Feeding frenzy
We found dozens of pipevine swallowtail butterflies in the garden this week. They are sucking up nectar in preparation for mating and laying eggs in late summer. Also taken with a Canon R6 and 200-800 zoom.
Nature
Ruby throated warrior
I took dozens of photos of two hummingbirds fighting to occupy our feeders. They moved too fast to get them both but while one was resting nearby I got a good image with a 800 mm zoom on a Canon R6.
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Birds, birds, birds!
All the bird songs are getting louder and earlier as summer approaches. There are multiple phone apps that will identify birds by listening to their calls but they don’t give you a long term ideas of what species are active. I recently installed a bird identification device called Birdweather PUC that connects to your home
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Pileated berry picker
This beautiful bird camped out on a holly bush in front of my office Friday, perhaps to fill up before the storm. I grabbed a Canon DSLR with a 600mm telephoto lens I keep handy for animal events. One advantage of the Canon R8 and big telephoto is that you can really zoom in on
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Bear on the road!
This guy was about 100 yards up Preserve from the entrance yesterday (Friday). Looked to be a yearling and was not very afraid of us slowing down to take photos. No mama bear of siblings were seen so must be out on his own exploring Balsam. Maybe looking for a home site!
Bear vs Service Berry Tree
The bear won! The one day we were out of town and Lexi was not on watch, a brazen bear sauntered down the driveway at 5:00 PM and tried to climb our two service berry trees/bushes. Hope he got his fill of berries. Note to landscapers, do not plant trees with tasty berries in the
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Bird Weather
For all you birders out there, you can now easily keep track of the species that are hanging around your backyard. Cornell University pioneered the BirdNet app for mobile phones which automatically recognizes birds by their call and can upload the result to the Birdweather web site. The same system has been developed as the
Backyard wildlife
We alway accuse Lexi of barking at nothing but a download from the backyard trail cam shows we do have some visitors!
Snake surprise
A four foot black rat snake gave me quite a surprise the other day when I reached for a saw above my workbench. Snakes in our garage are not that unusual as they come after mice who see shelter and look for food in dark spaces. I only noticed this one when he struck my
Bear cub visit
Lexi barks incessantly at any intruder – usually is just a dove or turkey. Last night it had four legs!