Wildlife – New England's Narrow Road

Awesome Animals in Nature Photography

bear cub in a tree — Photo by tpsdave at Pixabay

If you’re in the market to view, or use, cute animal photography, I know a place that has many useful images. The photos on this page all came from the Pixabay site, and I think they are some of the cutest animals in nature you’ll see anywhere. And the best thing is that you (or anyone) can use these photos for any purpose. They are in the public domain and can be used for personal or commercial projects / designs.

The photographer who goes by the name “tpsdave” is one of my favorites and he provided this bear cub picture, and the one of the moose. He also offers an array of other types of images which are just as stunning.

LoggaWiggler is another of my favorite photographers with many useful and super cute images at Pixabay, like the one below of fluffy baby geese.

The site is growing with more images added every day and if you are a photographer, why not add some of your pictures to share with the world?

fluffy baby geese swimming — Photo by LoggaWiggler

And last but not least, a cute squirrel photo submitted to Pixabay by yours truly (dustytoes).

Will You Count The Birds For Science?

Chickadees — Image by Oregon State University Archives via Flickr

This is the weekend to help scientists keep track of wild birds as you participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. From February 17th through the 21st, many people throughout the U.S. and Canada will be counting birds at the park, on a hike or in their own yards to help inform the folks at the Cornell Lab of Orinthology and the Audubon Society of what birds are up to. The information is then logged in online (or you can get a paper tally to mail in if you don’t have a computer).
Why should we help? As you can imagine, no one group could possibly keep track of what all the birds are doing, so they enlist the help of bird watchers – expert and not – to help get the information from the various areas of the country. The counts can help with migration answers and tell scientists how the winter has affected the bird population and other useful info.

The count is simple to take part in and will take 15 minutes only, or you can count for longer. All information and answers to questions can be found at their website (link below), but basically what you will do is count the largest number of each type of bird you see at any one time and then report it for that date. An online questionnaire will ask where you are located and what the location is like. Were you at a public garden or in a desert? That type of thing. I used to be part of Project FeederWatch where I counted birds all winter and sent in my counts each week. That is another worthwhile endeavor and I enjoyed it.

On the GBBC site there is a page just for kids and getting young ones interested in birds is a wonderful thing. There is a poster to down load, and a page of photo contest winners.

Don’t worry if you are not an expert at distinguishing which bird is which, they answer that question too, and don’t worry if your birds seem boringly ordinary, they still want to know what you see.

Visit the Great Backyard Bird Count page and get started doing your part for the birds.

Black Bears Leave Their Mark

markings on a tree — Are These Bear Claw Markings?

While walking in the woods with my cats, I came across some signs that the bear or bears had been looking for food.
I know that black bears will tear up dead trees looking for bugs to eat and there are quite a few dead trees in my woods that look as if that is just what happened.
Then I came across this tree where the bark had been stripped off and was lying all around the base of the tree. Upon closer inspection, I also found these horizontal markings in the wood on the tree.
I know there is at least one bear that has a trail of sorts through the woods in that area. I’ve found a valley full of very large boulders back in the woods and have seen the bear myself at the top of the hill, standing in the road.

dead tree bark on the ground — Bark Scattered At The Base Of This Tree

Just this summer my neighbors older kids were up the road in the “bear area” picking blackberries when they were frightened by a baby black bear that came trotting out of the bush.
Knowing that the mama was surely close by, they screamed, dropped their berries and high-tailed it home!
So what do you think, or know, about these markings? They are on a standing, dead tree and are noticeable in many various spots on the tree running horizontally and reaching up about 5 feet. Am I correct in assuming that a bear left these gouges in the tree while ripping off the bark? My other guess would be that insects living inside the tree, underneath the bark, made little tunnels in the wood.

Demanding Squirrels, A Picture Story

My squirrels are crazy…and bold! Once all the seed they can steal from the birds is gone they come looking for more – even if it means coming inside!

: Heading to the food source

: Hello..I need more seeds…

: Don’t worry honey, I’ll find a way in..(his wife is in the background)

: I see how this door opens…

I sit next to the slider most of the day while working on my laptop at the kitchen table
and when I hear the scratching at the door this is what I see.

Maybe I could train them to fill the feeders for me.