timberdoodles

Large numbers of woodcock usually arrive in Louisiana in winter. I can often find evidence of them by searching for the small holes that they make in wet areas as they search for food. In recent years it has been difficult to find them because drought conditions in winter had left the ground hard and dry. Lost of woodland habitat is probably part of it too.

There have been some heavy winter rains lately, and the fields and bottom woodlands are moist.
So this morning I decided to check out the soaked bottom of the hill and was jolted backwards when 2 woodcock flushed from under my feet!! What a surprise..and what joy to know they are back!

Now I will listen in evening and early morning for their booming displays and wonder if they could possibly nest in my very small damp woods.

deer on frosty morn

It's a love/hate relationship--they come across here every morning --lovely pieces of wildness drifting across like shadows in the dawn. Always a thrill to view them-- and on a frosty morning positively poetic, but the down side is that they have a taste for roses ..vegetables..fruits.. and ornamentals that I have nurtured through drought and hurricane.

These are does and their fawns..some born on the place..we have seen the spotted fawns hidden near brush piles and avoided them on our walks. The bucks are more secretive or maybe have already been thinned out by the hunters--we rarely see them.

pileated woodpecker?

I hear them calling across the place and catch glimpses of them as they fly away, but it is very difficult to sneak up on one and find them at work. Katrina and drought damaged trees are everywhere creating a pileated feast of grubs buried under the bark.

It must be tough to sight an ivory bill if they are as shy as their cousins.

a partial albino robin

Robins are present in good numbers this year searching for grubs and worms in the damp pastures. Yesterday flashes of white coloring caught my eye and closer inspection showed a robin with white wings and lighter coloring. I quickly snapped a few photos--something flew over and the flock flushed and was gone. I have not seen him since.