Baby Birds, Bunnies, Frogs and Dragonflies

We've been seeing baby bunnies. They have been keeping the weeds trimmed in our small patch of grass out back. We don't mind "weeds" coming up in the grass since our wildlife enjoy the labor of removing them for us.

There's been plenty of evidence that the baby bunnies are nibbling away at many of the plants also. I don't mind sharing, but this morning I found that Peter Rabbit had consumed all of the morning glories I had planted to climb the willow tree.

Look at that sweet face ... do morning glories really matter when you want to be sure that little tummy is full? They'll grow back.

We have had so many baby birds this year. I have literally lost count. I wish I had journaled them. I've been so excited that our habitat has provided for wildlife, especially since a lot of acreage nearby was destroyed last year for a development of homes. Maybe that's why we have had so many crammed into our one acre of Bluebird Cove (what we fondly call our place).

I've been taking tons of photos. Yesterday I downloaded 244 photos and that was from 4 days. I get carried away having a digital, but only 69 of those were keepers. I don't put all of them on our gallery site, but you can see some of the baby birds and other critters in this year's Bluebird Cove 2007 Critters online gallery.

If it's blooms you enjoy, I've been snapping away in the garden also. View the Bluebird Cove 2007 Garden gallery.

Our pond is producing some exciting things also. There are tadpoles growing. The predominant frog this year appears to be the Green Frog. Not as exciting a chorus as the American Toads, but combine them with the tree frogs and I fall asleep smiling.

This year I discovered dragonfly larvae. I scooped it up in a small strainer and thought it was a leech or something weird. So glad I took a photo and realized what it was when I could magnify it.

Nice to know we're producing those beautiful creatures to flutter around with the butterflies. Our pond is only 4' x 8' so I get so tickled at how small a habitat you can build and still make a big difference for wildlife. View photo album of the pond project.

With all of that life about me, it's hard to think of the reality that wildlife has to struggle now and then. We named one of this year's baby squirrels, Scrawny Tail, because her tail dragged behind her and was barely an inch wide. That didn't keep her from enjoying the food and special treats she got. Read the entire Scrawny Tail Story.