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You never know what kind of birds will show up at our feeders in the morning.
Cardinals? Check.
Bluebirds? Yup.
Ruby Throated Hummingbirds are back and I saw the first Baltimore Oriole yesterday. But this morning?
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It was a pair of Mallard ducks.
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They’re comical to watch as it’s mating season and the male follows closely behind the female everywhere she goes. She leads him on a merry chase and you know she enjoys it immensely.
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Our resident fox was here early enough the other night for me to grab a few photographs.
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He’s naturally skittish of human presence so I have to shoot through the window. If I get too close, or move too quickly… he’ll scamper off. And when he’s had enough of the paparazzi disturbing his snack?
He lets me know in a none too subtle way.
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💩
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Because my life is a never ending series of nothing important.
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A 48 inch pike. While this man looks proud, they’re actually an invasive species that are destroying our lake’s natural ecosystems. People catch and release because no one wants to eat them.
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A blackberry lime sour from Mast Landing brewery. Pink, tart and strangely creamy. Yum!
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Our local pub has started serving Naan flatbreads. Sweet potato, bacon, caramelized onions, blue cheese with a honey maple drizzle. Double yum!
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Our resident fox is coming earlier in the evening to beat the skunks and raccoons to the buffet.
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We’ve had nothing but rain all month and our lawn is really getting torn up by the deer herd. Going to be a lot of yard work in our future.
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Don’t you hate it when someone beats you to the buffet line?
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The only thing you can do is use your superior size to muscle out the competition.
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Or so I’ve heard.
The next two pictures aren’t the best quality…blame my zoom lens and our resident buck’s propensity for showing up at dusk…. but I thought someone might be interested to see the antler shedding process.
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One half gone, one to go. Talk about being lopsided.
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Right after the shed. What’s left are big boney bumps with an active blood flow.
It always looks painful to me, but I’m assured it’s not. Though how any anter-less naturalist can vouch for that I don’t know.
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As I mentioned before, spring has brought an abundance of showers to my little corner of Maine. As proof…. I offer the new visitors who dropped by this week.
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A pair of mallard ducks who’ve made our backyard puddle their temporary home.
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We had ducks as pets years ago and I’ve always enjoyed watching them. They’re quite comical.
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But this pair is wild and flies off if they spot me. So for now, this is as close as my zoom lens will get me.
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Winter in Maine was virtually nonexistent this year. One good snow storm and enough wind to blow down even the sturdiest of little piggy houses was about it. Now that spring is starting to emerge what we are having is rain.
Lots of rain. Rain every other day. And while that can be a bit depressing….
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It’s hard to argue with the beauty it leaves behind.
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I don’t know why, but we’re blessed with killer rainbows at Casa River. And even though there’s no pot of gold at the end…
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There is a cat…. which is the next best thing.
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😊
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A group of deer came up the other morning and since they rarely show in good light I grabbed my phone for a few pictures. If you look closely you’ll see the same doe sticks out her tongue ….
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Twice.
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That’s just rude.
Lord Dudley Mountcatten was completely uninterested in the visiting wildlife and slept soundly on the couch.
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When I die? I totally want to come back as a cat. These creatures never have insomnia.
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He roused for a moment when he heard the click of the camera…
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And then decided nothing the human was doing was worth disturbing his nap.
❤️
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It’s that time of year.
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The time of year when our backyard looks like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock film.
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Large flocks of starlings, grackles and red winged blackbirds have landed and they strip our feeders in no time flat.
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It’s impossible to keep them full this time of year, and sometimes? I fear reprisal.
😳
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We have a young Coopers hawk who enjoys using our backyard bird feeders as a training ground for hunting. He’s not very adept at capture yet, but he sure does give it the old college try.
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He also drives Lord Dudley Mountcatten completely insane. The poor feline is confused. It’s a bird, so he’s fascinated. But it’s a predator, so he’s scared.
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It’s only a matter of time before blood and feathers will be scattered on the ground.
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And while that’s hard to take….
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Hawks really are beautiful creatures.
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And deserve to eat just like the rest of us.
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As I said, my crazy calendar hasn’t been nearly crazy enough to suit me, but here are a few more tidbits from March.
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I see nothing wrong with this abnormality. Heck… it would saved me quite a few miserable nights when I was a foolish teenager who over indulged on T J Swan wine.
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Comparison of drawing to actual rabbit?
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They nailed the ears, but otherwise it looks like a bloated tick with whiskers.
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This is very true…. and if I could find my backyard video when I literally bumped into a skunk, I’d prove it. They really do look like little gymnasts when they’re pissed.
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Comparison of drawing to actual skunk?
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The tail is too small, the head is too big and we still have the bloated tick issue.
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River's world..... 