The Yellow Rumped Warbler and a Friend

The woods were alive with warblers today.  Here are two - The Black and White Warbler and the Yellow Rumped.  Oh heaven!!!!

Black and White Warbler

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Hermit Thrush in the Woods at Charlestown Meadows

I saw this little cutie on the ground as I was walking along the path in Charlestown Meadows. I stopped in my tracks, but he had already seen me too.  He jumped up to that branch and stood with only his tail showing and most of his body hidden behind the big vertical trunk. Somebody walked by me on the path and said hello and when I looked back up, there was my little hermit thrush looking right at me with his skirt a flowing. Oh my beating heart....

Gallaway Cows

Just down the road from Charlestown Meadows is a beautiful farm with a small herd of Gallaway Cows.  (I never knew there was such a cow even though I grew up on a dairy farm with Holsteins and Jerseys and Black Angus.)  This particular breed includes the beautiful brown belted cow (see below).  There was also a little month old calf with so much cuteness I could barely stand it.  Here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Late Afternoon Snack

Love My Mom

Belted Brown Cow

Curious

Mom

Moooooooo

Deer at Dusk

It's remarkable to see the different temperaments of the deer of Charlestown Meadows vs. those of Valley Forge.  This little beauty was just off the path and so very close. This is a full frame photograph - no cropping.  A deer in Valley Forge would never have let me get so close.

The Toads of Charlestown Meadows

Tom and I have taken long walks almost every day since the beginning of this sheltering in place.  We walk around the perimeter of his community - Charlestown Meadows.  Today as we walked past a little tiny pond I noticed a few toads looking very much like they were in love.  I ran back to our place, got my big lens and my macro, put on my knee high boots and then spent a wonderful few hours photographing these wonderful creatures.

Baby Praying Mantises in the Daffodils

O.K.  guys, it is that time of year again.  I ventured from Tom's house back home to have lunch with Yumiko. I checked the windowsill and was thrilled to see the praying mantis egg sack was alive with little babies.  They were crawling up the little glass container where they had been hibernating for the past five months.  I brought them back to Tom's house and took them outside to the edge of the woods filled with daffodils.  Took my camera and macro lens and voila.  The little guys did their magic.

Dancing in the Daffodils

Look at that Little Face!

Social Distancing?

Red Crowned Cranes in the Snow wins First Place!!!! in Betterphoto.com Contest - Woot!!! Woot!!!