It’s been almost two years since we followed this trail in late December 2023. Tripp Farm Trail is part of the maze of trails weaving through the 750 woodland acres of Carolina North Forest. We finally got ourselves a detailed map of all the trails from the University of North Carolina.
As you can see, the woods are still decidedly green. Fall colors don’t peak around here until the second week of November. Which makes November less bleak than we were used to in New England, but makes October here feel more like a September up north.
(this one made Tim think of the sword of Damocles)
We don’t see birds often in this forest, but the last time we did this trail I found a bluebird. This time Tim spotted a woodpecker, way high up on a tall snag. There’s a reason we never see birders here — or even people with cameras — but I’ll accept this small gift with gratitude. We’re there mainly to forest bathe in the phytoncides the trees give off!
The world of machines is running
Beyond the world of trees
Where only a leaf is turning
In a small high breeze.
~ Wendell Berry
(This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems)
Nothing like a good walk in the woods! 🍂
A walk in the woods puts everything in perspective! 🍂
I like the fourth photo best because of the cooler contrast and composition. I’m not in agreement with Tim that is a woodpecker but I am agreeable that it is a bird. I hope Tim sprayed you up good for this walk. So happy to hear that you are both out enjoying the trails.
The machines are running our world. I wonder if Wendell Berry would be pleased?
It was being very industrious hammering it’s head into the wood looking for insects. Based on that I called it a woodpecker.
💙
The color contrast in the fourth photo is very striking, thanks to the lovely sunlight coming through the greenery to highlight the rusty browns. I actually forgot to get sprayed and even wound up wearing the wrong shoes on this walk – I can’t believe how absent-minded I’m getting sometimes. I’m sure, though, that the bird is a downy woodpecker, probably a female. 🍂
I’m not feeling absent minded, yet. But I have lost a lot of my memory. It seems to be on the decline. There are holes in my personal life time line. I do feel like an old brown leaf hanging on… suspended in time.
I happened to snatch a memory to save your photo in my iPhone 14 which now has AI that will automatically identify whatever is in the photo and then place it into my photo calendar on the actual day the photo was taken. I don’t know who AI reports this to or why it just recently started happening last month. But it was this AI in my phone that identified the bird. I don’t like that it steals all my privacy!
I have never liked the idea of Alexa in some one’s house, either.
I’m ok with using AI but not with AI spying on me. I will never get use to that. 🍂
It’s a Downy Woodpecker, Barbara! Its pecker sure is tiny!! 🍂
So happy you changed your mind, Teri! It wasn’t the greatest camera angle to see the size of her beak! 🍂
I suppose that’s one more challenge of relocating, huh, Barbara? The notion that certain things are supposed to happen at certain times of the year (like leaves turning). I think that’s part of the challenge of air travel across time zones, too. One can’t help but feel a bit discombobulated by it all!
I like your forest adventure and can practically feel the coolness and calm through your photos. I hadn’t really thought of it before, but you’re right: not everything makes it to the ground! Maybe the hangers-on are happy in their state of suspension??
Perhaps that’s been the greatest challenge from moving down here for me. After 66 years of living in the land of spectacular Octobers, I’m still finding it difficult waiting until November for colors for this, my third autumn here now. I’m adjusting to other changes quite well, though, like the early arrival of spring. I’m reading a book about flukes, chance occurrences and how they have affected all of us since the dawn of time, and the suspended leaves getting stuck by chance seem to illustrate some of the thoughts that were on my mind. 🍂
Three autumns already?? Golly, it seems like just yesterday that you were telling us of your move. How time flies!
Two years ago already and look how much you have discovered since and will discover more now with your trail map. Soon there will be no stopping you and Tim from woodsy adventures! We have a lot of brown leaves, just hanging on, waiting for a wind to let them wiggle free. The peak leaf color, if the leaves get vibrant, is not predicted until November now – I just heard that on the weather report today, all because of our Summer/early Fall drought. I like your little Downy Woodpecker Barbara – it’s very cute. I can’t tell if it is a male as it is a side angle – the males have a little red patch at the back of the head.
I imagine Tim’s lungs will eventually stop us from our walks in the woods, they have slowed us down considerably, but we’re going to keep going as long as we can. With the map we can be more purposeful and focused. Every time he needs to stop and catch his breath I look around for interesting things to photograph. In fact, if he hadn’t been stopped and been looking around himself he would never have noticed the little woodpecker up there! I’m pretty sure she’s a female. That’s interesting that your colors won’t be peaking until November, how disappointing. Is that going to affect your Walktober post? 🍂
I love a nice walk in the woods. I always enjoy the details that you and Tim notice as you stroll. The little woodpecker was indeed a gift. I was walking a bit on Saturday at a little pond and noticed a small bird flitting around in the very tops of the trees. My Merlin Bird ID said it was a yellow bellied sapsucker, which appeared to be similar in size to the downy woodpecker.