@ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs @riotmuffin I am so vicariously excited about that! I haven't seen "my" backyard coyotes much this year. I think the area around me and my husband's house is getting less polluted (frogs in the ponds, healthy salamander in my garage, enormous Eastern bluebird and downy woodpecker families at the feeders daily, box turtles under the patio) and so predator territories are shifting again.

The last big change was that the coyotes were around almost daily in 2021-2022, because 2020-2021 was a mast year for our trees and the squirrel and mouse populations grew dramatically. But the large flock of wild turkeys has been away since then.

#nature #BackyardWildlife

You & your partner, enjoying some quality alone time in the resort jacuzzi, when some rando dude shows up & spoils the moment.

#photography #birds #cardinals #BackYardWildlife #nature #NaturePhotography

Female ruby-throated #hummingbird at the honeysuckle vine above our back fence.

#PhotoMonday #Hummingbirds #birds #BirdsOfMastodon #BackYardBirds #BackYardWildlife #nature

This weekend’s arts&crafts project - Part 2 of 2:
a) Hands cleaned up & mounted on our back fence.
b) Peanuts anyone?
c) Did someone say peanuts?
d) Finally, Mr Scarface #Squirrel came & ate from the hands. We had to wait a while for that, seemed to freak out the other #squirrels. Maybe has a funny smell or it’s just a matter of skittish animals reacting to something new in their environment. But the biological imperative for food always wins out in the end 😁

#photography #BackYardWildlife

The #hummingbirds are still around or I should say they are still migrating through, but not a constant presence at our feeder, at least not when the light is good. Which means my hummingbird #photo challenge is ongoing. But I did manage to capture this ruby-throated individual in the morning light earlier today.

#photography #birds #BackYardBirds #BackYardWildlife #nature #NaturePhotography #BirdsOfMastodon

A thirsty visitor stopped by our birdbath the other night…

#BackYardWildlife #wildlife #video #nightlife

#Hummingbirds are migrating through here now. There were a couple of them (ruby-throated) hanging around yesterday, flying across the yard chasing each other and resting up in the branches behind our backyard. So I set up my camera inside (shooting the feeder just outside the window) & wait & wait & wait. As soon as I get distracted or walk away sure enough there they are at the feeder. Was lucky to get these few shots.

#PhotoMonday #photography #BackYardBirds #BackYardWildlife #birds #nature

We have a leucistic #bird, I think it’s a sparrow or maybe a house finch, that’s been coming to our backyard feeder the last week or so. Probably the same one that was here a few months ago. I wanted to try to get a better photo of it with my big camera & lens, and today I finally had the chance but as soon as I started shooting - this guy shows up and starts making a spectacle of himself. And the white bird flew away.

#BackYardWildlife #squirrel #SquirrelsOfMastodon #photography #birds #nature

The Blue Jays don’t come to our main #bird feeder very often but they must be watching because when I put out whole peanuts on the little fence bench for the #squirrels, like I did this morning, the Blue Jays seem to know right away and come dashing in to compete with the squirrels over who can make away with the most of them. They go quickly.

#BackYardBirds #BackYardWildlife #photography #NaturePhotography #birds

I nursed these rapini (aka broccoli rabe) in my raised vegetable garden through the #Texas winter, such as it was, but then some real spring temperatures hit - well over 80F - a couple of weeks ago and the rapini bolted and up shot these #flower stalks. I meant to harvest & eat them before they bloomed but got busy with other things and now they’re full of these yellow flowers. But the #bees seem to love them so I’ll just let them have at it.

#gardening #BackYardWildlife #photography #nature

I like frogs but someone else in this house is not a fan, a bit of a ranidaphobe actually, especially when they do things like unexpectedly pop up out of holes in the top of the planter.

#BackYardWildlife #photography #nature #amphibians

Jasper & the doggos having a heated discussion in the backyard. Politics, probably.

#Caturday #pets #BackYardWildlife #cats #dogs #photography

It’s 82F in southeast #Texas today and the #birds are in raging springtime mode. The #cardinals in particular are active & ever-present in the backyard and therefore easy targets for my lens. Here’s some Pilar portraits - all female cardinals are named Pilar at our house (my Venezuelan wife can explain).

#BackYardBirds #BackYardWildlife #photography #BirdPhotography

We hear woodpeckers calling & tapping up in the trees behind the house often & occasionally we catch sight of them but they don’t usually come down to our feeder. But yesterday this Red-Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) did. Last year there were woodpecker fledglings & their parents in our backyard for a brief time, maybe this is one of them.

#birds #BirdPhotography #BackYardBirds #photography #BackYardWildlife

omg…omg…omg

#Caturday #cats #squirrels #backyardwildlife #photography

Everybody thinks #cardinals are such sweet & cute & beautiful #birds, but they don’t have to share a feeder with them. Truth is they’re complete assholes.

#photography #BackYardBirds #backyardwildlife #BirdPhotography

For #ThickTrunkTuesday, an Eastern Fox #Squirrel gazing down from the trunk of one of the Loblolly #Pinetrees in our backyard.

#photography #backyardwildlife #nature #SquirrelsOfMastodon #NaturePhotography

Backyard Update!

My magpies have got the accuracy of a COD: 360 No-scoper, seriously like a chucked a piece of fat mid-air and the father (Mike) caught it with ease.

He could sign-up for the Cirque Du Soleil! 😂

#BackyardWildlife
#backyard #nature #birds #animals

My backyard is so cool! I have found (I live down under fyi)

1. 4 Snakes (species unknown)
2. 1 Family of Magpies
3. 1 Blue-Tongue Lizard
4. 5 Kookaburras
5. 1 Wallaby
6. 1 Bush Turkey
7. 2 Butcherbirds
8. 2 Eastern Water Dragons
Might post images of them soon
What's your #BackyardWildlife

#backyard #nature #animals