Baby Birds

Grandson Reed and I were at our cabin pond today looking for "Free Range" turtles when we noticed a pair of red winged blackbirds making several trips to some tall grass. Thinking there may be a nest in the area we went over for a look. We didn't find the nest but did find these 3 fledgling birds in the tall grass.

Bird #1

Bird #2

Bird #3

Another Bear

A couple of our neighbors saw a bear near our cabin road this morning. After several trips around our cabin property I had no luck finding the bear until our evening wildlife drive after a rain shower. As we approached the entrance to the cabin road we saw this bear in the neighbor's lawn. The bear walked off into the woods and I found this bear foot print in our cabin road. Grandson Reed got to see his first bear of his Summer visit.

Killdeer Chicks

Today was the big day for the nesting Killdeers, the eggs were hatching. By 10:00AM 3 of the 4 eggs had hatched.

One of the Killdeer parents and the baby birds.

Our grandson Reed taking photos of the Killdeers. Reed had arrived here on Wednesday for his Summer vacation, just in time to watch the eggs hatch.

After waiting a couple of hours for the fourth egg to hatch, I couldn't find the last baby bird or egg. One of the parents approached me and I noticed something hanging down along the bird's right leg.

The forth baby bird was up under the parent's wing.

Within hours, 3 of the 4 baby birds were out of the nest looking for food.

Spring Fawns

Seeing lots of fawns. Found this one along the road to our cabin.

Countdown To Hatching

The Killdeers have been on their nest for 3 weeks and the chicks should hatch within the next 5 to 10 days. The nest and eggs are in the upper right of photo.

Neighborhood Bears

After seeing a bear in our lawn yesterday, I checked the game cameras at the "Bone Yard" which is almost a mile from our house. Yesterday's bear hadn't been there but a much larger bear had made 3 visits to the "Bone Yard" in the past 2 weeks.

Bear In Compost Bin

I had just pulled into our driveway at 8:30PM when I saw a small bear walking along the edge of our lawn. I watched and followed the bear as it walked to our compost bin where it only stayed for about 10 seconds before heading to its next house call.

Newborn Fawn

I had my first newborn fawn encounter today. As we were returning home we watched a doe slowly walk across the township road and then wait for its wobbly legged newborn to follow. The doe then walked up the steep bank along the road, but the fawn got stuck in the ditch and didn't have the strength to climb out of the ditch. After watching the fawn struggle in the ditch, I gave it some help up the bank. After the fawn was on its feet for a while, it was able to rejoin its mother.

Bear Encounter

It's another cold/rainy day and I was in the side-by-side checking for drainage issues behind our barn when I encountered this bear in some brush. I was within 50 feet of the bear at first, but as I've told people before, the best way to scare off a bear is to try and take a photo of it.

Killdeer Nest

After visiting the Killdeer's nest several times a day, the birds are letting me get much closer to take photos. The bird got off the nest when I arrived today, but as I got within a few feet of the nest the bird came back sat on the eggs.

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.