Sitting Pretty

High above the millpond a female hummingbird incubates her eggs. She built her nest of lichens and spider web on a dead branch in a bald cypress tree. Most people would have paddled by and never seen her, but my eagle-eyed Treebeard spotted her. Have I mentioned lately that Treebeard is a remarkable fellow? Well, he is and I am a lucky woman.

Frog Heaven

The upper end of the millpond is a froggy place. Amid the leaves of the spatterdock you can find bullfrogs, green frogs, carpenter frogs, an abundance of green treefrogs, and a multitiude of cricket frogs to name a few types. Summer nights are deafening.

Herons

A black-crowned night heron keeps an eye on its offspring.

This picture was part of a series of photos featuring a nest building barn swallow and a hummingbird incubating her eggs...Blogger ate 'em. I have spent an hour working on this post - I am not happy. It is my sincere wish that Blogger gets a bad case of indigestion from eating my photos :-<

Happy Mother's Day

A little something from Treebeard's files. With a backyard like this, who could ask for anything more?

Blogger Blues

You might have noticed that I've just about given up on blogging. Between a painfully slow dial-up connection and the perverse nature of Blogger itself (i.e. eating pictures!) I am approaching my upper limit of tolerance. I haven't even been able to respond to comments -- that drives me absolutely crazy. I value those of you who read this blog and I really appreciate your comments. So please, don't think I am ignoring you!

Perhaps a new computer is in order or perhaps a change in service providers would help...we'll see. Meanwhile I'll try to post when I can.

Copper Top

Copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix. This is another of those elliptical pupil guys - venomous.

Eye Spy

The snake in the top photo is a black racer (Coluber constrictor), non-venomous. The lower photo is of a cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus), venomous. Click on the photos to enlarge and take a good look at the eyes. The racer has a round pupil and the cottonmouth has an eliptical pupil. In my area of NC that is a sure way of telling a non-venomous snake from a venomous one. The only venomous snake in NC that has a round pupil is the eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius) and we are well north of its range here in the home swamp.

Party Time

Butterflies are busy puddling for minerals and salts, necessary nutrients that were unavailable to them as caterpillars. Pictured above are two of the most common butterflies in the work swamp: Zebra Swallowtails (Eurytides marcellus) and Palamedes Swallowtails (Papilio palamedes).

Another of our common butterflies, the Atlantic or Holly Azure (Celastrina idella) was out in force Friday, puddling by the hundreds in certain spots. [Blogger ate the picture so you will just have to take my word for it. I'll try to post it later.]

Dragonfly

Generally I am a believer that we humans should not interfere with the natural processes around us - for example, I don't believe we should "save" every animal that's in distress (unless that "distress" is a result of our actions). Some people find this hard to take and think it is cruel. I respectfully disagree. Normally I let nature take its course because I know that nothing is wasted in nature. Today, however, I interfered with the dance of life and death on the pond. The common baskettail pictured above was struggling on the water's surface. It had fallen in and become trapped by the surface tension of the water. While I know that it would have made a tasty treat for a hungry fish or a daring bird, I just couldn't stand to see it struggling. I plucked it out of the water and let it rest on my hand as it shook its wings free of water and warmed up. Hope that hungry fish isn't too hungry...

Take a Peek

Here you go, your opportunity to look inside a bald hornet's nest without getting stung. The tennis ball-sized nest was in a bush growing on a stump out on the millpond. I stuck the camera under the opening and pushed the button. It was probably a good thing that the queen hornet wasn't home.

I don't know if the queen will stay with this nest but I plan on checking it in a week or so to see if she has added to her castle. Of course, if she has, and if her first offspring have matured, I doubt I will be getting anymore interior shots :)

Chilly Spring

Netted chain fern is starting to unfurl. Me, I'm still curled by the fire -- it's chilly here.

Oh Swampy, Where Are You?

The swamp has not gobbled me up, nor have I been abducted by aliens. I have just been unbelievably busy the past month. Hopefully things will ease up some and I will have an opportunity to get out and snap some swamp pictures for you. But for now I will just post this picture of a tidy little scat I found out in the swamp yesterday and pose the following question: Whose scat is that?

I'll be back to offer up the answer later.

(To my SIL - Here's something to replace the spider!)

He Makes Me Smile

Simply too cute for words...how can so much personality be packed into such a little bitty fellow? Man, I do so love jumping spiders!

Hide and Seek, Otter Style

Either, Or?

So, the thing is, Blogger has gone wonkers on me. Seems I can post either a photograph or text, but not both at the same time. This is vastly frustrating for me. I may have to go take a walk or better yet a paddle...yep, that's what I'll do, I'll go for a paddle.

Oh, by the way, the picture below is of a squirrel's favorite dining spot. This particular squirrel seems partial to loblolly pine nuts. There were the remains of at least 15 to 20 cones beneath this root.

Another Year

I'm 49 years old today. That means I have begun my 50th year on this earth. So far, so good :)

A Bird Count Digest

Treebeard and I are keeping track of birds this weekend. I thought I'd give you an idea of some of the birds we see in or over our yard this time of year. The numbers below reflect the highest number of each species we have seen at any one time during the past couple of days:

Black Vulture - 8
Turkey Vulture - 4
Bald Eagle - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Ring-billed Gull - 18
Mourning Dove - 3
Barred Owl - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 3
Northern Flicker - 2
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Blue Jay - 2
American Crow - 5
Carolina Chickadee - 5
Tufted Titmouse - 3
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Carolina Wren - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3
Eastern Bluebird - 11
Hermit Thrush - 1
American Robin - 2
European Starling 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Pine Warbler - 6
Chipping Sparrow - 33
Field Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 22
Dark-eyed Junco - 20
Northern Cardinal - 3
Red-winged Blackbird - 13
Common Grackle - 7
American Goldfinch - 24

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We took a quick walk down to the pond today and added the following species:

Osprey - 1
Canada Goose - 2
Wood Duck - 1
American Woodcock - 1
Swamp Sparrow - 2
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Winter Wren - 2

One, Two, Three...

Are you counting the birds this weekend? You aren't!?! Why not? It's easy and doesn't take much time. Go to the Great Backyard Bird Count website for details and then start counting.

Another Thing

 

...from Sunday's ramble. Treebeard got this shot of a red-shouldered hawk. The hawks are quite active now, pairing up and mating. We heard several out over the pond on Sunday morning and all were very vocal. Wonder what they were saying exactly...