October 8, 2009

Another nice morning to be in the woods.  The moon was very full as I left the house.  I really didn’t need a flashlight except for the danger of braking small sticks that might alert a nearby deer.  I returned to the ladder stand below the house in spite of seeing nothing there a few days ago.  This stand should really be a good one, several trails within 20 yards of the stand.

That unidentified owl again called from the point behind me.  Then two Screech Owls began a conversation on the hill across the stream to my right.  I was really baffled the first time I heard a Screech Owl several years ago.  It was summer and the bedroom window was open.   I heard this loud and very sad cry which I couldn’t identify.  It was possitively eery!  It almost sounded human and in my half sleep I wondered if a child were lost in the woods.  The next day my Peterson’s Guide to Birds of the Northeast relieved my mind as I read that the call of a Screech Owl is a “low, mournful whinney”.

Soon the other little birds began to greet the day and the squirrels and chipmunks began their regular journeys up and down the hickorys and oaks, dislodging and gathering the harvest.  A flock of Robins made its presence known.   They surely were feeling the urge to begin their flight south for the coming winter.

At 8:30 I finally saw my first deer or perhaps two, across the creek.  There are still so many leaves that I didn’t see them well.  They were about 100 yards away and they came no closer.   Then it was time to go to the office.  Much waits for me on the desk.  The season is still early.  The rut hasn’t really started yet, but it will happen soon and I plan to be in a tree when it does.