A summer-like walk in the backyard

It started out innocent enough, just stroll through the trails behind the house. Sure, there were a few bugs, it was 82° F and there was a lot of mushy ground and some water on the trail. As I got further from the house all the mosquitoes in the area had locked in on my location and were incoming fast. The mosquitoes here are far worse than anywhere else I have ever been (pawtuckaway in the summer included). Not long after I was swimming in bugs the marsh became to deep for me to comfortably pass in chacos and jeans, and I was not about to expose any more skin to the bugs. On the bright side, I finally got a nice picture of a snowshoe hare:

I saw him while exploring the wet, mosquito infested trails behind our house. They usually don't let me get this close, but he seemed intent to eat in his little patch of grass. The only white left on him was around the ear rims and hind legs and feet.

Back Yard Wanderers

Back Yard Wanderers, a photo by Lee Petersen on Flickr.

Kate looked out the window last night and let out a little yell. These guys were wandering around just outside the window!

Birds and Moose!

You know I've been busy when I haven't had time to blog about wildlife encounters. First Kate and I saw two white-winged crossbills. Kate wants to post about them, so I'll just give this one picture from last week.

Magic snow falls from the tree as we watch the birds breathing in -30° F weather.

Then there was the moose encounter at school. Let me start by saying that moose temperament is different out in the woods by our house than it is around buildings and a lot of people. They don't care about me at the house, but they definitely don't like lots of people and people stuff.



This bull charged Jason and I even though we were keeping our distance. Then it ran at Manbharat and a few other students that were watching it by their doors. He wasn't overly aggressive, but he definitely made it known that we were in his personal space. Right before he charged me I got this shot that looks like he is watching his reflection in the window. He's actually just looking at that plant with leaves on it down below him, but it was funny anyway.



Once he got to a place where he didn't feel cornered by the building his focus returned to eating and not on what we were doing over by the parking lot.

Just Eating

Yesterday our neighbor came knocking at our door to let us know that there were a couple of moose in her yard. We went over and watched them for a while. I tried to get a few pictures, but the Sun had set and the lighting was bad, so I couldn't get anything great. Earlier when I was walking in the woods behind the house I noticed that there were signs of moose all over the place. I guess they're just not around when we are home and awake.

Nocturnal Visitor

This little guy came to our suet feeder tonight for a few minutes. He's a northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus yukonensis). It was a cute little thing with huge eyes. I've never seen one that looked quite like this, and definitely not this close.

Earlier in the day we saw a snowshoe hare, but it was much too fast and camouflaged to get a picture.