Miscellany
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Back Yard
I love having an active back yard. Our dining room table sits beside a 12-foot window, and without fail a glance out back reveals creaturely activity of some kind: birds, foxes, woodchucks, rabbits, deer. Squirrels power-lounging on bark or stone. Showdowns between red and gray squirrels beneath the bird feeders. Fledglings begging their parents for food.
Last week I brushed the dog, and placed the pile of black and white hair it yielded out at the edge of the back bank. After the chickadees fledged in our nest box, we removed the nest and discovered its top layer was a cozy cushion of dog hair. It’s late for most nesting, but I put the hair out just in case.
10 minutes later I glanced out and saw two crows scolding harshly around the same area. I looked for a hawk, but after watching for awhile it became clear that the crows were scolding the pile of dog hair. They bent their heads and descended ever closer to it for another ten minutes, crying out in their most explosive, grating voices. They must have thought it was a skunk!
Last night I noticed a cardinal trying unsuccessfully to snatch a small moth. It caught and lost it several times before giving up. As the beleaguered moth fluttered away, a phoebe swooped down and nabbed it in one graceful flutter. “Leave it to the professionals,” it seemed to say to the watching cardinal.
This morning as we ate breakfast, my husband and I got a kick out of this rabbit peering over the stone wall between our garden and our neighbor’s driveway.
The funny part was that it appeared to be meditating on the lettuce.
As far as I’m concerned it can have the lettuce. It never tastes good to me, much though I like the idea of it. Maybe the rabbit likes it better.
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Four-legged feeder visitor
I saw this gray fox one evening out by our bird feeder and it ran away. I figured it was hunting for an unwary ground-feeding bird. But the next morning it reappeared, and it was eating the bird seed on the ground.
I’ve never heard of a fox doing this. Live and learn!
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My brother’s woods
My brother took us on a walk through a tract of woodland that had several sections with several different characters. I heard many birds I never saw in the denser areas.
He pointed out lots of clues pointing to the land’s earlier life and uses, and he did a great job getting my daughters to hone their observational skills.
Jack in the pulpit 
Looks like wild lily of the valley, but bigger, and with different leaves 
Red-winged blackbird nest Not all the sights were wildlife…
This guy won my younger daughter’s heart for life. -
First day of spring
Someone told me recently that when the maple buds swell, maple syrup season is over. It’s definitely colder this year than it was on the first day of spring last year. I recorded the sights from this date last year at my other blog. Things were definitely further along then!
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Wandering Whitetails
There hasn’t been much going on here at Discovering Nature. We’ve been kept inside by sickness and weather. But occasionally the outdoors comes to us, especially in the form of deer — seen here across the street, peering back at me. I’m hoping the increased deer traffic means spring is around the corner — though I have no scientific justification that I know of!
Despite our dog’s bout with lyme disease last year, I like deer. This has been a colder winter, and it’s probably “put a hurtin'” on the fleas and ticks. Last winter was so warm that the ticks were swarming even in early spring.
Another couple of weeks and we’ll be seeing crocuses and robins. Can’t wait!
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Captive Wildlife Photography
What’s up, Doc? This is Whisper, the Incredibly Pampered Rabbit. He, and our dog, are about all I have to try out my new camera lens on.
And this is Katie, the Incredibly Gracious Dog. She’s lived through momentous eras with us — namely our early marriage, and the birth of our children. She’s 13 and just gets more and more sweet.
My new lens is for close-ups. But to see Katie in her element she needs to be viewed in the great outdoors…
March 7 …or with a frisbee…
5/12/09 
5/12/09 
5/11 
5/11 …or on duty in any other way she sees as essential.
12/09 
3/01 And so my experiment with a new lens becomes a celebration of a loved dog… the “dog o’ dogs,” as we call her.
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Cliff Swallows
These birds are described as “gregarious.” We watched them for ten minutes or so this morning and they were busy catching insects and taking them back to their young in the mud nest.
I love their white eyebrows and curious faces. All the while they worked, they made a cheerful sounding chittering noise.
There are three nests along the bridge, the middle one appearing to be a swallow duplex.
I’m enjoying learning about these new-to-me birds.
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Sample Post
Brand new post…
