Petting Zoo and Charlie’s Report

1. At a Festival in Stephens City.

2. Charlie’s Report

Hi! Here I am the dog park in Strasburg. No dog friends came to play, so I ran around a while and then we left.

On the way home, Mom drove on a small road and look what we saw!

Mom said a man carved that face in a dead tree. It looks strange to me.

In Toms Brook

Other than that, I didn’t go far from home. I did get to see Sadie a few times. We like to walk together.

One evening, Mom and I were walking, and we saw a deer in our neighbor’s yard!

Sometimes when we are on our deck, we hear buzzy things. Mom calls them hummingbirds. They are small, and they buzz away as soon as they see me.

Well, that’s all I can think of. The weather has been nice.

Ruby Throated Hummingbirds

My birdfeeder camera captured some hummingbird images this week. These are ruby-throated hummingbirds, but only the male has the brilliant red throat. The female, however, is slightly larger.

The male appears to beat his wings constantly, and even on the videos, he is usually blurred.

Birds and Alternate Versions

When I was leaving the place that I showed in yesterday’s post, I noticed this tall tree with crows perched on the upper branches. I snapped a few pictures, so below is an alternate shot, which I cropped for a closer look.

Next we see a bird that I noticed when I was walking Charlie. It was singing, and was shaped like a robin, but I wasn’t positive until I cropped and lightened an alternate picture. I usually try to take two pictures of a subject in case one of them is blurred. This also gives me an extra shot for experimenting.

Red Cardinal Plus a Butterfly

My bird camera doesn’t capture many birds in the summer because I don’t feed them. I do furnish water though, and sometimes they visit the birdbath for it.

This is a male northern cardinal. It was captured on video, but I prefer to publish still shots. I tried a couple of apps that are supposed to grab stills from video, but found them complicated. I went back to pausing the action to capture screenshots on my iPad. Then I cropped them in the Photos app. 

 

The cardinal happened to visit in the rain, which makes the images even less sharp than video images usually are. To make up for this, I’m republishing a favorite picture of a cardinal from several years ago. This was taken in early spring after a late snowfall.

This butterfly visited my garden on Friday. I think it is a silvery checkerspot. It is considered rare in the northeastern states, but not uncommon in Virginia. 

Taking Peggy to the Mountains

My sister said she misses the mountains, so of course we went to Shenandoah National Park. 

Here she is at Dickey Ridge. I liked the pose so much I switched to “Portrait mode” and stepped closer.

We went in the Visitor Center so she could buy a postcard and were lucky enough to catch a screening of a film about the CCC. Then we looked at the exhibits, plus we caught part of a ranger talk.

Models of birds include a ruffed grouse, a screech owl, and a falcon.

I did not get pictures of real birds except for one flying in the distance. I think it was a crow.

I was delighted to see a monarch butterfly.

As usual, I took too many pictures for one post, so I’ll close with a trio of wildflowers. 

Sharing with Mosaic and Bird Linkups

Grumpy Beagle and More

Hi, Charlie here! Sometimes I wake up grumpy. I don’t stay that way; it’s just a waking up thing.

 I like taking walks, especially when Miss Deborah brings Sadie. But I don’t like leaving my mom. She should come with us! 
 

I don’t have pictures of a lot of different animals to show you today. Here’s a robin. We hear birds all the time, but most of them are hiding up in the trees.

I saw Tripod a couple times, but he didn’t come close enough for a picture. One time he was under our deck in the shade and he wouldn’t come out at all. Another time he was sitting on his own porch and didn’t want to come play. Mom made a pretend picture of a yellow cat like him.

On Monday, I had to stay at day boarding. Here’s a friend bringing me out when Mom came to take me home. Usually I walk out, but I like being picked up.

We went to Riley Park twice this week. The first time we just went to the picnic area and we didn’t stay long because a storm was coming. The next time we went to the playground area.

I visited Sadie a couple of times this week.

Today Mom put up a new garden flag. The squirrel is different from the squirrels in our yard. They are gray.

I will close with a picture of me in my mom’s hat.

Cardinal and Lanternfly

This Northern Cardinal appeared in my yard and I grabbed a picture with my cell phone. I hoped to get a clearer shot but it flew away.

I’m pleased that I accidentally caught it in flight.

There’s a connection between the cardinal and the spotted lanternfly. Cardinals are among the birds that have been seen eating spotted lanternflies, an invasive insect that is considered a pest. 

Links: Birds eat Spotted Lanternflies

Wild Bird Wednesday