Greetings friends! Today there will be a story about a trip to the forest on Tuesday.
Generally, my initial goal was intelligence. Every mid-July I go to the forest for berries, namely strawberries. And on Tuesday I decided to see if it was ripe or not, whether it is already possible to collect it or wait a little longer. But why not combine this with a photohunt?
Having entered the cemetery, through which the path to the forest lies, I heard the familiar clicking sounds.
A chipmunk was sitting on the fence of the grave, it got scared of me and shouted. But realizing that I was just looking at him, he began to climb the fence and in the end, finding something edible, began to eat.
Having reached almost the very end of the cemetery, I met many birds in a small area.
The largest number were the willow tit. There were both adults and young birds. The photo shows an adult bird that was sitting and cleaning feathers.
And next to her, there was a family of willow warbler. And also with young birds. And none of them cursed about their personal space and territory, they all behaved friendly to each other. By the way, adult birds are actively molting now, and I'm not specifically talking about this bird, but about everyone.
Having entered the forest, I reached the ravines, and again I met a chipmunk! It is amazing. I have not seen them before, I mean they are difficult to find because they are hiding. And I think I realized that in the middle of July is the time to watch this buddies. I remember the past years, and it was at this time that I was able to see them.
In the same place, a very young great spotted woodpecker learned to get his own food. A small bump caught his attention. Usually woodpeckers examine cones in winter, but this youth is obviously only learning to live independently and everything is interesting to him.
A little further away, this bird jumped out of the grass. This is some kind of bunting, but which one I don't know. She is young, and therefore it is difficult for me to determine her appearance. I guess it is rustic bunting.
Of course, what a summer forest without these cute birds! True, during the molting period, long-tailed tit do not look very cute ...
Coming out of the ravines, I walked along the bank of a small forest river. And there I came across this bird.
Again, birds of this family are not easy to distinguish. But I'm sure that it is black-faced bunting female. The bird screamed in alarm and flew around me. So she tried to drive me away from her territory, and obviously she had a nest or nestlings there.
After walking along the river, I came out onto an old dirt road, where I could relax and walk lightly, without jumping over fallen trees, streams, puddles, mud, etc.
I met a common redstart along the road. She was very close. These birds are famous for their courage in the defense of nests and nestlings. They distract the enemy's attention to themselves, thereby taking him away.
And a little further I heard a loud scream.
A black woodpecker was sitting in a tree below. He just sat in a tree, looked around, listened and shouted. As I found out, he was also with the nestlings. There were about 4 of them, they were sitting in different trees.
Well, so I got to the place where there are a lot of strawberries, but ... they weren't there. This year is pretty weird for the weather. There are bright sunny places in the forest where early berries, strawberries and blueberries grow. I visited them last month, also in the middle.
And the rest ripens in a month. But this year, the winter was warm, the spring was early, and the summer was early and hot. And thanks to this, the berry ripened earlier. And that's why I couldn't find it anymore! That is, I was already late. I found only a few "late" berries.
At first I didn't believe it, and I thought that someone had already collected it, although no one had ever collected it here. So I decided to go deeper into the forest. And walking calmly, I suddenly heard a loud squeal next to me!
I was even a little scared from the surprise! It was a squirrel . OMG! The last time I saw them here was 4 years ago! I even thought they were no longer here, but here's the squirrel. I was delighted.
And after walking another ten meters, I met another one.
These are real forest squirrels. They will not beg you and will not sit on your hand. They are very shy and not used to people. I was very glad to see them in this place, because I thought that they disappeared.
Once again, not finding the berries, I went home. And on the way home, I saw a large bird fly up.
I looked through the lens and was at a loss ... It's a green sandpiper! Wait...WAT?
How is this possible? This is a near-water bird, it lives near large rivers, and in this forest there are no such large and open rivers. Buddy, are you lost?
I hope you enjoyed it, I'm waiting for you in my blog. See you later!
P.S
Although I did not find strawberries, but I did pick a lot of ripe raspberries. Although our raspberries ripen only in August! A strange year ...