Some of you have seen—and heard—me feed the deer. I thought others might wonder about it, and here are some photos captured by my trail camera in late February. As you can see, I’m quite the fashion trendsetter! If you want a closer view, (although I can’t imagine why you would), I think you can click an individual image. BTW, I love my white shrimp boots! They are a bit too large but are perfect for slipping on when I head down to the meadow!
I didn’t walk yesterday (Tuesday). I felt fine, but it was rainy and cool, and I decided to take a day off. Instead, I spent an hour or more working on what was, I’m sure, my very best blog post ever. And then I somehow managed to delete it and save only the very first part! I’ve reconstructed it as best I can remember. Maybe I should have walked after all. Today’s weather is about the same, but I will be walking later!
I wonder what I missed by not walking yesterday. Monday I found this tiny dead Ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus) in the road. At first I wondered how someone could have run over it, since there is very little vehicle traffic on our road these days, and these are nocturnal snakes. Looking more closely, I decided that some other critter must have killed it.
Before the latest return to winter (when we were setting record high temperatures), the butterflies were out in force, even some that usually aren’t around until the summer. Mostly they are too quick for me, but this Common Gray moth (Anavitrinella pampinaria) had been attracted to the porch light the previous night, and perhaps the warmer weather had made this Sleepy Duskywing butterfly (Erynnis brizo) drowsy. The tiny Grapevine Epimenis moth (Psychomorpha epimenis) was resting, too. The Eastern Comma butterflies (Polygonia comma) flutter away when I approach, and the numerous Falcate Orangetips (Anthocharis midea) are much too swift for me, as you can see in the video.
As I noted in my last post, the warm weather had brought out the flies, as well as the butterflies. I discovered that several deer were fighting the heat and the flies by resting in the cool damp bottom of the ravine on the side of the meadow. Of course, they come out to eat!
And now the sun is starting to come out, too. I have to take my garbage and recycling to the landfill before I walk, so I’ll leave you with this for now.
And this bonus, if you’ve read this far!
P.S. It’s hard to record while cupping your hands around your mouth!
French Broad Hollow Ramble 