Random Shots in my Yard…

There are so many things that I look at within my two acre yard, that I thought for today I would share with you some of what I enjoy here. Few words today and just photos…

Clematis

A fat Rufous Hummingbird

The tree of hearts

A scrub jay at the bird bath

Fleabane

Thunderheads forming

One heck of a handsome Tom

Thanks for dropping by today! I hope that you have a spectacular day! Be well… ^..^

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Meet Chubby Cheeks!

One of the things that I love about where I live is the abundance of the wildlife that is here. We get to see some pretty amazing creatures up close! Today, I am featuring one of the smaller critters in the area. It is the Ground Squirrel. These little critters sure are cute, but I will tell you, they are destructive to the trees and gardens. However, my focus is not on this issue. For today, I wanted to share with you some photos of this critter that I took just the other day. This little fellow was feeding on the wild bird seed we put out.

Please let me introduce you to the Ground Squirrel!

The Ground Squirrel

This critter loves the bird seed.

Jackpot with bird seed

I noticed how the birds give him a wide berth.

The birds keep their distance

After feeding for quite a while, he stops and takes a short break.

Taking a break

He goes back to feeding filling up those cheek pouches.

Filling up the cheek pouches

For the last shot in this series of photos, I would like to ask that you click on the photo to enlarge it. Before this fellow runs off, he raises his face. Notice the chubby cheeks!

Chubby cheeks

Isn’t that cute?

Well, that is it for today. I hope that you enjoyed this post. Thank you for taking the time to stop by, and I hope that you have a wonderful day! Be well… ^..^

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On the Water

One day at the lake with my nephew, as we were walking around it, we witnessed unusual behavior with the Canada Geese. Here is a series of shots of what these geese were doing…The captions tells all!

Walking on water

Giving chase

Keep on truckin’

Gotta get there quick!

Starting to run

The birds never took off!

Thanks for dropping by today! Have a wonderful day! Be well… ^..^

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All a Flutter!

In the evenings, as my husband and I sit outside enjoying an icy beverage, we watch the birds at our feeders. We have an amazing array of birds. We have a good chuckle as we watch the pigeons try to get good footing on the narrow ledges of the feeders. Enjoy these photos of the band tailed pigeon! If you click on the photos you will see greater detail of these birds!

Here is the band tailed pigeon.

Band Tail Pigeon

These birds made their appearance here about two years ago. Their numbers keep growing! They are a large bird. Their distinctive features include the half moon shape on the neck.

Are you looking at me?

Notice the band on the tail…

All a flutter!

They constantly monitor their surroundings.

What was that?

They share the bird feeder with the local black birds.

Incoming and outgoing!

They do not fight with other when it comes to feeding, but they do a bit of pushing and shoving as this last photo shows!

Get out of my way!

Why do we not see baby pigeons? The reason is that the babies do not leave the nest until they are full grown!

Well, thanks for dropping by today! Have a wonderful Wednesday, and I hope that you return tomorrow! Be well… ^..^

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A New Breed of Turkey?

Over the crest in our driveway, we watched as the first of the male turkeys sauntered into the yard looking for the bird seed that we pull out for the little birds. They have been visiting us quite frequently this year. One female turkey was in the group. But what amazed us was the newest addition to the troop. Want to see? 🙂

Hanging out with the turkeys

Yes, it is a peacock! A female peacock!

A female peacock

What would happen if she mated with a turkey? What would you call it? A peakey? A turcock? A peturkcock? 🙂

She has such a lovely profile!

Such a lovely profile

The boys, well, they are admiring her beauty!

The male turkeys admiring the new gal

She hears the sound of the camera shutter and is wondering at the sound…

Curious

Then she looks in my direction!

I am looking at you!

Now you might be wondering why there is a peacock in the Sierra Foothills. Well, the story goes that someone up here at one time raised peacocks, and they got loose, and kept getting loose. So the person gave up on them and let them go do their thing. Their call is very distinctive and we often hear them in the morning and the late afternoon. There are about a dozen that roam in our area!

One last shot…Isn’t she a beauty?

What a beauty!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you have an amazing Saturday! Be well… ^..^

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Ephemeral – A WordPress Photo Challenge!

Krista over there at WordPress has chosen the topic “Ephemeral” for this week’s photo challenge. The definition of Ephemeral is: Lasting a very short time.

Here is my take on Ephemeral…

What luck to catch this shot of geese landing on a lake…

Ready to touch down

Or, watching the hummingbird feeder at dusk and seeing ten at once!

10 Hummer’s

Here is a shot of a buffalo who is talking!

This buffalo has something to say!

This is a fleeting moment: Catching a fox peeking around a tree!

Teenage fox in our yard!

There is nothing like observing bees. The day I took this photo, I felt lucky that I was able to capture the details of its wings…

Looking at nature up close

How often does one make eye contact with a giraffe?

Giraffe face

One final shot. This is one of the lions over at PAWS…Isn’t he a beauty?

Close up with a male

So there you have it! Did I meet the challenge? 🙂

Thanks for stopping by today and be well! ^..^

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All Wet!

We had a day of rain on Monday and when it stopped I headed outdoors only to discover the turkeys were back! Taking a glance before running in the house to grab the camera, I thought these were all males. I was wrong! The turkeys were drying themselves off after the rain! So, for today, I will be featuring photos of all the lovelies drying off!

Here is a small group of females, feathers fanned to aid them in drying out!

All wet!

There were eleven turkeys in the yard!

The gaggle in the yard!

Here is the male bird. He has his eyes on the females!

The male

A female spreads out her tail feathers, shakes, then settles back down with her feathers still extended.

Drying off the rear end

A young male watches the females. You can see his wattle (red skin on the neck) is not as pronounced as it is on the mature male in the photo above!

A male checks out three females

They are truly beautiful. In this final shot, a young female is preening.

Preening

I hope that you enjoyed the photos! Thanks for taking the time to stop by! Be well… ^..^

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Critters in the Hood

For today, a lovely rainy day, I thought that I would share with you photos from the past of the amazing critters we see here in the Sierra Foothills. There are many that come to visit us. Are you ready to check them out? OK! Let’s go!

Here is a young fox. Since living here, I discovered that these little guys love strawberries. I had 300 berries ripening in the garden, and when I went to go and harvest them, they were all gone! Thinking my friend that comes to help me in the yard had eaten them, I found I was mistaken when one day I caught a fox at the berry patch!

To catch a thief

We have an abundance of deer here too. They come and go, and we consider ourselves lucky when we step outside and they look up at us with those big brown eyes!

Deer Face

There are many squirrels here too. We have the gray squirrel and the ground squirrel. The gray squirrels drop pine cones from the trees, and the ground squirrel steals veges from my garden!

A squirrel

One of the other critters here, that we hope we do not have a run in with, are the skunk! The dog and I got sprayed one night, and it took a week to rid myself of the smell!

Striped Skunk

Recently I featured photos of the wild turkey in our hood. We love seeing these birds. They actually end up picking at the ground clearing areas for us. We like that! No weed whacking where these critters have been!

A Tom turkey

Nature’s janitor here in the foothills are the turkey buzzards. They are huge birds that keep the area clean for us!

Gaining momentum

In August/September we are visited by a huge spider! It is the male tarantulas looking for a mate. They call it “The March of the Tarantula.” This one was on the frame of our front door!

Tarantula

Ah, but there are many more! I hope that you enjoyed the photos of some of the critters in my yard and neighborhood! Have a spectacular Saturday! Be well… ^..^

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Tom Turkey Wants to Mate!

Yesterday morning, stepping out the front door, I noticed a herd of turkey’s. The herd was mostly female and there was a Tom looking for a mate! He was all fluffed up, tail feathers spread, and he was gobbling at the females! It was quite a sight to see, so for today, I am sharing the photos I took of this buff male!

It was amazing to watch the male expand his plumage and chuff at the females. Here is the Tom in all his glory!

Tom showing off his plumage!

What was funny was that he kept circling the females but never got really close. Here is a side view of this handsome male.

Side view of a Tom Turkey

The females make a small peeping sound. It is the male that makes the gobble, gobble sound. Here is a shot of the male while he is calling to his potential mated!

Calling all females!

The females are listening! They choose which male they will mate with.

The hens listen to the song of the male

Check out his amazing backside!

Lovely backside!

Let’s take a closer look at the male’s face. The fleshy thing hanging above his beak is called a snood. The red fleshy part at its neck is called the wattle. The snood fills with blood and elongates when the male is trying to attract a female.  If you go back to the photo where the male is calling to the female, you will see how long the snood gets.   The larger to snood the more the females are attracted to the male…

A face that only a mother could love!

Part of the mating ceremony is the fluffing out of the feathers. They fluff out their wings dragging the tips along the ground.

All fluffed up

I spy another male in the group. This one is a younger male as the face does not show the fully developed snood. He hangs back and is watching the other male!

Another younger male

Turkey’s are really fun to watch! I hope that you enjoyed my photos today! Thank you for dropping in, and be well! ^..^

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A Covey of Quail

One of my favorite birds here in the Sierra Foothills is the California Quail! These little birds gather in groups called a covey. When startled, their tiny little legs, carry them off to the bushes to hide. I have tried so many times to capture these lovely plump birds in photos and was finally awarded with a few the other day. So, let’s go and check out the Quail, which is the State Bird of California! If you click on the photos you will notice more of the amazing details of this bird!

Quail in the yard

The males have a black accent on their faces, and their knot of feathers on the top of their heads is larger than that of the female. Their top knot is made up of six feathers.

One majestic male

Isn’t he handsome?

Here is a shot of two females looking at me. Notice that their coloring is less prominent than that of the male. Also, their top knots of feathers are much smaller.

Two females staring at me

The females can have up to 28 eggs in their nest. This is partly due to egg-dumping, which is when other females lay eggs in a nest other than their own.

The younger quail have not quite developed their top knots as this photo shows.

Younger birds with less developed head feathers

Notice the interesting pattern in their feathers.

Interesting feather patterns

Having had their fill of seed in our yard, the begin to move off…

Heading out

Isn’t that a cool bird? I hope that you enjoyed these photos of our State Bird! Thanks for dropping in today and have a wonderful Wednesday! Be well… ^..^

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