Deer beds and cat beds

 Out in the back woods, my dad planted spruce and pine trees 40+ years ago. The deer like the shelter the trees provide and generally sleep underneath them making indents in the snow.

 Meanwhile, a bed of a different sort! Jack, my boarder from Montreal cozies himself up with a blankie and his stuffed pet fish.

I adore Jack and look forward to his visits. He was originally born here. I found him as a kitten and friends in Montreal adopted him. I'm so lucky I get to spend time with him from time-to-time.

Rudolph the red-nosed deer

Look who appeared on my trail cam that's posted deep in the woods...Merry Christmas one and all.

Critter cam -- deer action!

 My critter cam was in the woods all spring, summer, fall  and we finally brought it in this weekend.

 I was delighted to see photos of mama and baby...

 ...and just baby, a bit bigger than the last pic.

 This is a fun series of three photos. Here's the mum...

...baby goes by about 20 seconds later...

 ...20 seconds later, here's dad!

Isn't this fellow a handsome boy! I sure hope he made it through hunting season.

And probably my favourite photo of all...the ultimate photo bomb!

Moving slowly

Richard found this little painted turtle in my driveway yesterday, so I moved it to safety. 
It actually hung out with us most of the afternoon and slowly moved away.

Fisher!

Looky here! A fisher in the woods. So happy my cats are indoor cats. Oh dear. The poor bunnies!

More critters on the critter cam

 Views from the trail cam...I had many, many photos of the peregrinations of the snowshoe hares.

 This was exciting. A shot of a fox during a snowstorm!

 And something surprising. A raccoon out and about on February 6?
It has been a warm winter (although super cold weather is expected this weekend).

 A ruffed grouse looking for dinner.

I think this is the fox again, running around. Love that critter cam!

Baby goats!

Yesterday was an exciting day.

 I got to feed my friend's baby goats!

Critter cam updates...

 Yippee, it's working! Two deer snacking in the woods.

 I love these day photos.

 Oooh and this nighttime snowstorm shot is cool.

 And what are those? Bunnies! Yup, snowshoe hares. Two of 'em (one is only a eye reflection).

 We've lowered the camera after seeing how these critters get cut off.

 I adore this photo, with the snow on her back.

Stay tuned for more photos next week!

Critter cam

 My favourite gift this Chanukah was a trail camera.

 I've always wanted to see what was going on in the back woods.

 Here's a good one of a small deer. At least I think it's a small deer. Kinda hard to tell.

And what sort of critters do you think these are???

A nature photo a day

 On Facebook, my sister challenged me to post a nature photo for seven days.
No pets allowed. I have so many I didn't know where to start! 

I found this polyphemus moth last year. To get an idea of its massive size, I carefully placed my fingers under its feet.
I managed to take one photo and then it flew away.

Check out those spots...they are see through! You can see the cement ground right through them.

 An influx of redpolls at my feeder a few years ago.

 Chippy. The cutest of critters loves peanuts and was very tame.

 I saw some critters playing on the dirt road ahead of me. I slowed down and they ran to the field.
Turns out it was a mom and her two does.
She was as curious about me as I was about her!

 I heard noises outside my window one night and thought, oh, there are squirrels at the feeder. At night?
Then I realized that squirrels sleep at night and these were flying squirrels. Oh my!

 A merlin our local grocery store. Apparently it had driven a sparrow into the glass door, and a staff member put it in the garbage pail. 

When he told me, I asked him to take it out and give it to the waiting merlin.
The fellow went to the pail, pulled out the dead sparrow, threw it and the merlin caught it mid-air and flew off to eat his lunch.

Driving on the back roads two years ago, Richard noticed this great grey owl. We got out of the car and took a bunch of photos and then left him to catch his supper. What a beauty!

A face only a mother could love...

 Look what appeared on the back of my Adirondack chair this evening. A grey tree frog, resting.

I tried to get a view of his little face. He didn't seem to mind me getting close. Last year I had one hang around on the log house for a few days. Great camouflage on a grey log but not as successful on the back of the chair. 

Snow Daze

 Fun in the cold weather? Richard got all dressed up and spent two days cutting dead trees...and loving it!

 Meanwhile, other critters wanted in! Feed me now this squirrel was yelling.

 So...I put some seeds out for him on my board. It snowed a bit but this clever fellow knew exactly where to dig.

Cold and sunny days bring out my two starlings, that I've named Heckle and Jeckle. The real Heckle and Jeckle were magpies...but these two hang around together and could likely get themselves into some trouble if they tried!

Fox and buck

Driving home this evening, I saw a critter in the road. It was a fox.I wondered why it was so still that I could grab a photo. Why, it was having a pee by the side of the road.

 Guess it wasn't too impressed with me. What a look!

 Round the corner on the road was a deer...a buck. He ran off, followed by a doe.

All this followed by a lovely sunset. A perfect end to a gorgeous Labour Day!

Deer oh deer oh deer

 Driving home the other day, I took the gravel side road and saw some critters. At first I only saw one deer but two little heads popped up.

 Mom was very curious about me and stared at me for a longtime.

 She wasn't in a huge rush to leave...and just one more look...

Okay, I'm leaving now! Look at those little tails in the air. So cute!