After a long first day, it was time to slow down and experience some of the attractions that awaited us. We began a beautiful, sunny day with a short walk along The Mighty Mississippi River in Memphis. They have several great parks along the river that include bike trails and fitness stations. Tyler and I just kinda stood and watched a tug pushing a large load of barges up river for a few minutes. I got a bit tired watching a few people working hard on the fitness stations and had to take a short rest!

You cannot visit Memphis without seeing Graceland-the home of Elvis Presley. It doesn’t matter if you not really in to his music, but to see where and how The King lived, is worth the time and money. The influence he had on Rock and Roll will never be debated. All that being said, Tyler and I thought how the tour was conducted, was, well, a bit weird. We’ve both been on “audio tours” where they give you a set of head phones to listen to some person narrating information about what you’re looking at, but on the Graceland Tour each visitor also gets an iPad, fitted with a strap to hang around your neck. They hand you this fancy, electronic screen that you put on, open up and rest against your chest, or in some cases, against your belly. After choosing the appropriate language (I really wanted to try the entire tour in Russian, but decided to stick to my native tongue) you begin walking exactly where strategically placed staff people tell you to walk. There we were, along with 50 other people, walking around  like interpretive zombies with these gadgets sticking out of the front of our bodies. I swear we all could have been selling peanuts or popcorn at the ball game! It’s quite the system they have unless you decide to skip one of the attractions, which we discovered was a no-no! Our iPad narration (by Full House Actor John Stamos of all people?) got all out of whack and we couldn’t figure out how to “fast-forward or “rewind” the damn thing. When we realized we couldn’t go back, so we simply walked ahead of the rest of the others, only to be scolded by the security guards! It was rather amusing, but all worth it!

As we left Tennessee and made our way through Arkansas, I had only one destination on my mind-Fouke, Arkansas, home of the Legend of Boggy Creek, the Fouke Monster!

Now if you’ve never heard of the Legend of Boggy Creek, let me you fill in. It’s a basically an Arkansas Bigfoot. A classic  movie (half documentary-half not) was made about the creature in 1972. My brothers and sister and I went to see the original movie in the theater, and as an 8-year old, I was scared beyond belief. I never wanted to wander into the woods again, and never looked out a window at night after that! Today, the “performance” may seem a bit cheezy, but to a certain 8-year old kid from PA, it became a lifelong source of wonder (no, I did not say obsession) and pure awe! When we stopped by the Monster Mart today to buy a few Boggy Creek souvenirs, we were greeted by the owner who began telling Tyler and I about how all the items are made, etc. I then asked him if anyone had seen the creature recently, and that’s when I got excited! He began to describe, in detail,  a sighting that happened just last week, only a few miles from where we were standing. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I accidently blurted out, “Can you take us to that spot?” I knew I had made a mistake asking, but couldn’t help myself. He stood there looking at me as if I was the actual creature, then politely replied, “No, I’m sorry, that’s private property. They don’t like strangers wandering around out there.” I was bummed, but still thrilled to hear his story.  Cathy-we need to return w/Bobo to do our own investigation! Check a big one off my bucket list!

Well, we’re underway! It was all about driving and getting south on Day 1. No stops, other than some eats and bathroom breaks. After 15 hours and five states, we managed to safely arrive at our planned destination for the first night-Memphis, TN. Sister Cathy, you were correct! Damn! Tennessee is a long state from east to west! Especially after already driving 7 hours! This state is 150 miles wider than our home state of PA!

I have to confess, I had a brief senior moment as we started out this morning at 3:30 am (having had no coffee yet). I accepted the challenge of driving the first  leg (Tyler’s Prius). As I approached the Turnpike toll booth, with no other souls in sight, I pulled up and waited for the ticket-nothing. I looked around for a human, but I’m pretty sure they were simply closed! After another minute of sitting there staring at the thingamajig that spits out tickets, I reached out ready to push the button for help. Tyler then sat straight up in his seat, looked at me and said  “It’s green-go! I have an EZ Pass.” I really didn’t have any good response, other than, “Really? When did you get that?” I swiveled my head to take one last glance to make sure there still wasn’t a slip of paper sticking out of the ticket thingamajig, made sure no one was watching us, then floored it! I knew this was going to be a long drive!

Tomorrow, we start checking out some sites-some well known spots (“thank you-thank you very much”), and some spots off the beaten track. Check back for our next entry! Good Night from Memphis!

Now you see them, now you don’t. The birds visiting our backyard bird feeders disappeared in the blink of an eye. One minute we were watching the chickadees, titmice, juncos, doves and cardinals enjoying their seeds, the next minute we look out the window there’s not a single bird anywhere-gone in 60 seconds! It’s not unusual to see them perform this vanishing act at this time of the year-some days several times throughout the day. Occasionally, we’ll see a clue as to what caused the sudden panic to fly away, in the form of a pile of feathers laying on the frozen ground. What causes these pretty, little songbirds to scatter and hide in a dense shrub or evergreen tree? A bird feeder!

Bird feeders come in all shapes and sizes. But, this feeder isn’t an ugly, wooden or plastic object hanging in a tree I made myself, that scares the little birdies away every time the wind blows. This bird feeder is alive! It doesn’t provide seed for other birds, it feeds on other birds. In fact, it is a bird. Specifically, the bird feeder is a Sharp-shinned hawk.

Sharp-shinned hawks, or “sharpies” as they’re nicknamed, are one of three species of hawks classified as Accipiters. These forest-dwelling raptors are characterized by having short, round wings and long tails, which allow them to fly in between trees with speed and accuracy. There are three species that occur in North America, including Pennsylvania. The largest is the Northern Goshawk and the smallest is the Sharp-shinned hawk. The other is the Cooper’s hawk.

What makes these hawks unique from other birds of prey is their aggressive appetite for other birds. Sure, they’ll also eat mice and squirrels and other small mammals if they’re sitting there staring at the hawk, but their reputation as efficient, flying predators gives them an advantage of capturing songbirds. Many times, when one of these critters visits your backyard bird feeders, they may decide to stick around for a day or two, only showing up sporadically, but always perched nearby watching your feeders, and waiting patiently to attack.

It can be rather entertaining watching the small songbirds react to a “sharpie” or a Cooper’s hawk that suddenly appears out of nowhere to try and grab them while they’re sitting there, unsuspecting, and minding their own business cracking open a sunflower seed. Like someone blowing the seeds of a dandelion head, birds flee in every direction! I’ve seen them fly into each other, hit branches and even run along the ground to get away as quick as possible. Most of the hawks’ strikes are misses, but when they do hit, it’s usually one of the bigger species that gets it, like Mourning doves or Northern cardinals. I can see why they target these two species, though. The doves are chunky, and a bit awkward when trying to take off quickly. Male cardinals, unfortunately, are bright red. Need I say more? If the hawk is successful, it doesn’t take long for the other fortunate birds to begin to return, peeking out of the bushes as if to say, “Who got it?” While others seems to reply, “Who cares, it wasn’t us, let’s go get some cracked corn!’ Bird feeders-you got love em’!

Last Saturday it was gorgeous outside. Sunny, very warm temps and blue sky, and then, for about 45 minutes, it began to snow! However, the snow was not cold and did not stick to the ground. It was feathered, landed on the ground, flew above the ground, circled in the sky overhead and was extremely noisy! It wasn’t actually frozen precipitation, the “storm” was a large flock of Snow geese-approximately 20,000+.     

I was standing near a cut corn field in Berks County, as the thick, gale of birds descended into the field from every direction. The blue sky was dotted with loud, white objects that looked like twinkling stars against an indigo background. There were so many I didn’t know where to focus my camera. The excitement caused me to drop one of my lenses and it nearly rolled into a groundhog hole I was standing next to. For nearly 30 minutes, they kept coming, instinctively knowing their safety was in their numbers. I felt like I was in the bubble of a snow globe that someone had just shaken. It was an awesome sight! 

Snow geese (Chen caerulescens) are only visitors to Pennsylvania, passing through our state during their southern migrations in late fall/early winter, and then again in the spring as they head back north. They overwinter in the coastal wetlands, bays and flooded fields in the Mid-Atlantic States and Carolinas, as well as parts of Texas and into Mexico. In the Pacific Flyway they winter in the mild, farm valleys of Washington and Oregon. Where do they come from and return to? The Arctic tundra in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and parts of Siberia. This is where the geese breed and raise young during the short Arctic summers.

If you could see these large flocks, you would never believe their population was once at critical levels in the early 1900’s. Their numbers dropped so low that hunting was banned for the species in the Eastern U.S. Since then, they’ve staged an incredible comeback. In fact, their population has grown so sizeable that they’re eating themselves (and other species) “out of house and home” in their tundra habitat. Snow geese, like other geese species, are grazers. They eat grasses and many other low-growing forbs, and will munch any part of the plant including the leaves, stem, seed, flower and root.

As I stood there staring in wonder at the thousands of large, white (and slightly black) birds flying and cackling all around me, I couldn’t help thinking that I was experiencing a blizzard of feathers, a snow storm of geese!

Happy New Year!