Trail, and a small group of people came by. I pointed out the sound to them, and we all looked up and saw the owl. He was also looking down at us, skreeeeing a few times from his alder tree branch, and then he flew off to another tree about 50 feet away (about 13 meters).
I've seen Barred Owls in trees a couple times before. They don't fly away quickly. It's almost as if they are curious about people, looking down at you, like they are saying "what are you looking at?"
A Seattle skyline pic on a grey day; photo taken last month.
Overall, life has been normal. Work has stayed fairly busy, I'm relearning new bagpipe tunes (the number of tunes I know now is around 37 of them -- although I can't play them all proficiently on the pipes yet). Re-learning tunes I knew in the past, they never leave your memory completely. The fingers manage to find them on the chanter.
My radio hobby has taken a back seat -- the AM band is mediocre most evenings. Or maybe I'm bored with it. I don't know.
I've included a few pictures here from the past couple of months, mostly taken during bike rides along the Trail, as well as others I've taken when I have my trusty Nikon L32 with me.
As per usual, if you right click on the pictures on this blog, they should appear in their own screen to be viewed a little better.
A small, early summer backyard bonfire.
Tropenatt ('tropic night'), 77 degrees F (24-25C) at 9 p.m.
A pic from a ride at sunset on a warm, 'tropenatt' evening.
A look at a distant hill right at sunset.
Sunset in late July. As the year progresses, it sets further West. At solstice, it sets in the middle of the three little trees to the right center of the pic. As mentioned before on this blog, I call it my "Solstice Sundial".
You never know what you're gonna see on the Cedar River Trail.
Yep....
Here's hoping all are having a good mid-year. Here in the U.S. it's the heat of the summer, and here in Seattle our best month, weather-wise, is happening: August.
Happy August to everyone.
CC 7-28-2017, 8-9-2017
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