Life is full of surprises like Peter Rabbit

This is our fierce worm eating cat Spook that thinks she is a robin.




One of the ducks from Lake Evergreen



Blue Heron at Lake Evergreen when I drove up it was posed very nicely then by the time I had gotten my camera it had flown over to a more reclusive spot.



This cow has a face that only a mother could like.



House Finch



Canadian Geese



Another duck at Lake Evergreen


It has been a while since I have posted. Seems life is too busy at times. The back yard has had more activity the last week as the birds seem to be hitting the feeders in more abundance. On any given day we have had 8-12 Juncos, various sparrows, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Doves, Starlings, Crows, Wood Peckers, both House and Gold Finches plenty of squirrels and a first yesterday, a rather large rabbit.

Took a drive out to Lake Evergreen yesterday and got a couple pictures but didn't see much wild life, well at least when my camera was ready. Saw a muskrat a swimming in the water, many Canadian Geese, 8-10 gulls, a couple of Hawks and two Blue Herons. The Robins were everywhere, haven't seen any in the backyard yet. The pictures above are from yesterday's trip and of our rare visitor.

Finally the Sun

Cedar Waxwing taken Fall 2006



Gold Finch taken Fall 2006


No clouds in the sky and the sun is out! Most of the snow is gone with the exception being the piles left by snow plows. Maybe Spring is coming. Our Hawk was spotted Monday evening perched in a tree out back, so it must still be checking in for a meal or two.

The birds have been very active which is a good sign. The Fox Sparrows are still hanging around. They are fun to watch as they peck away for dropped seeds. They don't seem to stay in any one place too long. They kind of skip around the yard even if only a foot or two at a time. They are a very pretty bird.

This morning about 4:30am I was greeted with the local Northern Cardinal cheerfully greeting morning. Later the Crows had their turn except it was less cheerful, more annoying to be blunt!

Many reports of Fox Sparrows around Bloomington-Normal as well as other migrating birds being spotted around the area. Spring surely is coming and I await the arrival of some of the migrating birds.

On another note the middle son is once again spending time with his new dog in a land that is chaotic at best. He recently graduated from an intensive dog trainer class and now is certified to train both explosive detection dogs and drug detection dogs. We have received word that he arrived safe and sound.

Finally the week end! More snow but only flurries

We are back to the cold and blowing snow again. Just a dusting, but still cold and still enough to cover the ground again. The birds were out in force today and we had a few first timers to our humble back yard.

Besides the doves, starlings, crows a plenty, squirrels, juncos and my favorite downys our new visitors were Fox Sparrows. I received an email from another birder stating that he too has spotted multiply Fox Sparrows in Normal. We had 3-5 Fox Sparrows moving about the yard and eating up a storm today.

Below are a few of the better pictures taken today.

I learned that by clicking on any picture on this blow you can enlarge the view. In most cases the view is too big for the screen but you can use the cursor to move the view left, right, up and down. Check out the second picture of my Downys. The female is on the left and the male is on the right, note the red patch on the top of the males head.

More Winter

Another dose of winter tonight. More snow flurries wind and cold. Didn't actually get Lake Normal, but got a start on it until the cold came back. Took several pictures yesterday morning, but used the burst feature and it takes multiple shots in a few seconds and I don't know how to separate the individual shots yet. Will try to upload one of these with this posting.

Could it be the Foxs are back?

Even with all of the snow still piled heavily around the yard the dog has been running all over the yard and particularly from front to back of the garage. Clearly an animal of some sorts has begin to inhabit the cave under the concrete garage floor. We will have to keep an eye out to find what creature we have now? It would be neat to have the foxes back for another litter. They didn't bother anything and are beautiful creatures to watch. Look out rodents!

Squirrels were out playing this morning, had to have the dog chase the frisky one off of the bird feeder, the others just don't have the wits to navigate the milk jugs and pole to get to the bird feeder. Several of the birds have returned which gives hope for Spring time bird watching to be more exciting.

If we get the rain storm predicted tonight we could have Lake Normal in our backyard. What with the amount of snow still present and rain on top of that the water will have no place to go for a period of time. Maybe we will even see ducks in the back yard. It wouldn't be the first time. Last year we had two mallard that found the corn in the yard and returned for a couple of days. I think the dog and cat scared them off, or maybe the foxes found them out.

No this not one of my pictures! This would be scary having a lion out back. Think it was from an advertisement for hair care product.

A brighter day.

Sun is out and the temperature is warmer the snow is melting and well we had probably better stop as the weatherman is predicting more inclement weather. A friend has forwarded a couple of pictures of an Albino Peacock. Maybe these will brighten your day.

The Big Melt Down

Today continues the melting of snow received this past week. Wife was trying to decide if she should spread the grass seed out on the snow so that when the snow melts the seeds will be sucked down into the ground with moisture to germinate for a lush Spring and Summer grass. I wonder how many birds will be attacking the grass seed?

The back yard has been fairly calm the past few days. Plenty of feed out for the birds but not a lot of birds taking advantage. This morning a common grackle, lonely dove, our downy woodpecker and a red bellied woodpecker could be spotted in the trees.

Several squirrels were sneaking around in the trees this morning but none had ventured out to feast on the corn. I would have thought with the warmer weather that more activity would be occurring.

According to the Central Illinois Birding Forum google group more sighting of predator birds have been noted around Woodford and McLean counties. Eagles have been spotted flying overhead as close as Normal, Hawks are in abundance, and both long eared and short eared owls have been nesting in the area. I haven't spotted any of these creatures near our back yard, but not seeing some of the regular juncos, gold finches and sparrows kind of makes me wonder what is keeping them away. We have had a pair of cardinals that appear late at night but not the numbers we have had in the past.

No new pictures as how many photos can you take of a squirrel or a Downey woodpecker? Snow is everywhere so even the snow and melting drifts aren't picturesque.

The good news is that a month from now Spring will be here!