Misty Morning

Two deer in the yard this morning, barely visible against the fallen leaves. Would have made a nice blip if I'd gone out, but I didn't want to scare them away. Instead, I went for a walk in the woods after breakfast, out to the beaver pond (no beaver), but lots of misty trees and late fall atmosphere. It was very still. So much condensation on the trees that it was dripping down like rain (that can be my sound of the day).

Mr. L played golf, in spite of the low visibility - his team won all the money and he came back cock-a-hoop.

New visitor to the balcony bird feeder - a pileated woodpecker. A magnificent bird with a beautiful black and white striped face and a punky red cap - and only a few feet away! Don't think that I've seen one so close before. It just about filled the whole feeder, relegating the blue jays to the floor. I stood as still as I could so as not to frighten it away. It seemed happy enough to eat sunflower seeds just like the common or garden birds, even stopping to break them open on my 'woodpecker log'. Maybe I'll be lucky and it will come back again.

In the winter, we hung up suet for the pileated woodpeckers (or Pills as we call them) and that works very well (they are not rare) but we've had to discontinue over the summer because the bears would come and take it, cage and all and run off with it into the woods. So it's especially nice to see Mr. Pill back. Long may he stay.

Polk County, Wisconsin