Mom's Lilacs

Mom's Lilacs

Mom's Lilacs :) This shrub was planted in memory of my Mom, she loved lilacs. Spring of 2005 was an exceptional blooming, this was just one of many clusters. Another special thing about last year.... the lilac had a second blooming in August till September. Every spring when the flower clusters come out, it's like Mom saying hello and sending her love.

Blending in.....

It's really kewl how moths are attracted to objects that will help conceal them, unfortunately their attraction to "the light" is also their downfall. If you want to try an interesting project, hang a sheet up at night and place a spotlight shining on it, or even behind it. You will see many different types of moths and other winged ones.

Whitetail Deer near Big Moose Lake

Can you see the Eagle in the Flames?

The Path goes on... follow your dreams

My favorite season is Fall, but each have something special. I can still smell the fallen leaves, hear them crunch as I walked along this path, and as the critters moved about in the forest we all were sure to know the other was there!

Winding Path

Doves of the Ocean...

Many people do not like Seagulls, but I love all of God's critters, yes... even spiders but as I mentioned earlier, more so from a distance ;) Gulls are like the Doves of the Ocean and are remarkably adaptable birds. What it is about them that people do not like, has been given to them by man.

In a Row, but not rowing...

On my VERY first trip to Florida the Fall of 2005, I took a ride out to see the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. I grew up in New England and I'm very familiar with the northern part. I do have to say... it's much warmer down south ;) When going swimming in December, in Florida... be prepared to have lots of funny looks as the natives shake their heads and think to themselves "tourists" while they are bundled up in winter gear. I guess we do look funny to them. These gulls enjoyed taking the ride too. There are many types of gulls, but since moving to upstate NY, I've lost much of the knowledge of shorebirds that I use to have. Of course NY has nothing to do with it, perhaps it's the years I've accumulated ;)

Spider on a post

This is one critter I don't mess around with and prefer to admire from a distance. To scale the size of this spider, it's on a 4"x4" post, just the body alone... not counting legs was almost an inch and a half long... beware, they grow BIG in the Adirondacks near water!!!

Sun Dog

You can almost see a complete circle of the rainbow like colors of this Sun Dog. There's a lot of info on the web if one is interested in looking up sun dogs :)

Coyote in the woods... look close ;)

On a nature drive with my nephew Shane and best friend Vickie, I was most fortunate to notice a coyote in the woods, and for a while... it followed us on a critter path through the woods that paralleled the road, of course I was driving very slow. At one point this awesome critter paused near a clearing just long enough for me to capture the moment, no second chances for a better pic though. Oh well... we take what we can get, and my adventures are about enjoying the experience & preserving the memories with pics if I can :)

Red Fox in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

My very first picture posted on this Blog was of this Red Fox, but she is so beautiful, she deserves more than one picture here. She has such an inquisitive look in this picture, I just love it.

Moose feeding along the shore of a Lake in Alonquin

This picture came out darker than I would have liked and not as clear (novice nature photographer here, not ashamed to admit it) but I've included it because it was a nice feeding picture, you can see his beard and the ripples in the water. Next time I'll set the white balance feature on my camera and hopefully have a cable for the shutter... at times like this, I get very excited and that cable would come in handy ;)

Bull Moose in Algonquin

Bull Moose in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario Canada... he has a good start on his antlers. Pic was made in early spring, most of the moose I saw were barely showing antler growth. This big guy has also shed his winter coat early... what a handsome animal. I would love to see him in the fall. That's a trip I have yet to make, perhaps this year :) One of my dreams, is to be kayaking on a glass smooth lake early in the morning, for lifting off the lake silently, and then see one of these bulls pick their head up out of the water.... of course in my dream, my camera is ready to capture the moment ;)

Sunset over one of my ponds out back

Sunset over one of my ponds
Most of my landscaping has been done for wildlife habitat. The ponds both dug and plastic lined are a host to varied widlife. All my photos, unless otherwise specified are wild critters.

2' Garden Snake in one of my fish ponds

Ahhhh the life of an Alligator

Alligator at the Utica, New York Zoo

Female Mallard Duck

Embracing the Rock

Yellow Caterpillar, not sure what kind it is?

In Death, there is life

Frozen Buds

Turkey Tail fungus

Waterfall in early spring of 2004

Waterfall in early spring

Little Red Eft

Field of Wildflowers at Sunset

Doe wearing her summer coat

grey squirrel

Even Toads like the water....

This rather large toad was enjoying his whirlpool bath at the edge of a fish pond waterfall. This is part of the reason I put so much time and energy in creating different wildlife habitats. Water plays such an important role in the habitats for the crtters, so consider adding a water feature to your yard.

Mallard Duckling trying to hide from Mom

He tried to hide, but Mom came back and found him

I see NATURE in everything I do ;)

Hoo Hoo ever said salads have to be boring

Covewood Deer

Whitetail Deer are year round residents in the Adirondacks. This beautiful doe was photographed near Covewood Lodge on Big Moose Lake in Eagle Bay, NY.

Algonquin Moose

This bull moose was photographed in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. Early spring the moose are just growing their antlers and shedding winter coats, but I still think they are beautiful animals and could watch them all day long. There is only one highway going through the park, Rt. 60 in the southern part of the park. The rest of the park is accessible only via hiking, canoeing or kayaking, no motorized vehicles allowed. The moose are attracted to the salty vegetation growing along the highway from winter's salting of the road, so there's a good chance you'll see moose on a trip up there.

Red Fox

In early spring I head up to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario Canada to see, enjoy and photograph the moose, but this beautiful red fox was very patient in letting me get side tracked for a while.

The Nature of Things...

J finally talked me in to trying this blog thing ;)

as usual, he's right