Wednesday, March 28, 2007

time for a photo update!

[Click on any photo to see a larger version]

With so many trees outside our windows, you might guess that we get lots of birds around here. We get bluejays, woodpeckers, tufted titmice, and chickadees. But so far, I'm most excited about our resident pair of cardinals. I see at least the male pretty much every day, and I'm convinced that they're nesting beneath my forsythia bush. Here's a shot of the male. Isn't he handsome?? (His lady friend is pretty cute too!)

Speaking of birds, when I first saw these tracks, I thought we had landed in Jurassic park (the round ones are dog prints):

But, it was only a rafter (yes, that's the actual term!) of wild turkeys:

Betcha didn't know that turkeys can fly, did ya? Here they are, up in the trees at dusk (that's about all the flying they do, as far as I know...getting up into their roosts for the night). They seem to like the tall trees just behind the house. See that one in the middle near the bottom? That one's on his way up.


Of course, there are the deer:

We finally had some warm weather yesterday, so I took a walk down to the stream:

One of my favorite things about the property is that there's MOSS EVERYWHERE. Moss is one of my favorite things in the world.

Anybody know much about plants? I found a few of these popping up near the stream, and am very excited to find out what they are:

Finally, here's a birthday shout-out to Miss Loki, who turned 12 this week. Here she is in our den/kitchen (see our new kitchen table in the back? notice the lack of cat hair on the sofa? I am compelled to take pictures whenever I clean now, because things never stay that way for long).

8 comments:

Mary Beth said...

Oh, those are wonderful pictures. I've loved watching the bluejays and cardinals in our yard, too. We don't have turkeys but we see them occasionally in other folks' fields as we drive by.

Joshua likes moss, too. Maybe the two of you should get together.

Would you come decorate my house?

Kat E said...

I definitely think the two of us should get together!

I'll decorate your house if you'll work your magic on my grout. ;)

Mercedes said...

Or . . . you could put a mixture of milk and sugar onto your grout, leave the windows open, and let moss grow there instead? I was just thinking that since moss is one of your favorite things in the world, and all! :-)

Kat E said...

Mercedes, I think that's a grand idea!

Jennifer said...

Gorgeous! We have lots of cardinals here (it's the state bird, after all) and I do love them. I did not know that wild turkeys could fly! Thank you for enlightening me. The little sproud does look familiar, but I can't place it at the moment. If it comes to me I'll let you know...

Jennifer said...

sprout

Kat E said...

Jennifer--I found out--it's "skunk cabbage". Too bad, I was hoping for something a little more exotic ;) (Actually if you do a google image search for skunk cabbage it looks like there are some potentially interesting varieties...)

BeckyBumbleFuck said...

Gorgeous place.
Ya know, moss always makes me think of you. ;)
And as far as the wildlife, I've been learning about some English birds of late....tits and shags to name a few. What kind of bird names are those? Sexually deprived anyone?