Back in the woods

I’ve been back from New Zealand for four hectic days and we drove up to the cabin the day before yesterday.  It’s high summer, of course—a welcome change from mid-winter less than a week ago—and the lake temperature is perfect for swimming, day and night.There are not many mosquitoes, thanks to all the dragonflies that have hatched, but we still have to watch for them, as well as a few deer flies (when not wearing a hat) and horse flies (while swimming).  Our friends, the little squirrels, are around (here’s one that we are pretty sure is a hybrid between the tiny reds (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) and the much larger greys (Sciurus carolinensis).  There are also plenty of eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus), as usual; I caught this one harvesting hazel nuts.  On the bird front, we’ve seen loons, black ducks, eagles, osprey, hummingbirds, phoebes, nuthatches, lots of chickadees, and yesterday also an ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus).   We’ve heard them many times back in the deeper woods (their call sounds like “teacher, teacher), but only rarely catch a glimpse of one.  We’ll be here for the better part of a week, and I’m eager to see what else I can find—and also do some fishing for the first time in more than a year and a half!