Country Critters

Our beautiful country property is a haven for wildlife. We have owned the land for four years and have marvelled time and again at the lovely creatures who habituate on or in the vacinity of our acreage. Below are several photographs of beautiful animals seen in the country.

I was thrilled to observe this little spotted fawn leaping about gleefully on a grassy area of our property

With fifteen hummingbird feeders hung on our acreage, these diminutive, feisty birds are a common summer sight ~ Juvenile male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Female Eastern Box Turtles are often seen in the spring in search of suitable sandy soil to lay their eggs

In a recent post, Goodbye to Spring, I featured photographs of this beautiful Sandhill Crane family ~ As you can see, the two trailing youngsters have grown up quite a bit from the gawky, spindly-legged fluff balls seen only a month ago

This is our spirited young hooved neighbor across the street ~ I love the faint russet color on his stunning coat ~ He certainly is a gorgeous boy!

A slithery Blue Racer peeks out from between some old logs ~ We have seen these snakes curled around the mid to lower limbs of pine trees

Little Chipmunks are a common sight ~ They camp out under the bird feeders and stuff their cheeks with sunflower seeds

I spotted this Wild Turkey in an area where I scatter sunflower seeds for the birds ~ Upon closer look, I noticed a mini version of the female enjoying the tasty treats as well ~ Then, ...

... I was taken by surprise and delighted when six of her offspring popped out from the forest ground cover ~ Since these images were taken, we have seen this busy mama turkey and her youngsters quite often ~ The little gobblers are growing rapidly!

A lovely doe wades in a green sea of corn

This Eastern Hognose Snake resided in our peach and apple orchard until torrential rains displaced it

This year our bluebird houses were quite busy ~ Lots of nests were built but most were abandoned. We were fortunate to have at least two Eastern Bluebird broods raised successfully

One of our two curious canine critters ~ This is Honey ~ She was fascinated by this Eastern Box Turtle, as this was her first meeting with a shelled reptile