Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Beautiful visitor


I snapped this picture of a black swallowtail butterfly(Papilio polyxenes) visiting my garden. Butterflys don't often visit. Its too bad. I love seeing them. I was lucky to have snapped a shot of this one. Beautiful!

The twin fawns visit again


The fawns came to visit us again. I didn't see the mother deer but I am sure she was waiting in the wings in the woods. The fawns are getting bigger and their mom is giving them some distance from her to explore. They still have their white spots but are physically larger. I was happy that they chose to eat from a prickly shrub I've let grow on the periphery of the woods. They have stripped the leaves from the ground level around the bottom of the plant.
My husband was able to snap a picture from the bedroom through the screen. Take a look...

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Bambi's in the backyard

There have been two sighting. A mother deer and her twin fawns. The first time I saw them it was about 10 am and I was making some coffee. I looked out the kitchen window to see a little spotted fawn in the backyard with it's twin. I really noticed them because they were frolicking yes frolicking, jumping for joy to just be in a wide open space (my backyard) where they could run and jump. And besides there are some tasting things (aruugh!) to chew on... They were so cute and little.
I scanned the backyard and spotted the mother deer off to the right near the entrance to the woods. I went out onto the screened in porch to look and the mother started to lead them away into the woods.
About a week later there they were again. It was almost noon and they were in the backyard. I wanted to take a picture but the camera was not in sight. I ran around the house looking for it. No luck. They started to walk up the driveway. I poked my head out the front door and the mother deer and I shared a moment staring at each other. I didn't have the camera and missed my opportunity to show them to you . Maybe they will show up again and this time I'll get a picture.
Today I read an opinion piece in the Courant about a guy who got lyme disease. He goes on to talk about the large deer population in CT this year. Apparently the cold weather this winter somehow made both the deer and the deer tick population thrive. I've noticed that now I see deer not only on the side of the wooded road I live off of but sometimes just standing in the middle of the road in midday staring at me and not running off. I've seen a lot of youngsters. They have also really been eating the plants surrounding my house. I dread hitting one again and have even seen some dead ones on Route 95. In PA where I grew up there were more deer killed on our interstate than by hunters each year. As much as I enjoy Bambi and his mom and brother visiting, I do see problems ahead for living with so many deer in a shrinking amount of woody habitat for them.

Birds diving in the surf

I was at the beach a couple of weeks ago. It was late in the day and I went to a spot that doesn't draw the crowds. It was me and maybe 2 others looking at the waves. I could see about 5 birds, smaller than sea gulls, flying over the water. Then "splash" a bird dove into the water. I supposed it was trying to catch a fish. The bird was very close to land. It kept doing this over and over.
No one else seemed to notice this activity. Had they seen these birds before? I hadn't and I come to the beach a lot! I looked the species up online and found that their behavior and coloring fit that of terns.
There is a tern colony on Faulkner's Island off the Guilford shore that would explain their presence, but why hadn't I seen them before? Maybe they usually stay closer to home and fish. What a neat experience. I never did see a bird come up victorious, with some food. It was neat to observe this little bit of bird behavior though; a little something different than the food fight over a few scattered french fried I observed later in the week between a group of gulls. One of the gulls was coveting a hamburger wrapper with some cheese stuck to it. It looked like he was planning on eating the entire piece of paper just to enjoy the cheese. People really need to remove their garbage when they leave the beach.