Sat - August 18, 2007

Fox in the Garden

Yesterday while mowing the back lawn, I noticed a fox watching me. It was just sitting there watching me go back and forth. I stopped and went in to grab the camera and was able to get this shot of him resting on one of our garden paths.

His coat was very sparse, unlike the usually full coats I'd expect from a fox, but the weather has been hot the last few weeks and maybe the sparse coat is to keep comfortable in the heat. As he trotted away his tail had a distinctive white tip.

Posted at 09:45 AM    

Sun - April 15, 2007

Wild Turkeys

As I was leaving for a short business trip Monday morning, what did I see out the back office window? Yes, a small flock of wild turkeys moving through our back yard.

I'd seen wild turkeys roaming Rancho San Antonio in Cupertino, California, in Pennsylvania, and even here in Ohio to our east, but never here in Delaware county. I'd read that they were common east of Columbus and over the last few years had been spreading westward. But I'd never seen them in Delaware county, until now.

Wild turkeys had finally found their way into my back yard.

I wasn't certain they were turkeys at first. We have a heathy population of turkey vultures around here and just this past Easter Sunday I briefly mistook a few turkey vultures along the side of the road for turkeys - I realized they were vultures when I noticed the road kill they were feeding on. Still, the two types of "turkey" birds do have a passing resemblance. But the fowl I saw out my office window were scratching at the ground, not looking for dead critters.

Eventually I saw five bird slowing moving across the back woods. I took a couple of photos of them hoping to have something clear enough to identify them. The photo above, shot thought a screened window, was the clearest of the bunch. Not real clear, but it's pretty obvious those were turkeys.

I look forward to seeing them come for another visit back soon.

Posted at 04:21 PM    

Fri - January 12, 2007

Sat - November 11, 2006

Late Autumn

Thought I'd followup my "Early Autumn" photo with a later autumn photo. The leaves have mostly fallen, but the mums still look nice and the grass is still green.

The photo was taken on another blue sky day here in Lewis Center, which hasn't been that common this fall. We seem to have hit a cold and rainy patch in October this year. It wasn't all bad though. Halloween was fun. We sat out in the driveway with a fire burning in the chimenea and handed out candy to all the passing ghouls, pirates, and princesses.

In the backyard, our last splash of color is the fothergilla bush. It's an under appreciated relative of witch hazel. Nice spring flowers and knockout fall color.

Posted at 10:01 AM    

Sun - October 8, 2006

Early Autumn

Autumn is arriving. The front of the house has yet to really embrace the season yet. The river birch (on the right) has lost a few leaves, but is still green. The sugar maple is just starting to show a bit of its fall colors (left). But the mums are in bloom and the grass has certainly enjoyed the cooler weather and looks good.



In the back yard on the other hand, it is autumn. Our ash trees are among the first trees to turn every year. At least they go out with a bang.

Posted at 01:59 PM    

Fri - August 4, 2006

Summer Vegetables

Our summer vegetables are enjoying the summer heat even if we aren't so much.

The tomato plants are getting large and have lots of fruit on them, but it's still all green. I can't wait for them to start ripening. In the photo you can see Kathleen's homemade bamboo support system. It's working very well at supporting the plants through some seriously windy storms this year.

We are growing both yellow and green varieties of zucchini this year. The yellow seems to yield more fruit, but both are yielding nicely.

And so far, we haven't had any serious pest problems. Unfortunately, I'm sure they will arrive at some point.

Posted at 09:37 AM    

Wed - July 26, 2006

Summer Garden

Our backyard garden is filled with summer color right now. In this photo are purple cone flowers, black-eyed susans, shasta daisies, and a few varieties of day lilies.

Posted at 02:28 PM    

Tue - June 27, 2006

Sat - June 10, 2006

Cowbird chick

Shown above is a chipping sparrow feeding a much larger cowbird chick at our backyard feeder.

Cowbirds are the only North American native birds that always lay their eggs in other bird species' nests. There seems to be a fair amount of controversy surrounding cowbirds by people who think they have an impact on other bird species. Searching Google will turn up a variety of pro and con articles on this. I personally think they are interesting birds with an uncommon, but not unheard of, behavior (old world cuckoos do this too).

Chipping sparrows, or "chippies", are one of my favorite song birds. Though small, they sing up a storm in late spring with a cheerful song.

UPDATE: They were still feeding after I posted the above blog entry and I was able to get a better photo of the chippie actually feeding the cowbird chick. I inserted it into the photo above.

Posted at 03:56 PM    

Thu - June 1, 2006

Orange Bridge

We have a quaint old bridge a few miles east of us where Orange Road crosses the Olentangy River. It was constructed by the Toledo Bridge Company in 1898 as a Pratt Through Truss bridge. The original site plan called it the "Bridge over Olentangy River on Thomas Road." I'm not sure when Thomas Road became Orange Road.

We have a quaint old bridge a few miles east of us where Orange Road crosses the Olentangy River. It was constructed by the Toledo Bridge Company in 1898 as a Pratt Through Truss bridge. The original site plan called it the "Bridge over Olentangy River on Thomas Road." I'm not sure when Thomas Road became Orange Road.

It's not in great shape (it can only accommodate a single car crossing at a time), so the county is planning to upgrade or replace the bridge. They are conducting preliminary engineering studies and inviting public input to the process.

Posted at 09:44 AM