Great Blue Heron

Great B

lue Heron seem to be scarce this summer.  This is the only picture of a Great Blue Heron that I have been able to get a picture of this summer.

A Young Male Ruby throated Hummingbird for Saturday Critters

Earlier this week I was watching several hummingbirds feeding at our feeders.  I knew a few of the birds must be newly hatched this year as thier numbers had increased.  I decided ro take some pictures and I noticed a few of the humminbirds had small flecks of red

 at their throats.  I wondered if these birds might be young males?

I decided to see what information I could find online about the full red throat of a male Ruby throated Hummingbirdhummingbird.  I found an informative site at:http://www.rubythroat.org/rthuexternalmain.html#anchor1053301
I discovered that an young male hummingbird does not get a full throat or gorget of red until their first winter.  However near their first summer's end  a young male may start to show  one to several red feathers at its throat.  Ah ha!!  So that is what I had seen with the small flecks of red at their throats They were young male hummingbirds..  I love making small discoveries like this and I decided to share this information today on Eleen's Saturday Critters which can be found at viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot,ca
A Happy weekend and happy natureviewing to everyone folks!

metamorphosis

Just a visual recap of our new Monarch that emerged from its chrysalis yesterday. We had found he caterpillar on July 24th, and we brought it home and put it in a small plastic cage. On July 27th the caterpillar entered into its chrysalis stage. , On August 5th the adult Monarch left the chrysalis and lay with open wings at the bottom of the cage, as its wings dried and stiffened we set the butterfly free by placing it on a leaf of a milkweed plant, after being there for a few moments it flew away

Update on caterpillar metamorphosis

It has been nine days now since the Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar has been in its chrysalis. This morning I was able to see a bit of colour of the adult Monarch butterfly. within its chrysalis. It will just be a couple of days now until the fully develop butterfly emerges! It is an Amazing! process to observe! It was difficult to get a good picture as I had to insert the camera in through the top of the cage, but you can see the colourful development  of the adult Monarch along the sides of the chrysalis!

Red foxes for Saturday Critters

I often find foxes at the lagoon area of my community.  One morning this week I had found two!

The goldenrod in the background dates this picture to be early in August as there is an abundance of goldenrod in the fields and meadows round about.

I was in my car while taking these pictures and consider myself really lucky to get the picture below of one of the foxes with its mouth open with its tongue curled up to the right side of its mouth.

I am linking today to Eileen's Saturday Critters which can be found at viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca 

Have a wonderful weekend everybody. 

 Hopefully the temperatures are cool wherever you are.

Another Monarch Butterfly on the way!

On Monday, July 30th I found another Monarch Butterfly caterpillar.  It was much bigger than the previous one that I had had, which is now in its chrysalis stage.  This new caterpillar was quite thick ( fat) and long! In the picture below of this caterpillar in the cage it reminds me of a little tiger!

Because of its size we assumed that it wouldn't stay long in its caterpillar stage.we were right as the next day, July 31st. we watched while it climber to the top of the cage

Once at the top it attached itself to the cage top and was soon hanging downward in an "J" shape.

When I got up this morning it was still hanging in its J shape, however I was in for a surprise for while I drank my first cup of coffee it had changed into its next stage, that of a shiny green chrysalis.

So I can expect to see an adult Monarch butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis in ten days time@  How MAGICAL and AMAZING  it all is!

A Wild Turkey Poult

In the fall of 2017 a group of five Wild Turkeys were seen around my community, And then they were seen again in the spring, so apparently they overwintered well here. But I am several other interested birders wondered did they mate and have young turkeys or poults?"

 YES! I saw an adult Wild Turkey and one poult this morning along Riverside Drive!

A Red Fox visiting our yard!

I had just arrived back home from my morning drive looking for birds or wildlife to photograph when upon getting out of my car I spied this RedFox in our back yard. As it saw me it ran across the highway and disappeared. I had shouted to my husband,David to come and when he came I explained that I had just seen a Fox!. And suddenly David said, "Here it comes again!" and I turned and saw the fox at the beginning of our 
driveway, but when it saw us it ran away again across the highway

. Thankfully Shakey , our cat ,was inside our house asleep on our bed. Shakey has been outdoors a lot recently during the daytime, But. "NO MORE SHAKEY! Outdoors is off limits to you for the time being!" Foxes are smart and we suspect it knows that there is a cat around here!!
We knew a fox was around as David had seen one in the adjacent meadow a few weeks ago, but we hadn't seen it since, until this morning! We had relaxed a bit and had started letting Shakey out a bit in the past few days! "But no more Shakey! Consider yourself grounded for the next few weeks!!!"
"Probably for the rest of the summer!"

A most amazing caterpillar! For Saturday Critters

On July the 24th, 2018 my husband found this monarch butterfly caterpillar on the leaf of a milkweed plant at Three Tree Creek. We had a small plastic cage with us

for just the possibility that we might be lucky enough to come across one sometime. When we got the caterpillar home we put it in a larger cage along with some free milkweed leaves.

The cage seemed quite roomy and adequate for such a little creature and we had used this cage before in 2014 and we had watched the

process of metamorphosis occur, so we were satisfied with its accommodation!

The next day, July 25th, we again added fresh milkweed leaves to the cage and as it turns out it was lucky that we did!  This little caterpillar had a voracious appetite! By late afternoon I noticed that it had eaten an entire leaf!

so I added another fresh leaf and it had eaten about half of the leaf (you can see the half eaten leaf under the caterpillar!) Interesting that I hadn't observed such a huge appetite previous years when we had also kept a caterpillar.

The next morning (July 26th) I was away until noon and when I returned home I noticed that the caterpillar appeared to be unusually active! It was rather quickly moving around the inside perimeter of the cage. From my previous experience I knew that the time would come when the caterpillar would climb to the top of the cage and ready itself for the next stage by spinning some silk to attach itself to the top of the cage. I anticipated that perhaps it was about time for this to happen, so I placed a small stick inside the cage to allow the caterpillar to climb to the top via the stick and when I checked the caterpillar again, it was laying flat against the top of the cage. Aha! I kept checking for any change before we went to bed for the night.

July 27, I checked early this morning and it was as I had assumed it would be, the caterpillar had attached itself to the top of the cage and it was hanging downward in a "J" shape.  It had now entered the pupa stage!

It was difficult to get a good photo in such a small area, but look carefully and you can see the "J" shaped caterpillar.

Things have been moving very quickly today and at about 3:30 p.m. I looked again and the caterpillar had shed its skin and was now covered with a green shiny, silken looking covering, its chrysalis.

In about 10 days time an adult Monarch butterfly will emerge and then we will return it to a milkweed patch and set it free, wishing it well on its journey to Mexico this fall and winter! 

What an amazing caterpillar this is... so programmed and filled with such intuition and knowledge that it is able to turn itself into a most beautiful and amazing adult Monarch butterfly.

 I am linking today to Eileen's Saturday Critters which can be found at viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca

Canada geesefamily for Saturday Critters

I was very disappointed this spring, summer as I had not seen any baby geese or ducks.  I was especially anticipating seeing those sweet, little, yellow fluffy Canada Geese babies... but I didn't see any. However today I was fortunate to chance upon a Canada Goose Family as the last two members were crossing the road as my car approached and by then they had all slipped into the water again. This year's young are quite grown by now... into what I call their teenage stage.

 I assume that there was a family of three young with Mamma and Papa along sheparding the young ones across the road and back into the water again.

I am linking today to Eilen's blog , Saturdays Critters which can be found at: viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca

young raccoon

Sometimes when I see something unusual and fascinating I must learn to take a picture first, no matter how far or distant it is, no matter of it turning out to be not such  a great picture.  Yesterday when I saw what appeared to be a ball of fur lying in the middle of the highway, I was curious!. That is when I should have tried for a picture!  I slowly eased  my car up until I was beside it.  The noise of my window going down was a turning point and a small, curious head appeared from the middle of the ball of fur!! What a delightful surprise that was!

.  The animal quickly stood and made its way across the highway to the roadside grasses.  It was alone and as it walked I could detect a hesitation in its walk as if there was an injury to its legs.  It stopped and looked back at me in my car.

It was a young raccoon as the black mask and striped tail were unmistakable features

As it reached the roadside grasses it appeared to be more comfortable in its surroundings. This young raccoon had obviously lost its mother somehow.  I did not detect any evidence of an adult raccoon having perished on the highway.  Whatever had happened to it, it seems as if the young kit was waiting for it on the highway.  The life of nature's young is very precarious, be it danger of being hit while crossing s highway or the loss of its main food source,: its mother. I was glad that I had frightened it off the highway as the traffic there on a Saturday morning was fairly frequent and what a dangerous location the young raccoon had chosen to have a nap!

"Fair well little raccoon ", Maybe I shall frequent that area for the next few days to oust you from sleeping on the middle of the highway if I encounter such an action again.  Be safe and lets hope you and your momma are reunited again soon..

Monarch Butterfly for Saturdsy Critters

For several years now we have been trying to grow Milkweed plants.  We have been able to grow the green leafy portion of the milkweed but up until this year we have not been able to produce anything on our own that flowers.  A few years ago we have noticed a Milkweed self starter plant growing in front of our garage step where the asphalt surface of our drive way meets at our step. This year the self starter Milkweed has blossoms on it! The plant is very hardy as I almost killed it the other day as I was getting my walker out of the garage and I knocked the walker over onto the Milkweed and the plant lay on the ground beside our garage step.  I picked up the stalk and carefully straightened it and it is still thriving!!!! thank goodness for that.

Above is the thriving self-starter Milkweed plant.

the most glorious event happened a couple of days ago!!  A Monarch Butterfly visited our Milkweed plaant.  The butterfly did not stop long enough for me to be able to get a good picture of it! and it was too hot at 34 degrees Celsius,  for me to sit outdoors and wait for it to return, however here are a few Monarch butterfly pictures of when it was buzzing around our own Milkweed plant!

                 

I am linking this morning to Eileen's Saturday Critters which can be found at  viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca

Have a most wonderful cool weekend everyone.

more deer

I took an early morning drive this first Sunday morning in July and saw a red Fox and a female white tailed deer in a meadow

.  the deer was feeding very close to the road and when I stopped my car beside it, it didn't run off. I thought it was an unusual pose to see that its ears were turned down  As I was leaving I saw more deer in the meadow further back and they were both looking in my direction.

Young Fawn for Saturday Critters

Its that time of year to keep a lookout for young babies of nature.  I have been hoping to see a young fawn and this morning I saw one.  I was driving down a country road and I spied an adult deer and a fawn wth it.

.  It appeared as if they were planning to cross the road so I slowed my car as I eased forward hoping not to scare them off and I pulled over to the roadside. I could see the young fawn beside its mother in the roadside grasses. Then the mother started across the road with the fawn close behind her.

then as most young are often curious, the fawn stopped midway across the highway and looked at my car. Perhaps

I should have attempted to frighten it so it could start to learn that crossing highways can be hazardous, but I just took its picture instead.
I am linking today to viewing Nature with Eileen which can be found at
viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca

Red fox with photo editing

 above is hown the photo edited version of the picture of the Red Fox shown below!

A Raccoon forSaturdayCritters

I didn't have any pictures to post this morning until movement outside my window caught my eye!  It was a hungry Raccoon trying yo get food from one of our hummingbird feeders.  Aha! so that is who has been emptying it every night when I do not bring it in.  When it saw that I had seen it, it dropped quickly to the ground and quickly squeezed its way out through our garden gate and then hustled itself across the highway. Bye, bye fellow.. get lost! be gone! we don't want you here, but as I was downloading my pictures I could see from a upstairs window that it has returned again to our yard!

The Raccoon on the ground in Bird Alley

The Raccoon squeezed through the gate to leave

The Raccoon at the end of our driveway before crossing the road

 I am posting this morning to Eileen's Saturday critters which can be found at viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Eatern bluebirds for saturday Critters

It is always a lovely surprise to discover bluebirds around our yard.  we don't see them often but this week a couple of bluebirds were showing much interest in our unoccupied Tree Swallow house. they would perch on the top of the house and sometimes go into the house itself. although we have not see these two bluebirds for the last couple of days.  However we think Bluebirds nest nearby \as last fall we saw Bluebirds around our choke cherry trees when the berries were very ripe.

                   seen above is a male Bluebird on top of our tree swallow house

                                              Bluebird shown above in the branches of our Choke Cherry Tree..

I am linking today to Eileen's Saturday Critters which can be found at 
viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca

Sunning Painted Turtles

It is my delight these recent sunny days is to find Painted Turtles sunning themselves , often on islands.of Earth or mounds of grass.  their shiny domes really standout  with the sun reflecting from them 

seen above are six painted turtles on grassy mounds.  Look very carefully to the lower left of the picture and you will be able to detect three turtles there.

This picture above shows four Painted turtles.  I was so very pleased to see a small turtle included in the group.  They come in all sized.!

This Painted turtle chose a different sort of location. It had chosen to climb up midway on a brush pile.

.For others an island of earth is the preferred choice.  aTt first I only saw the turtle on the island but when editing this I saw the second turtle on the left... so move over and make room for two!.

This one coming out of the water has yet  to chose and settle into sunny location, but no matter where, I know its purpose will be to lie soaking up the heat of the sun.  Its another sunny day so I think I will go out with my camera and find some more turtles sunning themselves.  I know they will be out there!

INdigo Bunting in Bird Alley

On my morning's searching for some interesting bird I could find none.  So I was super extra pleased  in the early afternoon when I saw a handsome male Indigo Bunting in Bird Alley.  I was discouraged at first with the photo as it was washed with too much light but I tried some photo editing on it and I am fairly pleased with my results.  The beak is quite clear and it has a bit of bird seed between its beak. This handsome bird only stayed a moment, but we had one visiting Bird Alley last spring sometime in April and I am hoping that this is the same bird.  Last year it stayed around for a couple of days and so I am hoping that the one we had seen today will be back tomorrow.

Happy Birding everyone!

Painted Turtles

I am used to seeing a first spring Painted Turtle sometime in April, however I think that the flooding we have had this spring was a negative influence to the turtles crawling up out of the very, very deep water to sun themselves  There was very little on or near the water's surface for them to rest upon while sunning themselveson land or a rock.  Now that the waters have gone down I am able to detect a shiny shell now and then in the sun's glare and this weekend I got pictures of turtles climbing out of the water to a land surface. In the picture below are three painted turtles.  You can easily see two turtles coming out of the water,  but search for the third and you can see its head just showing above the water near the bottom right of the picture Its about an inch  to the left of the turtle  to the far right. Today I shall return to that location and look for it again.

The Painted turtle is very colourful, thus its name.  Below as the turtle crawls out from the water you can see some if its red markings on its shell and the yellow striping on its head and neck!

Looking for another sunny day today which will create the right conditions for more Painted turtle hunting.

Have a wonderful day everyone!