30 Friday Jun 2017
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Late this afternoon, two fawns wandered through our backyard behind their mother, and laid down on the grass, innocent and with not a worry in the world.
Fawns.
They stayed there for long time, perhaps even settling in for the night. Tired of waiting for them to stand up and move around, I took a picture of one of our roses.
Knockout rose.
25 Sunday Jun 2017
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There seems to be a lot more juvenile birds in our backyard this year. They look young, and they are not too shy. They strike poses that exude youthful confidence and vigor.
Tufted Titmouse.
Tufted Titmouse: “Hey, you, Finches! I can fly too!”
Female House Finch.
Female House Finch.
Male House Finch.
Male House Finch: “What? You want me to jump now?”
Male House Finch: “Dive, dive!”
24 Saturday Jun 2017
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For the past several years, I’ve been planting Cosmos flower seeds among our perennials to add some colors. The heat and the rain of the past few weeks have been perfect for them and they are starting to show up. Here’s the first one of the season.
Cosmos
18 Sunday Jun 2017
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It’s been raining off and on again, and getting very hot, well above 90 °F (32 °C), so I stayed home and went around the yard to see if there are any summer flowers to photograph. I was immediately attracted to a large blooming Southern Magnolia (Magnolia Grandiflora) flower.
Southern Magnolia flower. It was about 12 in (30 cm) across.
Closer look.
Southern Magnolia.
Since the flower was mostly white, I converted the above shot to monochrome. Which version do you prefer?
Southern Magnolia, monochrome.
11 Sunday Jun 2017
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blue flag iris, buttercup, eastern painted turtle, great swamp national wildlife refuge, photography, postaday, snapping turtle
Along the walkways at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, I only had to look over the railings to see frogs, turtles, and beautiful wildflowers which added vibrant colors to the green (vegetation) and blackness (water) of the swamp.
(11-Jun-2017: Eliza Waters gave me pointers on the names of the turtles and flowers and I have updated this post accordingly.)
At first I thought this was a rock, but then it moved very slowly. It was a Snapping Turtle.
Snapping Turtle at Great Swamp.
There was another more recognizable Eastern Painted Turtle which only poked its head above the water. It was smaller than the one above.
Box Turtle at Great Swamp.
A handsome Green Frog was basking in the early morning sun.
Green Frog at Great Swamp.
Green Frog at Great Swamp, from another angle. A prince maybe?
A tiny but brilliant Buttercup growing on land at Great Swamp.
Blue Flag Iris at Great Swamp.
10 Saturday Jun 2017
Posted in Photography
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge extends over the marshy remains of a large lake that existed in Northern New Jersey some 15,000 years ago. I don’t go there often, and today’s trip was the first in five years.
Great Swamp has wooden walkways so that you don’t have to muddy your shoes, and blinds to observe and photograph birds. However, the Barred Owl below was standing on a tree branch by one of the walkways, and it barely budged even though several people were pointing their scopes, smartphones, or cameras at it.
Barred Owl at Great Swamp NWR.
Barred Owl at Great Swamp.
The owl has beautiful black eyes needed to hunt at night, but this owl was probably taking a daytime nap.
Barred Owl at Great Swamp.
Eastern Phoebes is a songbird living in the East of North America, from Canada to Mexico. It is quite common and not on the endangered list. I saw this one from a blind at Great Swamp NWR.
Eastern Phoebe at Great Swamp.
Eastern Phoebe at Great Swamp.
07 Wednesday Jun 2017
Posted in Photography
Lately our weather has been nothing but rain and clouds, so I have not gone out much, relying on the birds around our bird feeder to pose for photographs. They did not disappoint.
Goldfinch.
A moody House Finch.
Northern Cardinal.
House Finch.
Young female House Finch with stray feather.
This last one is not a bird, although it would like to be one to get at the food.
Squirrel at bird feeder.
04 Sunday Jun 2017
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After building their nests, the House Wrens do not shy from singing their prowess to attract potential mates. Here are some shots of the House Wren that was so busy the other day amassing twigs for its nest.
House Wren singing, eyes closed.
House Wren in between songs.
House Wren singing from the top of birdhouse. Note the feet beating time!
House Wren singing from rooftop.
House Wren singing from oak branch.
03 Saturday Jun 2017
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There are Red Foxes in a wooded corner of our backyard for many years now. A few years ago, there were six of them, but this year we only have two that I can see, a mother and her cub. Being Foxes, they are naturally shy and I had to take the following photos from about 300 ft (100 m) away. However, the evening sunlight was bright and directed perfectly at the spot.
Mother fox and cub running.
Mother Red Fox.
Mother Red Fox, probably telling her young one that those leaves were nothing worth worrying about.
Young Fox.
Mother, seated, and son.
02 Friday Jun 2017
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For several years, I’ve put up birdhouses in the hope of attracting Bluebirds. I must have placed them in the wrong places, because no Bluebird came, and only Chickadees and House Wrens have taken advantage of my birdhouses. Yesterday, I saw an energetic House Wren busy building its nest inside one of the birdhouses.
House Wren bringing twig to add to its nest inside birdhouse.
House Wren handling long twig.
House Wren and long twig.
House Wren, eyes half closed, cramming another twig into nest.
House Wren flying in nest material.
House Wren and another twig!
Air House Wren.
When will it stop bringing in more materials?
House Wrens are mostly plain brown, but they sing well and are one of the most common birds in North America and South America.
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