Another shot of the femme fatale female cardinal who was in my backyard several hours after sunrise.

Did I mention sunrise? It was bright pink outside early this morning.

I will let one of my bird knowledgeable friends identify this bird. Michelle says it’s a black capped chickadee.

Some of you may notice I added a little “Pin It” button to my posts. I have grown quite fond of Pinterest, a social media platform for pinning images unto boards (and viewing tons of beauty of your choice – I follow a lot of art boards). Feel free to follow me on Pinterest as well. Thank you!

I saw two chickadees in my backyard last week. My, do these little birds jump about.

My daughter and I visited Donaldson Park on Sunday. There were many gulls hanging out by the pond; this one was swimming in the middle, apart from his buddies.

Near a slope of Donaldson Park many geese congregated.

This exposed tree trunk is on the edge of a brook on the border of Donaldson Park near the Meadows.

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This cardinal sat in the bird feeder for quite a while, until I got up close to him because I wanted to take an up-close portrait. He decided he had better things to do and flew off.

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Nearby to the nest, I found this large hive. Is something alive and living in this hive? Hornets, perhaps? (Michelle suggests a bald faced hornet hive – see her comment below).

Birds high in the sky fly by without a hello. Nor a goodbye.

I walked in the woods (behind my daughter’s school) and whom did I meet: two deer, what a treat.

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In the above photo are the ducks with the colorful reflections around them (the image in the thumbnail is a cropped version).

In other nature news, my daughter taught me that the New Jersey state bird is a goldfinch and the New Jersey state flower is a violet.

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Click on the first thumbnail to learn more about monarch butterflies. Did you know the blue jay is molting? Next to the blue jay – do you see those eggs? They are mallard eggs. And the caterpillar – it’s not just any caterpillar – that’s a monarch caterpillar. The oriole post also discusses fungus on trees. Michelle also knows about turtles; just ask the kids in her neighborhood. With the orange butterfly weed is a post on milkweed aphids. Behind the coneflower thumbnail are a muskrat, a dragonfly, a frog and ducks. Also with the feather post is a red-bellied woodpecker.

One of my favorite posts has no photo: If you plant Milkweed, the Monarchs will come

And just so Michelle has a new photo for the beautiful collages she creates each week, here’s the sparrow I sighted today in my neighbor’s bush.

snapdragon leaves in late December 2011 with drops of water

I have an idea for next week’s Nature Notes, but I need your help. Can you tell me which of Michelle’s many topics were your favorite(s) in the past year? Shh… don’t tell Michelle. Oh, is she reading this? Well, anyway, your comments on Best Rambling Woods Nature Topics are requested.

We decided in advance to follow the red trail – it wasn’t always easy to see these markings for the trail on the trees.

I saw a variety of plants growing – no idea what this striped little plant is called.

I recognized these red oval berries from my childhood – I looked up the bush (red berries with thorns is what I looked for in Google Images), and I learned this is called a barberry bush.

I rather liked this plant inside moss that I found on the trail.

There were various streams on our hike that led into the reservoir. The girls (my daughter and friend) had fun hopping over the rocks.

When we got to the top of the hill on the trail, we were rewarded with views of hawks flying overhead.

You could see quite a distance from the top – the fall colors have faded, but they are still varied, though muted.

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Soon after he noticed that I was following him (her?) around with my camera, he settled on this high phone wire in the back of my yard.

Oh, by the way, did you know that Noah sent out a dove: “And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground.” But before the dove, he sent out a raven. I didn’t have any ravens showing up in my back yard.

My neighbor’s burning bush is quite spectacular – bright red at this time of year. Ah, another Biblical reference, except the burning bush doesn’t show up in the weekly Torah reading until winter time.

Here’s the how the dry oak leaf hydrangea flower looks – this photo was taken the same day as the red hydrangea leaf photos.

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