Nature & Wildlife Thread

[Mike in Vermont]

They see their reflection and think it's another bird. It can end badly if they keep attacking it. I've luckily only had it happen once with a Cardinal, and I scared it away before it could hurt itself.

That makes sense. It did look like it was attacking the window. As I was typing my first post the same bird came to the living room upstairs and was contemplating doing the same thing.

 

[addy1]

I had a cardinal do the same, thought it was going to kill itself, I shut the blinds, put black into the window to cut the reflection, that stopped it.

 

[snoozer]

Last fall I had a hen turkey pecking on the patio door.

 

[HARO]

We have a walk-out basement at the back of the house. with a 32' x 15' deck above. Robins nest on the beam that supports the outside edge of the deck. Most springs we get the parents attacking the windows under the deck, to the point where they (the windows) get covered in mud. We've also had cardinals do this, and several times they have atacked their reflections in our vehicles' rear-view mirrors!
John

 

[JBtheExplorer]

The European Goldfinches have been back quite a bit. It seems like they only come on cloudy or rainy days.

I took a short walk in the woods today before the rain returned.
I think this is some kind of strawberry.

bee on a dandelion

sweet-scented bedstraw. Closely related to the Sweet Woodruff I have around my bog.

Green Frog

and the baby geese finally hatched! They had a nest near the deck in the woods and I noticed today the mom wasn't on it. I walked around the pond and found out why.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

The eagles' nest is looking much different these days.

 

[addy1]

They are getting big! I can't watch from down here in va, signal too shaky.

 

[Figgy]

I had a Starling watch me take photos of it helping itself to a bowl of mealworms we put out earlier:

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Just a few from today's walk...

Shooting Star. I just recently learned about this native plant, today was the first time I saw some. I hope to add some to my mostly-native garden.

Columbine. I have a small pink variety, but I'm hoping to get the native red flower at some point. It also grows a lot taller than mine.

A few more shots:

 

[addy1]

Great shots, love that shooting star.

 

[CeeJayH]

This fine little damselfly came visiting my pond a few days ago. enjoying the warmth of the spring sunshine. My wife and I watched it take off, heading over the fence toward our neighbours garden; the problem was a sparrow perched close by also saw it, and decided it wanted an early lunch.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I just got back from a couple days of camping. I'll be sharing quite a few photos once I go through them all. Until then, Here's one of them I took. I donated this birdhouse to the nature trail near the campground two years ago. This was the first time I was around during nesting season and I was glad to see the Tree Swallows are using it!

I placed the birdhouse near my favorite spot on the trail, where a bridge crosses a small babbling river that flows into a large wet-prairie. Having Tree Swallows around the bridge adds to it. Tree Swallows are relatively friendly and will land close by if they feel comfortable enough. Now, if only they'd nest in my yard. I've seen a few but none have stayed.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I'll share my camping adventure in three parts. This first part is mainly focused on the nature trail I hiked multiple times while camping.

As long as the weather is nice, I always make sure to get to the trail as soon as the park is officially open at 6am. Morning is an excellent time to hike. The angle of the sun creates great photographic scenes. The birds are chirping, and I rarely ever run into anyone else that early in the morning.

Many scenes, including this one, I've probably posted before. I hike here multiple times each year. It's one of my favorite places.

These grassy-type plants growing in the river looked interesting, giving the river streaks of green and pink.

The rivers and streams in the area are all springfed so they're always crystal clear, and they all have a lot of plant life.

This is a plant I've never seen in person, but have many times online. Lupine is a plant I'd like to eventually have in my own yard. If flowers early in the season and have interesting leaves.

This year I decided to hit the trail as it got dark to see if I could get a few shots.

I'll share part two later today or tomorrow.

 

[mrsclem]

Beautiful!

 

[addy1]

Great shots