Post your yard and pond visitors

[corgi]

I was watching the turkeys drink from shore today, although that does
not stop them from doing the same in 14 fow on very thin ice, and then
guess who showed up?

WTF? Did this guy not get the memo? I thought I had a 3 to
5 month reprieve from these low life, stealing, hybrid gill killing
machines. They are probably liars as well. The good Lord is
teaching me patience, as I know what a lesser man would do. 40 yds.

After 3 quick pics, I ran out the door in my slippers onto the ice and
in a loud and stern voice, told him to "quit chuckin our wood". lol
He flew off and I clapped my hands loudly a couple of times.



Blue Heron - Mecosta county Mi - 1-23-2020

 

[addy1]

I had one show up years ago, walking through the snow fishing. Thought they flew south.................nope

 

[GBBUDD]

One visitor you never want to see.

a second image i would love to see hang around at the pond

 

[corgi]

 

[corgi]

We get the common and the hooded varieties in the spring for a week or two on their way northward.

 

[GBBUDD]

i think wood ducks are pretty close to being my favorite bird.... ok so Owls, Falcons, Eagles and Pelicans MIGHT NUDGE the wood duck there colors are amazing

 

[corgi]

The males are one of the prettiest ducks around. We
are blessed to have as many as we do.

This one has been my screen saver since I took it a little over a year and a half ago.

We are lucky to have had 3 successful broods from three females this last year. Total
number added to the population was 18 more woodies. I don't know if the two hatch boxes
I put in the swamp were used by them, but now that it's froze up, I'm about to check them
for broken egg shells, and clean out the old, and add some new cedar wood chips.

 

[j.w]

Wonderful assortment of gorgeous birds @corgi

 

[GBBUDD]

where is home that you see owls during the day

 

[corgi]

where is home that you see owls during the day

I live in Mecosta county Mi.

This pic was from last year where she gave me many opportunities to take pics of her.
I have a few hundred. We even watched her drown a muskrat and fly back to the hollowed
out tree where she has her nest. They are normally nocturnal, but with mouths to
feed back at the nest she was showing up a couple hours before dark. We avoided the
hollowed out tree area where she nested which is about 60 yards into the woods from the pond.
We did not want to disturb them. It sounded like two owlets waiting back at the nest from
the noise they were making while she was perched overlooking the pond waiting for dinner.

I watched her viewing squirrels, a few different birds, and a rabbit. I thought she would go for the
rabbit, but no. Finally she flew down and landed on a muskrat. Fantastic, as that is one of the
critters that was making a mess of the pond. I had trapped 15 of them out of the pond the year prior.
Last year when she did what I was hoping and made the muskrat her choice. I only caught 2 in traps all season.
Thank you nature for the balance.


Barred Owl

Here she is just holding down the muskrat next to the edge of the water. The mallard was curious
and wanted to see what the commotion was. Stupid auto focus. She got the job done before auto-focus
kicked in. She flew back to the nest with it with no effort on her part. I would bet that the
muskrat weighed more than she does. I also watched this same owl do a snatch and grab technique for a bass about
a foot long. She was not nearly as graceful as the Eagles we've seen doing the same at our pond. When the owl did
this in the deeper part of the pond, she had both wings in the water and it looked like she might go swimming. She
was successful, but I think her technique for this type of grab with the talons needs perfecting. Eagles grab them
and hardly disturb the water when they grab one. We've watched the eagle grabbing bass that are about 15 inches long.

One of these days, I'm going to get some shots of that Eagle perched over our pond. The least she can do
for all of the fish she is taking, would be to let me take some pics of her. At least she is leaving the hybrid bluegills and perch alone,
picking on the bass instead.

 

[corgi]

 

[Alice_Bee]

We have mountain chickadees here, but they're spotty. Some years we have lots of them and the last couple they've been very rare. They're a real favorite of mine as well, cheery, bold and given to grab it and go feeding tactics, which can make getting photos challenging! Often, when filling one of the feeders, several will be on my hand or next to it. I miss them, as I've only seen 4 or 5 so far this year.

View attachment 117117

I kind of "cheat" to get photos, I have several stumps and dead small trees on stands that I can place in front of the kitchen window as "posing" benches. They have hidden feeders to attract the birds.

How do you get your camera to take the pic thru the window?

 

[Troutredds]

Brilliant sunrise here today. Otherwise, mostly wet this time of year.

 

[GBBUDD]

thought i had lost these pics this little tree frog was crazy with his color changes. These two are pretty much just shade variations but even still.

 

[Somethin' Fishy]

A little screech owl using the screech owl box for his day roost today. Hope we can get a pair in there this year.