Along the Way

I never cease to be amazed at the very cool things we see in nature.  On our walk today we stood for close to thirty minutes watching a beautiful Pileated Woodpecker eat insects from a dead tree a few meters away from us.  We listened to two Ravens calling to each other, moving ever closer to each other as they did.  There were burr wars and hide and seek in the tall grasses.
Elias spotted some newly cut down trees with clear markings of a beaver.  As we went down the river we came to it's lodge, the new logs sits at the entrance.  

A Full Moon Visitor

This beautiful Luna Moth graced us with a visit on our window during the full moon. It's sheer size, brilliant green colour, thick fuzzy body and long feather like antenna had us all captivated. Luna hung out for the whole day, as they only fly at night. Interestingly, the Luna Moth does not eat as an adult because it does not have a mouth. We feel especially lucky to have seen this moth because they only live about a week.

A Moose....of our own!

But this time the moose came to see us! The black flies have been exceptionally bad this year (although we are finding that isn't the case thankfully on our property), driving animals out of the woods for refuge. A neighbour drove down to alert us of the moose in our woods, which is right in front of our house. We all got a little closer, except for Chris who I sent running for the camera. The moose went in the same direction as Chris and started stamping and huffing. That moose, a young female, a good 10feet tall at least was no match, we gave it lots of room. So the photos aren't great, but talk about exciting. A moose!

The Hummingbird Moth

We were exploring the local garden centre when we came across an insect that caught our eye and total attention. It was a flying bug, but its wings moved so fast we couldn't really see them. It's body was orange and brown, and distinctly separate from the wings, rectangular in shape. There was antennae coming from its head and it was large, 4inches perhaps. There was a humming from it as it flew, but we could tell it wasn't a humming bird. The kids and I chased it around the garden centre fascinated (while others got out of it's way!). This is what we saw. One of the employees helped us out with identifying it; hummingbird hawk moth.

an award winning picture of this difficult to photograph moth

different types of hummingbird moths

moth viewing

A Moose!

It is now tradition; one day in May we head out early in the morning to a nearby park with with breakfast in hand with one purpose. To see Moose! Before we even get into the park we saw two young female Moose finding refuge from the black flies in the muddy edge along the side of the road. The black flies have just started coming in force, the open spaces tend to have less bugs then in the woods providing some relief. Which means that the roads can be a little more dangerous to drive at night, but during the day the chances of seeing a moose are greatly increased.

We saw four on this visit; two bulls and two cows. They are incredible animals, with awkwardly long legs and gentle faces. It was exciting to catch a glimpse of them, we are thrilled that there wasn't snow this year!

Yup

That is a frog. The kids found it swimming in the pond. They also found tadpoles. On our hike yesterday we saw a butterfly. Last year at this time we had three feet of snow.

Our Friendly Visitors

This morning I stepped onto our back deck to hang up the laundry on the line, to see Elias beside our chicken coop with a huge smile on his face. The house was hiding what was beside him, but he was giving me a look as to say "shhhh, look here!". I read his expression right, I stepped over to see 5 deer standing literally a few feet away from him. Apparently he didn't notice them when he was letting the chickens out but turned around to find them all beside him. I quickly put everyone on deer alert, each scattering to their different windows or outside.

Ben choose to go onto the driveway, where they happened to cross a few minutes later. They were so comfortable with the two boys being nearby that a mama deer came very close to them sniffing them out. We often see deer, but never this bold. And rarely so many at one time. Sighting them is something the locals told us we would tire of, but I can't see that ever happening.

Out of the Palm of Our Hands

Feeding the chickadees out of our hands (or off our heads!) is something have grown to love. Before we moved we had a few favorite places we loved to go to do this. We have very friendly chickadees here at the house and have had them come next to us to get some seed. This has been equally rewarding and exciting.

While on our hike at the bog we were followed by lots of birds. When the bag of banana bread came out the number quickly multiplied. The kids quickly held out their hands with crumbs and within minutes were hand feeding lots of chickadees. Soon to follow were the not so little friendly gray jays. It was quite a thrill to have such big birds landing on you. After the jays left a few nuthatches felt daring enough to come have a snack.
This was Shai's first time having the birds land on his hand. It was a little intimidating at first but with a little bit of help from big brother he was a pro!

It was quickly declared the best spot to feed the birds and there are plans to return soon.

Welcome Back Friends!

After very few sightings of our friends the deers (not even in my garden!) all summer long, they are back! Out of the woods to eat as much as they can before winter hits. There have been four or five of them each day, feeding on the berries in the trees at the front of the house. We are thrilled to see them again!

Apparently it is a pretty tasty tree, I don't know what it is but it is popular. When the deer aren't eating out of it, the chickens have flown up for a snack!

(sorry about the blurry photos, camera troubles!)