So we're out enjoying the cool weather while we can. And I've gotten several wildlife pictures from being outdoors so much. Gonna start this page off with Gary, the groundhog. Yes, we anthropomorphize the animals. Gotta give all of them a name. But we haven't named the deer or the bunnies yet. Anyway, here's Gary sunning himself on the next door neighbor's shed step.

Next it is birds, birds, birds. I had a chance to get a picture of a red-bellied woodpecker the other day. I enjoy having the woodpeckers around the yard. We have quite a few of them. Why these are called red-bellied instead of red-headed I don't know. They do have a bit of red on their bellies down by their feet but the head is so much more prominent. But there is a woodpecker called the red-headed woodpecker and the red completely covers his head unlike the red-bellied one where the red covers just half his head. There has been a very loud flicker hanging around the yards lately. And downy woodpeckers. They all seem to like this one spot on this one tree way out in back. But the red-bellied is my favorite.

This year two bluejays have become frequent feeders in the yard. I have always heard them in the distance but this year they have chosen to claim our yard as part of their territory. They frequently feed at the sunflower feeder but, of course, they relish the peanuts that I put on the deck railing. And, of course, I have evolved into sitting out there when the peanuts have been placed so I can sit close and watch them come down to get them. Which, most naturally, has evolved into my getting a picture of one of them getting the peanuts off the railing. The bonus of it was that I got a picture of a tufted titmouse claiming a peanut, too. The bluejays are very greedy. Two bluejays both lit on the railing to try to claim the last peanut. They both had a peanut already in their beaks. They sized each other up, did their little head bobbing dance up and down and then flew away, both of them leaving the peanut there because they couldn't figure out how to get that last peanut without dropping their first one. I have seen them taking one peanut and tossing it back into their throat and then picking up a second peanut. Maybe those two already had a second peanut in their throat.

Of course, the next step I have in mind is to get one of them to eat the peanut out of my hand.

Every year I greatly enjoy watching the robins flock to the overburdened mulberry tree. There is a constant fluttering in its branches. You can usually count six robins in there tossing about trying to find the latest ripened mulberry. The squirrels are ever vigilant, too, in their quest for the newest ripe one. More berries land on the ground than get eaten off the branches. You'll find the robins on the ground gobbling up those. Many new baby robins find that tree every year. Easy pickin's, for sure. As the tree loses its mulberries more and more, more and more robins scout the ground underneath. I've counted 8-12 at a time trying to find a meal and eight out of the twelve will be a grown baby still touting their spotted breast.

Then as the mulberries fade and the tree is stripped clean, the activity quiets down. Gets too quiet. I miss all of those robins when the mulberry season is over.