Little "bandits" visit in the night.....

I flipped on the deck light the other night and caught these two very cute little "bandits" trying to raid my bird feeder.

 "I've heard this is a good place to find food"

 "OK....watch my back....I'm going up"

 "How do you get into this thing?"

 "I don't know....what's in there?"

 "Look around....maybe there's a key hidden down there somewhere."

 "I'm hungry!  Haven't you got that open yet?????"

"Let me try!" 

"I think I can reach some seeds under here." 

"There's an opening you can get your paw under, but I can't get much" 

"We'd better get out of here soon" 

"Just a couple more minutes!" 

"Oh, oh.....I think she saw us!.....let's go!"

"Oops....I meant to do that!"

They were so funny, I didn't have the heart to scare them away.  At least not before I took photos :-)  They let me open the door just a crack big enough to take photos, without letting my cats get out.  They didn't run away until I finally chased them away.  That was when the one almost fell off the railing but caught himself just in time :-)

The Seasons begin to change........

I found time to get to the wetlands one day last week, and could begin to see the change in the seasons coming.

 A flock of about 30 Mallard ducks were on the front pond.  They were beginning to get their adult breeding colors.  These two look a lot alike, but notice the bill of one is yellow....a male developing.....and the other is orange...a female.  He already has the dark chest, also even though his head isn't green.

The ones with green heads were in various stages....a little or a lot. 

 Not as many butterflies to be seen, but still a few.  This is the Eastern-tailed Blue.  I don't usually get to see the inside of it..

 The plants are taking on seasonal changes.

 The meadow has mostly yellow flowers and the Goldfinches are enjoying all their favorite seeds.

Goldfinch peeking up over the flowers.  

They blend in so well, they are hard to spot if they don't move. 

A Hackberry Emperor that has see better days. Poor thing could barely manage to fly along the rail. 

 Killdeer

Two of them were leading me along the boardwalk before they finally took off with the loud cry of alarm. 

 Looking down from one of the bridges I see a "lump" in the water......

......closer up shows me it is the Muskrat eating the duckweed again. 

A green decorated nose :-) 

Red-Spotted Purple Admiral. 

 A Sulphur along the path and boardwalk.

 Sumac....very noticeable this time of year.  Our newspaper had an article today telling about using it as a spice in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions.  And how Native Americans made a lemonade-like drink from the fruit.  I didn't know anyone ate it or used it as food!  Have any of you ever eaten something with Sumac in it???  I guess you learn something new every day.

 Of course there were lots of turtles out.  The air was cool and they were all seeking the sun on the logs.

 Big...medium...small.

One log for counting :-) 

 Big and little.

 A nice rear end shot.....with its spotted legs showing.  I love how they balance.

Green covered 

 This one has an interesting jagged edge on its shell.  I'm not sure what kind it is.  I can often tell the Red-eared Sliders and the Painted Turtles (one on the right, I believe), but I think there are other kinds out there, too. 

 This is a Painted Turtle....red along the edges of the shell.

 Red on the head....Red-eared Slider?

They look like they are using the second one for a table :-) 

This wren had just been down in the water, I think, and wouldn't come out from behind that post.

 All sorts of bugs on the many yellow flowers.

Button Bush turning red. 

Crawdad holes in a patch of sunlight in the woods.

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I hope to get back to more regular posting soon!  We just moved Mike's parents to an assisted living apartment, and I have our local quilt show coming up this weekend, which will keep me busy from Friday to Sunday.  Too many things going on to get out much and take photos!  Maybe next week!

"Charlotte"....the orb weaver.......

I haven't been out getting many photos.....we've been busy with some family stuff.  But every night I watch the orb weaver spider that has put its web right outside my front door.  We call her "Charlotte", of course.  I can watch her(?) from the inside through the sidelights on the door, but can't get good photos from there.  

This is her web......it is so closely spun!  I love watching her work on it.  She only comes out at night.  During the day the web is empty.  Each night she repairs the web.

 The first night I watched her she caught a huge grasshopper.  What it was doing hopping around in the dark, I don't know, but she got real lucky that night!

 Trying to get photos is difficult.  She is too close to the house for me to get behind her and get back shots.

 These look like they are taken in the day time, but actually I just was using flash to try to get better details.

 If you click on the photos you may be able to see the "spinner" where the web comes out.

 I think she is just a common brown orb spinner, but I don't really know much about spiders.

Best shot I have of her belly and spinner.  

I watched her totally rebuild the web the other night.  She places the rings of webbing about 2" apart to begin with and then keeps adding more rings until she has it all filled in.  Really interesting!  Then she sits right in the middle straddling the hole in the center and can feel whenever something hits the web.  The web is attached to one of our porch lights, so I'm never sure if she would like to have the light on....to attract lots of moths and stuff...or off.... so she is hidden.