I hung out in the back yard for a bit on Christmas Day and snapped a few pictures of the backyard wildlife. This Tufted Titmouse stopped by for some fast food:

… to go:

And he wasn’t the only really small bird. This Chickadee was on the alert:

These folks (Mourning Dove and Blue Jay) stopped by the see what was going on:


Meanwhile, out on the lake, it’s pretty much the winter season. This Seagull is far from the coast, but that’s not unusual for this time of year:

One of the geese seems to be off to a rough start to winter, but she seemed to be flying just fine, even if minus a few flight feathers:

The weather cleared up just in time this weekend to get in some flying. I think this is Rainbow Falls, near Jones Gap, SC (click on the picture and zoom into the full-res image):

while clouds hung on over the Smokie Mountains:

I know this is a “creature feature” and you don’t see any creatures in those last two pictures, but I’m sure they’re in there somewhere. Some would consider the planet itself a creature (check out the “Powers That Be” series of books by Ann McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough for a story of a planet that really does fit that description).

It’s quiet out on the lake now with the seasons changing. Many summer residents have fled south, and the year-rounders are hunkering down for the coming winter. Still, though, there’s plenty going on as “business as usual” continues for many.

At first I thought a bit of vegetation had gotten lodged on the trash can by the house. This, of course, is exactly what this creature, a walking stick, wanted us to believe.

One of the things I found interesting about the Space Shuttle (RIP) is how it transitions from a space vehicle, to an aircraft, and eventually to a ground vehicle. Birds do something similar in transitioning from a flier to a pedestrian, completely changing shape and how they move. Most birds, of course, do not go into space often. (obligatory Great Blue Heron picture)

It was a cool, breezy day on the lake, one that many of the resident geese figured would be good to curl up with a good book … or, just curl up.

But other birds were busy with “business as usual”. Here some crows are takin’ it to a hawk, who was definitely not where she was wanted.

The crows met up later to discuss the matter.

Fall in the Carolina Piedmont is characterized by pleasantly warm days and cool nights. With the water still warm from the summer, this leads to steam fog:
We can probably expect more of that as the season progresses.
This Osprey was out early catching breakfast. Mmmmmmmmmm….

“Ok, ready over there? You grab one leg, I’ll grab the other… on three… one… two …”

The seasons are starting to change, and it seemed these Geese were practicing their formation for migration. Hint: remember guys, the idea is to get on top of the the wingtip vortex of the bird ahead of you. Really, a lot of these Geese hang around all year, but they probably like to fly anyway:

When I got up to the end of the lake, there was a large flock of Geese there, just hangin’ out. Then a couple of them took off and headed down the lake, maybe to do a little recon, then came back. This one made a nice landing on the water:

I watched them from a comfortable distance for a while, then they decided to move off down the lake. They checked me out while I was watching the parade:

They left the Killdeer, and a bunch of feathers, behind:

When I got back to my launch/recovery point, there was a Heron hanging around, who checked me out as I approached:

I figured she would just take off as I approached the dock, but instead she just waded off, giving me a chance to get a whole lot of pixels on her (click on the picture to check out the full-res version if you want to count the feathers):

And, no, I really don’t know if that bird was a he or she, but I had to pick some sort of pronoun. Some time I’ll write about the limitations of the English Language, or, as some call it, the Anguish Languish.