Winter Critter Visitors at For Love of a Dog

It all began with a toad glued to a window in September...  Last Wednesday I promised to share some photos of rather odd wildlife visitors here at the For Love of a Dog and Talking Dogs homestead.  Today's the day.

As I mentioned in my Red Sky at Morning post, this winter has been a strange one.  Unseasonably warm and mild, with - so far- none of the usual ice and freezing rain to contend with.  However, I should note that as I write this, it is snowing.  I can't help but think that our strange weather has resulted in some unusual wildlife sightings.

We live in the country and we're used to seeing wildlife.  However, not as close up and personal as we have this year.  Deer?  Yup, see them frequently.  Herds of deer?   No, not as large as the group that spent a week or so with us.  Twelve total deer and fawns.  Pretty cool.  Very close to the house and yard!  Unfortunately, my trigger finger was never quick enough to catch a photo of the whole group.  Rather than simply grazing, they spent a lot of time playing and frolicking.

These three deer seem to have the same feeling about cameras that our dogs do!

We have a series of small spring fed ponds that border our backyard (the 2 acre fenced area for the dogs) and herons frequently visit.  This one was not going to be deterred - by barking dogs - from catching his breakfast.

Another water visitor was this solo wood duck who stayed for several days. Unlike the Canadian geese who visit us in pairs or small flocks, this fellow was alone.  Each morning I cringed... thinking he might have fallen victim to the marauding coyotes that also frequently visit us.  One afternoon, he simply flew away.

He looked so lonely to me...

The strangest visitors this year have been this pair of hawks.  Sure, we see plenty of hawks around here.  In the sky.  However, it was amazing to glance out a front window and see this pair just sitting in the front yard.  For hours.  Just sitting and once in awhile fluffing their feathers.

They've been with us all winter and we often see them circling our fields, now and then diving down to snatch their prey.  Last week we noticed one on the gate leading to the spring ponds.  The hawk perched there for quite a while.  Suddenly he swooped down towards the water to grab something and flew up into a tree to examine it.  Looked like pond scum to me...  Suspect he decided the fields were a better source of dinner!

I've yet to capture a photo of the armadillos that are becoming more numerous in our part of the country.  They tend to sneak into the yard at night with the express purpose of rooting up all of my flower bulbs.   And, because they also visit us at night, I've not captured any images of the coyotes.  They've been visiting frequently.  Enough so that we're careful about letting the dogs out after dark.

Mild weather?  Critters getting used to us?  I can't say for sure.  I only know it has been a pretty wild winter even without wild weather!

Wordless Wednesday: Red Sky at Morning

Our sunrise yesterday morning seemed to agree with weather forecasts and I snapped a photo of a small flock of geese heading towards the rising sun.

The predicted rain held itself to a mist off and on all day, but we made sure to fill all the bird feeders and play lots of Jolly Ball and frisbe in anticipation of storms to come.  Thankfully, the predicted freezing drizzle and ice has yet to materialize.

So far this year, we've had a strangely mild winter.  A skiff of snow early on, but abnormally warm temperatures since then.  My daylilies are up; forsythia and fruit trees are budded.  We've not had any of the wicked ice storms that our area usually deals with and, a bit sorry to say, no snow for the pups to play in.  However, we have had some up close and personal visits from wildlife that are as strange as the weather.  I'll be sharing some photos of those with you soon!

Butterfly Invasion

As promised... photos of the butterflies.  I first posted about them yesterday, but for some reason Blogger didn't like my post and the whole thing disappeared!  My apologies to those of you who discovered an empty blog post.

More importantly, I discovered the hard way that my photography skills are lacking.  Try as I might, I never got one single good picture of the full impact of this winged invasion.  There are butterflies everywhere, particularly on my mimosa trees.  It appears as if the trees are alive with fluttering movement.  It is breathtakingly beautiful.  Alas, I have no photo that captures the scene.

However, I promised.  So here they are.

 

 

 

From my web research, I believe they're probably Spicebush Swallowtails.   They are enjoying all of our flowers, but seem especially attracted to the mimosas.