Pond Tag

This busy muskrat was annoying the ducks today. From the information I've gathered, muskrats are very territorial but will not actually harm the ducks.

Small residents around the pond

Here are some portraits of the smaller critters I've seen recently:

Such a sunny color!

Monarch caterpillar on milkweed

Red milkweed beetle

Black swallowtail on daylily.

Happy Critters Pre-Rain

We've had a week of rain. The pond has overflowed its banks, and the turtles have stayed underwater. This photos was taken when the sun was still shining. Hope we'll see the turtles (and the frogs: see the bullfrog in the top left corner?) again soon!

Secret Paths Revealed

Wild turkey and squirrel prints in Gobble, Gobble. Published by Dawn Publications, 2011.


robin tracks
I love going out into the woods in winter to look for animal tracks. In wet snow, the solid tracks of deer leave their two-toed trails all through the woods. After a light snow, it's easy to spot even the delicate prints of birds and mice.

If conditions are right, you can find "reverse prints"-- tracks formed when the animal's footprints compacted the snow. When the snow begins to melt away, these areas, because they've been compressed, melt more slowly. The tracks become raised areas like these deer prints:

Voles tunnel under the snow. When the top layer melts, their secret trails, looking like a maze of highways, are revealed:

Winter Robins

The Hawthorne tree has been Go Food for a flock of robins over the past few days. These robins might be on their way from Canada--they seem more robust than the genteel variety we usually see around here in warmer weather. In any case, there are several dozens of them, and they are quite fond of hawthorne berries. The tree is looking a little sparse, but a great many of the berries are now on the ground--waiting for the next round of diners.