Looking Back on 2014

I got a gentle "scolding" from a friend recently who's been missing my blog posts. So I decided I'd get one more in before the end of 2014. Working two and three jobs for the last few years has pretty much kicked my ass to the curb and left me with neither the energy or initiative to devote to weekly (or even monthly) blog posts. But for those of you not on Facebook or also missing my blog posts, I'll recap my 2014 with one picture for each month of 2014.

A beautiful January sunset

A February snowstorm was beautiful only to those who didn't have to worry about moving all the snow or figuring out how to drive in it! 

In March I took a trip to California to visit my brother.  It was nice to see green grass, water that wasn't frozen, and birds that wouldn't be back to Minnesota for a couple months yet.

April brought a few spring birds back to Minnesota, including this Robin who was determined to battle that "other" robin taunting him from the window reflection.

In May the colorful summer birds finally arrived.  They're the hope we hold in our thoughts and hearts during the long Minnesota winter.

Backyard critters enjoying June clover and other treats falling from the birdfeeder above.

A long July weekend in northern Minnesota gave me the opportunity to photograph this rainbow over Snowbank Lake after a brief late afternoon thunderstorm.

 

Thankfully we saw more Monarch butterflies this summer than last year.  An August Monarch took advantage of the Rough Blazing Star blooming in my backyard wildflower garden.

In September, this first year Cooper's Hawk was trying its best to catch one of the birds hanging out on my deck.  Unfortunately, no birds were caught, but I did get the chance to capture this awesome photo!

Fall colors delighted the senses in October.

Early one morning in November, this small buck showed up in the backyard to sample some of the corn we put out for birds and bunnies.



Happy Christmas from me and my pretty girl Holly the Pibble!

Nocturnal Surprises

Squirrel, these are for you..... :-)

Since archery deer hunting season is coming to a close, Mr. Johnson decided to bring his trail camera home and put it up in the backyard. The corn trays have been emptied nightly and we wanted to see just exactly when and how many nocturnal visitors were showing up in the backyard. NOTES: the date & time stamps on the photos aren't correct -- these photos were taken from Sunday nite (12/16) into Monday morning (12/17). Also, these photos were taken about 5 yards from our basement walk-out patio door....

With our current point restrictions, this isn't a legal buck, but he might be a good one to watch our for next season...

oh, hello!  more visitors arriving....  

hungry!

I think there's only room for 1 buck here!

In all photos of this guy, he seems to be favoring his left hind leg

Looks like there's something wrong with his "knee"

It's obviously swollen and it doesn't appear that he's able to put any weight on it either

Checking out the suet!

I don't think this doe is gonna let this sorry little buck stick around for long.....

Looks like this doe still has her fawns with her

You can see the little antler "buttons" on the deer to the left

Eyes in the background......

Now the deer are gone, so it's time for bunnies to clean up the leftovers.

(I didn't realize we had this many bunnies -- time for some visits by the Great Horned Owl!)

The corn in the tray is gone, so the deer try their luck with the hanging corncobs

This is pretty challenging because the corncobs move quite easily

it's kind of like "bobbing for apples"

there!  finally got it!

nom, nom, nom

here's another buck!

this makes a total of 3 different bucks visiting in just one evening

Bunny acrobatics

This hanging corn feeder was designed for squirrels.  They're really the only critter that's able to reach up to grab the corncob with their little paws and successfully munch on the corn. 

but the lack of "hands" doesn't stop this bunny from trying!

the camera even captured this bluejay attempting to get some corn

There's Holly!  Out for a little walk around the yard with her dad.

Backyard Buck

A couple days ago, Mr. Johnson happened to notice that a few small trees in our backyard have been rubbed rather vigorously by a whitetail buck. He seemed to favor my staghorn sumac thicket. This one was on the outside edge of the thicket.

Here's my hand to use as a guide for the size of the tree being rubbed.

This one was farther inside and towards the back edge of the thicket.

Pretty much the same size tree again. Check out those gouges in the wood below my hand! Those antler tips are really sharp!

On the other side of the yard in the aspen thicket, we found another tree that had been worked.

Same size again, so we were pretty positive this was the same buck. This tree was deeply gouged. They're really strong and so aggressive this time of year! Can you imagine how dangerous it is for them when 2 bucks have locked antlers and are fighting? I sure wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those antlers.

Since it was obvious there's a buck in the backyard, Mr. Johnson turned the trail camera on again......and we weren't disappointed. We're fairly certain this is the buck that's been rubbing on our trees. This guy doesn't have very big antlers, and the general rule is that the larger the antlers on the deer, the larger the tree they'll work. This buck has a nice big body, but due to point restrictions in place this deer hunting season, it's not legal to shoot this buck, so maybe we'll see him around again this year.

I got these pictures in reverse order, but he showed up twice in one night for corn. I'm guessing he also stayed around to visit with some of the does that frequent our backyard overnight too. There was lots of deer activity and photos on the camera on this night of 6th and early morning on the 7th.

The little fawns are still hanging around in the backyard, but I think they're on their own now. Once the does come into their breeding season, they chase their babies away to be on their own. At least the little fawns that have visited regularly over the summer know where there's a safe place to eat and rest in our backyard. Now if we could just figure out a way to keep them from trying to cross the road!

The possum is still visiting the backyard at night too. Looks like this possum is getting in pretty good shape for the long winter!

Backyard Trail Camera

If you've ever wondered what goes on in your backyard while you're asleep, you really should think about getting a trail camera! They've really come down in price -- you can generally find some pretty good ones for less than $100 (watch for sales at your local sporting goods store). Most all of them are digital now and most even capture video. We know the deer are in our backyard, but they usually show up after we've gone to bed. Mr. Johnson decided to put one of his trail cameras out in the backyard where the deer feeders are and here are some "action shots" from this past Wednesday night. We had some bad storms and heavy rain that night, so I didn't even fill the corn tray, figuring the weather would deter the deer from showing up. Obviously it didn't. In this first shot, you can see the raindrops reflected in the flash. I think these two are our neighborhood twins. The closer blue tray contains acorns and the far tray contains just a few remaining kernels of corn from the previous nite. Time stamps are on the bottom of each photo.

Twins have left and now another small doe stops by for a snack.

This last one is my favorite! Baby gets a kiss from mom! Unfortunately, they were so close to the camera and its super-bright flash, but it's still cute and you can see baby's whiskers even.

Trail camera......never too early to start hinting for Christmas gifts!