Deer Out For A Stroll for Scenic Sunday

This doe and her fawn were out for a stroll up the middle of the highway as we came along. A beautiful scene but not a good idea.Its a good idea Mamma to lead your baby awayfrom the dangerous highway!

Follow your Mamma , Baby! Keep safe and be wary of highways!


Scenic Sundayhttp://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/ is a meme where you can share the beauty your camera has captured for your enjoyment and for the enjoyment of others too. Please scroll along the right side of this page to the scenic Sunday icon and click to share with others and also to view what others have shared. Have a wonderful day!

Catbird on my clothesline

It rains every Saturday it seems, but a bit of cheer was added to my day when I took this picture of a catbird sitting on my clothesline. Isn't it colourful!!!!! The plastic clothespins really added much colour to the scene! kind of like a rainbow I thought!Six little dresses dancing merrily in the breeze, presents for little Molly. There was enough sun later in the afternoon to create shadows!

Shywatching with my garden globe for skywatch Friday

Watching the sky in my garden globe makes for some very beautiful viewing from my back yard. I could see the same thing by looking directly at the sky above but the garden globe media seems to enhance the beauty of what is overhead.

Skywatch Friday is a long standing meme where sky views from all over the world are posted at:
http://skyley.blogspot.com/Why not participate as well.

Cruising Roadsides for butterflies

Daisy's can be yummy too! Just ask this Viceroy butterfly above about it!

Yesterday was my first sighting of fritillaries this summer. I think this one above is a silver-bordered fritillary.The Peurple Vetch along the roadside was proving to be a real favourite! Just ask this swallowtail above if it was yummy?And of course the big seasonal treat at this time of year is milkweed blossoms, Just ask this little skipper attached to it!The Brown-eyed Susans weren't neglected either!

Outside my window this morning

Looking out my window this morning I saw two beautiful little fawns on our side lawn.. They ran across the highway, This one shown above was chased up the road by a car and returned and he now appears a bit subdued and safe!. Below it is moving across our side lawn in a very colourful scene. The bright morning sun highlights the yellows and reds of our garden flowers there.
Have a happy Wednesday everyone!

Our Tree Swallows are gone! for Worldbird Wednesday

If the Tree Swallows were still here I would have titled this; Tree Swallows Be Gone! for the adult birds had harassed us all last week in our yard. One day last week while hanging clothes on our backyard clothesline, all of a sudden it was as if a knife had whizzed by my head. The sound of it and its speed was downright scary! The baby Tree Swallows were ready to fledge and the nervous anxious parent birds would tolerate no one in our back yard. Its not likey we will reach into the bird house and snatch up one of the babies as the house is high up in the air. My husband who spends most of each day gardening there had to give up his outside work and come inside and read a book. He had bought a tree on the weekend but could not plant it as the adult sparrows kept diving at him. The tree is now planted. As of Monday our back yard has been really quiet and tranquil. We have hosted Tree Swallows in the bird house in our back yard for several years now and its only been the last two summers that we have experienced their hostile nature towards us. The photos below explain the reason why. These precious little babies shown in the bird house below are ready to leave home and the adult parent birds are very protective of them. Bye, bye swallows, until next year!

About the pictures: They were taken with a 400 mm zoom lens while I was standing on the ground. These were not all taken this summer, some of them were taken in 2008 so my picture taking was not the source of the parents anxiety this year.

Got pictures of birds you would like to share? Why not post them on Worldbird Wednesday? http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/To find out how, please scroll down the right hand side of this page until you come to the worldbird logo, click on it and follow the directions from there

Cruising the roadsides; this morning's pictures

So many butterflies and little skippers love to feed on Purple vetch. My first find this morning was a beautiful Viceroy butterfly. I also saw a lot of skippers on the vetch also. There were too many to get all of their pictures but I did get a few skipper photos. Roadside clover also proved to be a tasty delight for some of the skippers.

What was very noticeable this morning was the changing wildflower scenery. I found several species had blossomed since from my last drive through this area. Most significant to me was that Common Milkweed is now in blossom. This plant is host to many butterfly species, especially the Monarch, which I hope to see in a few days. Maybe I will even find a caterpillar to raise... hope so! The roadsides were full of many Brown-eyed Susans. A favourite wildflower beauty of mine.But what really made my day was to find Evening Primrose in bloom! This was an exciting find for this plant is the host to a beautiful little pink moth, the primrose moth. I knew that if I were patient and examined every primrose blossom I found, I would find a little pink moth tucked up in its blossom. And I did! I found three or four moths. One blossom was a real bonus find as it had two moths in it!So there you have it, the highlights of my morning's cruising of the side roads. I know Many roadside treasures await me for the next few days.

My quilt loving cat for Mellow Yellow Monday

The yellow today on this Monday is in my cat Shakey's eyes and some of the blocks in the quilt behind Shakey. The quilt,which I had made this long, cold winter past, features lots of yellow patterned fabric and is called winter sunshine, . Shakey loves this quilt, as I do too.
Got pictures with yellow that you would like to share? Why not post them on Mellow Yellow Monday, a delightful meme that focuses on the colour yellow?Just clink here:http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/ to access this meme

An American Woodcock crossing the road for Camera Critters

I don't encounter this species of bird often, but when I do its an exciting find as this is a secretive and nocturnal bird.The occasion of most my infrequent sightings have been when finding it in the process of crossing a road or highway.
The beauty of this bird cannot be seen very clearly in the photos above, but the long bill gives this bird identification as to what it was.
The picture below was taken in 2008 and this Woodcock was crossing a road and I just happened to have come along. Camera Critters is a meme where all sorts of critter photos are posted. If you are curious or would like to post your own photos like I have then please go to:http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

An Optimistic sunrise for Skywatch Friday

I call this sunrise above as being optimistic; as it was filled with a bit of doubt portraying lots of brightness and shadows in the clouds. It is also reflecting the mood I was in when taking this photo one morning earlier this week. It was just a little after 6 am. We were on our way to Grand Falls, a three hour drive for us, as I had an appointment to have a root canal done at 9 am. Was I scared?, " Yes,"a bit apprehensive I must admit as I had never undergone this procedure before. But I was hopeful, in an optimistic mood, trying to reassure myself that it wouldn't hurt. And it didn't! This sky with the sun breaking through reflected my thoughts as I hopefully anticipated a pain free experience, hoping that would be what my day would hold for me. The shadows were my worries. The Endondist did a great job! The whole procedure was totally painless!! Oh, Happy Day. What a beautiful sky! What a beautiful day it turned out to be!
A happy Canada Day to everyone today. "William and Kate", the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge; are in Ottawa today observing our national holiday too,celebrating our wonderful country's birthday with Canadians.

Skywatch Friday is a long standing meme where sky views from all over the world are posted at:
http://skyley.blogspot.com/Why not participate as well.
Just a comment on the sky view above. It is very representative of our province of New Brunswick as I live in a tree covered province. There are always trees in view around here.

a beautiful sunrise for Ruby Tuesday

Got photos with red? Why not share them by posting them to
Ruby Tuesday. To find this delightful red focused meme, please click here.http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

A pretty yellow moth for mellow yellow monday

I found this pretty yellow moth in a nearby meadow last week. It was fascinating as it reminded me of a delicate paper cutting. It looked as if the black areas had been crisply cut away from the yellow. That effect does not show up in the photo. Memory is a funny thing sometimes. When I went home I told my husband I had seen a geometer moth!. a year or so ago I had found a very similar looking moth which I identified as a false crocus geometer moth and that memory had stayed recessed in my mind. ( As I get older I am very aware of carrying genes from two grandmothers who both suffered from memory loss and dementria in their later years. so I am always pleased when my memory unlocks some identification puzzle for me.)
This moth even had yellow legs! as seen in this upside down view above
To be sure of my identification I sent a copy of my photo to Bug Guide:http://www.bugguide.net in hopes that they would id it for me. They did!!!! What a wonderful free service this is. They reported back to me that it was a Xanthotype moth. Another common name for this moth is the false crocus geometer moth! wow! I had been right when I had first seen it.

Another Snapping Turtle Part Five.

I wasn't out looking for a turtle, really, I just happened to see it at a riverside park as I was driving by on the street. I mean its that time of year when you might happen to see a snapping turtle anytime in in our community.


These snappers can walk quite high and fast when they have a determination to do so.

I would like to say that this one outran me, but that wouldn't be true. I don't think Snapping Turtles can run and I know I can't. I wasted time in my car searching through my purse looking for my little camera to make a video of the turtle. By the time I had located my camera and was out of my car the turtle had traveled quite a distance in its focuseddetermination of reaching the river. I assume it probably had just finished laying eggs somewhere.This turtle was faster than me. I tried to hurry to get near to it but I couldn't. I am sometimes 'slow as a turtle! ( today slower!) I didn't catch up with it until it had walked into the river. Then I was able to get pictures, but no video :-( Above, you can still see some dry places on the shell of this turtles back. This is a favourite shot of mine. The shell sections appear very defined in the light. As the turtle mover further into the river its appearance seemed to change and you might not have recognized it if you hadn't known it was a snapping turtle. As the rushing water washed over it. It like a rock on one of the rocky ledges that are at this location in the river.

More Snapping Turtles: Part Four

Yess, I know, enough of Snapping Turtles: But, a telephone call early yesterday afternoon sent me hurrying down to the railroad tracks in the rain. The turtle didn't seem to care that it was raining and neither did I. Neighbor Dave,( Turtleman) told me that a snapping turtle was presently laying laying eggs and it would be a good picture taking opportunity, and he was right.

Here is a view of what I had seen when I arrived at the turtle's chosen nest location.The turtle's body was slid down an incline into the hole it had dug to receive its eggs. Notice in the picture above the disturbed soil to the right of the turtle. That disturbed soil is the location of the first snapping turtle nest I had seen on Friday, Come September this might be a busy spot, if a fox or raccoon or whatever else doesn't get to the eggs first and dig up the eggs before they are hatched. This has happened to turtle eggs here other yearsIt appeared to be quite a strenuous activity!All the while I was present taking pictures I detected no movement from the turtle, so I didn't hang around to wait until it finished. I will probably see more turtles laying its eggs in the various stages over the next few days,as has been the usual case over the past few years.

I haven't gone to check on the river or railroad tracks yet this morning, but I am in no hurry. there are other nature events I have been following. For example the development of a Cliff Swallow nest across the street from me. I think its nest has been completed , now for an indication that its mate has stayed around and to observe signs that the eggs have been laid. I have also been watching a Common Milkweed patch which should be in full bloom some day in the coming week. Maybe I well be able to find a Monarch butterfly caterpillar there, and watch the caterpillar change into a beautiful adult Monarch. I have several choices to focus on today: snapping turtles, Cliff swallows or butterflies. Drop by tomorrow to see what I had discoveries I found and what choice I had made.. Best wishes for a great day everyone.