Snapshots Around My Yard…Birds, Squirrels, and Deer

Female Cardinal

Before the season of winter fully sets in, there is an abundance of activity around my yard with the melodies of songbirds, those staying all winter and those just stopping by to vocalize a tune before flying off to warmer climes; the ever-social crows and starlings calling to each other; a hawk perched in the bare branches of an oak tree; and gray squirrels busy scurrying about frantically gathering and hiding nuts.

This year there was an added treat of spotting a young buck white-tail deer just casually strolling through my suburban neighborhood. Deer will occasionally come into the neighborhood (and sometimes into my yard), there is a wooded park nearby, but often it’s at dawn or dusk and they very quickly move on. To see one just slowing walking around, not running, just taking his time as if he’s out for an afternoon stroll is not that common. This young deer paused in my neighbor’s yard across the way and stood still long enough for me to quickly grab my camera and take some snapshots before he left…just as if he were posing for the camera!

~ Sharing some snapshots from around my yard ~

Birds

Robin 

Mourning Dove

Catbirds in conversation

Blackbird in the autumn leaves

Starlings...high wire act

Crow proudly announcing the piece of foil she found

Cooper's hawk with his back to the camera
(there was a light snowfall that day)

Gray Squirrels

Running along the fence by the autumn leaves

Munching on a nut

Squirrel scurrying up the tree

Deer

Young buck white-tail deer strolling through my neighborhood

Hope you enjoyed the snapshots!  

©2014 JerseyLils2Cents (all text and photos) 

Finding Beauty in the Beast of Winter

Oh, what a bone-chilling winter it has been! I won’t sugar-coat it, it has been miserable. This has been the winter of never-ending snow, ice, freezing rain, sleet, and more snow here in the Northeast U.S., as well as parts of the South, the Midwest, and reaching into Canada. In fact, due to a weather condition called a polar vortex, many places around the globe have seen severe weather. 

The frigid cold around here has set records. Many mornings, I've awakened to temperatures in the single digits; the other morning, the thermometer read a mere 8 degrees. It was warmer in Alaska that day! Some people like the cold, some people like snow, and I respect that. But for me, winter is definitely not my favorite season. 

Still, despite the drabness and chill of it all, there is an assured beauty to winter, a serenity in the silence of new fallen snow. So to cheer things up while waiting for spring, I'm sharing photos taken around my home this winter, followed by winter art that I hope you'll enjoy. 

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I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently?
And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt;
and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again."
~Lewis Carroll
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass 

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The birds of winter around my home  

Blue-gray gnatcatcher 

Robin in the snow (we see robins here all year-round)

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The Cardinal stood out like a picture fair,
As snowflakes struck its body there.
Upon a branch of the winter tree,
Nestled among the needles proud and free.
~Joseph T. Renaldi

In my area, cardinals are only seen in the winter months. 

Cardinal sitting pretty on a snowy morning

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The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
~ Robert Frost

Crow (taken with a long lens)

Crows on a snowy roof

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Coco loves the snow!

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Winter Art

Looking at winter through the eyes of an artist, you can see the majesty and beauty in the season. (I enjoy looking at the season much better than I enjoy being in it!)

Snowy Landscape at Arles ~Vincent Van Gogh 

Train in the Snow at Argenteuil ~Claude Monet

Beneath the Snow Encumbered Branches, Scotland ~Joseph Farquharson

Winter Afternoon, Norway ~Hans Gude 

Whitehall England in Winter ~Paul Maze

Winter Coast, Prout’s Neck, Maine ~Winslow Homer

Snowy Monday in New Hampshire ~Lilla Cabot Perry

Skating in Central Park (New York 1934) ~Agnes Tait

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Spring briefly visited the other day and brought lovely weather with temperatures in the 50s. Everyone smiled at Spring and then Winter got jealous, roaring back with gusts of freezing cold winds and dropping temperatures. As I’m typing this, it’s 19 degrees outside! There are local weather reports of a possible late March snowstorm next week. Winter is not leaving quietly this year! But Winter’s days are numbered. I saw a lone daffodil bravely poking her head out from a small patch of snow, a welcome sight. Spring is just around the corner!

©2014 JerseyLil’s2Cents all text and photos
Paintings in public domain (from WikiPaintings, WikiMedia Commons and Google images) 

Images of Spring

Monarch butterfly visiting my hanging verbena.

It's Spring, my favorite season, a time of renewal when the earth awakens from its winter slumber and is reborn with new energy. In the eternal life cycles of Mother Earth, spring is the dawn, the new day on the horizon, a time of fresh beginnings. For those of us living in climates with changing seasons, in spring we turn off the furnace, open doors and windows wide to let in the invigorating fresh air not yet heavy with the oppressive heat of summer, and become immersed in the sensory delights of the season.

The season of spring is awakened in my yard.

Hearing the distinctive "kee-aah" call of the Red-shouldered Hawk when I opened my patio door, I grabbed my camera and caught a shot of the hawk in the budding trees. Their breeding season is April to July, so I am betting this beautiful hawk is out and about looking for a mate...and a lunch date!

Red-shouldered Hawk (as seen from my patio).

Sitting outside sipping my morning coffee, I watched a colorful robin having fun in the birdbath.

Robin thoroughly enjoying the birdbath!

Handsome rabbit looking around my back yard (and not yet seen by my dogs lol!).

Two rabbits in my front yard. Well, we all know what can happen here...bunny love in the air! Soon they will be mating like....

Grey squirrel munching on berries from the cedar tree (photo taken from my window).

Praying mantis, beneficial insect for the garden and quite cool looking, too. This one was found on the screen door to my patio.

Charlotte skillfully catches dinner in her web (Orb Weaver Spider near my garden shed).

Monarch butterfly whispers to the yellow marigolds. Monarchs are such beautiful butterflies and I'm always delighted to spot them in my yard.

Orange marigolds greet the sun (there's a busy bee in the center pollinating the flowers).

Rows of geraniums and more marigolds waiting to be planted in my garden.

And the fragrant signs of spring in the air.

Lilac blossoms

Cherry blossoms

The spring came suddenly, bursting upon the world as a child bursts into a room, with a laugh and a shout and hands full of flowers. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Enjoy the season!


©2013 JerseyLil’s2Cents, all text and photos.