New Fawn

This year's fawns are starting to arrive. Got this photo with a game camera.

A Bird in the Hand

Grandson Reed found this fledgling bird while he was helping plant my garden. He wanted to keep the bird as a pet, until I told him that he would need to pre-chew worms in his mouth to feed to the bird.

The Bears are Back

I pulled the memory cards from the game cameras at the "Bone Yard", where I dispose of wild game carcasses. The current special on the menu is an aged wild turkey carcass with a side order of filleted trout carcasses. Two different bears came in for a snack.

The first bear was the largest and had a quick meal, then left.

Two days later, this smaller bear stopped in three times in one morning.

Looking for Shade

The temperature has been in the 80's for the last few days. These local deer thought the shade of the spruce tree at our cabin was a great place to rest during the heat of the day.

A third young deer wanted to join the group ...

"Beat it buddy ... We were here first!"

"Fine !!! I'll cool off with the geese at the pond."

Doe and Fawn

Another warm day with the temperature into the high 80's by noon. This doe and new fawn came over to watch as I was "brush-hogging" a field behind our barn.

Spring Turkey Hunt, Week 3

It's now the third week of the spring turkey season. Starting this week, the close of daily shooting hours is extended from 12:00 noon to sunset. I got my bird on the opening day of the season. These two birds were viewed from my computer room window at 8:00PM yesterday. I think the strutting gobbler in the second photo may be expressing his view of the extended shooting hours. (Kiss what ???)

Rabbits

It was another rainy Saturday with 0.75 inches of rain. I've seen a couple of this Spring's new fawns and had hopes of photographing some fawns on this evening's wildlife drive. I had to scale back my expectations from fawns to rabbits. Within a 25 yard section of road I found at least 8 Eastern Cottontail rabbits. This rabbit was shedding its winter coat of hair.

Bullfrog

This has been a very wet Spring and overnight we got another 0.56 inches of rain. As the weather cleared this afternoon I tried to knock down some high grass with the "Brush-Hog" mower and found enormous bullfrog where I had just mowed. The bullfrog didn't appear to be happy with me mowing his home.

Eastern Milksnake

Today's wildlife encounter was with an Eastern Milksnake. At just over a foot long and the diameter of a pencil, this little beauty was waiting for me outside our garage. What this milksnake lacked in stature it made up for with aggression. Young Eastern Milksnakes aren't as docile as the adults and tend to be aggressive while being harmless.

A New Rack

A local yearling buck showing the start of his first rack as he sheds his winter coat of hair.

Porcupines

The porcupines have been active this week. I got a few photos with the game cameras.

It's hard to wake up after a long nap...

Trying to shake off the groggy feeling after a nap ...

The young porcupine continues to yawn as it heads into the woods.

While the sleepy porcupine is out looking for breakfast another, larger porcupine stops by.

Slow Traffic

Slow traffic conditions this morning on the road to our cabin.

Wasp

It was cool and drizzly outside today, a perfect time to work in the solarium on some plants for this year's garden. I found this northern paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus) on one of the sweet potato cuttings I was transplanting.

Time to move this little guy out of the way.

Some of the plants I've started and waiting for warmer weather. Already moved some cabbage, lettuce and Swiss chard plants into the garden.

Spring Turkey Hunt

The first day of Spring turkey season. In the woods at 5:30AM and done hunting at 9:15AM. Another nice bird this year, 9 inch beard and 1¼ inch spurs.

Buzzard's Roost

I was doing some work at our barn this morning when I noticed a Turkey Buzzard (Cathartes aura) swoop in and land our the silo.

The Turkey Buzzard spread its wings while perched on the silo. This wing spreading helps dry the buzzard's feathers and regulate its body temperature.

Looking for a Cool Place

Last week we had four days where the overnight temperature was in the mid-20's. This week the high temperatures are in the mid-80's and the the local deer are looking for a cool place in the shade. The deer are in their seasonal molt and shedding their winter coat of hair. I found this deer in a shady spot at our cabin.

Two more deer in the shade at the north side of the cabin. At least 3 more deer were in the crawl space under the cabin.

These 2 deer found a cool spot at our barn property.