Crumbly Acres Bat & Birds

Even the wee Grecian windflowers are a delight in Spring.

The horse chestnut buds are bursting!

Nope, not going to look at the camera! I was indoors, with the camera on the tripod. Swearing at the durn thing. 😧

Do you see it?! It had the right idea. 

Yes, another bat. I let it sleep there the whole day, until late afternoon. The fish net accepted the little thing, and I set the net outside on the back railing. When I went back it was gone. 

 

I took a photo from the front deck, the outside.

The daffodils are wonderful. Fred was trimming in between the flowers. He's so helpful.

Now, groundhogs like having at least two entrance/exits. I piled up the wood in the shed over one of his entrances. This one I left open, although I filled in the hole. Fred's been digging out. 

Apparently, he's been using the end of the broom! 

He's been digging. And digging. What I didn't realize, is that he's digging a new exit. The mounds of dirt seen above↑, has been moved from the front of the shed, along the tunnel, and shoved out of the other hole.

Putting the cleaned bird feeders away in the shed, I noticed said hole. Stepping into the shed, I turned around, and there he was.

We don't have horses, which could hurt them, stepping in a hole. I guess I'll leave it. Determined little twerper!

 

Crumbly Acres Critters

 It is that time again. Nesting & mating season!

I was so surprised to see this. Check out the Phoebe landing right beside the doe.

   

 This is the last of this year's frogging. You can hear both wood frogs and spring peepers in the video. I could see the Canada Goose preening.

   

 I'm having a devil of a time with 3 of my trailcams. This is the camera that takes 4100 images before it poops out. Of course, the battery goes dead. I still can't get it right. I set it to images just at night, and processed them into a video. Can you see it?

   

 It is some sort of salamander. Mostly, I've found blue-spotted ones around. Best guess... that's what it is!

Meantime, in the pond: mosquito larvae, pond shrimp!

 

I did a pond study one year, with a macro lens.

fairy shrimp

mosquito larvae

Finally, in the back yard, our deer still look pregnant!

 

Visit more critters: Saturday's Critters # 594

Crumbly Acres is moist and springy!

That was some rain!

I have to tell you that I appreciate my fellow bloggers. Several have posted about their Forsythia. Mine lives on the other side of our evergreens out the front door. I often forget about them. Thanks to your reminders I managed photos. There was a storm brewing, and all I had was the video camera, but I have proof of life!

The goldfish pond has 3 froggies. I'm thinking they over wintered successfully, unlike the 15 or so I fished out of the pond this spring. I did move 154 of them to the frog pond in fall, so I don't feel too badly! 

It's OK to laugh. I usually take cracked corn down for the ducks on the pond. I pop it into a bag, carry it down to the pond, and fling it into the water.

 

 

 The ducks are jumpy, self-preservation. There were about a dozen on the pond.

 

There is sat. When I went back down the next day (Thursday), it was gone. I just don't know.

Cinnamon had a grand time down there. The fallen tree has been attractive to a lot of critters.

Down at the frog pond, I climbed the hill and found the yellow daffodils matched the Ukraine flag. 

Fred continues to enjoy the grass. The water fountain will be set up once my fear of frost is gone. 

At the owl tree, I found an owl feather. No owl.

The hummingbird feeder is up. We anxiously await hummers! 

Just as I finished editing this, I looked up and spotted the rose-breasted grosbeak! I am so happy to see them again. They were a lovely family. We've still got clouds.

Nov. 2014

Crumbly Acres Blossoms

Wow, what a change in temperatures. It is just 2 ℃ Wednesday morning.  It was up to 24℃ Wednesday afternoon. Today (Thursday) it was below zero and the bird bath froze. (Yes, I unplugged the heater!) I'm almost afraid to go out and check them.

Lenten Lily

daffodils

A porcupine ambled across the backyard, coming up from the gully to feed on weeds.

Tuesday, April 29th, the storm passed over.

We did some good work, cleaning out the garage. The oak leaves were everywhere. It rather overwhelmed me mentally, but I asked Joe for help. It's such a big job. I decided to give myself permission to just do one side, in a manageable goal. We have a pile ready to go to the dump. I think we should wait until I clean out the shed. 

periwinkle

The trees are in blossom. The grass is very green.

We were headed into town for COVID boosters. This was the windy day. This kind passenger leapt out of the car and moved the recycling bin off the road. Good for her!

The tulips are coming along.

The daffodils have popped up. These were planted in 2023.

YAY SPRING!