At least this one made it

My dad had bluebirds nesting in a house on his land. The birds had successfully hatched their chicks and had been feeding them regularly.

One day when I was with him my dad asked me to check the nest. So I walked over and opened the bird house door to look inside.

The good news was that this fledgling eastern bluebird was inside the house.

The bad news was that its four nest mates were dead and the nest was soaking wet.

It had stormed and rained heavily a day or two earlier and apparently the water got blown into the house and onto the young bluebirds.

I carefully took the live fledgling from the house and then cleaned out the wet nest and dead birds. The little bluebird looked pretty rough and there were no adults around so I couldn't tell if it had been abandoned or not.

I decided to take the baby bird and get some meal worms and see if it would eat.

I googled bluebirds and learned what I should try to do. Once I got the worms from a local bait shop I offered one to the baby bird. It wouldn't eat, but it did poop.

I took that poop to mean that it had been fed by its parents fairly recently. I got some tissues to use as bedding in the now empty birdhouse and took the bluebird back home.

 

I put the tissues and baby bird back in the house and closed the door. Then my dad and I waited to see if the adult birds would come to the nest.

It was less than a minute before an adult male bluebird landed on the birdhouse and then went inside. When he came out he went to the ground, caught an insect and went right back inside the house to feed the baby bird.  We watched for about ten more minutes as the male bluebird continued to catch and deliver food for its baby in the house.

It didn't feel so great to have four bluebirds dead in the house but I was glad one made it. We checked on the little bird the next day and it looked and acted much healthier. A few days later when we checked the bird had already fledged and was no longer in the house.

My kingdom for a tree frog

Several years ago I found a gray tree frog at my parents house in northern Wisconsin. I tried but wasn't able to make any decent images of that frog.

Since then I kept hoping to get another chance. Last week I finally got my chance. I found another gray tree frog and photographed the heck out of it.

I really love the color and expressiveness of this little frog.

 

 

Though it's called a gray tree frog this one was a beautiful shade of green.

 

One of the greatest features about tree frogs are their feet. They seem to stick to almost anything with their specialized toes and feet.

 

 

After I made these images I took the frog back to the spot where I had found him.

Here the frog seems to effortlessly cling to the side of a maple tree.  

A few more fawn photos

I was in northern Wisconsin and spotted this white-tailed deer doe nursing her new fawn. I didn't have my camera with me so I went to get it.

Once I had my camera in hand I approached the deer hoping to get some photos. The doe ran off and the fawn quickly dropped to the ground and lay prone.

After a short while the little deer got up and ran into the woods. With some diligent searching I was able to locate it again, this time in its new and improved hiding place.

It had been more than twenty years since I last found and photographed a fawn this small, so I was feeling really lucky to have the opportunity again.

I quietly talked to the deer while I worked to get some good photos.

The fawn was laying in a small woods mostly in the shadows.

The sun was getting low on the horizon and every now and then a little light would filter through the trees and fall on the bedded deer.

Just before leaving, I took this last photo and thanked the fawn for its patience. About twenty minutes later I went back to see if the fawn was gone and it was. The doe had returned and the two of them had walked off.

It's Been Awhile

It had been more than ten years since I had gotten close to a new born white-tailed deer fawn in the wild. And more than twenty years since I was able to make any photos of one. A few days ago my luck changed and I got to spend some time with the fawn above.

I spotted the small fawn standing with it's mother and went to get my camera. On my approach, the doe ran off and her fawn dropped to the ground and lay there. Being motionless is a young fawn's primary defense. 

Just after birth the doe licks her fawn clean and make it as scent free as possible. The fawn then lays in a sheltered location and rests while its mother eats or rests nearby. The doe moves away from the fawn so it doesn't draw the attention of any possible predators.

As I approached the fawn I talked quietly to it and worked quickly to get the photos I desired and limit the stress on the little deer. After I finished photographing the baby white-tail I left, and it was still lying motionless in the grass at the edge of the woods. About twenty minutes later I went back to where the fawn had been laying and it was gone.

What a great evening in northern Wisconsin. This was the second new born fawn I had been close to in about a week and this time I was able to get some pictures. Talk about good luck.