I've been absent for a while, but this thread looks like a good one to come back to. Great photos everyone.
Backyard Christmas morning.
"Gorillas In The Mist"
Find Waldo
First one started pruning and then..
The other. Very cool shot. An online friend at another forum entered this one for me in a photo contest for the Wildlife Turkey Federation. This one is very unique. I told him if it won some money to send me a little. lol
Bubble ducks
I put in 2 wood duck nesting boxes late last winter in a 1 acre swamp that sits adjacent to our pond. They were late coming back last spring but we had 3 successful broods.
The first had 8, two weeks later, another with 4, and then a month later in late July, we saw the last group of 6. 18 total added to the population.
I plan on checking the one that is in the middle of the swamp in 3 feet of water as it is now froze and would be a good time to check it to see if it was used, and to replace the cedar wood chips in them.
What was interesting about these 3 different wood duck families, is that they would take turns sharing the pond. 2 or 3 times a day they would come from the swamp area and feed and enjoy the pond. The pond is only .6 of an acre so they shared. Sometimes 2 of the 3 females would bring their clutch to the pond, but they would usually stay apart from the other clutch. Interesting interactive behavior to watch.
On advice from some here involving super chilling, I installed two more bubblers. The one at the center of the pond in 14 fow was slowly phased out late fall for one that is in 9 fow. I used a splitter at the dock to control the air flow to the two bubblers. I disconnected the deep one completely and taped it off, and then installed another bubbler in 4 feet of water next to shore for an egress for wild life that may fall in during the winter months. This spring, I'll hook the deep water bubbler back up, disconnecting the one in shallow water, and then slowly phase it in.
Green Heron _______________________________________________
