I see its been a year since my last post.  Teaching took all the steam out of blogging this year.  Demanding job.  However I am still taking photos and observing the natural world so I'll still try and share since the summer is my time for regrouping and doing things I don't get to do when I am very busy.

I saw an adolescent white tailed deer on my lawn yesterday at about 3 pm in the afternoon.  Smack dab in full view in the middle of my lawn in the daylight.  It looks kind of gaunt, you could see ribs.  I don't know if it was under fed or not but it's very likely there is over population in the deer community due to the mild winter etc.  You would think the deer would be well fee unless this young one was experiencing disease. 
I see a lot of deer in broad daylight these days.  Although I live on a somewhat rural road it's still busy enough for the deer to be hiding.  This deer was too young to be one of the twins that visited us last summer. 
Have you also seen a lot of deer especially in the daylight in full view this year?

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...

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.

What's that?

This spring my family kept sighting a critter we hadn't seen before. A large furry rodent, with a stumpy but fuzzy tail. I'd seen animals like this before in PA where I grew up but they had rodent-like tails. This creature had a fuzzy tail about 4 inches long.
Turns out it's a ground hog or woodchuck. Also known as a land beaver. Maybe he was out gloating about how he'd predicted an early spring in Punxsutawney? I've seen him a few times scurrying into the woods to go about his business.
I'm posting a picture I got off the internet of a Groundhog and a link to some more information on their habits.(http://wiki.ask.com/Groundhog). They are vegetarians and they dig burrows. I'll keep my eye out for the CT Groundhog and let you know of sightings.

Luna moth resting on my garage door

My son alerted me to the presence of this Luna Moth the other day so I ran outside and snapped this picture. I guess it must have just landed there during the night and slept in!
These moths are very large (3-4" across) and really beautiful. Their green color is unusual for a moth or butterfly.