Baby Geese

The first batch of baby Canada Geese have made their appearance in the neighborhood.



The new baby geese (goslings) were hatch on the much larger neighboring pond, but this year, just like the past years, within a couple days of hatching the baby geese are marched to our smaller pond by our cabin.



This is a 1/3 of a mile hike for the little goslings.



A welcoming committee was waiting at our pond for the new arrivals.



Relaxing at our pond after a long walk.

Mourning Dove

The Mourning Dove nesting in our cherry tree and I are good friends now. I'm able to get within 5 feet of the bird.

Spring Turkey Hunt

The weather conditions for the opening day of the spring gobbler season were less than ideal. It rained over night and at daybreak there was strong wind. I saw this lone hen (not legal to shoot) but my neighbor had different luck hunting behind our barn. At 5:50AM he had 2 coyotes chase a buck by him, now there's 1 coyote less in the neighborhood. At 7:30AM the neighbor got a nice gobbler with a 9 inch beard.



After the early morning activity was over the temperature dropped and some wet snow squalls moved in. My turkey decoy and I moved out to hunt on a warmer day.

Wildflower - Yellow Trout Lily

The Yellow Trout Lily, also known as Yellow Dogtooth Lily, is another early blooming wildflower known as a spring ephemeral. It blooms, produces fruit, and dies back before the canopy trees leaf out. I found this clump growing next to our compost pile at the edge of the lawn.



The small, one inch wide blossom, attracts early spring insects.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly

While mowing the lawn today, I had this Black Swallowtail butterfly stop by and pose for me.

Nesting Mourning Dove

We have a Mourning Dove nesting in our weeping cherry tree.

Wildflowers - Violets

The spring wildflower season is in full bloom and I scored a violet trifecta finding yellow, white and blue violets.

Downy yellow violet (Viola pubescens)



Sweet white violet (Viola blanda)



Common blue violet (Viola sororia)

Spring Turkeys

The spring turkey season for bearded gobblers starts this Saturday. I see this hen turkey almost daily and it must have a nest nearby. This evening it was feeding in the lawn behind our house.

Fruit Trees in Bloom

Over the past few days, several ornamental fruit trees have burst into bloom.

The weeping cherry tree in our lawn.



Cherry tree blossoms.



Blossoms from the apricot tree behind our barn.



Bartlett pear blossoms.

Crayfish

While clearing some rocks from a culvert pipe behind our barn I started finding multiple crayfish in the small ditch. After last year's unrelenting rain and this year's soggy spring I shouldn't be surprised to find these freshwater crustaceans mistaking our ditch for a small stream.

The crayfish's camouflage blended into the bottom of the ditch.



An out of water view.

Daffodils

The past couple days of warm weather have started the Daffodils blooming in our yard. The scattered patches of daffodils brighten up the otherwise drab earth-tones left over after winter.



Here are just a few of the different daffodils blooming in our yard.

Wildflower - Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot is one of the earliest blooming wildflowers in northeastern North America and is often mistaken for a dandelion. Coltsfoot thrives in roadside ditches and I found these flowers growing in the gravel along Joyce Road.



While the dandelion flowers grow on grayish green tubular stems, Coltsfoot has a scaly stem that looks a little like asparagus spears. The small, less than one inch, flowers of Coltsfoot are a welcome source of nectar for insects.

Countdown to Spring Turkey Season

I found this flock of turkey gobblers out parading for some hens today. Only 17 days until the opening day of spring turkey season.

Another Deer Tick Encounter

Mary was working in her flower beds this morning spreading mulch and found this Deer tick crawling on her about an hour after coming in for lunch.



This Deer tick, in Mary's hand, was only about 1/8 inch long.

Deer Ticks

While enjoying the recent warm weather I acquired an unwanted hitchhiker during a walk in the woods. I found this Deer tick (Ixodes scapularis), also known as a Blacklegged tick, crawling on the back of my hand, looking for its next meal and a place to rest for a couple of days. I would have been the tick's version of a Bed & Breakfast except for the tick's sudden demise due to blunt force trauma applied by its newly selected host.

Wildflower - Springbeauty

The temperature for the past couple of days has been into the 60's and the wildflower are starting to appear. On a walk through the woods today I found an early blooming wildflower know as Springbeauty. This wildflower bloom is very small, 1/2 inch or less, and very easy to overlook.



It is a perennial plant that flowers with five pale pink or white petals.



The individual flower blooms for three days, and flowering occurs when the weather begins to change in March.

Shedding Fur

The weather was into the 60's today and the neighborhood deer were looking for a cool place in the shade. I found these deer bedded under some pine trees next to one of my food plots.



The deer are just starting to shed their warm winter coats of fur for a cooler summer coat. The white streak on this deer's rump is some of the hair it's starting to shedding.

Fungus

This time of year I'm always looking for something with color and texture to photograph. It's too early for wildflowers and insects but when I flipped over some rotting wood I found a perfect subject, fungus.



I can identify some types of mushrooms and fungus but I haven't a clue what this is.

More Wood Frogs

It was below freezing (28F) this morning but by noon the temperature was into the 50's and a chorus of Wood Frogs could be heard throughout the neighborhood.



A small vernal pond located on our cabin property was the gathering spot for hundreds of mating wood frogs.



Large masses of frog eggs covered some areas of the small pond.

Spring Turkeys

I found a flock of turkeys feeding in an old corn field this afternoon.



While the hens and juvenile birds were feeding in one area of the corn field these boys went their own way.



With the spring gobbler hunting season only three weeks away, these gobblers will soon have a lot of followers.



Feeding time is over and the turkeys head out of the field.



It's late in the afternoon and the turkeys head into the woods to roost.