Jan. 27, 2011 Puddles and Daisy Fun in the Snow

Here is our OCD digger....

Puddles and Daisy play chase...Daddy steps in because he thinks Daisy is getting too rough with his little Daddy's Girl Dog!

Jan. 26/27, 2011 Snow storm

Firetruck returning from accident down the street about a half mile got stuck on the hill out front. It took about 3 hours to get him unstuck. There were at least 7 cars behind the fiasco that had no way to turn around, and nowhere to go. Our neighbor down the street was very kind and offered up her bathroom and refreshments!

View from the back sun porch doorway out to the patio and yard.

Misc. pictures

The front of the house. On the left are the old dogwoods....they really took a beating. Lots of large, broken branches. Some branches hanging over electric lines to neighbors house.

They Leyland Cypress trees, about 20-25 feet tall, really took a beating as well.

View of the back, from the bathroom window!

My garden.

 

Jan. 26, 2011

Noticed this little female House Finch on the feeder today. It appears that she is partially blind. House Finches are prone to an eye disease called "Mycoplasmal Conjunctivitis", which causes ulcerations and crusting of the eyes. Although the eyes are what one notices, it's primarily a respiratory disease, also found in chickens and turkeys. 

For now, this little gal is able to fly, although not very gracefully, from trees to feeder. And although she occasionally misses the opening in the feeder, she usually feeds very easily. However, the disease will likely kill her, or make her easy prey. Interestingly, there have been no other House Finches at my feeders for almost 2 weeks now. She is the only one.

 Interesting tidbit I learned when reading up on House Finches:

House Finches feed their nestlings exclusively plant foods, a fairly rare occurrence in the bird world. Many birds that are vegetarians as adults still find animal foods to keep their fast-growing young supplied with protein.

 

More information on Mycoplasmal Conjunctivitis can be found here:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/hofi/abtdisease.html

Jan. 25, 2011 Bear Cub!

Jan. 24, 2010

In the matter of STINKBUGS, I find very little to be happy about. But this little fella saved me a few seconds of time by actually getting on the tissue himself, so that I didn't have to take the tissue to him!

And I am ever so thankful that I didn't need to blow my nose. That could have been ugly.

Baby bear! Jan. 22, 2011

                                                    

On the right lower corner, just below the debris, you can see the baby's rear legs and bottom as he is scrambling up Lily's belly!

There is a WHAT on my feeder??? Jan. 21, 2011

To the not so avid bird watcher, he's just another "little brown job". But to those "in the know", he is SO much more! He is a Chipping Sparrow...a SUMMER visitor to these parts. A species that migrates very far south in the fall and returns in the early summer. I have NEVER seen one in the winter here. I've been checking the feeders all morning since he arrived, and he appears to be the only one of his kind visiting.

WHY is he here, on this very cold and snowy day in the middle of winter? Has he been here all along and I just haven't seen him til now? Is he months behind on the migration? 

OR.....

...is he the herald of what may be a very early spring??

Winter Moon, Jan. 19, 2011

Puddles and Daisy Fun! Jan. 8, 2011

Woodpecker vistis of Jan. 7, 8, 9, 2011

We hear their crazy calls all of the time. We catch rare glimpses of them as they scoot out of view just as we spot them up in a tree, or as they fly across the field. So it was quite a serendipity to have not one, but two Pileated Woodpeckers excavating a pine tree in the yard, in plain sight! Of course, by the time I got over my shock and grabbed the camera, one had flown off. But on the 8th and 9th of this month, one was at this tree for HOURS each day. There must have been some really yummy larvae in there! After the first 2 days of hours at a time, we saw them only briefly over the next 2 or 3 days, and as of now, haven't returned to this tree. 

 The tree already had a large split in it, but now it's wide open!

Here is the greedy Red Bellied Woodpecker. He was pecking at the window because, as you can see, the feeder was empty. He clearly was not happy about that! (Jan. 7, 2011)

 

NC Eagle 2nd hatch!

NC Eagle apprx 11:15am Jan 14, 2011