Busy weeks with few birds

The past two weeks have kept me busy with visitors. We were delighted to have our Texas medical student grandson and his wife spend several days with us. Our daughter was the driver and tour guide during their first-ever visit to Boston, while our SIL accompanied them as they discovered New York City. I stayed home and conserved energy. Luckily, a couple of severe thunderstorms did not interfere with their plans and also kept us inside to just visit and enjoy their company. 

Then, my sister and her husband, who live in upstate New York, stayed for the annual Cuban-style pig roast which our SIL cooks in the back yard. There were  about 80 guests. The food and company were great. In the middle of all this, my youngest brother, at home in New Jersey, required an emergency cardiac catheterization and then underwent a triple coronary artery bypass.

This left very little time for bird photography, although I did  get an Eastern Bluebird window shot as one roosted atop the shepherd's hook over the bird feeder...

...and, viewed from outside the door at the sugar water, an adult female Ruby-throated Hummingbird:

A family of bluebirds visited us and occupied the back fence. I captured photos of the adult male and two of three fledglings:

Nearby was a juvenile Eastern Phoebe:

The adult phoebe has more uniform darker plumage and lacks the buffy wing bars:

There was quite a bit of action among the mammals---

One morning I saw interesting distraction behavior when watching a White-tailed Deer doe with her 4 week old fawn. They were out in the open in the clear-cut behind the back lawn, peacefully grazing:  

The fawn was following the doe. Suddenly they both noticed me:

The doe started walking slowly towards the wooded margin of the clear-cut. The fawn followed her but suddenly disappeared in the patch of ferns as the doe kept walking, alone: 

Then, the doe turned around and surprised me by conspicuously walking back out into the open, past the patch of ferns where the fawn was hiding. 

After she had moved about 40-50 yards away from the fawn, the latter suddenly burst out of hiding and ran into the woods. The doe then turned around and bounded back to join the fawn as they both disappeared into the shadows. The doe appeared to have purposely drawn our attention away from the fawn:   

(We call the doe "Notch" because of her torn left ear. She was mother of a male fawn, "Bambi2," the second of the two we saw as newborns last season. Since this was the first of this season, we will call it "Bambi3" if  it continues to associate it with Notch.) Here is "Notch" seen a bit closer while it was raining:

A Woodchuck paused at the edge of the lawn, exposing "his" chestnut-red undersides. I was puzzled when I first heard it calling in a series of bird-like chirps and trills, as well as a prolonged "tin whistle" sound. Then I understood why this rodent is also known as a "Whistle Pig:"

The Gray Squirrels are fattening up on bird food:

The hillside garden is alive with color:

On July 10 the late afternoon Sun was barely visible through the smoky haze created by numerous forest fires in Canada:

The next day, rain had cleared out much of the smoke, and storm clouds enveloped the Sun just before it disappeared behind a distant ridge:

This week's header: Hartford under stormy sky 

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Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Garden Affair

All Seasons

Image-in-ing

Nature Notes

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World
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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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