I’m always surprised at how hefty groundhogs look as their diet consists mainly of grass and the contents of people’svegetable gardens😏. They hibernate from late fall through the winter so right now they’re working on their fat reserves.
People we met on the trail pointed us in the general direction of this barred owl. Unlike other owls who often keep close to the trunk or inside a tree cavity, barred owls often are quite easy to spot if you know where to look. This owl was my first of the year.
As we followed the path down to the beach we saw an egret standing in the long grass. After a while it turned towards the river and we left it to its wandering.
I heard the pileated woodpecker before I saw it. As we got closer, several people were gathered close to the tree the bird was excavating.If you look closely you can just see its tongue darting into the hole it had drilled to retrieve its meal.
It is still very much summer but the landscape is slowly showing signs of fall. There’s a bit more yellow in the fields and milkweed pods are opening to release their seeds. I like photographing these changes.
We recently visited a favourite nature reserve that had a variety of birds the day we were there. After taking a good number of photos, I slowed down to catch my breath and noticed this scene.I’m glad I saw it, there’s a lot we can overlook when our eye is on the “prize”.
Metallic or Sweat Bees have to be among the most colourful of bees. They can be attracted to the salt in human sweat though this one was more interested in pollen 😏