Buck visits us on a cold day

We were visited by a few deer the other day. Nice to see them back after not visiting very often this winter. Coldest winter we can remember! Saw a rare buck in the backyard.

Where's the buck?

Over there!

Here he comes, looking good!

I'm here now, everybody take notice! 

Look to the left.

Head to the right.

Hey, do you come here very often?

Well, maybe next time, right now it's time to eat.

Not much here, time to move on.

Adios chicas, hasta luego.

Doe and fawn, and a hawk

Haven't posted anything to B/B in a while, since it seems like only deer are visiting the backyard. And it's not very exciting to see the same type of animal over and over again in the blog. But we did have a hawk pass through today, and last month I took pictures of a doe and her fawn interacting.....

Here's the fawn

Fawn finds something to eat, I cannot fathom what that might be

Here's the doe, also finding food

Doe and fawn find each other

Clean-up time!

The fawn seems to like the attention

Okay mom don't overdo it

The hawk turns out to be a red-shouldered hawk. I had to take this quick picture first, because to get a better picture (without the branch in the way) required that I move the camera tripod. We knew that the hawk would see us moving (inside the house, at the window) because of their superior vision. Hawks are said to have vision that is about eight times more acute than humans.

He's looking at us inside the house, we're about 80 feet from him

Sure enough, as I moved the tripod he flew away. Luckily he flew at an angle where we could appreciate his nice wide wingspan.

First fawn of 2017 spotted; windmill project

We spotted the first fawn of the year recently. This is the first photo, taken on May 8th. But just as quickly as we spotted them, they trotted off. 

A few days later the doe and fawn were spotted again. This time they hung around long enough to get some good pics. 

Time for a little clean-up activity.

Feeding time!

Time to leave this yard, can't stay in any one place for too long!

The windmill project....

I decided to build a windmill for the backyard some time ago, but didn't spend much time on it. Been collecting pieces and parts for it for a year or so. I did not have a specific design in mind. It just sort of evolved over time and was based mostly on whatever metal parts and pieces that were laying around to use.


Here's a photo of it during the build process. Each vane is a foot long, with the diameter of the entire fan measuring 32 inches across. 

 The blades are 16 gauge steel, as is the rudder at the rear. The bearing for the fan assembly is meant for the wheel of a garden hose cart. The whole enchilada is sorta heavy!

 The pipes used for the frame were left over from a trampoline.

 
Here it is in the final position, it only needs the guy-wires installed to hold it steady.

 It's fun to watch it catch the wind and flip around and spin. There's plenty of wind for it this time of year. 

 

Deer hanging out

The usual type of post, just some more deer hanging out.......

It was quite cold and rainy over the weekend. Several deer decided to camp out in the backyard.  They were there all afternoon. Guess it was too cold to move!

Start off 2017 with more bucks

They're back after a couple weeks of absence. Three bucks and some change in the backyard. Somehow, they've managed to survive the season so far.

An eight-point buck with a young "spike".

An 8 point, 6 point, and the "spike"

They're always on the lookout for predators.

Gotta scratch where it itches!

 Time to mosey on out of here......

Happy Thanksgiving !

                         Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Buck spotted today

This year has brought a good-sized crop of newborn deer to the area. We've seen lots of fawns nibbling here and there with their mothers leading the way. But we haven't seen many mature bucks yet. Today the camera was ready to catch a nicely sized buck in the yard.

The buck was moving around quite a bit, so it was hard to keep him in focus. He appears to have 8-points.

A young doe was keeping a wary eye on this new guy in the neighborhood.

This is my favorite shot. He stopped for a split second giving me time to focus.

Looks like he's sauntering off to find something better than our yard.

No, wait..... there are some new shoots here after all.

Time for a mid-morning siesta.

"I'm watching you, so don't try anything".

Something going on over there?

And after this short break, the buck that stopped here was gone.