April 29th, 2011-Young Squirrels-Turkey Hawk

My first brave little squirrel to venture out on his own. He's very independent now.

He was on the tree like that for quite a while in the top photos. He was scared of something. Then he was eating a nut in the bottom ones.

A few Turkey Hawks were circling around. They land up in the old corn field up on the hill behind us.

The little squirrel climbing along the branches and eating along the way. He's doing good!

My mother squirrel that moved her babies into a new nest has now abandoned the second nest and moved to a third. I caught her as she was bringing down the last one yesterday. Now she is out of my view so I won't be able to watch their progress. I was kind of sad about that. It was fun watching them. Maybe it's for the best. If I don't see them I won't know if they fell out of a tree or got killed. I worry enough as it is about the critters.
Today I did not like what I saw at all. Three large trees came down back in the woods today. I know some critters must have died. The poor birds were having a fit and the squirrels were crying. The little squirrel in these photos is okay though. He lives in a bigger tree closer to me. I just hope they don't cut that one down. I think someone is building a home up there. On the other side of the hill where I can't see. But they have been clearing trees up in there for a couple years now. I'll take a drive up that road again one of these days to see what is going on.
The one big tree fell right across the area where the foxes go and I'm hoping the den wasn't anywhere near that spot. I did see the mother putting food in that area one time but they will put food all over the place and get it later. I saw one female and the daddy fox tonight but did not see the daddy's mate. I have to wait another month to see the little ones. I can't wait.

Critters on April 28, 2011-Fox-Chipmunk-Sparrow-Baby Squirrel

One of the many White Throat Sparrows around here.

Views of the Squirrel's nest where three babies are. It was way too windy so I didn't see them playing at all.

A peek at some blue through all the clouds. Maybe finally it will clear up.

This is the first baby squirrel to venture down. He did come into my area for a minute but quickly ran back to the trees. Here he is on the tree trunk eating a piece of apple. he is one of many that are living up in back.

A dirty little chipmunk. he's been climbing through the rocks and has some dirt on him. But they are very clean animals so that dirt won't be there long.

One of the female foxes. She always comes down closer to the building. The other two don't. In the one photo she's looking for me at another window.

She's getting ready to go home and has a treat in her mouth to take back to the nest.

Critter Photos From Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Squirrel's nest where the babies are. And the mom sitting on a branch, eating, before she headed to the nest for the night. The babies were climbing more today. Just over their nest though. The mom was away for quite a while. She didn't get back into the nest till almost dark. I got her on video. And more of the babies also. I'll have those on Youtube.

BlueJays

BlueJay Up In Tree. Notice how the leaves have finally sprouted from their buds.

A little Chipmunk hiding under the wire and watching till danger passes. I think a hawk was flying around at this time.

You can tell this squirrel is hot. It got up to 81 degrees here. They flatten themselves out on the ground like that to get cool.

A young Squirrel eating buds up in the tree.

Another young squirrel enjoying the new leaves or buds. These young ones have not ventured down into my area yet. They stay in the trees till they are ready to go on their own.

The mommy and daddy gray Fox came together last night. They move around so fast that I can never get a good shot of them side by side.

This is the daddy. He's my friendliest fox and has been coming for a few years now. He will sit out there like a dog waiting for me to come to the window and throw some nuts out for him.

This is the mommy.

Here they are going back into the woods.
We've been having wicked thunderstorms for the past two days. Lots of flooding in some local areas. Nothing like down south though. I feel so bad for those people. And so many have died in those storms.

April 25th-26th, 2011-Baby Squirrels-Clouds-Chipmunk-Squirrels

This squirrel was really listening and watching something.

That squirrel was watching the female fox from behind that tree branch. I only saw that fox and never did see any more that evening. This one was out at 3:30 in the afternoon.

These are mother squirrels that are still nursing young ones. No young ones have come down this far yet. But soon the ones from the back woods will. They are running around all over the place back there.

Storm clouds moving in. The sun behind them.

A chipmunk was sitting up on that old stump so thought I'd zoom in and take a picture of him.

This is the mother squirrel sitting above her nest,watching the babies. I think she does that so they will stretch and look up and try to climb a little. These are the ones that got moved and are quite young yet but getting more active every day in that nest.

This is one of the older baby squirrels that are back in the woods and getting around pretty good now. The will be coming down here with the mother soon.

Female Gray Fox-April 24, 2011

This is another female Gray Fox that has been coming for a few years. I was happy to see her. I haven't seen her since last fall. She is not the mate to the male fox that is here every night. She came out of the woods early this evening so I was able to get some good shots of her. The video will be on Youtube. She has such a pretty face.

She keeps watching over in the neighbor's yard because they have a dog tied up over there. Dogs are scary to these foxes and are one of their known enemies because dogs can kill them. The bottom left photo shows her going back into the woods.

The bottom photo is when she was chewing some food so it's not good.

Her home up in the back woods. These woods go far so these foxes could live anywhere.

Mother Squirrel Carrying A Baby To New Nest-Video

On the right is before she started going up to the old nest to carry her babies down. On the left is when she went in to get the first one.

These pictures aren't good because I snipped them off the video. They are small size. But I wanted to have a few still shots of her carrying the babies.

More of her carrying a baby. These were snipped from the video also. I was so busy taking video that I didn't get any still shots. I didn't want to miss the event.

And here she is looking in the old nest for the last time and coming down and then resting before going back to the new nest. She was so tired. That is hard work carrying those babies. She sure is a good mommy!!

I've been watching the squirrel's nest for quite some time now. I was worried because I hadn't seen the mother too much for the past two days. Last evening I was watching her eat some nuts down below my window and then a short time later I saw her heading over to the tree. I was quite surprised to see her go into her nest and carry out one of her babies. It was so exciting to see this happening. I've never witnessed anything like that before. I watched and kept taking video of her as she climbed down the old tree and then went up a new tree to a new nest. She did this three times. Each time with a baby. The fourth time she went up she came out empty. I'm presuming she was checking the nest to make sure she got them all. I have no idea if she had already moved some but at least now I know that she has at least three in that new nest. They had fur on them so I'm guessing they were a few weeks old. What a job for that mother. I could tell she was tired. She stopped to rest after checking the nest for the last time.
The only problem I will have is being able to see them. They are further away now and when the leaves come on the trees I won't be able to watch. But it won't be long and they will be coming here to eat with their mom. Then she will shoo them away to be on their own.
I can see a big tree out back in the woods and there are lots of squirrels running up and down. I'm thinking they are young ones also. Just a bit older now and being taught to climb and jump.

Squirrels, Birds And Sky-April 20-22, 2011

The Female Cardinal and a Male Cardinal getting ready to fly off. And a plane going by above.

The mother squirrel near her nest on a very windy day. You can also see her tail as she goes back in. She never did come down to eat. Had to stay near her babies, if there are any in there.

A mother squirrel and one hiding in the rock wall during the rain.

The daddy gray fox. These are not good photos because it was getting dark. I turned them into black and white because the color wasn't good.

A female Cardinal

The sky the other night after the rain storm.

The Squirrel By Her Nest-4-19-2011

I still haven't seen any activity around this nest. Maybe there aren't any little ones inside. I usually see the young squirrels at the beginning of May. I was hoping I'd see some come out of that nest. It's been raining so much. I don't know how they stay dry.

April 18, 2011-Squirrel's Nest-Birds

This is the squirrel's nest this morning. The wind was still blowing today. It was pretty and sunny very early then got cloudy and rained this afternoon. Very cold here also.

A Black Capped Chickadee and a Mourning Dove.

A White Throat Sparrow. Front and back..Ha!

April 17, 2011-Squirrels-Chickadee-Foxes-Skunk

The nest has survived our heavy winds these past two days.

A squirrel hanging upside down because of danger. They run up the tree then turn around like this so they can watch where the enemy is. And bark at them..

Black Capped Chickadee

The Gray Fox Mates were both out there again tonight. It's so hard to get a photo of them together. The female grabs the food and takes it into the woods then comes back. Then the male does it. Hoarding food for later and for the pups.

This skunk was begging again...ha ha !