Sounds of Spring

It only took a couple warm spring days to get the Wood Frogs ready for mating season. With a few isolated patch of snow still on the ground, the Wood Frog's mating call is loud around a small vernal pond on our property.

Wood Frogs may be small, about 3 inches, but a chorus of hundreds of mating frogs can be deafening.

Another vocal amphibian of spring is the Peeper. The Wood Frogs and Peepers were both into mating serenades at the pond. I was able to get this photo of a Wood Frog and a much smaller Peeper (to the right of the Wood Frog) as they sang their mating calls.

Spring Turkeys

It was a beautiful first full day of Spring and a good day to check the game camera at West Hill. The spring gobbler hunting season will start in 6 weeks and this looks like a good place to hunt.

A Sign Of Spring

As I pulled into our driveway today, I noticed small dabs of color mixed in with the dull browns and grays of winter. The first Crocus of spring are starting to bloom as the snow from our latest storm melts.

The Owl Is Back

I stopped during my evening wildlife drive to take some pictures of deer and this Barred Owl lands in a pine tree next to the deer.

After 10 minutes of watching the owl I was able to get out of my truck and walk within 50 feet of the owl. The owl was still in the tree when I left.

Early Fawns?

I was doing my evening wildlife drive and found this deer. It's at least another two months until the deer start dropping fawns, but this one looks like it could drop triplets now.

Barred Owl

Another mild February afternoon with the temperatures in the low 50's. While I did my afternoon wildlife dive I found this Barred Owl in a pine tree. I watched the owl for 1/2 hour hoping to see it pounce on its next meal, no luck for either of us.

Bald Eagle

Another mild February day and I found this Bald Eagle in a sycamore tree scanning the open water of Wysox Creek for a fish dinner. Maybe this eagle will have better luck in another month when this section of the creek is scheduled for trout stocking.

The Warm Weather Continues

The ice was off Miner's Pond due to another warm Winter day with the high temperature at 53°F, down from yesterday's high of 64°F. A neighborhood boy took advantage of a rare opportunity to paddle a kayak on this pond in mid-February and have some geese fly by.

The Geese Are Returning

With the temperatures in the 40's-50's for the past few days, open water is starting to appear on our pond and the geese are starting to look for nesting sites.

Is It Spring ???

So far it has been a very mild Winter. Yesterday was sunny and 48°F, today's high was 57°F at 11:40PM. It may have been cloudy and damp today, but this flock of 17 gobblers were out testing their vocal cords while looking for hens.

Turkeys

It was another damp/drizzly January day as this flock of over 140 turkeys spent a couple of hours in the field behind our barn.

Cold and Rainy

Normally by mid-January the ground would be frozen solid and covered with snow, but this has been a relatively warm January. The lack of frozen ground has allowed me to dig some drainage ditches with the backhoe. It has been raining for most of today and while I was out checking on some of my recent drainage projects I found this young deer assessing the current weather.

West Hill Wildlife

As the doldrums of winter settle in, I pulled the memory card on one of the West Hill game cameras to see if there was any activity. The cold and snow doesn't stop some of the local wildlife from looking for a meal or having fun in the snow.

There are several coyotes in this area. This one looks to be returning from hunting in the nearby corn field.

It may have been cold on Christmas Eve, but I have over a dozen photos of this fox rolling around in the snow.

A Bobcat checking out West Hill.

Christmas With Reed

"We are ... Penn State ..."

A non-video game.

Operation, a game of skill. Later in the evening, at our house, I heard Reed requesting help. I entered the room and ask Reed what was wrong. His reply, "This guy is loosing a lot of blood and dying".

Another holiday tradition, building a gingerbread house.

Reed relaxing with his friend the Grinch.

Why I Hate Red Squirrels

There are several walnut trees around our barn and it's not unusual to see gray and red squirrels gathering nuts for the winter. There are families of gray squirrels that live at the end of the driveway and act like Walmart greeters, whereas the red squirrels live at the barn and have an attitude problem.

The red squirrels are destroying this plastic floor drain at the barn.

A trap was set in an attempt to limit damage to the floor drain. For several days the red squirrel was able to avoid capture and snack on the bait.

The trap was sprung ...

Victory is near ...

Within a minute, Harry Houdini the red squirrel is out of the trap!!!

Within one day, Harry Houdini or a stunt double was back looking for more snacks.