IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE - Our neighbors on Timbertop Road have decorated the apple trees in their yard.

PONDING - Late Fall reflections in our little pond.

In a 1984 paper in Animal Behavior, David Sherry reported the results of lab experiments which demonstrated that black-capped chickadees can not only remember where they have stored seeds, but also which caches they have already eaten, which caches they have discovered eaten by other animals, and which caches contain their favorite food items. Sherry also found that chickadees can remember the locations of their caches for 28 days after they have created them.

- Young deer looking for something  "special" to eat in our yard...how about those ears? ;-)

FALL COLOR ON THE GRIDLEY - The famous New England fall foliage always starts along the water...the Gridley River near our house is a reliable place to  see early fall color.

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NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK - Newly hatched Heron chicks in a nest on the beaver pond. Another nest on the beaver pond has Heron chicks a couple of weeks older and much bigger. These little fuzz-heads have some catching up to do.

HOME ALONE - Heron chicks are big enough to be left alone in the nest while the parents hunt. They  grow really quickly but require constant feeding.

PEEK-A BOO BOO - A yearling Black Bear peeks into the yard on a beautiful May morning in New Hampshire. Young black bears stay with their mother  for about a year and a half...but then are "encouraged" to strike out on their own. This cub was almost certainly here with it's mother a few months ago and remembered our yard as a possible food opportunity. Now that nice weather is here - we're in the yard more and can catch little Boo Boo coming.

THROW ME SOME SHADE - Adult Heron shades her nest on a 90+ degree day on the beaver pond. A couple of Herons have hatched their chicks, but the ones still sitting on eggs needed some shade during an especially hot May day. 

CHICKS - Heron chicks growing every day...keeping an eye on them as they grow.

JUST IN FROM BALTIMORE - Actually, Baltimore Orioles spend winters in Central and South America, but migrate north in Spring to breed.  Like most migrating birds, males arrive first - and we have two males competing around the grape jelly feeder for position before the females arrive.

Near the site of a shut-down nuclear power plant...the eagles hunt in the calm water above the dam that provided cooling water for the power plant.

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ADAPTABLE - We have been watching a Tufted Titmouse with an injured leg for several weeks - and have been amazed at how well it goes about eating and getting by with only one good leg. Nature adapts!

FIRST FLAKES TO FLY - Blue Jay in the first snow flakes to fall in the big storm coming today.

FROST STAR - Hoar Frost on the Brook. Hoarfrost is dew-drops deposited and frozen into ice crystals to form a white deposit on an exposed surface when the air is cold and moist. We've had plenty of COLD and moist in New Hampshire lately. 

OH FOGGY NIGHT - With the year it has been...it is appropriate that 2021 goes out in a fog. Here's to 2022 bringing bright, sunny days.

EAT 

ASPEN - Big tooth Aspen leaf holds rain from recent rains.