A VISIT TO BLACK RIVER SWAMP WITH EVELYN AND TOMMIE DABBS.

In 2004 I went on a birding trip to Sumter, SC. There I met a then well known and distinguised member of South Carolina Audubon Society. He was Robin Carter and had written a very extensive, simple and practical Guide to the best birding sites in South Carolina. (Sadly Robin Carter died just last year). Besides taking me on one of his Birding Before Breakfast walks on the river in Columbia, SC, Robin told me about Evelyn Dabbs who lived on the Black River Swamp on the road from Sumter to Florence SC. Since then Evelyn and Tommie have become my friends. On at least three occasions, mostly in early May I have spent entire days roaming their meadows, forests and swamp birding. With Evelyn and Tommie I experienced true Southern Hospitality as have many groups of children, adults and university groups since the year 1976 when Evelyn began doing a study of the migration and population of birds in the Black River Swamp area. I have shared many of my photos of Evelyn and Tommie's wonderful home. Because of a most wise environmental lean on their property its beauty and the vibrant plant, bird and other wildlife will be preserved. Below is a YouTube video I just made on Evelyn and Tommie.

SHEPHERDING AND BORDER COLLIES

While my two brothers and I were in Ireland last June, we took a very enjoyable day bus trip around the "Ring of Kerry". One of the most interesting stops was up on a mountain where a professional shepherd showed us the many varieties of sheep that exist in Ireland. And he showed us how he communicates with his two feisty Border Collies. He uses, as far as we could gather, whistle signals which include a special whistle signal for each Collie and signals that tell each one exactly what to do: "Move Right!", "Move Left!" "Crouch and menace!" "Sit down" "Run up!" "Run sideways". I am pretty sure that the shepherd also uses voice signals. And I suspect that sometimes the simple movement or position of his shepherd's staff tells the collies where to go or what to do. One interesting detail was the "Crouch and Menace" signal. The sheep see what is the movement of a possible predator when the collies bend down and creep meanacingly toward them. So they move! Here I include a YouTube clip which I wish had been longer.
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KAYAKING AT 70 YEARS OF AGE

I spent about five hours on the River yesterday...celebrating my 70th birthday. Can't think of anything more enjoyable I could have done on that most pleasant (7 5 degree) day. I went "on board" the Esopus Lighthouse that is being restored and prepared to be a B & B with beautiful views of the East and West Banks and the northern and southern stretches of the Hudson.
Below is the stump of a Maple that seemed to me to be quite old. How many years do YOU think it was?---
Green Buoy #63 marks the Hudson River's channel as it curves southwest at the Esopus Meadows heading towards Esopus Island and THE MOUNT.

GUESS THE AGE OF THIS MILLS MANOR MAPLE

Mike "Visitthemount.org" at Hudson Meadow Lighthouse

Renovation at Hudson River Lighthouse

Hudson River Birder at Esopus Meadown Lighthouse

Hudson River Birder Kayaking Hudson River

Marshy Path to Acre Farm

Identify this Wildflower!!!

Beefsteak Polypure

NATURE'S "HALF ACRE"

Below you will see (for July 11th, 2009) what I have been able to capture with the "micro" part of my neat Canon Digital camera. There was a wonderful film made in the 50ties by the Disney corporation I think, which was called, "Nature's Half Acre". Because it showed the small bugs, insects, plants, aquatic as well as land, that are truly a wonderful part of God's creation. I don't think there is any harder thing to photograph than a small wind blown wildflower. But it's a challenge for me. The colors do not always turn out the way "I saw it or remembere it", but I hope you can appreciate them....
SOMETHING ABOUT SEIDO KARATE: This weekend of July 9-12 we have 90 members of the Seido Karate people. The founder of the movement whose name is, Tadashi Nakamura , restored the contemplative and virtuous dimensions of karate. The values of respect, cooperation, service and team work as well as the values of meditation, silence, discipline and a dignified life are so very apparent in the Master and the participants. And they had our many groves, mini forests, green lawns and meadows to both meditate, practice and enjoy this land of THE HUDSON RIVER BIRDER.

Seido Karate Weekend at The Mount

Dragonfly on Acre Pond

White Baneberry on Pell Farm--Esopus

Common Fiber Vase Fungus near River

Unidentified Acre Pond Wildflower at Esopus

Plants, Bugs and Wildflowers

I have not the photography equipment to do birds. But my little Canon Digital Camera is simply "great" for nature scenes, micro shots of butterflies, bugs and wildflower. I can't change the name of my blog. But it "could" be named from now on either: Hudson River Bugger or 2. Hudson River Wildflowerer or 3. Hudson River Tree Guy.

The fact is that I have committed myself to do two Saturday days of reflection. The first is called Christ and the Planet. I will give it here on Satuday Sept 26 from 10am till 3pm. The other is called Fall Migration and Christ. That will be on Satuday, Oct. 24th, also from 10am till 3pm. Let me give you an idea of where this came from. When I was in the Bronx my Thursday "free- day" was inevitably spent birding or just relaxing in the natural wonder that is Central Park. So when I was assigned up here at The Mount in Esopus, NY some of my friends joked, "They've sent you upstate to birdwatch!" Well yes and no! I have always loved our place at the Mount. It is, as I say above a "beautiful piece of wildlife on the Hudson River". But my joy, my "mission" as a missionary priest is to "try and show how all in the world reflects...or "should reflect" God's wonder, goodness, truth, justice and compassion. So.....with these two workshops I hope to put together...my love of nature and my mission to help make the human family precisely that..."a family". There are people who have come to or have been taught to "hate religion". Sometimes this hatred comes from the fact that people have sometimes been taught that in order to love God and be a good person one has to hate or despise themselves and either "ignore the rest of creation" or worse still, exploit it and literally "choke it to death" I DON'T BELIEVE THAT. As a young boy in Pittsburgh PA. one of my joys was finding and enjoying the many parks we had in that city. I lived in the city, but I never was a "city boy". So there is a bit of the personal history and the dream of this HUDSON RIVER BIRDER.

Bee on a Leaf at Pell Farm

Very Old Purple Beach on Pell Farm