Nature Notes: Shared Environment

For this week's nature notes I thought I'd post a variety of shots I've taken recently of some of the animals that share my home environment with me. Not inside my home but outside in my garden.

I get so much pleasure out of being able to listen to and watch a variety of wildlife in my yard and on my deck. The female cardinal below isn't as easy to spot as the bright red male ones I photograph more often.

It's amazing to me me how much life can be supported by a home garden. The butterfly weed below is coming up all over my yard. I planted some years ago and at this point it covers large sections of my garden and the bees and butterflies love it.

The wilder my yard gets and the less I tend my garden the more animals it supports in some ways. I remind myself of that fact when I feel down about how I don't have the energy to garden in the same way I used to. The rofous-sided towhee below is one of the few birds whose call I recognize because it's very distinctive.

The carolina wren are usually too fast for me to photograph but the one in the next three shots gave me a number of clear shots for a change.

I never realized how light and what a solid color the wren's stomach is before.

I'm so used to spotting them because of the stripe on their head and the darker brown on their backs and wings.

I'm happy to start seeing a lot of butterflies or perhaps they are moths.

Reading about how to identify the difference between moths and butterflies isn't helping me much.

The catbird cracks me up for some reason. They are noisy much of the time. The one below was staying rather still for me to take its picture.

I took a ton of shots of this robin. She really cracked me up the way she looked at the water.

Then she (or maybe he) turned around and warned off a brown creeper who also wanted a bath.

Finally she jumped in for a long luxurious soak all by herself.

When she finally decided she's had a long enough bath she let the brown creeper have a turn.

For other participants in nature notes, you can go to Rambling Woods. The official nature notes and signs of the season day is Thursday.