Let’s catch up with the wood ducks

I know I tend to cycle around the same handful of photo and video subjects herein, but let’s face it: I have easy access to several different forms of wildlife without even leaving the property, so this is what I’m going to have the most photos of, as well as being able to observe behavior better than I ever have before. At least I haven’t fixated on just one subject…

So yes, read more

Estate Find XLVII

This week, we have a couple of subjects that help lead into further posts, at least one of which may come later on today – I’m starting to get a small stockpile again. So let’s get into it.


With the clearing of the duckweed, which may be due to the appetites of the ducks and geese, or the temperature dropping below their growing range, or both, the water is now read more

Let’s see, I think… frogs

Working my way through the folder of images that I need to do something with, and figured that it’s now time for a few more frogs, si? I mean, oui?

The first three to be featured all came on November 9th, when the weather became unseasonably warm and the frogs were out thinking, Damn, that was a short winter! This one, at least, should have known better given its perch.


A green read more

Nominal nominal nominal

So, [you ask because you’re following everything I post with due excitement] how did Monday morning’s pursuit of the Leonids and aurora borealis go? And I, being the suspicious type that tries to detect subtle impish questions that you already know the answer to, pause just long enough to convey this suspicion before plowing ahead anyway.

In short, no better than any other time I’ve read more

Tastebuds are anxious

I don’t have to tell you that today is Harvest The First Of The Citrus From The Greenhouse Day, because I’m sure you’re already deeply involved in this yourself. We’ve been watching the lemons and the Key limes developing, wondering how many would be ready for the holiday – it wasn’t a huge haul, certainly not the bulk of what’s out there, read more

Another night, another… what?


This is just to let you know that not only is the Leonids meteor shower expected to peak tonight after midnight, but there’s a chance that the aurora borealis will make another appearance, and with a dark moon (actually, it doesn’t matter how bright it is, because it’s riding too close to the sun right now and thus wont be seen most of the night,) the conditions read more

Estate Find XLVI.V

This one had been in the lineup for this week’s Estate Find until the beaver bumped it, but I still have the pics sitting here, so…

Looked out the back window the other day, around mid-afternoon, and noticed that we had a lurker out there.


This is a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus,) almost certainly one of the ones that had been regularly hunting in the front read more

Estate Find XLVI

Another two part one this week – we’ll start off slow.

While I had been seeing some news alerts that the aurora borealis might be visible in several northern states, I paid little heed to them since North Carolina, despite its name, is far from being considered a ‘northern’ state. Then The Girlfriend’s Sprog told me that we might actually be seeing a display here, and read more

You can always try


This is just to give you adequate notice that the Leonids meteor shower is expected to peak the evening/morning of the 16th/17th, just a few nights away. While it is not forecast to be a significant one this time around, it has a tendency to be a decent display, so go for it.

Just to let you know, pictured is not Leo, but Orion, and not a meteor, but a plane of course. I have no worthwhile pics of read more

You don’t say?


Last Friday, we featured a video of the return of the Canada geese (Branta canadensis) to the pond after their curious disappearance months previously the count was always either six or eight geese at any given time. A few days after that, I was looking out the bedroom window just after waking up in the morning to see nothing out there, until a flash of read more

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