…followed by deer and a Stewy ending.

Pileated Woodpecker – Dryocopus pileatus

A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers has claimed the woods in front of the house as part of their territory. They stay together year round defending their space so I’m guessing this is the same pair I saw last year. They’ve made several appearences this winter but this is the only decent photo I’ve been able to get so far. They are flighty and take off as soon as I step out the front door. I usually curse the Basswoods but since they’re attracting these woodpeckers I’m having a change of heart. I suspect their actual nesting / roosting site is in the woods across the road. Every time I’d disturbed them they headed in that direction. Too bad, the land there is posted and off limits to me. Pileated woodpeckers are about as big as they come, at least woodpecker wise in North America. If you’ve never seen one before their size will surprise you when you do. If you spot a OMGTABFW (oh my goodness that’s a big freaking woodpecker) it’s most likely to be a Pileated. I guess when my grandpa called me a little peckerhead he must have been thinking of the smaller sap sucker.

Down the road a group of deer were out in a hayfield. I was surprised to find so much of the snow melted the last day or so. I live in a wooded bowl on the north side of a hill and the sun doesn’t quite have the strength to melt snow at home yet.

The ice jam may have been flushed downriver but if you look between the trees you’ll see a few remains on the far shore.

Downtown Morley Traffic Jam
I just wanted to photograph the ice on the river bank but catching a Deere running down the road made the photo worth posting.

Stewy was waiting for me at the end of the driveway when I returned home. So was the snow.

My outing wasn’t over yet. Dog wanted to go for a hike and we took off out back. But that’s a subject for another post. I don’t want to mix my lichens and deer up.

Yep, that’s me. Unfortunately I have a sidekick that doesn’t have a clue of what I’m doing. Dog has a nose for following but she always seems to be out in front. Today was no exception. As I cautiously eased my way to the edge of the woods to scan the cornfield Pookey burst out into the open and immediately caught the attention of the turkeys that were busy scraping a living.

Can’t see them? Look closer and you might notice the tiny black spot just to the right and slightly beyond the shrub (island) in the middle of the photo.

At full zoom (18x) the camera makes it possible to see exactly what the black dots way out in the field are. While the photos aren’t worth writing home about at least I have proof I see turkeys.

The turkeys quickly scrambled over the small rise and vanished out of sight. Dog and I followed and we discovered that the turkeys had turned into deer.

6 deer were also gleaning a meal in the cornfield. I froze when I saw them but Dog just kept following her nose. Of course Pookey never saw the deer but they certainly saw her.

In typical fashion the deer flashed their white tails while getting the heck out of there.

With the wildlife spooked we continued down to the river. I was a bit surprised at the extent the river had frozen over considering the ‘mild’ weather lately.

Not surprising (to me) was that the river also ran (downhill) away from me. Looks like Dog scared it by getting ahead of me again.

Ice pile up. This is as close to a traffic jam I’ll ever get in my neighborhood.

One of many streams that run downhill through the wooded neighborhood.

Last stop – Porcupine Pillars. It looks like this upscale porcupine condo has a waiting line. There are a couple of hollow spots in the old maple tree so either this porcupine is snow bathing or waiting to fill a vacancy as soon one opens up.

I knew they were around. Someone has been eating my Hostas, Daylily flowers and Phlox tops.

Ninja Deer

Actually all I need to do is look out the window to see who’s eating my Phlox. The deer don’t bother sneaking in anymore, they walk in like they own the place. This deer actually understood my French and got the %$*@ out of there.

The garden pond is getting crowded.
At last count there were 27 potential princes with no girls in sight.

Frog Prince

Unfortunately for my wife, kissing me has no effect. I’m still a toad.