Recently in Local Animals Category

I haven't gone down to the creek lately because of the rainy weather, so earlier today I decided to check in on George and Martha, the Canada Goose couple that I've been feeding.

George saw me at once and began honking like crazy, presumably to alert Martha. But Martha didn't respond, so he swam over to the bank, where I gave him some bread.

Martha's nest seemed to be empty, so I walked around to the other side to get a closer look. It appeared that the eggs had been hatched, and there was no sign of Martha or the goslings.

I thought it was possible that Martha and the goslings had strayed a bit out of range, although that seems unlikely.

Anyway, I went down again just a few minutes ago. George still seemed to be by himself, but there were three other pairs of adults swimming around. One pair of the adults had four young 'uns with them.

We've had some rough weather lately, and a lot of tree branches have been broken off by the winds. And of course, there are foxes in these woods. I'm beginning to think that George may have lost his family.

There are several pairs of Canadian Geese down by the creek, but the ones that I've taken under my wing, so to speak, are the couple that live close-by.

I call them George and Martha.

A few weeks ago I noticed some curious behavior; when I offered them some pieces of bread, George hung back and let Martha have her fill before he would accept any.

On another occasion, George was by himself, and after accepting a couple scraps of bread he began vigorously honking. From across the creek I could hear another goose answering his call, and in no time Martha flew down the bank, and swam across the creek to join us.

Of course, I realized, Martha is hatching her eggs.

A little while ago I went searching for her nest. As it happened, she wasn't there at the time, but as I approached it, she saw me from some little distance away, and began furiously honking. She swam to the bank, quickly flew to her nest, and kept flapping and honking at me until I stepped back.

Here's a picture of Martha sitting in her nest. It was snapped from across the creek, so as not to excite her.

Today I found a grasshopper resting on a yellow begonia.

Do I need to say anything more?

Click on the images to enlarge.

When I stepped out my front door a bit ago to gather the mail, I saw Hobart (the groundhog that lives on my property) was there eating an apple.

Normally he bolts as soon as I open the door, but this time he just continued his munching, which allowed me to snap a few photos with my iPhone.

Alas, they didn't turn out too well, and for the same reason that Hobart didn't scamper away.

I was in the shade and he was blinded by the sun, so he couldn't see me.

I saw a red-headed woodpecker out back just now.

Alas, by the time I grabbed my camera, removed the lens covering, turned it on, and tried to focus, the woodpecker was gone.

So no photo...

Today I saw a squirrel with one eye...

If you've been wondering about Bruiser, he's still around, and still as scrappy as ever.

He and Britney got into a pretty serious brawl today.

I think it was a draw.

But as you can see, his scrappy ways have taken a toll...

I haven't been spending as much time in the basement lately, which means the squirrels haven't been getting their regular share of peanuts.

Not one to take it lying down, Britney decided to get my attention while I was in the living room reading a book on my Kindle.

So she jumped onto the very narrow ledge at the picture window. That got my attention.

Sorry, Britney!

Four days of 90+ temperatures. Squirrels lie on the cool stones to try to beat the heat.

Stupid me.

I went out to feed the geese and although I had my camera with me, I didn't have it turned on when the action started.

One papa goose was upset with another papa goose, and the two of them got into a neck twisting brawl. By the time I got the camera turned on they had taken it into the water and were swimming away, leaving me with nothing but a picture of their wake.

Here's a family behaving like a goose family.