CVRT Chronicles 2025-01-17

 

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Going for a walk in the afternoon and I heard an unfamiliar bird call. I opened my birding app and grabbed my camera off the backseat. The app identified a yellow-bellied sapsucker, a bird that I had never identified along the CVRT. Its call, repeated and loud, sounded like a lonely soul desperately searching for others. Scanning the nearby trees at the intersection of Clouse and Ott Roads, the sapsucker was working the high branches of the trees between the trail and the road. Intermittently, two red-bellied woodpeckers took turns trying to drive the sapsucker away. I stayed and watched for a few minutes, taking a few photographs as it furtively moved between branches. My timing was fortuitous, I wandered away for five minutes so as not to spook the bird too much. When I returned no birds, sapsuckers or woodpeckers, remained.  

Backyard Chronicles 2025-01-17

 

One of the most beautiful sights in winter is to see a male northern cardinal set against the snow and gray days. Often these birds are gregarious, populating our birdfeeders and sitting in trees seemingly waiting for the spring. Some people believe that cardinals are signs from the next life that someone is thinking and watching over you. It was the inspiration of Kasey Musgraves’s song “Cardinal” after the passing of her friend and mentor John Prine. Amid the gloom of deep winter, one can understand how people can come to that conclusion.

CVRT Chronicles 2025-01-12

 

After two snows and cold, windy conditions, two felines from the cat colony cuddled together on a bare spot next to a tree. I often come home after walking this part of the trail and remind my cats how lucky they are.

Cats of San Juan

I was walking around the Paseo del Morro, the shoreline walking path around the National Park that contains San Juan’s famous castle, when I stopped to take a photo of one of the resident cats. A man who was carrying a grass trimmer jokingly commented as he walked by, “All they do is lay around like they own the place!” Perhaps they do, I replied.

The cats have long been a fixture in Old San Juan, but last summer the National Park Service announced that the cats would be removed from the park, arguing that it did not meet visitors’ expectations or the purpose of the park. Yet, most people view the cats as part of the landscape and charm of the city. Many residents believe that the cats are being forced out just as locals have been from the old city to make way for wealthy investors from elsewhere. 

This guy was really tired and did not mind me sitting next to him. 

Calle de Hospital

This chicken and cat appeared to walk away as tourists started flooding the square. 

For the most part, the cats interact well with tourists.