Nine Lives, Plus A Few

I am not much of a cat person.  I am allergic to them.  I do not necessarily like them as an inside pet because of my allergies and the enormous amount of hair they shed.  However, Ruby, the cat that resides at my mother's house is one cat I sort of actually like.  Ruby has definitely outlived her nine lives.  As an outdoor cat, her fourteen-plus years of life, while not a record, are still pretty impressive.  I do not think she even realizes she is a cat, as she acts more like a dog.  She seems to be still in pretty good health though she is a bit slower these days.  It will be a sad day when she finally dies, but for now she just keeps going.

Fenner Fawns

Busy Beavers

I found these gnawed of stumps of small trees along a stream in the Upper Peninsula along which I was searching for dragonfly habitat.  I am not sure where the beavers are building their dam, but it was not anywhere along the mile of stream I had walked. 

Oh, Deer!

Squirrels

The Ones That Got Away

Momma Deer And Her Fawn, Winter Edition

I happened upon a doe grooming her fawn today at Fenner Nature Center.  I captured this moment only yards away from where I photographed a doe nuzzling a much smaller fawn earlier this past summer.  I have no way of knowing whether they are the same two deer, as there were several does with fawns at Fenner this year, but part of me wants to believe they are.

Pineapple Squirrel

This squirrel found a discarded top to a pineapple in our compost pile.  He struggled to haul it to the top of a nearby tree to nibble away at it.  He dropped it a couple times and had to climb all the way down to grab it and then scurry back up to the top.

Momma Deer And Her Fawns

I photographed this mother deer and her fawns at Fenner Nature Center on Saturday.  Initially, I had not planned on stopping, but I realized that I had some extra time on my hands that afternoon and popped in for a short jaunt around the park.  I snapped a few photos, but nothing really sparked my interest until I was nearly out of the woods on my way back to the car.  I heard some rustling in front of me and then I caught a glimpse of one of the fawns.  I slowly approached them as they continued to forage in the brush with utmost disinterest in me.  Most of time, the deer at Fenner, despite having become accustomed to close human proximity, only allow you to get just so close before their instincts take over and they bound away.  These fawns and the mother deer did not seem to care about my nosiness and let me get very close.  They eventually wandered away into some thicker brush, but allowed me to take a number of photos and a bit of video first.  The mother deer kept licking the faces of both of the fawns (see the video below), which provided for some cute photos.

Plucky Little Fawn

I felt so bad for this little fawn the other night when I encountered it at Fenner.  Its face was all scraped up and he had a big bloody gash on his neck that I airbrushed away.  I assume it had a tussle with a dog from the looks of the injuries.  It seemed to scamper along with its mom fairly easily, so it probably will be okay in the long run.

Up North Flora & Fauna

Scruffy Looking Buck

Peek-A-Boo

Chipmunk

I've Got This Gnawing Feeling...

Now that the snow has disappeared for a few more months, evidence of the harsh weather litters the forest floor.  The bone above and tree limb below show the little teeth marks of the critters that gnawed them this winter to get nourishment.  I have seen bones nibbled like this before, but this winter was the first I have seen such widespread signs of animals munching on tree bark.

Spring Snake

Polar Bear

It was a cold winter...

Black And White Rhino

Lazy Day At The Zoo