We've had a long run of below normal temperatures lately. Here's a look back at some pictures from warmer days.
Let's start with this photo from May, which I forgot to include in my Spring Photos post:
It's a squirrel on our squirrel-proof bird feeder! Wendy snapped the photo when she got home from work one day. We think the squirrel got lucky; maybe it jumped from the pole and just happened to snag one of the food holes. We've never seen any squirrels on the feeder since. It gnawed at one of the food holes pretty good and make it a bit wider. I was disappointed that the feeder is no longer squirrel-proof, even if it was a one-time occurrence.
A few days before July 4th, I went for an evening walk around our neighborhood and spotted these patriotic bunnies:
On a hot July 4th, I went for a walk at Moraine Hills State Park, and spotted 4 sandhill cranes cooling off in the shade:
During a walk around the neighborhood one evening, we spotted an egret:
Here's a dead bird at our bird feeder:
That's right, it's a dead bird. I'm still scratching my head over how this happened. I went to refill the the bird feeder and noticed this bird didn't fly away. I soon realized it was dead. Not only did it mysteriously die, it somehow managed to wedge its head into the food hole so firmly that it stuck there. I had to shake the feeder fairly hard to get the bird dislodged. Then I thoroughly washed out the feeder and let it sit on the deck for a few days to dry out before I hung it back up. Weird.
In my Spring Photos post I mentioned we saw a black squirrel while on a hike. It must have followed us back home, because for a few weeks we kept seeing a black (or nearly black) squirrel in our yard, collecting the scraps of food the birds dropped:
About a month ago I was driving home and found the road in our neighborhood blocked by a bunch of geese. It was almost as if they were announcing the start of fall, which began a few days later.
Bonus mental picture!
One night a month or so ago, I was upstairs in the office. The window was open, and I heard an odd sound come from outside. I turned off the light, and peeked out the window. I saw a raccoon standing on its hind legs, looking longingly up at the bird feeder. It wasn't nearly tall enough to reach it. After a moment, it dropped down to all fours, and wandered away.