Great Horned Owl visits meadow....Was looking out the window several days ago and saw this large bird fly into the top of my White Cedar tree. Thought it was a hawk ,but when I viewed it through the video camera, saw the ear -tufts. Have seen it once before this year,in early morning. Many years ago,the land adjacent to where we live was a large turkey farm. I worked for the owners ,as a kid, once a year a great horned would come thru the area and destroy a large amount of birds,sometimes 50 or so.Black & white was used to eliminate the red fringes in the color video capture. 

Tired Buck lies down at edge of meadow..... this buck was herding two does. Have not seen  a buck lie down during the rut, but this guy simply flopped down for 2-3min. for a quick rest. He was approx. 50 ft. from the house,being gun season starts in 5 days , and his carelessness, I don't expect to see him again!!!!

Size Between Buck and Doe....Photographed this buck and doe in the meadow, and realized the size difference between the two. The doe is approx. 1.5 yrs old, an not of breeding size, in fact the buck ran her off and went the other way. For several years now,I have noticed these yearling ? seem to be highly intrested in the big bucks.

Wild Turkey..Bugging & Seeding.......Had a flock of turkeys in the meadow this morning. They were mostly eating bugs, but I noticed this one stripping grass seed from a thin stalk. Somewhere, I read, that during this process, they create a vacuum ,so they don't drop any seeds. Video from approx. 100 yards

The Rut has Started.....Only see the big bucks, like this one , one time a year. This am the temp was about 38 degrees, a smaller buck was driving 6 does thru the meadow, when this guy showed up. Was in my studio when I saw him,opened the window quietly but he still heard me, came to investigate. Note  the buck keeps the grasses between him and the camera.

Great Blue Heron eyes it's lunch...... was at Shark Valley, Everglades National Park and this guy was catching toads and frogs. Near the visitors center ,but he didn't mind all the people, just hungry.

A Crowd at the Mineral block....... Usually each whitetail takes its turn at the block, a status order, however today the doe and fawns are all in the pit together. Doe is licking nose with tongue, after licking block, also look at the spots along the backbone of the nearest fawn, I guess the last spots to disappear.

Classic Whitetail in the Fall....The does are looking good this time of year, eating a lot of acorns, high in fats and protein . The herd size seems to be increasing in number, I assume because of the onset of winter and the rut.

Fungus in Deep Woods.......

Now that the winter wood is cut and split, I have time to look for photo opts. There is something about the deep woods in the morning or evening when the suns rays are highly angled,and uses an opening in the foliage as an aperture. Such is the Fungus photo, high key subject and almost completely dark edges with a few splashes of green.

 Fall -Yellow  Color is a favorite  of mine..... found this Fungus growing on a tree about 12 feet off the ground, at first, thought it was a wild canary hanging on the bark ( remember my eyes have been used hard for 76 yrs.) Don't know much about fungus, except most are brightly colored.  Moss Rose (bottom photo) is what I call a happy flower, just pleasant to look at.