Monday, June 22, 2015

An Unwanted Nighttime Visitor, a Raccoon..

It was around 10 p.m. one evening last week and my husband grabbed my camera which was nearby, and he took pictures out  of our window in the evening darkness when he heard sounds outside in Bird Alley..
With the help of a good photo editing site I was able to lighten them all somewhat. What he had heard outside the window was a hungry Raccoon in Bird Alley.
  It has reached the bird feeder by standing on one of our pergola railings.
It was helping itself to the finch seed in one of our feeders.
 
All finished with that feeder for now.
 
Back on the ground, looking around.
It found a few seeds which had dropped onto the grass.
It had such a beautiful tail!
My husband had opened our back porch door and yelled at it and it had ran to the bower at the back of our backyard.  Bye, bye Raccoon. What a nuisance you are! And don't come back!
Thanks for the great pictures DAVID!

Sunday, June 21, 2015

A Clearwing Hummingbird Moth

The 'clearwing' significance of its name is emphasized in these photos of a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth   that was seen feeding on a yellow Devil's Paintbrush.  The Transparency of the Moth's wings allowed the  beautiful yellow of this wildflower to show through as you can see by the pictures included below.
 I think this little moth is delightful and such a pleasure to look at!

Have a wonderful rainy, Father's Day everyone!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Snapping Turtle Laying Her Eggs


June is snapping turtle egg laying season in my community.  Ever since having discovered a snapping turtle laying eggs in June 2001, we have become aware of this annual happening and every June we are on the lookout for this happening. Sometimes I find turtles  like I did earlier this week when I was standing on an observation deck overlooking the river and I saw two snapping turtles in the water of a pond below. They looked like they were resting., perhaps they had already laid their eggs.  When the turtles come out of the river they have a long steep climb up the river bank to find their nesting areas.  They use the same area to dig the nest  for their egg laying year after year!
               

above, a Snapping Turtle in the pond below with its head above the water surface.


above, the second Snapping Turtle I saw in the pond below.

 
 On Thursday I decided to check out a small sandy strip along the railroad tracks where these huge turtles lay their eggs every year, and WoW!  luck of all luck, there was a turtle laying her eggs.  She had already dug her nest and her body was angled at an incline. and although I did not see any actual eggs , she was in the process of laying them.  It looked like serious business as she progressed.  Mosquitoes were biting and I did not stay around until the turtle completed her job.  Experience from observations of other years told me that when she completed this job she would cover her eggs with sand and then she would return downhill to the river.
 A few pictures of this sighting below.

 
The turtle's body in an incline position as she lays her eggs.
In about three months time, if all goes well and no scavengers have  unearthed and eaten the eggs, babies turtles will dig themselves out of the nest to the surface. I have seen this happening twice  before and the baby turtles orient themselves to face the river and hurry over the steep embankment until they jump into the river.  This year we have a family of foxes in the area adjacent to this nest of eggs so chances are that the eggs may be discovered soon and destroyed.  Such are the hazards and dangers of nature.
 
I am liinking today to Eileen's Saturday Critters which can be found at:http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca/
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
 
I am including below three  pictures of hatching baby turtles leaving their nest. These pictures are from the first year we had seen a turtle laying her eggs and I kept watch over the nest every day in hopes of seeing the small turtles emerge from their nest, and they did!!!!!  It was a wonderful, magical event!
                                                           "Hello World"
 
 

Friday, June 19, 2015

Deer in My Backyard

A few years ago we fenced in our backyard.  The main reason for doing that was that we had too many deer visiting our yard and eating plants from our garden, both veggie and flowers.  I have missed seeing their beautiful presence out and about as there was a certain beauty to look out and see these graceful creatures wandering around our yard.

Since the fencing in my husband has devoted much of his gardening time to growing and developing his beautiful Hosta plants.  One area of our yard is on a hillside which we have named Hosta Hill.
Yesterday morning I looked out and saw movement in Bird Alley. A quick glance out told me that it was no bird I was seeing as I had seen a glimpse of a sturdy brown leg! A Deer in our yard!  I quickly grabbed my camera and hurriedly put on a pair of shoes and I went out to investigate!  Yes!  there was a deer in our garden and it didn't seem to remember how to get out. I found it at our veggie garden section near our Tory Gate
We both stared at each other and then the deer started to run checking out any exit possibilities it could find.( There were none!) David had built a fine fence and it has served us well!


And I took as many pictures as I could to show the evidence to David when he got up. I think my best photo is of when the deer went sailing through the air in front of Hosta Hill ( You can see many Hostas in the background as the deer is leaping by.)

In the photo below you can see a portion of our fencing and also a garden sign on the fence and our garden globe ( thankfully the deer did not knock that over.)
So all was well that ended well.  I did not see the deer leave as there are several ares in our backyard and I had though it was still in Bird Alley but there was no deer there anymore when I checked that area out. But I did find the gate that had been left open in error.  It was our welcome gate with the words "Welcome" on it.  No, not really meant to be a welcome to deer.

Have a wonderful day everyone.  It seems like it will be a good day here to look for snapping turtles laying their eggs as it is now the season for that. Tomorrow's post will be about Snapping Turtles that I have found in our community this month.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

An Eagle Along the River

At this time of year I go to the river daily to observe happenings there from the observation deck.  Yesterday I saw two Eagles and it is not unusual to see Eagles there! I saw one perched in a tree across the river from me.  this distance was quite a stretch for my 300 mm lens and my photo editing did not create the sharpest or the best photos but I have shared here some of my photos I captured as I panned the Eagle as it flew away from its perch!

 Have a great day everyone!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Swallowtail Butterflies

Each year in June I anticipate the blossoming of our Lilac trees, and then I wait for the Swallowtail Butterflies to arrive. this year, I waited and waited and then one day I saw a Swallowtail on a Lilac blossom!!!!  Just the one time this occured!!  I hurried for my camera and adjusted the camera setting to  " vivid colour" and included below are a few of the beautiful colours I was able to capture!
Well I guess that must be enough pictures of the Lilacs and Swallowtail butterflies and now the Lilac blooms have faded and vanished so that is it for Lilacs and Swallowtails for this June; but now there are Swallowtails everywhere  and yesterday morning I took pictures of one feeding on clover!
 And that's it for my Swallowtail butterfly posting.  Have a grand day everyone.!!!!!!

Saturday, June 06, 2015

A Mama Fox nearby for Saturday Critters

Yesterday morning I had decided to check out the walking trails in a nearby woods.  However I changed my mind when I heard loud barking and an adult fox appear from close by and she ended up on the pathway leading into the woods and the walking trails.  I now know where she probably has her babies from seeing the location she came bounding from.  She has been through our dooryard on two different occasions that we have seen her crossing through it.  Our cat is very mystified why we won't let him outdoors recently.  We are wary that he might experience a hungry fox encounter. Below are some photos from my fox sighting yesterday morning.
I am linking this morning with Eileen 's viewing nature for Saturday Critters found at:
http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.ca/
Have a great day everyone!