What is all the loud noise on both live cameras?
Our neighbors across our small inlet are getting a new roof and what you are hearing is all the hammering. Their roof was badly damaged during that awful storm we had earlier this summer – the one I blogged about. They were very fortunate in that the the big oak that came down got caught on another tree so it only landed on their roof and damaged the shingles. Had that tree not partially caught on another tree, it had the potential of slicing their house in two. So for the past two days, all the shingles on that portion of their house have been replaced.
Sometime in the future, you will also hear this from our roof. Evidently, during that same storm, all the hail in the world came down onto two areas of our roof. The shingles held, but are no longer doing what shingles are supposed to do. Luckily there are no leaks, but our roof also has to be replaced. Our two houses were the hardest hit from this very small, but very powerful storm. At first we thought it was straight line winds, but when viewing the big oaks and hickories that were uprooted in our yard all laying one way, and the shrubs close to our our house all flattened going the opposite way, at least in our yard, we had a twister.
It was habitat destruction – on a quite small scale compared to the devastating wildfires out west, but to the birds. animals, and insects living in our yard, the destruction was overwhelming and in some areas, complete. Some birds did not return – mainly the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Eastern Bluebirds, and Indigo Buntings. We will keep special watch next spring and early summer for these three. Will they return – they have been here every year of the 20 years we have lived here – or will their absence be extended or permanent?