Our allotment robins have chicks. I know this because birds which, a week ago, wouldn’t come within five meters of me when I was digging (and thus turning up delicious worms and grubs) will now all but sit on the spade as I’m using it. Today one was hanging around inside the polytunnel where I was clearing out beds; then it got itself trapped at the closed end of the tunnel and I couldn’t shoo it out. There will be more close encounters over the next few weeks.
j
I saw this rather rotund lizard on the porch last night. However, I don’t know what it is! It looks similar to a Texas spiny lizard, but I don’t think we get those here in North Florida. Anyone have an idea? It was about four inches long.
Many red kites over the north Norfolk countryside this weekend.
Also more hares than I remember ever seeing before, and much more unexpected, a stoat crossing the path in broad daylight.
It IS similar to a Texas spiny lizard - they’re in the same large genus Sceloporus and all of the spiny lizards are somewhat similar looking. This one is Sceloporus undulatus, the widespread eastern fence lizard. The version in northern Florida was also sometimes referred to as the southern fence lizard (S. undulatus undulatus).
Thanks! Well, it’s welcome to hang around here and eat all the ants it cares to.
Mother bear and two cubs.
Wow! Lucky you.
1st wood warbler of the spring, Bay Breasted, thick dark orange stripe along the flank dark orange head. Annnd this is before I head out this afternoon to my fave birding spot in the entire Cleveland area…
Mother bear and three cubs in our backyard. When I called (too loudly) for my wife to come look, all three cubs climbed up different pine trees while mom waited and paced for a while below. Then mom went up a pine to retrieve a high-climbing cub, and one of the other cubs climbed down from a different tree and followed mom up after the first cub. They all put on a really nice climbing exhibition for us for about ten minutes before all coming down and heading off into the woods. Thanks for the acrobatics!
That’s wonderful! I mean, I’m glad there’s no bears in my backyard, but it would be something special to see.
When we first moved to Black Mountain NC a few years ago, I was startled and unnerved by my first close black bear encounter. Since that time we have had bears many times in our yard, I have encountered bears on the trails and seen bears literally dozens of times along the back roadways. They invariably do not cause problems and have never been a threat. Mostly they are beautiful and always awe-inspiring.
Bears and humans co-exist around here with few troubles. Sometimes bears get into cars and cause damage. Trash bins are raided. Every once in a while, sadly, a bear must be put down after aggressive behavior. In nearby Montreat a “problem” bear was removed a couple of weeks ago after breaking into the same house multiple times. But considering the large number of bears and people here, we all generally get along just fine. I respect black bears but no longer fear them.
Today, standing on Charles Bridge in Prague, we watched a pair of coypu swimming in the Vltava river.
There are enough of them to be a problem these days, apparently.
j
Sandhill crane in the cow pasture. Actually there were three of them, but this one let me get closest.
Very cool! We get sandhill cranes out here in the late fall/winter but not that close to me. It’s a full day trip (at least, these days likelier two so I don’t have to drive home exhausted) for me that I keep forgetting to make the time for. On my list for when I retire in the near future 
.
A wonderful firefly display tonight.
Backstory: Two years ago we moved to western NC. I always take my dog out for a short walk on the dirt road through the woods behind our house before bed. In 2023 just after dusk I found my dog and I in a cluster of fireflies that seemed unusual. First of all they stayed close to the ground in the forest, never rising to more than knee high. Many seemed actually on the ground and not flying at all. Also, they kept a continuous light as opposed to the blinking fireflies I usually see. These fireflies were uniquely on this back road. I assume they are keeping away from lit areas, of course. But I never saw these “ground” fireflies anywhere else other than this one spot in the woods behind our home —though there are other similar unlit stretches in woods nearby. For about 3 or four nights I saw them, and then one day they were all gone. I still saw the occasional normal blinking higher-flying firefly randomly around through early summer. But never again these low-flying yellow non-blinkers. I remembered it was May, but when I looked for them last year-- nothing.
Then two nights ago I saw a few of them again. Last night nothing, but it had just rained.
I went out tonight at 8:45 and saw no fireflies. But when I took the dog out at 9:15, I was treated to an amazing show. I observed just a few until I got on the back road, but then they were everywhere. It was dazzling. I returned to the house and tried to get my wife and sister to come out. My wife had gone to bed already, but I pursuaded my sister and she was deeply impressed. “Like walking through a lane of knee-high swirling Christmas lights,” she said. By 9:45 most of the fireflies were gone, and none remained by 10:00pm. Almost all the fireflies were along this few hundred yard woodland stretch.
We are supposed to get heavy rain for several days starting tomorrow night so I do not know if I will get to see these fireflies again this year. But that sure was a fine show tonight.
I tried googling to determine if this species of fireflies is something rare, but I couldn’'t come up with anything.
This afternoon on my allotment/community garden. Click for full image.
j
Cool! I didn’t realize foxes would be out in the middle of the day.
I see them in the day from time to time, but I haven’t seen one on my new plot before. He/she was no more than eight or ten meters away.
j
Vixens will often go out in the day to collect food for their kits.
At Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve today, a Perigrine Falcon fly-by:
