Mallards and Geese couples

Hello sweet blog family!  I am doing much better now than 2 months ago after losing my sweet Bill but it is so hard to be alone and I am missing him so much.  But I finally went out to lunch with a girlfriend yesterday and visited another widow in my neighborhood.  And today I am watching my "granddogs" for my daughter until Monday.  They are sweet little dogs though and give me no trouble so I will have good company for the rest of the weekend. :)    The Mallard couple and the Canadian Goose couple have come to nest nearby like they do every year on the little lake.

This female goose was right underneath the den window when I snapped this picture through the glass.

And here is the Goose and the Mallard sharing a few pieces of bread.

The Mallard couple is so beautiful.

And here are 2 Mallard males that visited early this morning.  They may be young bachelors born last spring who are looking for mates.  The green on their heads is so brilliant!

Here is the female Mallard eating the fallen birdseed under the window.  The Begonia plant is showing left on my window sill.
Thank you so much for visiting and come again soon.  And if you have time visit my other blogs listed in my sidebar.  Have a most wonderful Palm Sunday!

My wild heart to yours...

Almost Adult Canadian Geese....

The Juvenile geese came yesterday with the parents and about 8 other adults!  The juveniles had changed so much in just the few days since their last visit, I could hardly distinguish between them and their parents!!  The have gotten much more of their darker wing and tail feathers and were much larger than before!

These 3 are the babies!

Here is detail of their feathers and colors that have deepened.  The wings are still not extended to their potential full span but my goodness, they have grown!  What a treat to be able to follow this life cycle so closely from our own back yard!

This was our other visitor for the morning, a hornet on the Crown of Thorns bush blossoms!  They seem to be attracted to these blossoms particularly and I have photographed them previously last year.

   I could not capture his yellow bands on his body with my camera but it was a bright yellow.  I have identified him as a Bald-faced Hornet from his markings.  They are native to all land areas from Canada to Mexico except for the deep southwest area of the USA.

   I hope you enjoyed your visit today with our backyard critters and please comment!  We love reading your comments!  Do come back again soon!  Blessings to you!

This is a mother squirrel who has befriended our daughter that currently lives with us.  She works on computer at home in the den that looks out over our backyard and lake.  This little mama climbs the trellis outside the window and stares in at my daughter at the computer until she gives her a peanut. She comes when called and is very dear.

My heart to yours...

Gosling Rescue Cartoon

HI THERE!  Since there are no pictures of my turtle/gosling adventure, I have drawn a cartoon of it!  The turtle has been raked ashore and is upside down and yet he holds that poor little gosling's leg in his crushing jaws!  After this, he rolled back on his feet and I gave him a good thump on the back with the rake and he finally released the poor Canadian Goose baby!  I was in my bare feet of course (bad habit) and all that splashing and crashing in the water soaked me with mud and water-ha!  But at least the gosling AND the ugly snapping turtle both survived.  Whew!

Thanks for all your comments!

Pinks and adventures!

Happy Pink Saturday everyone!!  We had company from back home this week and they brought us the most beautiful plant with pink blossoms!  Just in time for Pink Saturday!

It is called a Sun Parasol  and is a Mandevilla hybrid.  It is a climber so hubby planted it in a larger pot by one of the metal trellis supports on the overhang of the den roof.  We will be able to enjoy it there best!

I love the blossoms, they are so large and beautiful and the leaves are wonderfully green and hearty looking.  It is an annual but the giver said her Mom winters them over in the house!  I shall try that.

   I also have a picture-less adventure to tell you about in our back yard critters!!  My youngest daughter works from home and was typing away when she heard a big fuss outside.  She went out to see what was going on as the 2 Canadian Geese parents were squawking and squawking!  Lo and behold, a huge Alligator Turtle had one of their teen goslings by the leg and was trying to drag him under the water.

   My daughter called her good old Mom when efforts to free the babe with a shovel beating on the back of the armored turtle.  I got the garden rake and while he kept trying to pull the little one under and out deeper in the lake, I kept raking him nearing to shore, leg in his jaws!!  It took me several tries and the frantic parents hissed at first and then must have realized that I was helping and stood back watching.  I finally got the turtle and the gosling up on shore but the turtle even when rolled on his back hung on to that poor baby!  I gave the turtle a couple of sharp whacks on his shell and fi-nal-ly!...he let go!  The parents were so happy and the poor little fella went limping off with them just a peeping away over his trauma.  The skin was not broken on his little leg at least and when the parents knew he was safe, they rounded up the other 2 teens and all went off but on shore, not in the water!! They have not come back to our lake since and I don't blame them!

   I know that some will think I interfered with nature taking its course but I could not let this little creature get drowned.  My mother instinct kicked in and I heard nor saw nothing around me until that little gosling was free!  My daughter later told me that a neighbor 2 houses away clapped when the turtle gave up-ha!  I had just cleaned up and had clean clothes on and in my adventure I splashed mud and water all over my self.  I hosed off before going into the house and then cleaned up and changed all over again.  I know I cannot save every little one but at least this one was happily back with the family!

Don't forget to link to HOW SWEET THE SOUND, our lovely hostess for Pink Saturday that is celebrating its third year!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY PINK SATURDAY Beverly and Everyone!!!

♥KERRIE♥

My heart to yours...

Canadian Geese with "teens"

Hey Blog family! Sharing these beautiful Canadian goslings who are growing up so fast!  They are all legs and feet but ever so precious!

I love this time of year when all the fowl and birds are nesting and raising their young!   What a joy to be able to have our own "Animal Planet" right in the back yard!

They follow their Mama and Papa wherever they go and are now in a gangly adolescent development, all feet trying to grow into themselves-ha!

Goin' home to the bank to take a snooze...

Whenever I am feeling blue, These wonderful creatures cheer my day.  Who could be sad when observing these wonderful little balls of soft fluff!

♥KERRIE♥

My heart to yours...

Canadian Geese and Goslings...

The Canadian Geese couple came today with their 3 babies!!  The parents remember us every year and know we are safe to bring the babies up into the yard.  I called to them and the Male listened for awhile and then came up with Mama and the goslings running behind!  Beautiful.  Such gorgeous little creatures and such proud parents.

All creatures great and small, the good Lord loves them all...
And so do we!!

Thanks for coming to visit and please come again soon!!

♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...

Hooded Mergansers and Geese

The Canadian Geese are starting to return and we took pictures of this one at the largest lake in the entrance of our community today.  He thought we were going to feed him so he was most cooperative in getting close enough for good pictures!

The group that I am saying are Mergansers are questionable as I could not positively identify them!  They had no visible color or hoods and seem to have only black and white feathers.  My bird books did not have any photos that looked just like these.  They were very skiddish and were on the move the whole time we photographed them on the far side of the lake.  Unlike the Mergansers in our little lake behind the house where they dive and play and are not afraid at all.

The last pictures are of a dear little Chickadee in the feeder when the snow was flying and I took the photos through the den window.


The snow did not accumulate on the ground at all but it sure did flurry for a while on Sunday!  My roses refuse to give up and the brave little buds are still hanging on-ha!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to a blessed New Year.  Thanks for visiting and come back soon.
 
 
♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...

Awesome Otter Morning...

This morning we woke to find two otters swimming in the little lake!  Much too fast for us to get pictures, they played and dove the length of the Lake, it was a hoot!  We will try to get pictures if they return tomorrow!  Meantime, I did get some pictures of 21 returning wild Canadian Geese who always winter here in SC.  The land and lakes that are in this Community provided a natural nesting area for the Geese, Egrets, Herons, Swans and more.  So we are blessed with them most of the year raising their young and always returning.  We have also had Raccoons and a destructive Beaver who ate our trees-ha!  We feel so fortunate that we are allowed to see such a variety of wildlife in our own back yard!

Hubby on the opposite shore taking pictures of Geese while he was tracking the Otters. Too funny!

We enjoy our yard so much all year long. 

I am working on Fall and Christmas projects for my Etsy Shop and for gifts now.  The cooler weather is more conducive to craft productivity.  I also have my quilts to finish.  My list is endless and my housework suffers for it-ha!

"Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." 1 Peter 5:7 KJV

"Your father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." Matthew 6:8 KJV
 

          Thanks for visiting and do come again soon!

♥Kerrie

Here is a bookplate I made for you to copy and print.   I love that she is holding what seems to be a diary?  Or a Bible.  I found this beautiful picture on "The Graphics Fairy" site.  She has absolutely wonderful graphics and they are all free for your use.

Chickadee adventure!

TODAY IS CHICADEE ADVENTURE...

This little guy was fluttering with little short wings against the den window.  I love the way you can see the yellow on his baby beak at the side!  So precious.  His Mama was darting around the roof area keeping an eye on him and I think he was seeing his own reflection, mistaking it for another sibling.

Isn't he just so sweet??  He stayed there for a long time and we did not see exactly when he left but he definitely could fly quite well at this point.

It always makes me want to paint or draw when I see the pictures we take of these beautiful little creatures.
Also, finally captured a shot of the adopted baby goose.  You can see in the picture how much larger the family's goslings are than the adopted one is.  I think it is so neat that the mother accepted him into the family!

Wouldn't it be nice if human families were as accepting?  Also, we have observed that the Canadian Geese Mom and Dad stay together throughout the whole rearing process.  Mallards are devoted until the eggs are hatched and then they hang around with other males and leave the Mama to care for the young and at the mercy of other males approaching her.  When this happens she gets right up on shore and runs!  While fleeing in the water, she is able to dive under and come up many feet away from the pursuer, it is so interesting. 
   Thank you for visiting and come back often.  I know that most of you know Sherry from Country Wings In Pheonix.  Please pray for her as she is in the hospital as of last night.  She had pneumonia but then got worse. Thanks!

You're Nobody 'Til Somebunny loves you!