Nature
Birds and squirrels in the backyard
This morning we had lots of friends in our backyard enjoying breakfast!
Find the birds
How many birds do you see in the picture?
A nice pair of mushrooms
Sometimes Nature shows us that things can be better in two’s.
Remembering summer warmth
Let’s take a break from the cold and snow and remember how nice summertime is with flowers and bugs and warm temperatures.
A couple of squirrels
It is a very cold day, highs only in the mid teens. These two squirrels were “frozen” in place for several minutes on the trunk of this maple tree. There were no predators visible from our back door, however these guys seemed to be in the classic “Don’t move or that thing will catch and eat us!”
Birds we saw back in May 2021
It’s still pretty cold here in Indiana. Let us reminisce about our backyard birdwatching last spring.
Red-Headed Woodpecker
Pair of Grosbeaks
Flicker enjoying suet
Pair of Cowbirds
Chipping Sparrow
The short video is of a female Pileated Woodpecker. We did have a pair show up several times during May and June. This is when they are feeding their young in the nest. We named them “Woody” and “Wilma”.
Squirrel: to bury or not to bury
This busy tailed squirrel acts like he can’t decide if he should bury the nut he has in his mouth. Today is a pretty sunny day but very cold at 11 degrees. This might have been the squirrel that liked to lick the ice in the frozen wheelbarrow.
A shade of red in that squirrel’s tail
The gray squirrels we always see
We see lots of gray squirrels in our area of Indiana. Within the past week we have seen several squirrels that have a noticeable reddish color to their tails and along the center of their backs. Their coats are not red like the red squirrels we saw at our son’s house in Austin when we visited a couple of weeks ago.
Note the red color of the tail
These are not red squirrels. Reds and grays are two different species, and are incompatible for cross breeding. Reds have much more red coloring all over their bodies. These grays have gotten some reddish tints in their tails and their backs. Anybody seen these kinds of colorations in your area’s populations?
Some folks like squirrels. Others think they are just “tree rats”. I’ve heard it said that squirrels are nothing more than rats with a good Public Relations Department…
A frosty gallery
This morning we woke to a very heavy frost. These pictures were captured at 10 o’clock, with the ambient temperature still at 28 F.
Frost covered sage
Rose leaf edges attracted the frost
Another leaf edge with heavy frost
A heavy frost should not be a surprise: Winter Solstice is three days away!
