"The Wood's Edge"
at Crabapple Hollow
Enjoy your walk at the hollow with nature enthusiast and outdoor writer
Martin James Wood.
A featured essay or writing of an outing
among the woods and fields.
Come along and walk The Wood's Edge...
Photo Credit: Martin James Wood
The Solemnity of Springtime
Written by:
Martin James Wood
5/27/2022
Walking this ridge line this morning, as this month of April is about to come to its close, I notice the bright sunshine warming up the valley’s woodland below. Squinting, at its glowing brilliance through the hazy sky, I gaze out across the luminous timberline. I can feel the radiant warmth from the sun’s rays soaking into my skin as the temperatures pleasantly reach into the lower 60’s here in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Sporadic cotton-like billows, stretching as far as I can see, fill the sky above. Looking down the wooded hillside, I take note of the white dogwoods gracing the small openings throughout the immature growth of speckled lime green woods...
Hiking sideways down a slight decline, as to maneuver the somewhat steep tract, I find the rambling creek which I could hear from further up the trail.
What appears to be a small river otter or a fisher, scurries across the bank along the opposite side about the same time that I reach the stream. He quickly disappears out of sight and moves into a low depression of brush along the creek’s bank. I have to think, if it weren’t for his fleeting exit, I might not have noticed him there at all, as his fur coat blends so well with the wooded floor of dirt, fallen limbs and leaves...
Walking further along the embankment, lifting my arms and ducking at times, due to the lower hanging branches, I can hear the bird song floating in the air. The birds seem to be celebrating the glorious morning from about every direction...
Approaching a small seep at the top of the embankment, I spot about 5 bright red cardinals following around a fluffy puffed-up female in some lower growth at the edge of the seep. They flit in and out of the brushy growth, landing quickly to just take back off after her again.
There are some curious robins perched nearby which seem to be quite entertained with the show,, as so am I...
After making my way farther back up the hillside, a baby rabbit darts out from an old woodpile ahead on the pathway. It stops right in the middle of the opening. It nibbles at the sparse thin short grasses which are sporadically growing along the path. Slowly stepping my way toward him, to get a closer look, I can see flecks of white and black spread throughout his tiny new brown coat.
I decide to stop right here myself, and study more of the surrounding woods and valley...
After a short while, a very small young gray squirrel playfully runs circles up and down a large oak tree not too far behind me. He caught my attention when I heard his energetic scurrying on the tree’s bark...
A little while passes before a Red-shouldered Hawk gracefully soars in and lands high above in a tall hickory. Stretching his wings way out in the higher up current, he continues to move around to gain a good foothold on the branch.
He maintains a hard focus out ahead while still holding his wings up high in the wind. I can see his feathers being blown and tousled by the breeze as he continues to look out along the valley below us both. Watching him majestically look down the valley leaves a feeling of solemnity about God’s natural order and the beauty of springtime…
Photo Credit: Amanda Walker
Quite Content
Written by:
Martin James Wood
3/18/2022
Temperatures are almost within sight of making it up into the 40’s on this beautiful morning in early March. High up in a deep blue sky, the day’s sunshine seems to be persistent with trying to shine through the few thin, hazy clouds that seem to be left.
After deciding to just stay close to the ole’ homestead for my morning jaunt, I decide to head out along the barn and enter a pathway behind the cabin. While traversing this very familiar trail down into the hollow, I hear a lot of commotion further down in toward the little brook. I stretch my neck as high as I am able, to get a glimpse of whatever it might be that’s making all that noise, on the other side of this tall brushy growth that’s layered throughout the hillside.
I’m able to count 8 deer running through the timber toward the tiny brook below! Quickly and quietly, I move down the pathway, to an opening through the branches, to get a better view of the fleeing bunch.
Bounding and leaping over small trees and underbrush, they weave their way through the trees and slow down right before the tiny rivulet. One by one, I watch the deer, carefully cross the small creek bed, while making only a few splashes...
All seemed to be very playful after they’ve crossed and scaled the small embankment on the opposite side. They contently settle in on a tiny plateau of winter matted terrain. A few of them spend some time chasing one another, while the others just seem to be interested in investigating the earthy floor and the low hanging tree branches...
Winding my way further down the side of the valley, high up, I notice a hawk, soaring across the sun filled sky.
In the bright sunlight ahead on the snow melted trail, there are four tiny gray squirrel kittens scurrying about. They sport grayish fur on their sides with distinctly evident streaks of reddish-orange fur running down their backsides and tails. I watch them contently play and chase one another in and out of the footpath’s fringe. They continue engaging each other with taunting looks and stare downs until one of them takes their turn, in the chase, at being “it”…
Coming to a favorite small hidden meadow, I spot a bright red cardinal in the lower branches of an older crabapple tree along the edge of the opening. He appears peacefully content, perched right where he’s at, just looking out at the clearing.
Lifting my arm as I step into the wood line to lean on an old corner post, from a long-forgotten farm fence, I continue to study and take in the meadow myself, along with that red cardinal.
Much to my surprise, not far from the old post from which I’m leaning on, there is a female cardinal looking out at the meadow as well! She’s perched on the very top fence wire, in her dull reddish-gray feathered coat, up against a backdrop of long needled scotch pines that I planted some 20 years ago.
A large dark-gray squirrel approaches from out of the pines along the same fence line just below the female. The squirrel notices me just as he sets his front feet on the post beside me. He freezes for a quick moment,, and quickly turns back around to make a dash for a nearby tree and run up its opposite side…
After some time passes, I’m finally able to see my bushy acquaintance as he settles in on a branch facing the opening. His silhouette is about all I can make of him, as he now sits so contently quiet in the branches’ shadows.
As a result of the large gray’s mad dash, the female bird reacted by flying out across the small meadow and landing underneath the male bird. She now seems quite content herself, right there with her assuming mate, inspecting and foraging the sparsely snow-covered earth that’s beneath them both...
Let Heaven and Nature Sing
Written by:
Martin James Wood
11/24/2021
It’s about a week before Christmas and temps are surprisingly in the upper 40’s as I walk this pathway in the bright sunshine this morning. The songbirds are ever so musical. They seem to be everywhere I look. They’re to my left when I turn my head in that direction,, and they’re to my right when I look that way. They’re like little angels filling the air with their praises of nature’s songs...
Finding a comfortable place to rest on an old log, I look up and all around in wonderment at their outstretched presence. I soon take notice, that there is a red-tailed hawk in a tree just some 40 to 50 yards from me. Admiringly I observe the hawk, as she sits so still and peaceful like, just looking out at the lay of the land before her...
Another hawk soon flies, and lands close to her and then leans in and passes something from its beak to hers, as to feed his mate.
When looking back down the same tree, I notice movement at the bottom of it. From an old tree hollow at the base of the trunk, two red squirrels spiritedly dart out and run up the trunk to abruptly stop at the first outcropping. They stop as if to consider, or ponder, of which direction to go next. Just as quickly as they had stopped, the first one leaps for the branch on the opposite side of the big tree and scurries out onto it. The second one swiftly follows...
While basking in the warmth and beauty of the day, I notice a pair of cardinals settled in on some lower pine branches not far from where I’m sitting. They seem quite content and happy to sit and watch all that’s happening, much like myself.
It appears there are a mob of crows that followed the hawk which flew in with the morning’s meal, and it seems that they want nothing more than just to antagonize the peaceful pair. They swiftly swooped down and landed close behind the two and then proceeded to continually flap their wings while staying perched, as if to say “we’re here,,,” - “now what are you going to do...!?
Eventually the hawk who fed the other takes flight and disappears as to divert the attention of the menacing birds. The mobsters take off in his direction, leaving his mate alone.
The cardinals in all their red glory against the green pines are a sight to behold. They haven’t budged at all since the commotion. Their ever so peaceful presence truly emanates the feeling of the season.
The other hawk returns to land at another nearby tree, for a brief moment, before the two together take for the sky and fly farther off...
Two deer come into an opening, up along the hillside through the timberline to my right, with their heads down and feeding. They obviously don’t see me as they continue to forage along the dark forest floor with their tails up high and waving. I can see their sleek looking coats have now changed to the darker brown russet color for this time of year.
As for the little singing angels,,, well, they continue to joyfully fill the air with their songs of praises as the sun glimmers throughout this peaceful Christmas woodland...
Let all heaven and nature be as peaceful and joyful as it seems, right here and now...
Photo Credit: William Sherman
Feeling Thankful
Written by:
Martin James Wood
11/27/2021
After yesterday’s pleasant and restful Thanksgiving Day with the family, I felt this morning would be a good morning for a walk in the woods. It will be good to get some fresh air and observe the beautiful natural surroundings of the humble warm abode from which we all feasted, rested and fellowshipped together...
We’ve seen some really cold days along with some light snow this month. Today is quite beautiful with temps ranging in the upper 20’s to lower 30’s with a light snow. The intermittent sunshine occasionally glows throughout the high timber while a subtle breeze ever so lightly moves the treetops about.
The trees are mostly bare of their leaves while some faded rusty oranges still stubbornly hang on here and there. There are green pines sporadically placed throughout the woodland between the oaks' and hickories' dull oranges and the hazy silhouettes of the bare branches that are intertwined and scattered throughout.
Snow gently falls, filling the air ahead, and softly covers all the glorious artwork of the land. As of this morning, there hasn’t yet been much activity to notice. Just the movement of the pines’ branches in the late morning’s breeze and an occasional wren flitting in and out of them...
As some time passes, I watch a wren, in a small pine grove, dive below to a bed of needles to forage for some fallen seeds. A black capped ally of his, darts into the same branches and watches and waits till the wren heads back to the evergreen’s offshoot from which it originally came, before he darts downward for his hunt for seeds.
Eventually, this little bit of activity attracts more attention, and soon there are a couple handfuls of these finches, chickadees, nuthatches and wrens. They all take their turn at perching amongst the sparse green branches and dashing toward the soft earth below in their quest for seeds...
A large bodied hawk casually sits high above just watching and assessing the area below, and perhaps the interesting activity...
Like the hawk, I sit and observe for some time as this event goes on for a while... As time passes, I can feel the subtle breeze turning into more of a cold blustery wind. Swells of snow occasionally whisk up high from the ground and swirl around me and the pines' branches. The activity of the little foragers seems to change as well, as the little birds become less in number until there aren’t any more to see.
After concluding that there isn’t anything more to watch and the air has become very brisk, I push my hands deeper into my pockets and squeeze my arms tighter to my sides and look up to see if my hawk friend is still with me. But to my surprise,, he has also left, without so much as even a goodbye... I guess, thankfully, we all have a safe warm place to return to when the weather gets cold and rough...
Photo Credit: Martin James Wood
Holding On
Written by:
Martin James Wood
10/26/2021
For the most part, it’s been a quiet month, with quite a mixture of warmer days and some cooler. It seems that the leaves have subtly and sneakily changed,, right before our very eyes.
Walking this old winding logging road, I’m noticing there are so many vibrant yellows this fall season. The temperatures today are ranging in the low to mid 50’s along with a soft clear blue sky above. These cooler temperatures and the air’s crispness are a welcoming feel on this late morning trek. There’s a steady breeze blowing throughout a small grove of beech trees, which I’m crossing, causing their yellow leaves to shimmer and glisten. Also, around the bend ahead, I can see the bright sunshine flickering through and reflecting off the white pines.
There is a lot of bird activity in the low brushy growth at the edges of the trail. I stop to closely watch, and listen to, a melodious Carolina wren singing at the top her lungs through the thinning yellowed brush. Along with her, is the smooth and mellow song coming from a song sparrow somewhere close by, but not to be seen...
Further along, I stop again to observe, and listen to, some chickades which are bouncing about in the low brushwood. Their familiar sounds I always find relaxing at any time of year... “Chic-adee -dee -dee”,, Chic-adee -dee -dee”,, and “Chic-adee -dee -dee -dee”… In the mix, they also call out with some longer drawn out fee-bees, “feee - beeee”,, “feee - beeee”,, “feee - beeee”... They continue with this repetitive song as I forge ahead...
Approaching an opening with a vast view of the open valley, a hawk soars above me and continues out ahead across the blue empyrean. His flight causes me to stare out among all the faded greens and colorful treetops splashed with assorted oranges, yellows and reds along the surrounding hillsides. He eventually disappears into a cluster of orange on the other side of the valley. I quickly grab a hold of my hat as the breeze strongly picks up and shakes all the vegetation around me. I continue to gaze out into the wind, while still holding on to my hat,, and also to whatever else,, I can take in of this beautiful season...
Photo Credit: Chris Mikula
September Sounds
Written by:
Martin James Wood
9/29/2021
Looking out at the open woodland, I notice of how it is very still and pleasant this evening.
Up on this hillside where I’m walking, the air is comfortably warm and as mentioned, very still. Also, the atmosphere is very quiet. So quiet, that it seems every little sound can be heard...
After deciding to stop for a short while and sit, I hear a lonely echo of steady drumming high up in the hardwoods.
Following the constant sound, I’m able to locate and watch from a short distance, a pileated woodpecker hard at work in a large dead cherry. “His size is stunning!”, I think to myself as I watch him hammer at the tree at different angles with his beak. It almost seems as if he’s trying to cut the tree in half. He stops every once in awhile to assess the area of which he’s working.
From another large tree not very far from him, hickory nuts crash through the leaves and fall to the ground. Smash,, smash,, crack,, thud...!
There is a pair of squirrels dropping nuts and small leafy twigs from the tree and then running down to crack open the shells and do whatever it is they do with those meaty insides. They continue with this event for quite some time, running up and down the giant trunk, leaving behind a disarray of scattered nutshells, twigs and leaves all strewn around the large tree...
“What a stark contrast from tonight’s weather compared to last night’s”, I have to think. It would be hard for one to know of the high winds and rain which we had the night before, as this evening’s long gentle warm September breeze blows throughout the wooded hillside.
A red maple’s leaves are starting to turn or change and dry up earlier than usual for some reason. I can hear the stiffness of the leaves as the wind seems to slightly agitate them and causes them to shake about...
As more time passes, I hear the ravens raspy caws here and there as the leaves continuously rustle. There is also the occasional intermittent sound of acorns falling to the earth.
As the sun sets across the silent meadows and the goldenrod glows, I watch deer come out to feed along the grassy fringes. They seem to just calmly take their time on into the quiet moonlight...
Photo Credit: Karl Zhong
Just Wondering
Written by:
Martin James Wood
8/25/2021
As August typically seems to feel like an interval in time, a mark for the changing of the seasons, I can’t help but notice the crisp coolness in the morning’s air as I sit and take small sips of my coffee on the front porch. Squinting through the steaming brew, I think to myself, “I just wonder,,, of what might be happening or going on out there, on this beautiful morning?”
Looking out at the rolling meadow, that’s surrounded by mature timber amongst a lush green forest, I can see a small group of butterflies flying about in the glow of the early morning’s light just at the edge of the field’s opening. They appear to be chasing one another as they flit toward and away from one another, effortlessly performing air acrobatics of summersaults and rolls. At one point they fly over the brushy growth at the woods edge and disappear into the woodland...
As the sun becomes brighter and I can feel its warmth being absorbed into my skin, I listen to that familiar sound that you sometimes hear in the early spring season as well as the autumn, of the peepers and their continuous droning coming from the deep wood.
After drinking my coffee, I decide to head out along the edge of that field. As some time passes while leaning against a stout hickory, I catch some movement out of the corner of my eye. Out along that same edge of woods, a deer emerges from the greengage! I slowly slide into the same green foliage so I can watch her. She lifts her head high as if she’s looking up to admire the wide open blue sky above us both. She points her nose straight up smelling the crisp air and twitches her ears,,, and then quickly drops her head back to the ground and continues to feed.
Slowly making their way out from where she had emerged, are what appears to be, her two spotted fawns! Like her, they proceed with eating at the edge of the field. Mother keeps lifting her head to assess the area as they all feed and continuously shake and wave their tails...
Close by my head, I hear a loud flutter...! Quickly, I duck and turn my head to see what might be the sudden intrusion. I see a bright red cardinal swoop in and rear back its wings to extend his feet and land on a branch just on the other side of the tree from which I’m standing. “I know he couldn’t have seen me here.” I think to myself... I watch him as he stretches out and flutters his wings in the golden rays coming through the branches. With his orange bill, he preens at himself as he lifts his wings one at a time... The moment he learns of my presence, he takes flight to the sky out ahead...
As I’m looking up into the high branches heavy with wild dark cherries in front of the sky, I watch a red squirrel way up in a large hardwood cherry moving about. At some point, he does something unexpected. He takes a running start and then leaps and stretches himself out to grab onto a big ole’ hickory about another some 10 feet away! He comes to an abrupt unanticipated landing onto a thin branch that gives way and bends low in the small animal’s landing! Dangling by his front claws, he somehow pulls himself up and regains his footing on the somewhat flimsy branch. He then scurries up the tree for a little distance and comes to a long rest, as if he’s waiting for his tiny heart to return to a normal rhythm... As so am I...
Hightailing It
Written by:
Martin James Wood
7/22/2021
It’s been a pretty wet June and July thus far this season. Standing, for what seems to be a long while, under one of my outbuildings’, patiently waiting out the gentle rainfall, I can see that just about everything appears to be a vibrant green.
I notice the fruit trees are showing their fruits of green apples and pears and red tiny crabapples. Also there are the green beech nuts dotting the trees along the skinny dirt road.
As the long rain finally ceases, I decide to hightail it out of there and start out to walk the pathway behind the cabin’s property. Upon entering the woods, there are screeches above. Looking up at the grey sky, I can see there are hawks high up soaring and playing. They screech as they fly about each other in circles. At times they fly or dart towards one another and then just seem to follow each other in their flight patterns.
Ahead along the edge of the wet path, a pair of wrens fly down and land close by to mill about the grassy fringes of the trail. Watching them flit in even closer than their first landing, it appears they are a bit curious of me. Occasionally they pop their tail feathers up and tilt their heads sideways to look up at me and check me out.
Continuing along the trail, at one point I come across a family of raccoons. The kits are following one another and jumping through a small patch of tall grass on the edge of the trail. Well,,, the grass isn’t really all that tall, it just appears so, because of their very tiny size. They keep filing in line and clumsily jumping behind each other as some of them give me a quick glance and disappear into the grass.
There are some deer at a couple of the turns. There coats are light in color this time of year, appearing almost an orangish brown. There seems to be a pair or sometimes three standing together when I spot them. One of the pairs, as soon as they noticed me, decided to literally,, hightail it out of there...
Photo Credit: Martin James Wood
Diving Blue Jays and Dancing Pines
Written by:
Martin James Wood
6/26/2021
Photo Credit: Karel Bock
Worried Mom
Written by:
Martin James Wood
5/7/2021
It’s late May and the leaves are definitely on the trees now. The brushy edges along the wood line are noticeably thick and full. The breezy morning’s air is cool and comfortable. The trail which I’m walking winds out ahead to an open meadow. As I approach the opening, I turn to walk along the edge of the clearing hidden in the tree’s shadows. Stopping after I hear a sharp gobble just some distance ahead, I squint and stare through the breezy atmosphere in the direction of the sound. Unable of locating the culprit making the noise, I then slowly make my way farther along the undulating wood line.
The meadow seems to be very musical with the sounds from the birds that are present. An occasional solo from what sounds to be a meadow lark along with her backup singers of the chickadees and wrens, makes for quite a concert on this spring morning...
Eventually I come upon a small hand full of turkeys along the wood’s edge. Slowly I step inside the wood line and continue to watch an impressive male slowly strut about in the high grass. I can only see the top half of him, as he seems to glide through the sea of waving grass. The others stay put, right where they’re at, while occasionally dropping their heads out of sight to feed along the ground.
After turning back into the woods as to not disturb them, I pick-up a pathway which leads me deeper into the trees. While trekking along, I notice a large shadow move across the ground. I quickly look up to the sky, just in the time to catch a glimpse of a bald eagle as it passes overhead and then continues to soar out across the valley following the meandering stream.
I decide to move to the stream below and follow along it. Suddenly I notice a deer walking toward me. Standing very still, I continue to watch her come closer. She stops and stares directly at me for some time and then turns away and trots up the path for quite a distance. She turns back toward me and walks again directly at me coming even closer than before, and then turns and starts to walk in circles as if she’s disoriented. I start to think that she has something wrong with her. “Maybe she has Lyme disease, or something,,”, I wonder to myself.
I move to stand alongside a close by tree and continue to watch her as she more franticly walks in circles and moves farther up the pathway. I can hear her occasionally making noises with her deep breaths while she heads up the trail, before she eventually turns back around to continue back again. I’m now really starting to worry for her as she seems really confused.
As I look behind myself and start to move backwards in the direction from which I came, I notice movement along the brushy edge of the pathway. A tiny fawn jumps out from the moving shrubbery and runs up to the disoriented deer. The two profusely lick one another,, and now, the obvious mom seems more calm and much saner.
For a short while, the mother appears to lovingly coddle the little fawn with her neck and head. Poking her head around and about the little one, she also seems to be checking the young animal over, for anything that might have happened to her baby while they were separated. When Mom seems satisfied, the pair turns and follows the pathway away from me, and soon disappears out of sight..
Walking the pathway through a cluster of large moss covered boulders along the hillside, I notice the mugginess of the day and the warm intermittent breezes. Looking out across an opening through the trees, I can see the recurrent sun and blue sky peering between large white hazy billows that just seem to go on forever.
There is a large mess of blue jays, a couple of bright red cardinals and a hand full of ravens flying above in the trees. The blue jays are diving to the lower branches and then to the ground to feed on whatever it is so interesting lying beneath the group. The ravens watch and squawk as if they are cheering on this skydiving frenzy, or either they’re yelling in anger at it... I really can’t tell of which,,, nevertheless, the event is a bit humorous to watch.
Further along the trail, there is quite an apparent amount of squirrel activity. Two small red squirrels chase after one another as they continuously circle a large oak in their ascent. They scurry up some twenty to thirty feet and come back down the trunk doing the same thing. They notice me entering the area and climb higher up into the branches and start chirping out a warning, to anyone or anything that might listen to them, explaining about my interruption.
Eventually, I approach a grove of pines and come to a pause, alongside of it, in an area of green ground cover. The ferns are tall and lush in the wood. I can smell the rain and dampness in the warm air. As I look out past the ferns, I can see that it’s the tail end of the blooming season for the mountain laurel with their whitish pink blossoms and their deep green waxy leaves.
I turn to look behind myself when I hear the sound of the wind, and I watch the warm breeze as it softly touches and caresses the needles of the pines. “What a glorious afternoon”, I think to myself, as I watch the limbs dance and sway all throughout the tiny grove...
Copyright © 2021: The Wood's Edge Publications / Martin James Wood. All Rights Reserved
Photo Credit: Rejean Bedard
Happy "Jays" Ahead
Written by:
Martin James Wood
1/25/2022
Now that a new year is upon us, one can’t help but feel a sense of optimism about the future, even when life’s walk sometimes seems cold and bleak...
With temperatures ranging in the lower 20’s, I can certainly feel the briskness of the morning’s air while trekking along this snow-covered hillside.
While hiking up towards the rim of this small bowl from which I’m making my way out of, I notice the tops of the trees which extend out above this low depression, are glowing with sunlight. This cold sober day seems to at least have a bright side to it...
Looking down the hill ahead to my left, I notice some blue jays in the hemlocks, joyfully bouncing from limb to limb. Now and again, they call out with their sharp loud rasps. Their distinct blue feathers are such a sharp contrast with the cool whites of the day’s snow. The contrast is as sharp as their sounding calls...
While walking, I spot some movement out of the corner of my eye up along the rim. I squint looking into the brushy growth to see what might be moving about inside that thick mess of brambles. Blending in so perfectly well, is a doe deer,, watching me. As I stop to get a closer look, I make out that there are two more smaller ones in the thicket with her. As I stand really still to study them, I can see that they are pretty much doing the same of me.
The larger one lifts her front leg a couple of times and stomps it to the ground. She then drops her head behind the one in front of her to very quickly lift it right back up again and stare towards me. She does this a couple more times. Soon after, she doesn’t seem to be overly concerned of my presence, and just appears to want to keep some sort of tabs on me...
She keeps checking on the two smaller ones as they forage along the forest floor moving slowly ahead of her. She continues to follow them as she moves cautiously behind, while lifting her hind legs up high as to maneuver the rutty slope in the snow...
An intermittent sharp call echoes throughout the woods, “caw caw!”. Looking up to find the caller, I spot a lone stark black crow flying up into a tall cherry. He lands up high enough to rest in the sunlight. The winds blow through his feathers as he ruffles them about, and steps to reset his feet on the branch...
Traversing my way over the ridge, from out of that frigid depression below, I stop and turn to look back. The crow, now at about my eye level, is still looking into the wind and crowing with his abrasive notes. He continues with this as if he’s yelling in anger at the wind’s briskness, as it continues to tousle his feathers.
The three deer,, appear to have moved on,, or at least out from the cold basin below,, as they are now nowhere to be seen... The blue jays,, well,, still seem to be quite content down in those cold hemlocks. I can see their movement in the branches as they continue to make their cheerful jeers...