It's been a few weeks since I have been to the "
back forty" or the lower part of the yard, so I decided it was a time to take a look. I don't want to get out of the habit of taking
Second Looks around my yard through all parts of the year. There really is something very refreshing about seeing the changes that take place.
We have had rain, snow, ice, and subzero temperatures over the last week or so. Despite the bad weather, the critters have still been out and about. We spotted a pileated woodpecker this week as well as our old faithfuls of the red-bellied and downy woodpeckers. The deer are ever present and the squirrels are occasionally scurrying about. It seems as if bone season could be starting again like it did last winter. I found a groundhog skull, but it was too cold to do much looking for others.
Here are a few things I saw this week during my Second Look.
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| Even though we have had a lot of cold weather and snow, a few pansy blossoms are still hanging on. The snow had just melted from around this one. |
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| The skies have been mostly dark this week, but a little sun still managed to peak through the clouds and light up this tree. |
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| Woodpeckers--Pileated on the left, Red-bellied on the top and Downy on the bottom. |
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| Part of a skull--a groundhog, I think. |
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| No snow this day, so a good day for grazing. |
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| We usually only see one or two cardinals, but this week we saw a flock of them pass through. |
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| This squirrel had just had a treat from a suet cake. |
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| We hadn't seen doves for a few months, but we also saw a flock of them this week. |
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| The skies weren't always cloudy. We had a clear night this night. |
It's interesting that you've now determined a "bone" season. I wonder what other bones you'll find this year?
ReplyDeleteThe deer is beautiful. We don't get much wildlife close to our house, so I enjoy looking at the wildlife in your "back forty".
When the plants and flowers have faded, the bones provide a new interest. I wonder too what else I might find. That's what is fun about the Second Looks.
DeleteI love your second-look feature. So peaceful. I grew up in the country but we live in suburbia now and I miss the outdoorsy-ness of the country. We have had well over 60 inches of snow here this season so there's no hope of seeing anything other than white anytime soon--but we are enjoying the birds at the birdfeeder and the squirrels romping around in our yard. We tried snowshoeing this year and have now purchased snowshoes of our own, so I'm hoping we can get outdoors (when the weather moderates!) and see more of the sights like what you have posted today. :)
ReplyDeleteI hear snowshoeing is very hard/good exercise and seems like a good thing to do where you live. Do your kids do it in PE during school like my niece and nephew do who live in Maine?
DeleteThat's a great idea for PE! No, we don't do that here. This was a first-time experience for all of us. We have really neat state parks where it's fun to go--the problem I'm encountering is that the roads are so bad from all the snow and ice we've had (and sometimes the park roads aren't plowed at all) that we can't even get to the parks to snowshoe. Ironic, isn't it?
DeleteThat last photo is so striking!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a very advanced camera, so my pictures of the moon usually just look like fuzzy balls. Nothing like my eyes see. The sky was clear that night and it was at sunset instead of dark, so I was able to get a better picture than normal.
DeleteI haven't seen green or anything flowering in a long time. Everything here is either frozen with snow, ice or both. I've noticed animal prints, plenty of deer, but the birds seem to have flown the coup. Even the Canada Geese are long gone. I do find "bone season" interesting, as I am not good at identifying many of the bones found around here, but I can say I'm pretty good with which animals leave which prints or scat. :-)
ReplyDeleteI've thought about including pictures of scat in these posts, but I thought that maybe people wouldn't want to look at it. Sometimes, I think that it's the most interesting thing I see.
DeleteI haven't seen anything green in quite a while everything here is frozen; ice, snow or a combination of both. Plenty of deer and other prints around. Even the Canada Geese have flown the coup. I love your bone identification, something I'm not real good at unless it's a bigger animal. I am pretty good with identifying prints and scat, if that matters. :-)
ReplyDeleteI took a bunch of bones to the local park's naturalist last year to help with identification. That and the internet have helped. I'm not sure about everything, but I think I'm in the ballpark.
DeleteI like "Bone Season". I love the pictures from around your yard. You have a good eye.
ReplyDeleteLast year, I found a lot of bone fragments during the winter. I don't know if it's because the vegetation is lower and they're easier to see or if animals are dragging them around as they gnaw on them for minerals.
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