Birdy Birdy! And Rainy Day

Happy May Day.. a day short!

This Oriole has a super dark chest and was only around for a little bit yesterday. A female Oriole chased him off the feeder and he eventually disappeared.

This brightly colored one has been staying around. Was the one above an Orchard Oriole? That may be the first time I've seen one of those here!

This one below is an Baltimore Oriole? 
Anyway, they are brilliant in color and provide a lot of entertainment.

May 1st was also the first day we saw a Hummingbird.

I like rainy days. Not downpour windy gusty lightening blowing driving rainy days. But days with light rain are fine. They are especially great for going out in the forest to find cool things.

The all day rain and the humidity can create mystical scenes in the macro world. I intended to just go out and browse plants but once I saw the droplets, I knew I had to get down and dirty in the mud and dirt to enjoy what surprises the forest had for me.

When I saw water clinging to plants and moss. I just had to go macro.

Mayapples or we called them Maypoles or Mayflowers.

Moss Sporophytes with rain drops.

Wild Strawberry plants.

I found some emerging Maidenhair ferns and laid on the steep bank to put my Mini me and Mini Charlie next to them.

In the corner of my vision, I saw something quite strange. It looked like slime mold. But it hadn't been warm enough to form in the forest yet .. I thought.

It looked like delicate webs topped with blobs and water. I've never seen anything like it.

Take pictures. Explore it. Admire its strange beauty. And then try to figure out what it was I was seeing!

I was able to find info on this delicate beauty on a New Zealand website called The Hidden Forest. The author says it is the reproduction system of Liverworts. I thought it was moss, but I can find that spot again I will look under the moss to see if I can find different leaves.

From the website:

In leafy liverworts the antheridia produce mobile antherozoids (sperm), which require a film of water in which to move to the archegonia, where fertilisation takes place. After fertilisation, a new plant develops, which remains attached to the parent plant. This is the sporophyte.

I had a penny in my pocket so I stuck it behind the structure to measure for size....

Isn't that the most amazing thing you've ever seen? Okay, maybe not. But I love the little things found in mosses and along the forest floor.

Here is a couple more moss shots...

and I think this is or was a fungi of some sort.

It was on a stick so you can imagine how small it was.
I had to get down in the dirt and wet mud for these shots but it was so intriguing to see.

I do love rainy days.

Sunday

Today is Mother's Day and a fine day to just chill out and relax.

Charlie and I worked on the east side flower bed yesterday. Well, he supervised.

It will look much nicer after I put the mulch path back in and put in some annuals.

I am taking my time and enjoying the process. I have to go all the way around the house but this is the most colorful summer flower garden I usually have.

Our farriers Danny and Dan were out Friday and I showed Danny how I was using his Horseshoe Sunflower he had created. He'd made it originally as just a garden decoration, but I thought it would make an interesting Oriole feeder.

I was absolutely right!

The Orioles do knock down the oranges. I just sent these photos to Danny so he can see how I've used his creation.

He also made me a  handcrafted Shepard's Hook last fall. I gave him a price I'd pay and told him to surprise me with a design.

He did, and it is gorgeous. I set it up for my Hummingbird feeder.

Funny how even the goldfinches loved the design!

I couldn't get the whole hook's design in one shot. There are vines and delicate metal leaves twisted around the hook. It is delicate looking and just plain gorgeous. I'll keep that where I can admire it all summer long. My other mundane hooks can hold hanging flower baskets.

Somewhere in one of my older blogs, I have photos of the hooks Dan made for me. They are works of art themselves. Metal leaves and twisted vines look delicate but aren't. I just need to finish off a nice 2 by 4 and mount it by the back door to display them.

So today will be just a quiet day. Reading and enjoying the soft rain that is falling.

A wandering Pluviophile

 

It just started out muggy and foggy and turned into rainy and misty with a continuous drizzle.

I do appreciate a sidekick who doesn't mind getting wet. Of course most of the undergrowth is taller than he is. He actually likes getting dried off after the walks we take.

This is from another walk we did not the one we did today.

Sometimes I let my mind wander as well as my feet. Charlie doesn't mind it at all. He doesn't need my undivided attention as long as I can hear the bell on his collar and he comes back to check to me when I say *cookie*.

I sometimes follow narrow deer paths. The most fun thing about that is trying to continue to follow them after they disappear. While I was checking out how the creek looked, the sun tried to peek out for a moment.

The cold water from the creek and the hot and humid air clashed creating this mist/fog just hovering above the water.

The rain was never very hard and under the trees we were dripped on. We got wet but we were happy.

The rain was so needed and it wasn't at all unpleasant.

I know we wanted this rain badly! After 4 days of rain we are knee deep in grass and dandelions!

Pluviophile: One who loves rain; one who finds peace and joy on rainy days.