We looked out the window the other morning and had to laugh. There was a squirrel walking around on the ice that had formed on our birdbath, looking for a drink of water. Oh dear! We had put our birdbath heater away too soon!
We thought, perhaps, that spring was almost here and the nights would not freeze anymore, but we were sorely mistaken as you can see this squirrel skating on our birdbath!
Our motion detector lights went on last night and there were two beautiful Whitetail deer meandering through our yard. Such a sight to see wildlife so close by.
Then, this morning about 7:30 AM Phil yelled, “Come see this!” There in the backyard were the 2 Whitetail deer munching from our bird feeders, one at each feeder. At first we thought, “How cute.” After about 10 minutes of watching them inhale about 5″ of the bird seed out of each feeder we thought “This is cute, but we are going to go broke as those are shelled sunflower seeds they are inhaling!”
Priceless, don’t you think?
Boat Meadow Creek has frozen over in the past few days. When we were driving by yesterday morning we saw something large on the ice and we had no idea what it was. I got out of the car to investigate (hope you enjoy the whole story with photographs).
It was a Harp Seal that was resting on the ice. According to volunteer Andrea Spence, soon to be an intern at IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), Harp seals migrate from the Arctic and are very comfortable on ice and ice packs. As long as they are moving and stretching, they are fine. This seal was doing both. It must have made its way up the creek from Cape Cod Bay, maybe before it was frozen over. (We’ve kayaked this part of Boat Meadow Creek in the summer and this is a long way up the creek from Cape Cod Bay.)
“IFAW is a global non-profit organization that protects animals and the places they call home.” Andrea is based out of IFAW in Yarmouth Port, MA and helps to monitor marine mammal rescue and research. She was very informative as I clicked away.
You can see by the photos that this guy was quite at home on the ice. I especially like the photo where his back flippers form a heart.
Quite a surprise for a Sunday morning as you can see me photographing the seal from the bridge! Have you ever seen a Harp Seal?
Every once in a while we see some deer or other wildlife in our yard here on Cape Cod. It is such a treat! This deer was with 4 others and hung out for a while.
I guess we got pretty spoiled when we lived in Colorado with the Elk and Bighorn Sheep grazing in our yard. Sometimes they would fall asleep on our driveway. What a sight to behold.
We are thrilled when we see any wildlife here on the Cape. Last night we saw 2 huge Coyotes saunter through our yard. Maybe they’ll come sometime during the day so I can get a good photograph!
I’ve seen quite a few of these Yellow-legged Meadowhawk dragonflies in the past few weeks, but they have never landed long enough for me to get a photograph. This one was on the side of the trail going from Doane Rock to Coast Guard Beach. It’s a gorgeous hike.
This Yellow-legged Meadowhawk is reddish-brown with a reddish-orange thorax. It’s wings are clear and its legs are yellowish. They are very common late in the season.
Look at that little face! Wow!!
There were so many seals 2 days ago in the shallow waters along the shores of Coast Guard Beach, part of the National Seashore. They were hanging out in pods of 5-10 seals, either swimming around or relaxing together.
This guy made his “seal sound” just as we clicked away. Phil got the best photograph!
Funny, don’t you think?
