Rodney's pixs of the week April 4, 2014

[Jeff]

Many of you may remember my introducing you to Rodney, an old friend of mine from this topic...

Screech Owl and the Woodducks

Rodney sends out an email every week with his photos of the week, mostly taken on his farm near Kalamazoo Micvhigan. I don't know why I never thought about it before, but I asked Rodney if I could share them here, and he said you bet!  So, what I am going to do, is first get us caught up, then I'll be posting them as I get them in the future.  I think you will enjoy these as much as I and others that are on his list do.

So, Lets start with 
April 4, 2014

This week.....you guessed it, a few new migrating waterfowl. As well as a spring time find and a fence line stand off.

An American Black Duck


With bills built for a job, a hen and drake Northern Shoveler


A hen and drake Blue Winged Teal


Melting snow is revealing some spring time finds, like this whitetail buck skull. Winter was tough on animals this year but I don't think this buck was a winter kill. It looks like it's been picked clean for some time and critters have already had a head start on eating the antlers. Squirrels, chipmunks, mice, porcupine, etc. eat the antlers for calcium and other nutrients they provide.


"My tail feathers are nicer than yours." "Oh, yeah." "Yeah." "Why don't you come over here and say that."
 

[Jeff]

This week....

Another, "do you see it?" (I'll show you at the end of the email)


A shot of Lake Michigan from Eric Smith's place in St. Joseph, MI last week.


For you morel mushroom fans....get outside, I found these this week.


Here's the reveal. I stumbled upon an Eastern Box Turtle while mushroom hunting.


  

 

[Jeff]

5/23/2014

This week......after last week's morel mushroom pictures, lots of people wanted to know what they looked like before they get picked. Look below, there are nine morels in this photo.


Some of us have a rubber ducky in our bathtubs, some of us take it a step further and have a live mallard in our swimming pools (like this one doing laps in Rod Mason's pool this week)


Speaking of ducks. I caught a duckling parade at one of my ponds this week. This wood duck hen has a lot to keep an eye on.

[Jeff]

This week....a picture with no story, I just liked the colors.....and, an Eastern King Bird zeroing in on an insect.



  

 

[Jeff]

This week......a Red Fox vixen stands watch as the kits play in the corn.



 

[Jeff]

This week......an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly and a Hummingbird Moth on Phlox flowers. As well as a Turkey Vulture cleanup crew checking on the ripeness of a down on its luck Raccoon.



  

  

 

[Jeff]

This week......



Do you see it? (scroll all the way down if you give up, or, you're a cheater)


A hen turkey that was surprised to find me so close....and quickly got herself and her poults (there were 11 of them) out of there.



Hitching a ride on my brother's boat....a tree frog (one of four that had crawled  under the boat cover).

[Jeff]

This week.....a Ruffed Grouse hen and chicks (she was sitting on several, you can see another one under her tail feathers). And, what looked like some buildings and boats in Mackinaw City last week that needed a cleaning, were actually covered with the latest hatch of midges. Have a safe holiday, at work and play.



 

[Jeff]

This week...one of the hundreds of tiny toads I've been trying not to run over/step on when mowing.



  
 

[Jeff]

This week......photos from two trail cameras. A few from a camera set up on one of my ponds. One, from another camera in the woods, showing a doe taking a well-placed hoof to the eye.



 
 
 

[Dave Shepard]

This will be a popular thread. Thanks for sharing.

[Jeff]

I got a few messages from folks wondering why I stopped sending photos. If you haven't been getting them check your junk/spam folders. I've sent the last several weeks worth from my Pfizer email. It's probable having Pfizer in the address got them bumped to your spam filters. I'll resume sending them from my yahoo account.

This week.....another "do you see it", followed by a whitetail doe that had a momentary showdown with me, then the "do you see it" answer key.

[Jeff]

This week.....dang woodchucks!



 

[Jeff]

First...some old business. Last week's woodchuck picture! Who knew it would incite such a hellfire and brimstone response? This "pict of the week" email goes out to about 200 people each week. The distribution list for the buildings I support (B91, B173, B207 and B225) make up the majority of that (more than 150). The rest are friends and family outside of those units and outside of Pfizer. I always get one or two responses to the email each week, usually from the same handful of people. But last week...I got 28 responses. Here's a breakdown.   

1. Two responses about how adorable the baby woodchucks are.
2. One asking me if I hurt them.
3. Two responses from people angry about my use of the "dang woodchucks" in my email. Another response along those same lines that I don't know whether they were serious, or just being a smarty pants. By the way, the "dang woodchucks" line was a reference to a Geico Insurance commercial. Lots of people didn't get the reference. Click here if you're one of them... Geico dang woodchucks 

4. Two woodchuck recipes.
5. Five with woodchuck shooting tips.
6. The rest were personal stories of how the dang woodchucks have ruined stuff. Eaten gardens, bit pets, dug under pools...barns...swing sets...propane tanks...porches...decks...horse watering tank...chicken coop...sidewalks...dog house and, my favorite, one that stole a toothbrush. 

  Second...this week's pictures. The first photo is from Craig Palmer. Craig came upon a bird I don't think very many people see often (nocturnal), a Common Nighthawk. Craig found two, an adult (that did its best "I've got a broken wing, come follow me" impression) and the chick pictured below.  If you're an arachnophobe, don't scroll down to my picture this week. It's a shot of a Goldenrod Crab Spider feasting on its victims. These spiders are ambush hunters, they don't weave a web to catch their meals. They hide among leaves and flowers and can change colors to camouflage themselves. The flies were dead too...just a big spider victim graveyard.



  

 

[Jeff]

This week...another "do you see it" shot (the reveal is at the bottom of the email). And, a picture of a Great Horned Owl that Ric Gendernalik saved from drowning in Battle Creek's Goguac Lake. Ric plucked it from the lake while kayaking. He got it dried off and got it hopping around (couldn't quite take flight) before delivering it to a rehab place in Vicksburg.



 

[Jeff]

This week....a Ring Necked Pheasant trying to hide, and keep an eye on the situation.



 

[Jeff]

(All caught up now! Jeff...)

This week....wood ducks in duck weed and, allergic people beware,  a couple shots of giant ragweed that grows on my property. Enjoy the pollen.

[thecfarm]

Nice pictures. I really like that deer in the road picture. I'm not a fan of woodchucks. I get rid of everyone I can on my land. But that is a nice picture.

[Ron Scott]

Great photography!

[Magicman]

That was a very interesting series of pictures.   

[Hilltop366]

Nice pictures, thank for sharing!

[hacknchop]

Great pics especially the owl made my night thanks!

[RynSmith]

Thank you and thank Rodney too!  I agree, hacknchop, that owl is amazing - I can't help but wonder what it was thinking...

[Jeff]

Oops! I'm glad you posted to remind me that Rodney sent out the new pix of the week!

This week.....last Friday's storm left lots of people cleaning up downed trees. It also blew a lot of debris into my brother's pool. You know, the usual stuff....leaves, twigs, bullfrogs



  

 

[doctorb]

Outstanding photos.  Simply outstanding.  Please, please keep them coming.

BTW, I believe that the pic of the swallowtail butterfly is of a Giant Swallowtail, and not a Tiger Swallowtail.  While the coloration can appear fairly similar, the Giant Swallowtail is much darker above, as in that pic.  I could be wrong, so please correct me if I am.  I have been seeing more and more Giant Swallowtails up in Ontario, especially this summer.  The Monarchs, however, did not arrive this summer.  We do not have Giant Swallowtails here in Maryland and see plenty of Tigers when at home.