Coming home from church Sunday, I spotted a group of deer in a field heading towards the road we were on. Mike could only find one place to pull off the road and had to shoot the photos between the crossbars of a fence! 
There were 8 of them bounding towards the road where we sat.
They stopped when they got to us, but didn't feel too threatened since we stayed in the car. They appeared to be waiting for just the right moment to cross the road to the field on the other side.
Finally they took off! You guessed it.....they waited until there was a car coming from both directions before they chose to go! What amazed us was that one of the drivers almost hit the last one.......didn't he see the other 7 cross right in front of him??????
When I went out to fill the feeders this morning there were lots of strange tracks in the yard. That row in the middle was by far the strangest! Still haven't figure it out......
The only thing I could figure is a possum with its tail dragging on the right side. Strange!
I'm sure there are squirrel tracks, cat tracks and who knows what else in all of this mess!
I believe this is an American Tree Sparrow? I always have trouble with these.
The Downy eyeing the suet on the post.
Mrs. Red-Bellied Woodpecker showed up and I don't get many photos of her, so here are three.
Looking her in the eye out front
She checked out the suet out back, also.
This next pair of photos was a Mockingbird on the wire on the way to church.
I was trying to figure out what the spot on the chest is.....
....this really has me confused! It looks like stuff coming out of its chest!
Another "odd shot"
There were 8 of them bounding towards the road where we sat.
They stopped when they got to us, but didn't feel too threatened since we stayed in the car. They appeared to be waiting for just the right moment to cross the road to the field on the other side.
Finally they took off! You guessed it.....they waited until there was a car coming from both directions before they chose to go! What amazed us was that one of the drivers almost hit the last one.......didn't he see the other 7 cross right in front of him??????
When I went out to fill the feeders this morning there were lots of strange tracks in the yard. That row in the middle was by far the strangest! Still haven't figure it out......
The only thing I could figure is a possum with its tail dragging on the right side. Strange!
I'm sure there are squirrel tracks, cat tracks and who knows what else in all of this mess!
I believe this is an American Tree Sparrow? I always have trouble with these.
The Downy eyeing the suet on the post.
Mrs. Red-Bellied Woodpecker showed up and I don't get many photos of her, so here are three.
Looking her in the eye out front
She checked out the suet out back, also.This next pair of photos was a Mockingbird on the wire on the way to church.
I was trying to figure out what the spot on the chest is.....
....this really has me confused! It looks like stuff coming out of its chest!
Another "odd shot"Notice that the iciles are going up and the snow is on the bottom! We finally figure out that the entire ring of ice must have spun around as it warmed up on the inside and became loose. It sure looked funny!
The "avalanches" of ice and snow falling off the house have been deafing, but I'm glad it is melting. It apparently continued to melt all night and many trees were free of ice this morning. I hope this is our only ice storm this year. Mike's parents finally got their power back this morning, but many are still without and as the ice falls, the branches spring back up and cause more line damage in some places. I think every yard in their neighborhood had tree limbs down. Lots of clean up work to be done!
%2B(2).jpg)
29 comments:
What a lovely record of your garden and area. We have snow here today although it is only a little bit but the whole of the UK seems to have ground to a halt, schools closed, public transport badly affected, etc...!We are not used to much snow here so not well prepared at all! I love the bird pictures you take, amazing.
Wow....what neat tracks!! And LOVE the birds pictures!! Upside down icicles are pretty neat too!!
Great set of weekend photos, especially the deer.
Goosey: There are places in the states like that, too, but we get enough snow that the crews are well prepared and most people who get out drive well in it.
Kerri: thanks! I wish I understood those tracks. We stook looking at those upside down icicles for several minutes before we figured it out.
John: Thanks! I don't see deer often and these were so easy to spot coming across that field. Wish there had been a better stopping place!
I must have been sleepy when I made this post last night...I've already changed 3 spelling errors this morning! Hope there aren't any more!
I like the way you take your camera to church and everywhere,but I'm sure glad you did.The deer look great and the other pictures,well,I uess I'll never tire of seeing birds.
Blessings,Ruth
What a great set of photos and what a terrific shot of the Tree Sparrow. As always, we really enjoy your posts. Thanks!
Happy Groundhog Daym Mary.. We have a winter wonderland on the plateau this morning. The birds are eating and eating and eating.. I guess we'll have 6 more weeks -at least--of winter!!!!
Love your deer pictures. Ours are usually in groups of SEVEN for some reason...
Great group of pictures. Hope you don't get more snow.
Hugs,
Betsy
Ruth: Actually, I seem to see a lot of neat things on the way to and from church :-) I've gotten to where I pick up the camera, no matter where I go after missing a few great shots1
Seth and Michelle: Thanks! I always have trouble identifying some of those sparrow and wasn't sure I had it right.
Betsy: Thanks! We should have more melting today and then it will get cold again. I hope we don't have that much more bad weather. The clean up here is still going on from the ice storm.
Thanks for sharing some wonderful pictures. I'm glad all the deer made it safely across the road.
What a great series of shots. They always wow me. The tracks were amazing. What a great way to tell that you've had visitors when you weren't looking. The deer were awesome and I was really intrigued by that meter with the upside down icicles. I'm glad you explained that one. :-)
Wonderful photos! BBC (thats before border collie) deer would bed down in the yard behind my house. With my field glasses I could see every hair. What beautiful creatures.
Last year I had hundreds of Tree Sparrows. I've only seen a few this year. When I stopped feeding millet I lost most of my sparrows.
Marnie
George: It's a wonder they made it since that one driver wasn't very alert!
2sweetnsaxy: tracks can be so intriguing and I don't know what most of them are!
Marnie: That much have been wonderful to have the deer so close...unless they were eating your plants :-) I'm putting out a mix with millet for the sparrows, so I guess that's why I had a couple of the Tree sparrows out there. Now, if the cowbirds and starlings will just go away! Hopefully when the snow goes, so do they.
Well heck, glad to hear M's parents got their power back. These are wonderful photos!!!
Mary: Very cool photos from around your home area. I loved the deer.
Now if these had been 8 tiny reindeer, I'd say they were down on vacation from the North Pole, especially since with the cold weather we've been having this season they'd feel right at home. :-) More seriously, I absolutely love the wild, primitive, timeless feel of your artistic composition of the deer running across the field. Excellent shot.
Sandy: I'm glad that almost everyone I know finally has power again. This type of storm is awful.
Fishing Guy:Thanks!
CountryDreaming: LOL! Hadn't thought of that! If I was Santa's reindeer, I would go further south :-) Mike took the deer photos because I was on the wrong side of the car. He was lucky to get any with that fence in the way...that's why the narrow shots.
I really liked those track photos too in the fresh snow! You had such a nice variety of birds posted too!!
Shelley: Thanks...I just wish I knew more about tracks!
I swear deer have death wishes!
Neat photos as usual!
Great shots. I love the footprints in the snow.
Terrific shots Mary. Why do those deer always think they have to beat it across the road in front of cars? I'll never figure it out.
I like your critter tracks. I thought Possoms slept the winter away, BUT then again maybe this one thinks it's already spring. LOL. Those tracks had to be something short to the ground and waddling. I agree with you.
That snow and ice on the meter is cool !
Have a good rest of the week. We had a beautiful day here.
B.
Some people can be so insensitive to animals in the areas. Such a pity. One of our birds get the same black spot on the chest before a=changing into it summer feathers. Maybe this is the same?
Wonderful series of photos here too and the upward icicles are the icing on the cake!
Hugs and blessings,
Annie: They sure scared me...after waiting so long and then choosing the worse moment they could to go!
Helen: Thanks...now I need a good book on tracks :-)
Becky: I saw a raccoon last night, but those tracks had that funny line on the side that just seems to say "possum tail". They were really interesting! I think the possum comes out every time it warms up a little and then goes baack to sleep :-) We found a bunch of grey fur in the garage that morning that looked like something had a fight in there. My cats were in the house! I sometimes leave the door up a bit for the stray black cat when it is cold.
Joan: you are the only one to comment on that black spot and I really would love to know what it was! It was so strange, but I didn't get many photos. Partly it looked like the feathers were blowing in the wind, but what was that stuff that looks like it was running out of it????
Storyteller: They were a funny thing to see!
Mary, I too am really curious about the bird on the wire...I hope nothing was wrong with it.
And I am betting you are right about the tracks being a possum...I can't think of anything else it could be. But if you ever find different, tell me.
Rose: I see possums here regularly, so I'm pretty sure that must have been what it was. Only thing with a long skinny dragging tail I can think of :-) The mockingbird on the wire seemed to be healthy sitting there and it is just that one shot that really looked strange!
Lovely Deer Mary, especially the running shots.
Roy: Thanks....Mike took all the deer shots since I was on the wrong side of the car :-)
Post a Comment