Wild Wild Woods

  The veggie garden at the edge of the woods has a mesh fence around it.   Although the deer walk over the fence and help themselves t...

Juvenile birds are quite visible this week, as they follow their parents to our feeders at the edge of the woods.  The young ones seem ...

We watched this Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris over several days as it flew from flower to flower, taking an occasional re...

Adult birds are molting now that they are finished with nesting season.  Most of them stay hidden in leafy branches and bushes while their o...

  The sunflowers at the edge of the woods  invitingly ripen seeds in the sunshine.   This year, the goldfinches are the  ...

This young Grosbeak has been coming to the suet feeder.  Juvenile Red-breasted Grosbeaks are streaked brown and white with a bold face pa...

Gooseberries Ribes hirtellum blossomed in the wild woods early June. The berries developed but did not last long with so many hungry bird...

The Red Baneberry Actaea rubra finished flowering in June and set berries (left).  When the berries are mature, usually by September, bi...

Even though the Common Grackles Quiscalus quiscula are more likely to hang around fields where they feed by stealing crops, this year the...

The male Downy Woodpecker   Picoides pubescens demonstrated for his two fledglings how to get lunch at the suet dispensers. The parent...

The Catbirds Dumetella carolinensis are very fond of the grape jelly we put out at the edge of the wild woods.  Today one o...

Growing at the edge of the woods, the wild geraniums thrive in cool shade with dappled sunlight.  Their bright 1-inch blossoms show up we...

The birds that hang around the wild woods are helpful as they eat insects in the nearby vegetable garden.  More food for the birds, fewer...

The evergreen trees at the edge of the woods are blooming and setting cones.  These tender buds will all grow out to encase ...

Early blooms in the woods -- Violets of blue and yellow, Jack-in-the-pulpit, among the Bloodroot, Solomon's Seal, Spiderwort, Wild Ge...

The first nest we've spotted in the wild wild woods this Spring is in a nestbox.  A Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapillus is sit...

Orioles have returned to our area.  These two Baltimore Orioles Icterus galbula slurped and gulped with great enthusiasm when we put orange...

More common around here than we think . . .  the male Indigo Bunting Passerina cyanea usually sits high up in the trees; often too high ...

The Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum hides out in the underbrush where it feeds by sweeping a long bill through leaf litter to uncove...

In the past we've seen fledgling Rose breasted Grosbeaks, but did not spot the adults.  This handsome male appeared at the edge of th...

This native ephemeral flower is so anxious for Spring that it pushed right through a dried leaf to get some sunshine!  The Trout Lilies Er...

Aren't they amazing close up?  The birds in the wild wild woods have their best feathers on for Spring.  These three -- European...

Now that the snow has melted, we can find the small dens and hiding places of critters in the woods.

We've seen both the male and female Red-bellied Woodpeckers at the edge of the wild woods this winter.  Usually, their red belly is n...

Walking in the wild woods today, I checked on the woodpeckers' favorite trees.  Some of the excavations look fresh. ...