Frogs

The frogs have emerged! I haven't seen them yet, but I heard them. Unfortunately their timing is bad, because the forecast is calling for rain, sleet, and snow over the next three days.

First Snow

I'm a little late posting this. This was taken on Jan. 27, our only snow so far, which amounted to a couple inches.
 

Quiz Answer Revealed

 
Those of you who voted for puffballs were correct! This picture of them shows them after I stepped on them and they emitted a puff of brown dusty spores. Supposedly you can eat them fried in butter before they reach the spore stage. Mmmmm....if I ever find myself locked out of my house and am hungry, now I know where to look.

The temperature got down into the single digits here overnight, but warmed up to the mid 20's today. There were a few deer outside who looked like they had wooly coats. Lucky for them they have hooves which are preferable to fingers and toes in this weather.

New Quiz Question

 

Looking Back on 2008

I didn't post as much last year, but having a baby is my excuse. Maybe Scooter will be walking soon and can help around the yard. Looking back at my posts last year, I sum up 2008 like so: (Hopefully this isn't as boring as a Christmas newsletter...oops...hope I didn't insult anyone who writes those things)...
-Camera Trap Codger visited twice in one year (a new record), creating "sets" and using a scent lure
-I employed the use of polls and videos to enhance my blog
-We had 3 new species (topping 2007's 2 new species): a snake, a box turtle, and a white footed mouse
-We had baby raccoons, young foxes, spotted fawns, and baby wrens nesting on our porch (the wren was spotted today in the same nest!)....oh, and presumably baby squirrels considering the squirrels were caught on video performing x-rated activities.
-The bat stayed with us in our bedroom window for a whopping 6 months (June through November).

I will try to post more often in the new year, especially considering I now have 2 followers! (Thanks, followers!). Camera Trap Codger and I today were both in agreement we wanted to double our followers this year (I'd like to have around 5, and he'd like to have 50). ;)

I suppose I will continue my tradition of naming the previous year after something. I hereby proclaim 2008 Year of the Reptile, in honor of the snake and box turtle, which made their debuts. May 2009 hold more new species (I'm hoping for skunks and possums). The last time I checked my camera trap and was looking at the thumbnail pictures, for a second there, I thought I had a picture of a bear. It was only a fleeting thrill, until I remembered how my memory stick had failed, and that Camera Trap Codger had given me one of his used ones. That would have been pretty remarkable to have bears here in suburban VA.

Happy New Year!

 

Peanut Loving Raccoons

We were in the Northern Neck area for Thanksgiving, where these pictures were taken. The raccoons come nightly to get their regular serving of peanuts in the shell. The first night we saw a mother and 2 babies, and the second night we saw a mother and one baby.
 
 
 
 

Visit with Camera Trap Codger

 
 
Luckily I had some musk perfume on hand, which Camera Trap Codger requested to use as a scent lure. He dabbed some on a twig which he placed on a stump. The raccoon found the scent, and a cat also came to the area.

Fungus and Fall Colors

 
 

Operation Turtle Rescue

Fifty percent (both of you) got the latest quiz right. That's a box turtle that I rescued from the pond. The water level is pretty low so it couldn't get out of the pond and was clinging to the ladder. At first it looked like a frog with a really long neck, or even a duck since its head was covered in duckweed. (I'll accept duckweed as an answer but that's not what I was referring to in the quiz). I used the pond net to get the turtle out. I left briefly and it had already climbed off the pond deck into the ferns, so we pulled him out again and poured a glass of water over him to expose his natural beauty. :) They say turtles are slow, but he was so fast when he was trying to get away that my pictures turned out blurry. After taking pictures, we put him back in the ferns.

What is this?

 

Answer to the Quiz Question

It's been a week since I posted the quiz question, so I'm going to reveal the answer. I'm pleased to see that several people voted, which means that people besides my immediate family actually read my blog. ;) At the time I'm writing this, 75% of voters think that bats poop upside down. I thought it would be nifty to have a video showing the answer, but then again, I figured do people really want to see a video of a bat relieving itself? I'm assuming that the bat in our bedroom window has the same bathroom habits as other bats. I caught the bat doing #2 today, so I ran to get the video camera, but when I got back, he was done. So I'll have to just give the answer sans video, which you will probably be relieved (no pun intended) about anyway. Seventy-five percent of you probably thought, "Bats hang upside down, therefore, they must poop upside down". Well, you thought wrong. :) Think about it--if they pooed upside down, they would go on themselves, and who would want to do that. So, it was sort of a trick question. Our bat who hangs upside down all day, will turn right side up, poop (or pee), then turn back upside down again. I didn't vote myself, but the winners of the quiz (because I know how they voted) are Camera Trap Codger and my husband. Congrats. The winners will receive all the free bat guano they want, which the Codger tells me makes good fertilizer for houseplants. Thanks to everyone who voted.

Pop Quiz (The answer will be revealed later)

Baby Raccoons

The quality of these photos isn't that good since the raccoons were not that close to the camera, or it was raining, but the babies are pretty darn cute.

Young Fox

This (or these) fox(es) look(s) like maybe it (they) is (are) from this year's litter. I saw one the other day that had an injured back leg that it wasn't using. Poor guy.

Got Milk?

I saw 3 spotted fawns the other day. There were no pictures of them, but this must be the mother.

Velvet Antlered Deer

I saw a young male with velvet antlers, but his back right leg seemed injured. I'm starting to think all the male deer have bad legs, that it's a genetic problem. Maybe he's the grandson of the knock kneed buck. I've been remiss about leaving my camera out. It's been sitting inside for a while but I need to get it back out there.

Bat Video # 2

Here the bat is crawling out of his hiding space and he plops out and flies off. He usually does this around 8:45 pm each night when it gets dark.

Bat Video # 1

Here the bat is scratching himself, and eating what he finds off his nails. Yum.

Return of the Bat

The bat is back, a month early this year! He showed up a few days ago, and the window is quickly filling up with guano. He had something on his face a couple days, which looked to me like an eyeball that had popped out, but it must have just been a piece of guano that he finally got rid of. He regularly scratches himself, then preens his nails, and licks his wings. We got him on video, which I will post soon.