Backyard Critters, Some New And Old Faces.
I am very fortunate to have some type of animals visit my backyard and bird feeders all year long, even on the most frigid days of January and February. Deer, squirrels, rabbits, turkey and the birds that remain for the Winter give me much pleasure in the cold and dark months.
But I always look forward to Spring and the return of the birds that flew south and the animals that went into hibernation. The robins are usually the first to return and they arrived late this year. They have been bobbing on my lawn looking for warms, when it wasn’t covered in snow, for about two weeks. now. The bears are back, as evidenced by my missing feeder, although I haven’t seen one yet.
Today I had another species of bird return, the cowbirds, pictured above. This birds, however are not very welcome. The female cowbird does not build her own nest but parasitizes the nest of other song birds. She lays her an egg in another birds nest and lets that bird feed and raise her offspring. These birds were not native to Pennsylvania but followed the great herds of bison that roamed the midwest. They have moved into our area and now frequent our feeders. It is not their fault they nest as they do so I still welcome them to my feeders. I enjoyed watching them and a newly arrived purple finch at the feeder tonight.
The usual visitors were here too, the deer, turkeys, squirrels and many species of birds. The next arrivals at the feeders, the songbirds won’t arrive until there is more insect activity and blossoming of the flowers and trees with the warmer weather. But the next big Spring event, and one of my favorites, will be the chorus of the spring peepers. These tiny frogs fill the spring evenings with an unforgettable song. I am hoping they will be singing tomorrow. Here is a link to some more visitors to my backyard these past few days. https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-5/nggallery/blog-photos/backyard-critters-april-2-2015
“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.”
― William Shakespeare
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I love The bird feeder photos and I like all the different species that show up and I’m sure there’s more to come. The deer and turkey’s are looking good. I wouldn’t get anything done if I had a backyard like yours in my backyard.
I could watch them all day. You need to get a few up in your yard. Best stress relief medicine I know of. The robins were singing early this morning. I love to hear them again. It’s hard. lol Hoping to hear the spring peepers tonight, after the rain starts.