Saturday, November 7, 2009

The First Week of November's Critters

Our weather has been mild for the last week, with highs in the upper fifties and sixties. The squirrels have been scampering about, but not when I've had my camera out. The weekend is supposed to be very nice, and I hope to get more garden clean up done.

When I was editing my bloom photos for Friday, I noticed this insect of some kind on the rue.


People have been seeing large numbers of the Asian ladybugs, but I have only seen this one that fell to the floor and disappeared after I tried to pick it up with a paper towel to put back outside.



I was glad to see the bees out and about.






I noticed there is at least one robin still here. I'm not sure what the other bird is, but it may be a grackle.



The above was written yesterday, Friday. When I looked out the window this morning, I saw a blue jay, so I went out to try to get a photo. I did get one, but it was blurry, so I walked around and took a few more photos.

I frequently eat apples in the car on my way home from work. This one wasn't very good, so I put it in the yard over a week ago for the critters. I've seen other things on it, but this morning, it just looks like the ants are enjoying it. Last week, our grandson saw it when we were outside, pointed to it, and said, "Yuck!"



I saw another robin and heard several kinds of birds this morning, including crows, but didn't get any shots, so went around taking pics of the various nests in ours and the nearest neighbors' trees. I assume the largest ones belong to squirrels. Can you tell what kinds of birds these belong to?






Oh, and a squirrel came over to scold me, but it was too dark for most of the photos to turn out. Also, the tail was a blur in most of them. ;o)

Click on the Camera Critters button in the sidebar to see more critter posts.

17 comments:

  1. Now that the leaves are falling, I think the birds and squirrels are looking for new places to shelter away from hawks, etc. There doesn't seem to be as many.

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  2. Great photo os your critters. i think the nest made of leaves belong to the squirrels, some might also be crows nest?

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  3. I think your robins must have come to visit me - I had around 50 one day last week. Just passing through, though.

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  4. send me some robins -- ohhhh the ganzias !!

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  5. Hi Sue~~ I'm surprised by your mild weather. I bet you and your camera critters are enjoying it. Especially the bees.

    For years there was nary an ant to be seen in my area but the last five years or so we've been taken over by the tiny sugar ants. Sometimes they'll come inside but mostly they hide under rocks and gross me out when I unwittingly discover them. I'm not a fan.

    I wonder if a few of those birds nests are built by owls.

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  6. The bees are very active here too. Tons of bumblees, honeybees, and Carpenter Bees.

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  7. Hello,

    I love your friendly squirrel ;)

    The nest is interesting looking, but I have not idea what type of bird made it.

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  8. Lots of great pics of critters!

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  9. You have lots of life left in your garden. We are getting hundreds of the Asian Beetles, I tried putting them back outside but they keep getting back in :). You can smell them in the air outside.

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  10. There are plenty of birds here and scolding squirrels, too. Lots of birds stay here for the winter, but Sue, I can't capture them either...I will have to wait by the feeder to get a decent shot. gail

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  11. Great photos of all your wild critters. Amazing what you can find right outside your door. ~ Calico Contemplations

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  12. I love to look for nests when the leaves have left the trees.

    I would guess rooks for the nests that high in the trees.....I cannot tell the ones lower down as you have different species to us. If they were in UK I would guess blackbirds and thrushes......


    Lovely to see the bees.....mine have left this weekend and I miss them already.....

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  13. The rotten apple photo really made me smile. How kind of you to put out a snack for the ants:)

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  14. I came to know that Asian ladybird seemed to be like a plague invading people's houses during the cold season. very sad to note this, also sad to note that many of these dies in the cold, wonder how did these ever manage the winter and continue surviving for the next season. So kind of you to put this one out in the garden.

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  15. Thanks for all the comments. I think I have visited all your blogs. We had very mild temps this weekend, and I had other things that I had to do that prevented me from doing as much gardening as I wanted to. I did get to enjoy it some, though.

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  16. Hi Sue, I'm belatedly getting round blogs again, and intrigued to see bees still out with you. I have an image of Nebraska being very cold in the winter, but certainly this autumn the seasons have been all over the place.

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  17. I envy your weather. It has been raining for about two weeks now. bleh. I love that little asian beetle. Of course it isn't eating one of my plants either. I also really admire that stripey flower. quite pretty.

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