Visitors in the Night

The wildlife camera captured a couple of nighttime pictures. Both were at about 4 am on two different nights. The first shows a Raccoon messing with some plants on the deck by the pond. You can see his distinctive black striped tail as he stands on his back legs. I have no clue what he was going after but he was making an effort.
The second picture is the Cat we have seen on a number of occasions - never in person - always when we are not around. Frankly, I think I prefer the Cat to the Raccoon.

The Hawk Strikes a Pose

Finally the Hawk strikes a pose. This morning the Hawk came for a visit and landed on one of the Styrofoam floats I use on the pond to protect the Goldfish from predators. Its interesting in this picture it looks like he is shaking his right foot. Maybe it got wet coming in for a landing.
The second photo is a bit more of a mystery. Is it the Hawk or the Owl. I lean toward the Owl because this picture was taken in the middle of the night last week. I suspect he wasn't hiding his face from the camera but he had his head down chowing down on some juicy Frog or Goldfish.

Beautyberry in Full Bloom

I thought this very interesting plant displaying bunches of small berries was a Pokeberry. But my son pointed out it is really an American Beautyberry. We have noticed this plant for a number of years but this year is the best yet. According to the web, the berries are enjoyed by a bunch of different birds. At any case it does present quite a dramatic show.

More Goldfish Pictures

Yesterday while checking the wildlife camera for more Hawk pictures, I got a clear view of the Goldfish in the large pond. I quick grabbed the other camera to get a couple of pictures while the light was still good. Here are two of the results. These fish were hanging out just above the bottom of the pond and didn't appear to be too concerned about the guy with the camera so I was able to get some decent photos.

Fuzzy Hawk - Almost a Good Picture

I almost got a great photo of the hawk but he was little more than a blur. He gave a good view of his side and wing and then stared right at the camera. Better luck next time.

Big Black Crow Pond Visitor

This week I had the wildlife camera set up at the end of the pond hoping to get a better picture of the hawk. Instead, a large black Crow posed for the camera. In these two pictures we get the back view as he walks in front of the camera and then he stops for a great profile. It almost looks like he is giving the camera "the eye" with the one eye in the side profile picture. There was another picture with him nosing into the water to either get a drink or try to catch something to eat. I don't think Crows eat Goldfish and anyway most of the Goldfish are way to big for him. But I bet he looks scary if the fish look up and see him.

A Giant Spider Web

I went out to cook some steaks on the grill night before last and look who was there to greet me. A pretty big spider had created a giant web that stretched almost 8 feet from the gutter on the house to the Butterfly bush. The main part of the web is four feet across so the spider has lots of area that the poor unsuspecting bugs better avoid. There isn't much difference between the front and back view pictures except the background. The web should stay until we get some rain and wind.

Line Up the Mushrooms

This year may be the year of the Mushrooms since they are popping up all over the yard. Yesterday a line of four large sprang up just outside the fence. The tops of these guys are about 8 inches across and stretch in line for 15 feet. The second picture shows the two at the far end. One of those two is a siamese twin, joined at the edge of their top hats.

The Vibrant Colors of Fall

Last year we planted a number of Mums around the new frog pond we built last fall. This year they came back like crazy. They grew very tall and thick and did take a bit of a beating in the recent thunder storms. But even with the storms they are displaying a bunch of beautiful blooms with the colors of fall -- Orange, Purple and Yellow. And the Mums are so thick that you can't even see the frog pond that they surround.

Whats Big, Brown and Ugly?

The answer is two giant brown mushrooms. These two were hard to miss as they are about 10 inches across and were on the edge of the woods in the back yard. At first glance, one looked to me like a horse hoof so I named it a Horse Hoof Mushroom. The second was very random but both had some moldy parts that looked pretty nasty. To me these things are just plain ugly and since beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I'm the beholder, ugly fits. I must compliment Mother Nature for continuing to offer me interesting displays of nature for me to enjoy.