Saturday, October 28, 2006

Because you just don't see vulture photos in blogs...



turkey vulture


When I cropped this photo and zoomed in, I noticed a hole in the top of his beak - what's with that??? To see it, you may need to click the photo to enlarge.



Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Snake skin



My husband has been putting insulation under our house and he found this snake skin on the rafters. Glad it was only the skin...




Here's a close up view...


snake skin

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Duck, Duck, Goose ... and Heron???



Our neighbors dock on a foggy morning - mallards on the left, geese on the right, and a great blue heron on the roof...


mallards, heron, geese

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Harold is back home!



Our stray beagle, Harold, has been reclaimed by his owners - wonderful news, because hubby really meant it when he said we couldn't keep him. (Contrary to what my nephew thinks, once in awhile my husband does say "no" to me.) Turns out that Harold (whose actually name is "Baby") had taken a 12 day vacation from home and wandered really far! The fire station where we found him was 12 miles away from his home. The owners answered our ad in the paper. Anyway, I thought I'd post a few photos that I took of his last day with us. Below - he was wandering around our property tracking something and paying no attention to the geese on the dock.


beagle & geese


His nose at work...


beagle tracking

Below - resting on our front steps. He was so calm and sweet that even our chihuahuas didn't mind him hanging around.






Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Some autumn colors



North Carolina gouldian finches

These four are just finishing up their annual molt. A few white pin feathers are still visible on their heads.



Monday, October 16, 2006

One more house guest


Thursday morning we took a walk with our neighbor and this boy followed us home. He wandered around our house to check things out, then wandered back up the road.


stray beagle

Saturday afternoon we saw him lying in the handicapped parking spot of the fire station at the end of our road. I took a drive back up there take to him some dinner and water. One of the volunteer firemen was there and he told me that the dog had been hanging around there since Thursday. He (the fireman) didn't seem entirely happy about the food delivery (although they had fed him earlier that morning and had left a pail of water on the porch) and informed me that the dog couldn't live there. On the other hand, the dog was very happy with his new bowl of kibble. I told the fireman that I would call a woman who rescued strays and I headed home. When I got home I made the call, and got the reply "I don't do that anymore." Hmmm - such an adorable sweet dog. Well, somebody will probabaly take him home, I thought.



Saturday evening... getting cold...temps supposed to drop into the 30s during the night... return to the fire station, lift him (he's a lot heavier than a chihuahua) into the back of the car and bring him home to spend the night on a pillow in our garage.


Sunday morning ... post his photo on the bulletin boards at Food Lion and Washburn's Marina and pass his photo around at church. Nope, nobody knows him.


Sunday evening... where is he? Drive to the firestation... yep, he's there. Open the back door of my car and he hops in. Back to our garage.


Monday morning ... place an ad in the paper. Monday evening, he's still here. No need to drive to the fire station tonight. Named him "Harold". Husband still says we can't keep him. Stay tuned.


Saturday, October 14, 2006

Another houseguest



You never know what you'll find in our basement laundry room...




Monday, October 09, 2006

Piranhas in Lake Gaston???



Years ago, my very young nephew visited us at Lake Gaston for the first time. He knew how to swim, but swimming pools were more his thing and he was a bit trepidatious about swimming in the lake. He started firing off questions - "Are there sharks???", "What about rip-tide???", "Pirahnas???" Of course I answered, no, no, no, but now this photo shows up in the Lake Gaston Gazette:



pacu fish in Lake Gaston


According to the wildlife expert that was called in to identify this 10-year old boy's catch of the day, it's a pacu fish, actually a cousin of the piranha.


Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Goudian finches bathing



My birds have a new full-size bird bath in their aviary now. Gouldian finches and society finches love to bathe which is why I was surprised that they waited over a week to even try it out.


gouldian finches bathing


gouldian finches North Carolina


gouldian finch indoor aviary


Monday, October 02, 2006

Lazy day


We met this beautiful pup last month at the marina. As you can see she was thrilled to meet us. She could barely contain her excitement...