Identity Crisis!

These very large raptors were seen at Liberty Reservoir last weekend while Steve and friend Dave were fishing. 

They were dark with some"white areas" and were too large to be hawks or ospreys. They really didn't think they were buzzards. They saw six of them altogether while they were there.

When I enlarged the top picture, it lost detail, but I could see yellow feet, and also at the beak. I think they are juvie eagles!

Who wants to help identify?

Utter Deerstruction

Growing Morning Glories up the feeder pole has been such a challenge. First poor Steve whacked them thinking they were weeds, we got new ones, something ate them when they were still small. They grew back, finally, and I got the look I wanted all along...only to wake up the other morning to find THIS mess. Incriminating hoof prints in the mulch were DEER prints. 

Seems somewhat odd that they/it didn't eat the top of the vines, which would have been easily reachable, even by a young fawn.  Interestingly, the little wooden deer seen here in the yard, with his head lifted up, would only have been able to reach as far up as the destruction.....perhaps there are stranger things than I know going on in my yard, in the dark.....

Our wedding cake topper!

Visit to Lynn's Lair Aug 28 2010

The Lady of the Lair

The Lady Cinnamon atop her throne

Baby Northern Brown Snake

Lynn and Lynne...Red hair is the BEST!

Lynn and Steve

Can you find the hidden Momster?

Caterpillar Invasion! Aug. 27 2010

There are 5 here, 4 larger ones, and if you look closely to the right of the lowest one, you can see a very much smaller one seeming to hang from the leaf.  He is crawling up a thread of silk to the leaf!

Hard to see on this plant, but there are 5 here.

There are 6 on this poor plant!

This one traveled to the underside of the gutter, near the morning glory, and is currently "hanging in J". He or she will form a chrysalis later today! It'll be the first one I see develop "in the wild".

This caterpillar is sharing a leaf with a Ladybug nymph!

I was not expecting to have so many caterpillars on my plants!!! Many of them will travel from the plants in the next couple of days to go find a place to make the final transformation...I'll be curious to see where I find them! Sadly, I have also found quite a few dead and dying caterpillars under and on the plants as well. They can't all make it...

New sighting, Aug. 17, 2010

This was the first time I have ever seen this kind of butterfly. It's a Black Swallowtail, on Queen Anne's Lace. It was very striking, and as it flew by me, my first thought was, "HEY, that butterfly is dressed for a Steeler's game!".

Saturday Serendipity! Aug. 21, 2010

This particular Saturday was a very busy one for us. But on one of my many trips into the house on that day, I walked in to my kitchen and found, of all things, a Monarch Butterfly fluttering around my kitchen window!

I had one emerge earlier that morning, in a container in the kitchen and my first thought was HOW DID IT GET OUT!!! But a quick glance assured me that it was still in there, drying it's wings. So, this butterfly on the loose....where did it come from??

 It was like a little miracle! I actually got goosebumps watching him! I couldn't believe, of all things to somehow end up in my kitchen, here was a Monarch! If it wasn't an actual "sign" from God, it sure was a beautiful gift to get from Him!

But the mystery remained....HOW??

Later that evening, when I had some time, I did a bit of investigating. I found the empty chrysalis up in the very top corner of the kitchen window, hidden from regular view by the valance. We open and close that window at least several times a day. We never saw it up there. The window doesn't interfere with the placement of the chrysalis as it stops just short of where it was hanging. 

A little further investigating revealed a space in the bottom part of the screen, likely produced from the birds that gather on the windowsill, under the bird feeder hanging there.

The milkweed plants are on the patio. This caterpillar must have crawled from the milkweed, up over the roof of the laundry room (a pointed roof, just about 2 stories tall), down the other side, crawled along the house or ground another 10 feet or so, and then up to the windowsill and got in through the screen opening. Pretty darn far for it to go!

Then end result, a Monarch in my kitchen. At a time when I really needed to see something wonderful.  I scooped him up and set him free in the yard, and sent a little prayer with him.

YOU may think it's just an odd coincidence, but I'll look at it my own way.....I'm just sayin'!

Regarding the other butterfly that had emerged earlier in the day.....I took it to my little friend Kelsey next door so she could release it. She is just 3 years old, and very cool! I placed it in her hand and she sent it on it's way....that one flew off fast so we didn't get a picture of her holding it. But look at the wonder in her little face as she is watching it go!