They’re everywhere:
Found it while shuffling video cards…
Tag: Wildlife
Other creatures in our world
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Cooper’s Hawk: Digesting
This Cooper’s Hawk (*) kept an eye on us as we walked down the driveway:
Coopers Hawk – keeping an eye on us We obviously pose no threat, so he let us pass unmolested.
I think the real reason had more to do with the dark brown-red stains on his (?) claws: that hawk just ate a fine meal and wanted time for quiet digestion and contemplation…
Hand-held Canon SX230HS, plenty of zoom, lots of purple fringing, and a cooperative bird.
(*) A juvenile, obviously, who could be either a Cooper’s or a Sharp-Shinned Hawk.
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Too Many Deer: Maple Leaf Samplers
An early snowfall brought down a big branch from a back yard maple:
Deer nibbling downed maple branch The split showed signs of rot from the top down, so it wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway.
Shortly after we pulled it off the driveway, three deer stopped by to see if this new thing might be edible. Deer do not normally eat maple leaves, but there’s not much left for them to eat around here.
Searching for deer will pull up far too many posts on the subject…
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Red-bellied Woodpecker: Too Heavy!
A red-bellied woodpecker landed on the seed feeder, but the flapping tells you something’s not right:
Red-bellied woodpecker at feeder – closing After the fluttering stopped, the seeds had vanished:
Red-bellied woodpecker at feeder – puzzled According to our books, a red-bellied woodpecker weighed 72.5 g = 2.6 oz back in 1952. The feeder counterweight reads 3 oz and that’s confirmed by my pull scale. Perhaps woodpeckers suffer from the obesity epidemic, too?
The feeder closes with one cardinal (44 g) and two tufted titmouses (2 x 22 g), all of whom seem rather surprised at the situation.
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Special Thanksgiving Visitors
Wild Turkeys used to be all over our yard, up in the trees, even stalking the house, but then they got scarce. In fact, we haven’t seen any turkeys for several months.
Apparently the heavy snow just before Thanksgiving pushed the flock out of the creek bottomland to forage along the driveway:
Turkey flock – Thanksgiving 2014 We counted 21 birds… and we’re glad to see they’re doing well.
Welcome back!
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Praying Mantis
A praying mantis appeared along the top of the living room windows:
Praying mantis on window They’re ferocious hunters and we’re in favor of them… but having them on the outside of the window works better for all of us.
Those old Anderson windows seem to attract big critters…
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Spider Breakfast
The season of giant orb-weaving spiders comes again to Poughkeepsie, with this one stretching a web across the decorative grasses bracketing the (unused) front door:
Orb spider – at rest While I screwed around with the camera, she dashed off to one side and began wrapping a package:
Orb spider – wrapping insect Her spinnerets release a torrent of silk during that operation!
Dragging it back to the middle of her orb, she settled down for breakfast.
Orb spider – ready for breakfast So did I…
Hand held with the Sony DSC-H5, facing westward in dawn light, using the flash to bring the image up out of the mud. A touch of unsharp mask and some contrast stretching; nothing too drastic.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 