Storm Danage

Over the past week several storms have passed through our neighborhood dropping almost 2.5 inches of needed rain. A couple of the thunderstorms contained high winds and hail, which tore off a large section of this massive maple tree at the edge of our back lawn. I still have firewood from the clean-up of last year's wind storm.

Skunk Release

We had a strong thunderstorm move through the neighborhood late yesterday afternoon. The storm lasted for only one hour but dumped 1.10 inches of rain and small hail. Time to check out the garden this morning.

As I walked to the garden to pick some string beans I noticed a woodchuck strolling through the potatoes and checking the produce that was available. By the time I got the rifle from the truck the woodchuck was gone. As I approached the string beans I could see my "keep alive" trap was sprung. Maybe it was the woodchuck ...

I had placed the trap next to the beans to catch, rehabilitate, and relocate freeloading rabbits. My catch of the day wasn't a rabbit or woodchuck, but a small skunk.

After propping the door to the trap open the skunk was hesitant about leaving the trap.

The skunk eventually left the trap and headed away from the garden. I'm still looking for the woodchuck.

The Bears Eat My Blueberries

With thoughts of blueberry pie, blueberry cobbler and blueberry pancakes I went to check our blueberry patch, only to find bears had got there first.

The bears weren't very delicate with their berry picking technique and damaged most of the bushes and unripe berries.

The current temperature has been in the 80's to 90's and the bears created a muddy trail between the blueberry patch and a nearby spring where they cooled off.

The bears also left a "calling card" to let us know they were in the neighborhood. After eating our blueberries, the bears left this pile of poop in our yard, 20 feet from the house.

Rainbow

We didn't get as much rain today as forecasted, but did get a nice rainbow just before sunset.

Tree Roots & Drain Line

Over 30 years ago I installed a 4 inch drain line to remove ground water and storm water from around our house. We've had a couple years of wet weather and a section of our lawn has turned into a swamp so I dug up some the drain line and this is what I found.

Years after the drain line was installed some maple trees started to grow near the drain line and some of the maple tree roots grew into the slots in the drain line.

The tree roots completely filled the drain as they continued to grow in the drain for years.

I replaced an 80 foot section of drain line near the maple trees. I replaced the slotted drain pipe with solid drain pipe, hoping to keep tree roots out.

Wildflowers - Scarlet Beebalm

A small patch of wild Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma) is starting to bloom near the creek behind our house.

Morning Visitor

I was at the kitchen table this morning and had just started to get a drink of coffee when I saw this guy walking down our neighbor's driveway.

As the bear continued its leisurely stroll down the driveway I opened the front door and went to the porch to get some photos. The bear took a quick glance at me and then continued on its morning stroll.

The bear was 50 to 60 yards from me as it made a left turn up Joyce Road in its search for breakfast. We started calling some of the neighbors to let them know about the bear. This bear knew its way to the different bird feeders and several neighbors reported this bear visiting them.

Peek-a-Boo With a Fawn

During my evening wildlife drive at our cabin property I watch a fawn bed down in some grass 200 yards away, next to a farm road. After the fawn stayed in the spot for a while I drove over to see if I could get some pictures. I got within 20 feet of the fawn before it sprang out of the grass, stopped and looked at me. The fawn would bed down in the grass for a minutes, then pop up, look at me and then move another 30-40 feet and repeat. We played this game of Peek-a-Boo for 10 to 15 minutes, until the fawn went into some thick brush.

Reed's Graduation

June is graduation month and Grandson Reed graduated from daycare on Friday.

Reed and his Dad.

Reed, forth from the right, and his classmate.

Turkey Poults

Doing my late afternoon wildlife drive at the cabin property and found this hen turkey with 5 young poults.

"Mini-Me" Toad

I was doing my morning check of the plants in our solarium when I noticed the large ceramic toad flower pot had a new "Mini-Me" version. The smaller real toad must have entered our garage while the door was open and then went to the solarium to catch some bugs.

After photos, "Mini-Me" toad was released outdoors.

The Bears are Still Here

Within hours of checking the game camera at my deer stand on Saturday the larger, "chocolate brown", bear was back at the game camera.

This same "chocolate brown" bear was also back around 10:00PM that night.

On Sunday the smaller black bear was back at the game camera. This is the same bear I saw on Sunday while brush-hogging in the same area.

Redwing Blackbird Nest

I was doing some brush-hog mowing and came close to mowing down an active Redwing Blackbird nest.

The nest was constructed near the top of some bulrush plants.

Momma bird voicing her disapproval of my mowing. I will not mow this small section of the field until the birds leave the nest.

More Bears in the Neighborhood

It had been a couple of weeks since I checked the game camera at my deer stand and since then the weeds have grown, blocking the view. After checking hundreds of photos of weeds dancing in the wind I came to photos two bears walking by the camera yesterday. It was easy to distinguish two different bears due to size and since one was black and the other was a dark brown.

I went back today with the tractor and brush hog to mow down some weeds and kicked the black bear out of a hay field near the game camera.

Meeting New Fawns

Some of this spring's new fawns are now one month old and able to travel around easily with their mothers. The mothers are starting to introduce the fawns to the neighborhood as the fawns are integrated into the local deer herd.

Hopefully this fawn won't confuse this young buck with its mother.