Black and Yellow Garden Spider

I had seen one of these spiders two years ago, near my mailbox. This year, one appeared under the light outside our garage....a great place to collect bugs.

I fist saw the spider August 17th after we had been away for a week.

Over the next 10 days, the spider got fatter and fatter. This picture was taken on August 27th. 

Then, a few days later I went out and the spider and the web were gone. In it's place was this thing that I feared might be an egg sac.

I called Tim out to look at it and he found the spider nearby with a new web. Just to be safe he removed the sac. Good thing, too because a little we research showed that this sac probably contains 1000 eggs. Though I don't mind spiders too much, I would not like to be swarmed with 1000 of them so close to the garage. 

Details of this spider on Wikipedia

Easter Fox

Today is Easter and a fox was hanging out in our yard.

 

And he caught a mouse and ate it.

March 24 - the next round of bloom

Every week in Virginia spring  something new is blooming. This week the redbud (a purple tree) started blooming everywhere. Some of my iris are blooming, the pansies planted last fall are back to life and full of flowers. Wild violets fill the field near the river.

I saw a Blue Heron (#16) and the Chirping Sparrow (#17) is back at the feeder.

Spring is starting

I've been gone for a week but was happy to see some of the spring trees starting to blossom. There are white trees in bloom on the golf course (I think these are ornamental pear) and my neighbor's cherry trees are starting to bloom.

The new bird for this weekend is the Common Grackle (#15)

Robin Red-breast

American Robbin

Dark-eyed Junco in the Frosty Grass

Dark-eyed junco

House Finch

House finch

Bunnies

Easter must be coming soon because I'm seeing the rabbits hopping along the fenceline in the morning.

Birds in the yard

Today there is a lot of bird activity out the back windows. I've seen:
American Robin (#7)
Blue Jay (#8)
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco (#9)
Northern Mockingbird (#10)
House Finch (#11)
House Sparrow (#12)
Mourning Dove (#13)
Red winged Blackbird (#14)
Black-capped Chickadee

Hawk

I think this is a red-tailed hawk (#6). It's very large. It has been coming through our yard every day in the early morning. It has a very regimented routine - going to the same trees at the same time each day, then moving on down toward the road in the later morning.

Early Morning Deer

Pictures by Tim Taylor

The Big Year

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/

On the plane back from San Francisco today, I watched the movie "The Big Year". I really enjoyed it - it's about a contest where you focus on seeing as many different species of birds as you can during one calendar year. I see so many different birds just on my property, that I have the urge now to list them and count them here.

Some real birders:
http://www.bigyear2011.com/

Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse (#5) 

Groundhog Day

Apparently Groundhog day is on January 29th in Virginia. The groundhogs have been hibernating since November, but today one came out, walked around a bit, looked for his shadow (which was there) and went back underground.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker (#4) I have seen this girl a lot, but had a hard time snapping a picture of her.

Black capped Chicakdee

Black-capped Chicakadee (#3)

Blue Jay

Blue Jay (#2) 

Cardinal

Cardinals are prettiest when there is a little white snow. I am going to count this as (#1) on my bird count for the year.