New Beginnings

This past week the pair of bluebirds turned up their level of excitement. Presumably their brood was about ready to fledge. Both members of the pair perched near the nest, flying down like little hawks to catch insects and feed them to the nestlings. 

The male sang quite frequently. Then, three days ago, all was quiet at the nest box. We could hear the bluebirds calling and singing at the edge of the woodland and presumed (and hoped) that the chicks had fledged. So far, we have not seen the fledglings although the adults continue to forage near the birdhouse and  appear to be fying away to feed them.

Heavily streaked Immature Chipping Sparrows now outnumber the adults. Both share the dark line through the eye and grayish collar which distinguish the species:

We were delighted when a spotted White-tailed Deer fawn appeared with its mother in the clearing in the rear of the property:

The fawn bedded down in a patch of vegetation just under the back fence. The next morning it surprised me by appearing as if out of nowhere:

The mother deer grazed nearby:

Strangely, all three friendly baby Cottontails, each of which occupied a different corner in the back yard, disappeared on the same day. Did they all develop a fear of humans at the same time? Or, is it possible that the Coyote which appeared the morning before, or the Red Fox or the black house cat which prowl our yard at nighttime were responsible? 

A flock of Wild Turkeys again showed up in the yard. There were three adults and 20 or more chicks of at least two different ages. It was difficult to see them through the trees:

Suddenly, they paraded across the driveway. My camera settings were poor, as I did not have time to increase the depth of field and the photos were overexposed as they moved into sunlight against the dark background:

I had trouble tracking the flock for this video as they moved back into the woodland:

Our daylilies are blooming a bit later than those of many of our neighbors as we are at over 800 feet elevation and the lake surface is only 690 feet--

Yellow Daylily:

Pink Daylily:

Orange Daylily:

Late afternoon rays spread over the distant Hartford skyline:

The lowering sun peeked out from under the cloud deck...

..creating a sunburst as it settled behind the hills

Another evening, our granddaughter caught me photographing a fiery sunset:

Here was my view at that time:

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Linking to:

Garden Affair

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

All Seasons

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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