My favorite birds have returned to the backyard. The blue jays and pileated woodpeckers are stopping in for daily visits. The chickadees are frequently feeding at the tray feeder. One small bag of sunflower seeds lasted the entire summer. I'll have to stop at the farm feed store for a 50lb sack of seeds so I can keep the feeder full.
The best sighting happened at the end of the Strathcona Wilderness Centre driveway. I was driving home after a long day. In the distance I saw something large in the ditch. As I got closer I noticed it was my moose buddy. I usually meet him on the trail. This time he was out in the open and on the opposite side of the road. Not good. It's hunting season.
I slowed to snap a few photos. He looked up with ears back until he noticed me. He must have remembered our close encounters on the trail. The ears relaxed and he bent down to drink water from a puddle. A car came from the opposite direction and scared my friend into the bush. I hoped that he was able to return to the safe forest of the SWC before a hunter sighted him.It rained again this week. There was another inch of water in the gauge. It also froze. The killing frost coated the truck windows and finished off my outdoor floral containers. They are ready to be emptied and stored for another season. I managed to get one final picking of strawberries from the garden. The bean teepee that provided food for the hummingbirds through the summer is now in the compost pile.
The leaves have been turning color and dropping. They will be changing more rapidly now with the cool autumn nights. It's a wonderful time to get to the trails to watch Mother Nature shut things down for the winter. I'm looking forward to an extra day off next week. There's more work to get done in the yard and I need to have my annual leaf bonfire. I can smell it already. I wish I could bottle that aroma and save it for the dead of winter.
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