Bedding Down

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's just one of the many things that I am thankful for - living in the country, with wildlife just out my front door...

Remember the doe that I showed you last spring? Well, she had twin fawns this summer and the group of them has been hanging out in our pastures, keeping Lily company. The twins' father has also come by to visit. He's quite an impressive looking fellow, but will only come out of the woods after dark, so I haven't been able to get a picture of him. I've gotten quite a few pictures of the fawns and their mother because they do come right up next to the house.

This morning we stepped out of the front door and couldn't believe our eyes! They had actually bedded down right there next to the house last night! You can see where they were digging for grass, and in the closeup picture, you can see where they actually laid down to sleep. I'm impressed that they trust us that much, to sleep so near...and I hope that they find a safe place to hide from the hunters during this final weekend of hunting season.

Porky Porcupine

The boys had a visitor this afternoon. They called me at work, all excited, and wanting to know where my camera was...there was porcupine eating beside the house! He let them get really, really close before he got nervous and headed up a tree. I kinda wish that they didn't get so close, but I guess they didn't get hurt, so it was okay. They thought it was a great visit!

A Surprise Visitor

Yesterday evening I was talking to my mother on the phone when I happened to look out the kitchen window & see this fellow eating the clover...I guess he doesn't miss my little dog, Izzy. He certainly didn't come this close to the house when she was living here...

It's a tough day to be a bird...

Norway Moose

My husband & the boys saw these moose just outside downtown Norway, Maine.

Red Squirrel

I had just chased him off my bird-feeder. He thought he was hiding. Can you see him?

Red-Spotted Newt (Eft Stage)

Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens) This amphibian is greenish yellow in its larval stage. It has two grayish lines, located just off center on either side of the back. The lines run the length of the body. At hatching, the larva has gills and just a hint of forelegs. Two to three months into the larval stage, the forelegs and hindlegs have been developed, the gills are lost and the skin becomes granular and textured to the touch. At this point, metamorphosis takes place. The land-dwelling red eft stage is entered and the body becomes a brilliant red to orange-red. A row of black-bordered, round red spots appears on either side of the back; the belly is yellow during this sub-adult stage.

At the end of the eft stage and within a week of entering the water to live out its life as an adult, the skin becomes smooth, and the tail fin develops, becoming compressed vertically to look rudderlike. Its color now is drab-olive to yellowish brown or dark brown. The belly remains yellow and is sprinkled with many small black spots. A row of red spots, bordered with black, also covers the newt’s back on each side. In neither the eft nor newt stages are the costal grooves distinguishable.