Animals
A variety of animals make the woods around my house their home. They are frequent visitors passing through my yard.
The squirrels are big fans of all the walnut trees around the house. I watch them burying their winter supplies all over the yard, as well as in the flower beds and flower pots. In the spring, any nuts that they didn't find are easily discovered when they sprout into small trees in the most unlikely places.
The deer that frequent our yard are both a joy and a curse. I love watching them and get excited when the fawns make their first appearance in the spring. The down side is that they find a lot of the flowers around the house quite tasty and treat my flower beds as their own personal salad bar.
The baby racoons are adorable and so cute when they peak at me from high in a tree with that worried little face. But they too make me a bit frustrated when they decide they need to hang above my bird feeders and empty them out into their tummies, or even drink out of the hummingbird bird feeders.
Get to know us
This adorable fawn was checking out my flowers. Luckily it decided that they were not tasty. Click the link below to see a video from my trail camera of a doe and fawn walking through the woods.
The first fawns of the year appeared in my yard. It was so adorable when the mother and fawn were grooming each other. Click the link below to view a the video.
One day I was sitting on my couch, scrolling through nature photos on Instagram. I looked up and spotted a beautiful Red Fox in my yard. It took a second to realize that it was in my yard and not on my phone.
After snapping a quick photo with my phone I ran for my camera and out the other door in the house so as not to scare away the fox.
The fox started leaving my yard and headed down the street.
I was able to follow the fox a couple doors down where it sat and looked arround for a minute or two, giving me to opportunity to capture several shots.
A couple weeks after spotting the beautiful red fox above, I was riding my bike to a neighbors, with my camera on my waist, and I spotted a second fox.
Based on the condition of its fur and the fact it can't open its eyes, I think it probably has mange.
This one is much thinner and smaller. I'm not sure if it could be the female, or the mange is affecting its health.
While photographing an owl at Eagle Creek Park, someone spotted a Coyote in the field behind me.
I watched as the Coyote kept stopping and looking over its shoulder.
Eventually the coyote continued on its way.
On another walk in the park I spotted a very cute Chipmunk that seemed to enjoy posing in the sun.
White Tailed Deer in Winter
Winter is such a struggle for the White Tailed Deer. They visit my back yard daily cleaning up the bird seed off the ground. Sometimes they give me photos that can be comical, dramatic or sweet.
It's Twins!
Early one morning, I noticed some video on my trail camera of a pregnant deer showing signs of labor. She laid down in the long grass, and I could see her partially through my camera from a 2nd story window. A few hours later, the mother and her twin fawns laid right on the path in front of my trail camera. I was able to keep the trail camera recording and took the hours of video that I have and compressed it into 2 and a half minutes. From their first appearance to when they walked away down the path. This was a first for me to see such young fawns and I was thrilled. Enjoy!
One evening I spotted this coyote limping across the yard and then it sat at the edge of the yard looking around for about 10 minutes.
The coyote then turned and worked its way across the yard. I soon saw the reason for the limp. It was missing the lower half of a hind leg. It appeared to be an older injury that has healed. The coyote looked to be very healthy.
As I was walking through the woods one day, I was looking at different holes in the trees where I thought owls might reside. I saw this squirrel scampering up the tree with what I thought was a nut. It wasn't until I got home and looked more closely at my photos, that I discovered that the squirrel was actually carrying a baby into the nest.
After the squirrel tucked the baby in, it checked to make sure it was safe before popping out of the hole.
I found another resident in a hold sunning itself. A sleepy raccoon.
The raccoon looks like it opened an eye to see what I was up to.
This Chipmunk has become a favorite of mine recently.
Early one morning I had been standing on the docks looking into the water for birds. I heard a noise behind me and turned around to find a small herd of deer coming out of the woods and into the lake. They didn't see me as there was a pontoon boat between us with its sun cover up. So I was able to take photos from behind the boat without being detected.
This cute fawn and his mother were part of the group of deer. It was so exciting to watch them as they got quite close to me. I eventually ducked down behind the boat so they wouldn't see me and be startled as they came up out of the water.
I had no idea that skunks could be so stinking cute! This family of six walked across my lawn together in a very night group.
This little baby kept falling behind the group and was spotted walking across my yard a couple times alone. I hope it connected with its family again.
This is the family walking away from me. You can see the tiny baby in the back. Those tails are so fluffy!
At one point the leader of the group stopped walking and the skunks where all confused. Apparently they have very poor eye-sight. They also probably walk so close to appear bigger. Although I read their only predator is Great Horned Owls.
This is one of two bucks that were traveling through my yard together.
A young fawn was watching while I peaked at it between some branches of a bush.
Two bucks passed through the yard this spring. They watched me while I was watching them.
