For those of you who don’t have snow today, here was a view from a local hiking spot I went to yesterday.

We didn’t go anywhere for Christmas this year, but the cat kept us entertained. He doesn’t need presents, just the wrapping paper will do.

Pike’s Peak

Garden of the Gods

One messed up black squirrel

A red-tail in its nest…with an eagle’s nest above it. Obviously with big nests come lots of bird poop

And the red-tail leaving it’s nest.

For those who don’t get to see fall colors…

This weekend we had some of our favorite friends come up for a visit. We checked out a couple waterfalls in the area.

The first we visited were the Chittenango Falls.

Then we made our way up north to the Salmon River Falls.

Normally when we come home the cat comes running to the door to greet us. This time, however, when we came home from the falls the cat wasn’t at the door to say hello. And wouldn’t come when we called him (another unusual thing). All four of us searched for a long time for the cat, turned the whole house upside down, searched outside…I thought he was gone.

Well, out of a last resort place to check I lifted the covers up off our bed, and what do you know…a little black ball of fur was curled up under all the blankets. He didn’t even flinch, which then made me think he was dead and had suffocated himself. Not so, I picked him up and he gave me this look like “what gives, lady?”

You wouldn’t be able to tell from the temperatures (in the 80s) we have been experiencing here in NY, but there are other signs of fall all around. Here are some photos from the week.

You can’t go anywhere around here without seeing signs for or hearing locals talk about the famous salmon fishing that takes place this month. Every October the salmon make their famous run up the rivers to spawn. Anglers from all over come to try and wrangle these big fish.

Late summer and early fall means stick insects are out and about mating, as are the couple in the photo below.

And lastly, this Northern Flicker was rustling in the leaves on the ground this morning outside our house.

With things being so busy over the last couple weeks I have not had time to upload any photos here. Here are some photos from the last couple weeks.

First, I came across this beautiful common stonefly (Perlidae) 2 weeks ago.

Stoneflies are way cool. The nymphs are found in flowing water with high oxygen content. They often act as indicators of good stream quality. Common stonefly nymphs are carnivorous and eat other insects that are in the streams.

This week we came across a bald-faced hornet nest, on accident.

They make those famous paper nests by chewing wood and mixing their saliva to form the end-product that dries into paper. Nests are set up in the spring and are active through the summer and fall. Once winter hits though, the young fertilized queens hibernate underground or in decomposing trees and usually the nests are abandoned altogether.

So, I think in a couple months I will try to go back and maybe split open the nest to get some pictures from inside the hive.

Lastly, we came across these goofy looking mushrooms. No idea what they are.

They have taken a fancy to our insect traps, nesting in the tops of the traps.