Oh Deer...

A couple of weeks ago, J & I attended a mardi gras ball at Grandview Winery and were pleasantly surprised to see 2 huge fields filled with deer (approximately 200 of them by J's count). It was an amazing sight and of course the only camera I had with was the mini purse one which didn't take low light photos well. So this past Sunday we decided to take a wildlife drive along the Minnesota River bottom and see if we could spot the deer once again. We started along the river about 12 miles east of the fields and spotted 3 huge flocks of wild turkeys along the way. All of them were first seen along the road but but the time we arrived upon them they were in the woods so I didn't get good shots. On the drive we also spotted several deer in the woods and a few in an open field. I love the deer track patterns in the field in this photo.



Arriving at the field around 4:45 pm we saw only a dozen or so deer it was a bit too early.



We then drove to the second field and on this day there were no deer present so J had the idea we waste some time by going to the winery for a glass of wine and bathroom break. By the time we left it was around 5:45 and the sun was almost setting, I managed to get a few golden light shots before it completely set.

At the winery we learned that this field was a sugar beet field and the deer are eating pieces of beets and greens leftover from the harvest. The first time we visited a few weeks ago there wasn't as much snow and now the deer are having to dig to find the food.



Soon more and more deer started to arrive...
 

and it got darker with a glorious pink sky!
 

While I took photos, J used his binoculars and started counting. He said there are 121 deer in these last photos. What a wonderful day/evening it was...is it strange that our idea of an ideal date is going to look for wildlife with a glass of wine thrown in?

at first light...

and one hour later...

wordless Wednesday...

Happy Birthday "Bah"...

Yesterday was J's birthday and we spent a couple of days up north celebrating with Brooklyn and then drove home yesterday morning to celebrate with Bailey. Grandpa is a hard word to say for someone just learning to talk so Brooklyn says Bah! She loves her Bah dearly and when I went up last week she kept asking for "Bah" and grandma had to tell her he was gone on a trip. She would then go look at his photo and say Bah and come to me to be held - so sweet how she missed him. So we drove the 4 hours up north again on Thursday - Brooklyn was home and waiting and ran to the door with lots of hugs and kisses for her Bah. Grandma got a kiss but couldn't hold her - only Bah and it was that way most of Friday as well but thankfully loving on Grandma came back for the rest of the weekend :)

 

Bailey had hugs and kisses for Grandpa & Grandma as well and helped Grandpa open his birthday gift. She is just such a smiley happy baby even while teething.

Happy Valentine's Day!

mosaic Monday...backyard birds

We had snow yesterday and wind today so the bird feeders have really been busy. I took all these photos this morning except for the cardinal in the snowy tree and the pesky squirrel trying to get into the peanut feeder which were taken yesterday.

my little valentine's...

With Valentine's Day only a week away, I thought I would share my little valentine sweethearts...

I can still see you...

This female hairy woodpecker went into hiding mode when I went to the window with the camera this morning. I took the first shot with her hiding her face behind the branch but it blurred after the camera focused on the branch. Hiding behind a branch narrower than your head, reminds me of Brooklyn in the "if I can't see you, then you can't see me" mode...she'll cover her face with her hands and think we can't see her.

Checking to see if I'm still standing there...

Oh look! A redpoll thinks I can't see him either :)

The chickadee really didn't care whether I saw her or not, she was too interested in finding space at the feeders.

It is another very cold morning (-14F actual temp, windchill unknown) so the feeders have been really busy. I finally managed a shot of the lone immature Harris Sparrow that is spending the winter with a bunch of house sparrows and my beautiful cardinal is so shy I haven't managed a decent photo of him in weeks. Today, he is the background to a redpoll, the redpolls are the most seen bird at the feeders this winter. This mosaic also shows the dang squirrel who is costing me lots of $ in birdseed and makes a huge mess as well!

Every day right at dusk the cleanup crew moves in. It wouldn't be so bad if they only cleaned up the patio but they have the audacity to come right up the patio door steps and leave lots of little brown souvenirs for me to clean up.

The very worst thing about these dang rabbits is that they have done a lot of damage to the garden. The evergreen shrub pictured is simply getting a trim but many of my newly planted ornamental shrubs have received alot of chewing damage. The new tiger eye sumac is chewed off at snow level, the magnolia has half of its branches chewed off at snow level, the pom pom has all the lower bark chewed off as well as 3 miniature lilacs and my corkscrew willow. Don't even get me started on my clematis collection, they are all chewed off at ground level including the group 2's. It needs to warm up a little so my 2 hunting dogs get out of their warm beds in the garage and start hunting patrolling the yard as they usually do.