Walking Stick Bug, Oct. 11, 2010

Forgot to post these pictures of the Walking Stick Bug baby. This little fella was found sitting on one of my Pothos plants in the house! I have NO idea how he got there, but I suspect that he may have hitched a ride in from the outdoors on either one of the dogs, or one of us humans. I released him out front on the azalea bush.

VIrginia Opossum

Meet "Virginia" (or Gin Gin, or Ginger, or Stinky Butt), Irvine's resident Virginia Opossum. She'll eat anything, including Stinkbugs! (although only if they wander too close to her...they aren't a part of her regular diet!)

Usually, she is in her outdoor enclosure, but when the temps will be below freezing at night, she comes in to the office to hang out. She is here in her crate, but has the run of this office cubicle as long is someone is nearby to make sure she stays out of trouble! Her crate is full of boxes, bags, straw, towels and newspaper, as well as some toys, to keep her occupied...although she spends a lot of time snoozing.

She has a harness and a leash, and just loves to take her friends for walks! She looks almost toothless in this picture, but don't let it fool you...she has many BIG SHARP teeth in that mouth!

She would deny it, of course, but she is just a little spoiled....

Thanksgiving Day Hike 2010

Steve and I decided to take the dogs for a hike this afternoon, along the Patapsco River near where we live. We walked the trail up to the bottom of Liberty Dam. As you can see, there is no water flowing over, and the river is barely moving!

The bottom of Liberty Dam

Puddles and Lynne

Steve and Daisy, who is rock jumping across the water!

Snack time!

Puddles looking for Steve. Bottom of the dam.

On the way back out, Steve wanted to take a little side trail. We hadn't seen much in the way of wildlife on our walk, but he had a feeling we'd find something up that trail. And sure enough, we did. 

We saw a Redtail Hawk. It took a few minutes to register what we were seeing. The hawk was down a small bank at the creek, and there was blood at it's feet...that was clear. At first, we thought it might be hurt because it made no move to fly away, even with the dogs being with us. (they had not yet spotted the bird)

Then, we though it was eating some prey. It was, but eventually we realized that the hawk was feasting on a dead buck that was laying in the creek.  He sat there so still, that we think he didn't want us to see him. And so camouflaged was the whole scene, I am surprised we saw him at all!

Steve moved the dogs away while I tried to get some pictures. Well, they didn't all turn out so great. I didn't have my glasses on, and had a hard time focusing the camera on zoom. The batteries were almost dead and I had to turn it off and back on after each attempt at a shot. DUH. But I did get these two. 

He eventually moved off of the deer, but not far, and not fast. He opened his wings and used them just a little to move away, and then to hop on a tree limb that was fallen. 

So, I am left to wonder if he was hurt, or so hungry he was just that unwilling to leave the carcass. Maybe an old hawk, no so good at hunting any more? I don't think so...his tail isn't red yet and is striped, and the iris of his eye is very light, probably a juvie. And I wonder about the deer....how did he come to be laying in this small creek? It was very, very fresh. A small buck. Was he sick and succumbed to the illness? Was he shot by a hunter who thought he missed him, or just didn't want to pursue him when he didn't drop right away?

It was hard to know what to do about the hawk. I was concerned mostly because he didn't fly away, which is not normal behavior. He didn't even go when the dogs spotted him and started barking. He was no more than 20 feet away from us. We thought about trying to catch him, (there is a wildlife rehabber not terribly far from us) but that would have been very difficult given the terrain and the fact that the dogs were with us. If he was in fact hurt, stressing him with a chase would likely kill him if we couldn't catch him fast. It was already getting dark, and if we had tried taking the dogs home and going back, it would have been too dark and dangerous to try to catch him by then. 

So we left nature to it's course, with a sad heart. Hopefully, since he was eating and at least mobile to some degree, he'll be OK. And there is every possibility that he really is OK, and he just wasn't willing to leave the carcass. We will take a walk back there again on Saturday to see if we find him again. 

Puddles and Daisy Oct 30, 2010

Water Spider in upper right, the black circles are his shadow.

Puddles being swallowed into her hole! Daisy is now in on the action!

Daisy

She likes water, that's why her name is Puddles!

Daisy digging like crazy!

Steve, Puddles and Daisy

Lynne and Daisy. Old foundation of building.

Pond near the homestead.

My handsome husband and the love of my life!

Eagle in Nest 1:09 til......Oct 23 2010

Turkey Point visit, Oct. 2, 2010

Turkey Point is in  Elk Neck State Park in Cecil  County in NE Md., just about an hour and a half from our house. What an amazing place! It's the uppermost part of the Chesapeake Bay. And a great place to view migrating hawks and other raptors. Steve has been here before, but this was my first trip and I look forward to going back! The trail to the point is about 3/4 of a mile from the parking area. The trail is fairly easy to walk, although parts of it were very rutted out from recent rains, and parts were kind of rocky. The first part of the main trail to the point overlooks the cliff. HOLY MOTHER, talk about scary!! You don't HAVE to walk along the edge, but most are compelled to do so. There are NO barriers to save you from falling! The pictures don't do the cliffs justice.

Crossing the Susquehanna River on the way.

We packed a picnic lunch to eat before we took our walk to the point.

Steve and the warning sign!

Trees growing along the top of the cliffs.

Steve looking out over the cliffs. Me holding camera while intestines cringe watching him.

This is a clump of trees with the ground beneath them all but gone, suspended in air!

Animal tracks in the mud along the trail.

Once upon a time, many years ago, someone laid this piece of tractor attachment, or something like that, against a small tree. The tree has grown up and around the piece.

Out on the  point.

Meadow Fritilary. There were zillions of them!! We also saw many Buckeyes, and several Monarchs.

Now THAT'S a spider! He was the size of a quarter!

The spider is in the web in the upper center. In the lower far left, you can see his dinner...a STINKBUG!! Good spider!

A bat house.

Here are some lighthouse pictures. We had the great pleasure of meeting an elderly man who turned out to be the grandson of the last lighthouse keeper, his grandmother! The park ranger drove him up the trail to the lighthouse. He was here from Florida, where he now lives. He said that this would likely be his last trip to visit as his health is very bad and going to get worse. But he wanted to come and visit one last time. He was very kind and stopped to talk to us, and others, about his grandmother.

Picture of a picture of the lighthouse and the house where the keeper lived.

Well, by now you are wondering....did we see any hawks??

YES!!

We saw at least 20 hawks. We could positively ID a couple of sharp shinned, and a redtail. There were others as well. But they were not easily photographed. And I wish I could tell you what kind they all were, but even with my book, I fail miserably at hawk identification unless they are sitting still! It's hard to judge size in the air, and the adults and juvies look different.We got a later start than we had hoped, and ate lunch first when we got there. So it was just after 4pm when we got out to the point. We were told that between 9 and noon is the prime time to view. Even so, we were not disappointed with what we saw!

Steve saw and eagle while I was taking a picture of the bat house. Go figure. Later, I saw a crow. NO IT WASN'T....it was an EAGLE!! It was flying directly at eye level but out over the water. The sun was really bright, and when it was right in front of me, it looked all black...and then there is the problem I have judging size, especially with a single bird. But as it flew off to my left, I saw the white head and tail!

After that, I was sitting on a bench watching the sky and saw what I though was a hawk directly above. I took a look through the binos and guess what it was? I'm so embarrassed to say.....it was a MONARCH!!!

We had a great time!! Can't wait to go back!

Gunpowder River/Prettyboy Dam Setp. 25, 2010

This particular weekend was the 2nd anniversary of my first dates with Steve, and this is where we went! It's a really beautiful area in northern Baltimore County and has a lot of history. I won't bore you with all of that right now. The river itself, the Gunpowder, is very popular for canoeing, kayaking and tubing. Also very popular for trout fishing, and there are plenty of hiking trails. We also took a walk at Prettyboy Reservoir. The water level is very low right now, due to the lack of rain over the summer.

Foster's Masemore Mill. Formerly a grist mill, now a private residence.

The grounds around the house.

Steve and Daisy

Historic plaque on the house.

Hard to see, but the hawk's in the tree!

Puddles and I crossing a little bridge over a feeder creek.

Puddles having a wade in the Gunpowder.

Steve and the girls.

One of several Monarchs we saw on the shore of the lake. This one has a torn left forewing, but flew very well!

Steve and the girls standing in the cove where he and I first went fishing. I am standing where the water line USED to be!