Bluebonnet bonanza

It's a great wildflower season this year, with lots of cool cloudy misty days. Luckily, we had sprinkled some seeds from a previous (much smaller) crop of bluebonnets out in a part of our mulch last summer, and look what happened:

Boots and Bluebonnets.

I put Pat's mud boots out by the plants to give you a size perspective.

Right along the driveway, welcoming folks into our yard.

A closer view for y'all.

Latest from the game camera

Some more shots from the game camera.....

Blue Jay.

Early evening sip o' water.

Doves.

C'mon over, the water's fine.

Heading in straight for the water.

Lookout y'all, me first.

Hey what's this gizmo tied to the tree?

Not my best side.

That's better.

Time to wrap it up here.

Foxes are always aware of the camera.

See I told you.

Adios y'all.

Returning avian visitor

Some days you won't see a single deer in the yard. Then they all show up at once.

I counted nine in this pic.

It's hard to get this many deer in a single photograph since they are usually more spread out.



But then suddenly the does all scramble away, because this fella shows up at the party:

The buck didn't stop here.... I didn't even have time to get the camera focused before he was out of the frame.

On to the birding portion of the blog:

Again, I'm slow on focusing but the color was striking so that's why this shot is here anyway.

The cardinal at the feeder.

OK, here's the avian visitor, feeding on bugs that are on the ground or jumping above.

Here's a clear shot at the watering hole. It's a road runner.

After a drink, he's on his way to catch more bugs.

Nighttime critter pics

The foxes have returned after being "absent" for a few weeks. These fox shots are the first ever captured on the game camera.

Look carefully and you'll notice a pair of eyes behind the bush. Fox, show yourself.

OK, you knew that I'd have to throw-in an obligatory deer pic or two.

This fox looks in great health with a full coat of fur.

About seven hours later that night.

Whaazat?

More deer shots, of course.

Fox leaving the area.

And a couple of daytime shots:

Dove.

Broadside!

And OK, we'll let the squirrels use the watering hole too.

What's new in the yard, Part II

The squirrel resistant bird feeder is holding steady, with no incursions that we know of.

The squirrels don't go hungry. The birds are messy, so there's lot's of seed on the ground around the feeder.

Cardinal female and  a bunch of sparrows.

Doves are pretty messy since they don't quite fit on a little feeder.

Moving on to the front yard:

I guess there's something to eat in the front yard too.

More game camera photos

More game camera photos.

Nice fresh water from recent rains.

Come on in, the water's fine.

Evening at the watering hole.

Rocky Racoon is BUSTED at the watering hole.

Ah ha!  So that's where Fluffy the cat goes on its nightly prowl.

Nothing to see here folks, move along!!!

What's new in the yard

You remember this situation from a previous blog post?

Well, that squirrel is about to go on a diet. We have a new strategy to deal with those critters:

The new improved squirrel inhibitor bird feeder pedestal thingy.

So far, so good. No squirrels yet.

The birds are pretty active in this cold weather here. They queue-up in the trees then swoop in for their turn at the feeder.

Bluejay waits for a turn.

This robin is the first that we've seen this winter. I'm guessing that it's going to work its way back up north.

And yes, we still have deer in the yard. This day we counted eleven at the same time, it was a record.

As cold as it's been, they are moving slow. On this day they hunkered down for a while to wait out the cold.

But a deer has to eat, so they get right back to grazing. Yum.

Damn, that's good stuff!

What? Time to go? OK, I'm outta here.