The Birds Are Back

Last year a pair of Killdeers (Charadrius vociferus) nested near the pipeline valves on our property. The birds are back again this year and built their nest in the exact same spot as last year. The birds have laid 4 eggs over the past few days and hopefully there will be some little chicks in 3 to 4 weeks.

The birds appeared to have adjusted to me last year and are allowing me closer access this year (as long as I bring bird seed).

Turkey Hunting

It was a wet first day of spring turkey hunting, but by 11:15AM I bagged this big (wet) tom turkey.

Spring Turkey Season

The spring turkey season starts tomorrow morning. Some of the birds I found this spring.

Marching Geese

As in the past years, this year's baby geese have started their daily 1/3 mile morning march from the neighbor's pond to our cabin pond. The geese will make the return trip to the neighbor's pond this evening.

Baby Geese

The first batch of seven baby geese appeared on our pond today.

Cooling Off

The weather this Spring has been like a yo-yo with the temperatures oscillating between hot and cold extremes. The local deer are just starting to shed their winter coats and this deer was trying to cool off in our pond as today's temperature were into the 80's.

West Hill Bathtub

Time to check the West Hill game cameras.

The little bear cubs from last summer have grown, but they still like playing in the bathtub. The Bobcat made a couple of visits to the bathtub, along with some turkeys.

Bird Flu

I called the PA Game Commission on Tuesday to report the sick goose. In the meantime the goose's condition deteriorated more and by 7:30PM it was last seen in the lawn, a few feet from the township road. It took the officer over 24 hours before he could be on site and by then it appears the goose had been removed by scavengers. I asked the officer about bird flu in the area and he acknowledged removing geese with bird flu, but also removed Bald Eagles with bird flu from the same areas. The Bald Eagles are scavengers that feed on dead geese. On Wednesday morning there were 4 Bald Eagles feeding on "road-kill" just 200 yards from the last location of the sick goose. Some photos I took of the Bald Eagles while waiting for the officer.

Sick Goose

For the past couple of days I've been watching a Canada Goose at the neighbor's pond. I thought the goose was nesting, but today it looks like the goose may have avian influenza (bird flu). Today the goose was laid out flat in the lawn and didn't move for hours. When I move in to take photos the goose tried to fly, but couldn't. The goose then tried to walk, but fell down and rolled over on it's back.

Tree Removal

There was a strong wind today as a neighbor was having trees removed next to their house. Not my idea of fun on a windy day.

Bald Eagle

Driving around and found this Bald Eagle.

Bluebirds

I went to our cabin today to do some inside work and heard some noise coming from the smoke pipe on the woodstove. When I opened the damper plate on the smoke pipe I heard the sound move down into the woodstove. Time to investigate. Inside the woodstove I found these two Bluebirds. The birds were unharmed and released after a few photos.

The Geese Are Back

It had been cold for the last few weeks and our cabin pond has been covered with ice. Today's temperature reached 70°F and by the afternoon all the ice was off the pond. Within a couple of hours of the ice melting the first geese of the season were on the pond.

Opossum

Not much photo activity this Winter but I did found this juvenile opossum on today's evening wildlife drive.

When Do Bears Hibernate?

It's been a cold week, with temperatures dipping to -8F, but this bear isn't hibernating yet.

Checking out my "bone yard" to see what's on the menu ...

This looks good ...

Good taste ...

Time for a full rack of ribs.