Backyard Wildlife

Post by **CT_Shooter** » Tue Apr 05, 2016 10:52 am

Frog 016_sm.jpg

Post by **RanchRoper** » Tue Apr 05, 2016 12:40 pm

Wow, how many different shades of green in that photo? Frogs have camo down to a science.

Post by **RetiredSeabee** » Tue Apr 05, 2016 4:00 pm

Nice shot, you have a very healthy pond.

Post by **CT_Shooter** » Tue Apr 05, 2016 4:08 pm

RetiredSeabee wrote:... you have a very healthy pond.

Thanks. It's eleven years old this summer and has been a labor of love! It's also home to hundreds of Golden Shiners, descendants of the original dozen that we liberated from a bait shop.

Catherine · Post by **Catherine** » Wed Apr 06, 2016 3:15 am

Great shot!

I agree with the other posters here with their comments too.

Thank you.

Cate

Post by **CT_Shooter** » Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:45 am

A Green Heron.

This beautiful bird was only seen here once. It ate a few shiners and walked around the pond for several minutes. As you can see, it's coloring isn't actually green and we had to scan our bird books to identify it. We'd never seen one before; and we've never seen one since. Glad I got pictures!

Green_Heron_sm.jpg

Green_Heron2_sm.jpg

Green_Heron_Flying_sm.jpg

Post by **PT7** » Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:51 am

Shades of Walden's Pond -- if only he had had your camera, CT_Shooter, to capture the "Life in the Woods."

Neat backyard pond, and glad you enjoy it so much.

Post by **Sir Henry** » Sun Apr 10, 2016 10:43 am

New pictures. I almost missed them.

Post by **Vaquero** » Sun Apr 10, 2016 10:59 am

Nice pics.

Deadwood Dutch · Post by **Deadwood Dutch** » Sun Apr 10, 2016 12:03 pm

Nice photos, thanks for sharing.

Post by **RanchRoper** » Sun Apr 10, 2016 12:51 pm

Really nice.

Post by **Nam Vet** » Sun Apr 10, 2016 1:24 pm

Great looking pond. Thanks for sharing the photos.

Post by **clovishound** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 12:29 pm

Blue tailed skink. A common reptile in our area.

Post by **CT_Shooter** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 1:17 pm

Great shot! I've never seen one before. Thanks.

Deadwood Dutch · Post by **Deadwood Dutch** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 2:08 pm

Cool photo, I haven't seen any like that since I was down in Guantanamo Bay Cuba where we used to have little green ones like that running around the barracks.

Post by **CT_Shooter** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 4:13 pm

More backyard pond creatures engaging in life...

On the verge of tadpoles.jpg

Post by **PT7** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 5:04 pm

You guys sure do the animals & pond pics proud.

Very nice photography!!

Post by **RanchRoper** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 8:46 pm

clovishound wrote:

Blue tailed skink. A common reptile in our area.

Great shot.

Post by **RanchRoper** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 8:47 pm

CT_Shooter wrote:More backyard pond creatures engaging in life...
On the verge of tadpoles.jpg

Bumper to bumper traffic in the pond too? Oh man....

Post by **CT_Shooter** » Thu May 05, 2016 6:23 pm

I've tried for four years to keep a honeybee hive, but I finally gave up. Mine is what's known as a Topbar hive, one of the most natural of hive types and used worldwide; I built it myself using well established plans and materials. Each year the bees go into the winter with the hive full of honeycombs and brood and each year they're all dead in the spring. Once, they all died in late November inside of a single week. I've never taken more than a taste of their honey, leaving it for them to survive the winter. I also feed them sugar in the late fall. When I bring them to the hive in spring, they build ten to fifteen combs in just a few weeks, then begin to fill them with honey, pollen, and brood. I've read everything there is to know about caring for them, but each year more than 50% of all honeybee hives in the U.S. die. It breaks my heart that mine is among that sad statistic. Pesticides, especially systemic types that are in genetically modified crops, are a part of the problem. There are mites that can also destroy hives, but that's mostly controllable. There's nothing one can do about pesticides that end up in the pollen and honey. I may try again, but I'm leaving the hive empty for now, hoping a swarm will find it and move in.

honeybee_on_clover.jpg

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