Observations by keyesfamily

This young rabbit was about 1 1/2 feet away outside our kitchen window, sitting grooming himself on the rock. We have seen more rabbits this yr than ever before! Have seen a mother lounging in the shade while a baby experiments with food. And have several times been able to get 2 feet away from young rabbits or pass 5 rabbits on the way out to our fenced garden and they all keep eating! SO many babies!!

We had a bad wind and rain storm 7/8/17, I was picking up debris and disturbed this moth. It flew a short distance into a space between two stones in a stone retaining wall. It blends in beautifully with the exception on a sea shell like pink and a small area of blue. If you blow up the picture I am attaching you should be able to see what I am describing.

Tall (19"), delicate plant has been multiplying in a bed of daisies. Might not have noticed it except for the contrast to the white daisies. Flowers have 5 small dotted petals. The flower is a bit over 1 centimeter wide.

Last year we noticed these plants in a garden bed under a dead camper down elm. We decided to let them grow and this year they look quite spectacular. We have lived here for 12 + years and recall seeing one or two a year- but usually pulled them out.

This Heron came every day for a little over a week in September, he would hunt for rodents in the lawn and walk about the property, some days staying for a few hours. Since then he comes back about once a week. His behavior is very unusual. One day in September, he walked from about near where he is in this picture right up to our house. I had the door open and he stood 12 feet away from me, looking right at me through the screen, he then walked over to two other Adirondack chairs we had, then down our stone path to look at our gazebo. A few days later I saw him at our pond, I turned away and decided to work in our formal garden so as not to bother him, about an hour later I was looking down and I saw a large shadow over me- I looked up and the heron was about 20 feet directly over me-Amazing! Now as you can see he has made himself at home.

We saw a male Baltimore oriole in the crab apple next to our house. About an our later a female joined him in the tree. This morning there were two males and one female.

look carefully at the photo- the first picture has a male and female.

They primarily hang out in the top of a large stand of aspen to the right of the driveway, as you look at the map.

We have been watching this colony for years. It is right near several large colonies of trout lily. Looks a little battered this year as when I went to look at it, several dead tree branches had fallen on it. I'm not aware of another colony in the area.

We have had tree swallows consistently for about 10 years. They perch on trees next to our pond and swoop over the lawn. If you walk across the lawn when their are lots of insects they will swoop within a few feet of you.

A flock of 23 Grackles landed near our house and then came to our feeders. Very hungry, even seeming to fight for food. A day or two ago, a lone grackle arrived, now a flock. First "flock" we can remember. Very skittish, couldn't get better pictures.

female, found dead next to house (must have hit the window). We have LOTS of woodpeckers- hairy and downy ( see every day), Red Bellied,daily during the winter, Pileated at least twice a month, sometimes every day and Northern Flicker on a weekly basis during certain seasons. But, sadly, this is the only photo I have been able to get of a sapsucker. I'm sorry but I usually check off when I first see a bird then don't record and don't have a great camera. Currently trying to capture a photo of a Robin that we have seen 3 times outside our kitchen with white spots on its head, breast and back. Here this am, but at 7:20 am, too dark for good of photos. Luckily 2 other family members have seen it as well!

We see white tailed deer with some frequency during apple season, we have a number of wild apple trees on our property. Our trail cam captured this photo of a deer walking on our lower trail this summer. We also get a lot of pictures of them during the early morning hours. They seem to see the camera light and are quite curious- lots of noses in the pictures. Last winter when it was cold and snowy, we had four come up to the house where we have 4 large oak trees ( about 1am), they were eating the downed acorns. ( same trees is the turkey photo) We have watched them graze across the lawn surrounded by turkeys- traveling as a group. We have seen mothers with babies, but NEVER a deer with anthers, odd.

We noticed this guy sitting in a crab apple outside our kitchen. Several hours earlier, this hawk or one of the same species, crashed into our kitchen window- we watched him fly away, but were unable to get a photo. This species has been a regular for a number of years.

We first noticed turkeys on our property in 2006. It was a hot summer day and we came home to find them sitting in between the hosta we have planted under some maple trees.

Then they started coming up to the house during rough winters to eat bird seed under the feeders and the acorns under the four oak trees near our house. These photos of the two males were taken 3/20/2015.

I don't know if they have facial recognition, like crows. But they clearly see us in the house and don't seem to care. They come in groups and singles. This spring we had a female with her young come up and rest in the grass beside a crab apple outside our kitchen.

We have several small colonies. Striking because of its attractive evergreen fronds. I'm told the way to tell this fern from the spinulose wood fern, is to look at the bottom branch and the innermost leaflets, right beside the stem, are shorter than the ones beside them- I tried to capture this in a photo.