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Lucy
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Winter melts into spring
Some of these are from January, and some from early March.
Tree tunnel in a snow globe 
Snowbird house 
Two mice leave their tracks 
Encrusted twigs 
Boardwalk in March 
March woods melting 
Ice-traced leaves 
Moss and bracket fungus emerging 
Early spring tree tunnel 
Boardwalk, toy camera effect 
Mud-coated stream 
Mysterious boardwalk -
Patience
It’s been a long, very cold winter this year. Since my last post here, I’ve said goodbye to our dear 14-year-old border collie, had foot surgery that kept me convalescent for weeks, gotten a new puppy, and generally been unable to get out and about with my camera. But things are warming up a bit at last, and I hope to be able to enjoy some of the welcome sights of spring.
I’d like to post some of the few winter photos I have gotten in the last few months. This one is of a redtail that sat behind our neighbor’s shed all afternoon one day back in January. I wondered if it was hurt, but it eventually flew off. My guess is that it was feasting on mice around the shed. I’ve always wondered how long hawks will sit in the same place hunting. The answer, in this case, was hours.
We named her Patience.
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Bear country
Our friendly neighborhood bear made another visit yesterday in the early morning. This time, he left tracks so we could reconstruct his vandalism. He bent the feeder pole to the ground and ate a seed cake along with all the black oil sunflower seeds, then walked around to the front of the house where he actually stood up and leaned with his paws against the front of the house while he removed the nut feeder. He apparently examined the Christmas wreath on the front door as well, judging from the huge paw prints next to it. Then he shambled up to a neighbor’s feeder and gave it the same treatment.
Wouldn’t you know? The one morning I let the dog out and then go back to bed for awhile, to rest up for the Thanksgiving preparations. Wouldn’t that have been amazing to see!
Here’s hoping he goes into hibernation soon. He totally mangled our nut feeder and generally has dietary requirements far beyond our bird-feeding budget!
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Lunch
Yesterday I looked out the window while I was making lunch — and saw this.
I’ve often seen pileated woodpecker excavations in the woods and wondered what these large birds look like while they’re making them. How long do they stay in one place? How do they go about their work?
This fellow stayed for 15 minutes or so. He had been at work for a bit before I saw him, as the hole he was working on confirmed. It was amazing to see him hammering, pulling away bits of bark, and occasionally twisting his head to get at the bugs apparently deep inside the wood.
After awhile he hopped to the other side of the tree before flying away, giving me a glimpse of woodpecker tongue.
It doesn’t bode well for the tree; I’ve read that they only work on trees that are already dead or dying. But what fun to have him in the neighborhood! Now I want a larger suet feeder more than ever.
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Deer season
The deer were everywhere in the nature preserve where the girls and I took our walk yesterday…
Inquisitive, but not especially easy to spook. It’s bow season right now, and I know some hunters who would have been glad to see them. No hunting in the preserve, though. I think the deer must know.
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Golden-crowned kinglets
These little birds were fluttering in the apple tree beside the horse paddock where my daughters were riding yesterday. They move so quickly! — but at last I got one decent picture, and several mediocre ones.
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Nighttime Visitor
We had a visitor in our suburban yard the other night. Though we slept through it all, a bear is surely the one who bent our bird feeder pole to the ground, ripped off the suet cage, and feasted on sunflower seeds and suet.
We left it in disarray for the day and the following night, despite the disorientation of the offended birds. It’s back up now and we’ve had no return visits. Hopefully the culprit will be in hibernation before too long!
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Muted colors of late fall
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Chipmunk
