.
He surely is a handsome devil.
.
.
Strutting out of the woods with his son.
.
.
Always wary of the neighbor’s dogs.
.
.
And the crazy lady with the camera.
.
.
The time of year I worry about him is almost upon us.
.
.
And as much as autumn is my favorite season….
.
.
It brings with it rifles and bullets and trophy hunters.
.
.
And I’ll fear for our beautiful visitors.
Our big fellow made an appearance last night.
Moseying on up the back lawn.
Nibbling along the route.
Fresh grass pickings are slim with everything turning brown from our drought..
Except for over the septic tank.
Even he knows the grass is always greener there.
And woodchucks eating watermelon is too damned cute not to share.
I never thought about giving watermelon to the chucks.
But a bowl of it got pushed to the back the fridge recently and I couldn’t see throwing it away.
Let me tell you….
There were some happy little chuckers that afternoon.
Until the last piece was in sight.
Then it was every chuck for themselves.
I looked out the window the other day and saw something that terrified me.
Don’t laugh.
It was momma red squirrel and she looked…..
Fat.
And since red squirrels don’t get fat?
There can only be one explanation…..
She’s pregnant again.
Our resident buck was here the other evening.
Up from the woods with last year’s progeny in tow.
The twin fawns are now young bucks themselves.
Before we knew it the whole family was here.
Chasing each other and ruining my shots.
This year’s Bambi.
And his/her dad.
Yes sir…
There are some good genes running through this family.
One minute you’re happily eating dinner side by side with your woodchuck brother.
Until he realizes his lettuce and carrot tops might not be as tasty as what you have….
And moves in on your watermelon.
If looks could kill.
That’s one dead chuck.
Because it’s time to clear out the photo files again.
Momma chuck has been packing on the pounds with an eye toward winter..
But it doesn’t stop her from scrambling up and over the rock wall quicker than I can move my shutter finger.
I have a feeling at least one of her two remaining offspring will be sticking around when the snow flies.
I keep catching him rooting around under the daylilies, filling his mouth with dead leaves and making off for parts unknown with nesting material.
Last year’s fawn comes every night, and since his new antlers are decidedly unbranched, I’ve taken to calling him the antenna buck. Because I’m old… and remember when you had to wiggle those things every afternoon to watch Dark Shadows.
Though these next two pics were at the outermost limit of my zoom, I’m including them because we rarely see momma turkey and her young.
She raises them in the woods and neighboring meadows, never crossing our large expanse of open lawn.
And finally, a few Bambi shots.
Because they’re so damned sweet, I can’t help it.
It’s happening.
Red squirrel.
And woodchuck.
A common goal.
A shared food source.
An alliance.
Partners….
Synchronizing positions.
I’m doomed.
These two cuties came running up from the woods the other day while I was reading on the barn porch.
They’ve grown so quickly.
Getting taller every day.
We have a total of four fawns who visit.
But I’m guessing these two are twins since they’re always together.
Mom wandered up shortly after.
And kept an eagle eye on me and my camera.
No worries momma.
Bambi is safe with me.
Still stealing deer food.
And when it’s too big to finish in one sitting?
They’re still planting.
And I’m still cleaning up scattered dirt.
And squirrel poo.
Help me out with this…
Aren’t teenagers supposed to grow up and move out?
River's world..... 