Mama Moose

A couple of moose wandered through our yard last week.  They look to have come through the winter quite well and I'm sure they enjoyed the mild winter we had. 

Mama moose appears to be pregnant and will give birth mid May to early June.  

Shortly before she gives birth she's going to chase off last year's calf, who is now close to her size.  That's the calf in the photo below.  It's amazing how much they grow in one year!

I'm linking up with Eileen's Saturday's Critters.

Neighborhood Scenes

Just around the corner, our neighbor's fence is a split rail fence, the kind we see most often here. 

Yesterday the late afternoon light provided a nice scene.  Some tracks led up to the fence and crossed to the other side.  If you look closely you'll see the culprit back by the bushes.

A bull moose was bedded down taking a rest, digesting some of those tasty willows he'd been eating.

A cow was bedded down on the other side of the brush, but well-concealed.  Before long, they'll be up and about, looking for more delicate twigs to munch on. 

More on their meanderings next time.....

I'm linking up with Good Fences

at the Run "A" Round Ranch Report.

I'm also linking up with Gaelyn's Foto Friday Fun #97

with a photo from my archives, Index No. 2799.

It was taken on a trip to Northway, almost to the Canadian border, on May 6, 2011, looking for parts for Marty's '56 Crown Victoria.  The scene is the Tanana River during breakup, with huge chunks of ice and debris floating on the river.

Yummm

March 2011

 Linking to Gaelyn's Foto Friday Fun 93

with my Index No. 72

And because I had so many fun moose photos taken over a period of several days, a few more of my bird feeder raider.

I am also linking with Eileen's Saturday's Critters 56.

Take-offs and Portraits

It's been busy in my backyard lately!  I just loaded Photoshop Elements 11 on my computer, so it's been busy in my office! Here's some of the action.

The Take-offs

The Portraits

PSE11 has changed their setup quite a bit over version 10, and although I have been using PSE for a long time I have a bit of learning to do to find my way around.  Right now I'm just trying to get up to speed on things I already knew how to do, but hopefully soon I'll have it all figured out.  It just takes us old dogs a little longer to learn new tricks......

Speaking of Bird Feeder Thugs.....

Oh, sure, he looks like a sweet thing, young and innocent.

 But the reality is he's one of those unwelcome visitors, a bird feeder thug.  Several people have posted recently about the unwelcome visitors to their feeders:  grackles, starlings, hawks, jays, etc.  Well, here in Fairbanks, as the long winter comes to a close, the moose have used up their reserves and are looking for anything they can find to maintain them until breakup occurs.  For the last several years that includes our bird feeders.  This year we've had a young moose coming for the last few weeks, and he's progressively gotten more thorough, making sure he's gotten all the goodies possible.  These photos were all taken through the kitchen window, which is not exactly clean at this time of year, and also the light was not quite right, so on some of the photos I've added filters to bring out the details.  The feeder below was easy to access.....

.....but this one presented more of a challenge.  First he got most of the seed out by tipping it and shaking it out the bottom, but then he began chewing on the lid when the seed was all gone.

And then there's the ferris wheel feeder.  Hmmmm.......

Ah, yes, tipping the cups up works just fine!

He managed to go through a lot of seed, but I don't think it was quite enough.  I do believe he was making a statement with that stuck out tongue.

As a result of his assault on the feeders, two were broken, and others chewed upon.  We decided to take most of the feeders down, only leaving up a thistle feeder and a suet feeder.  As for the sunflower seeds and chips, we've been scattering them on the snow for the birds.  The Redpolls have been going through a lot of sunflower chips, but nothing compared to the amount the moose went through.  That's getting a little too expensive for me!  It did provide a good photo shoot, though, so guess it's not all bad.

I previously posted photos of moose at our bird feeders.  Click on the titles to see those posts.  In 2010, Moose at the Bird Feeders, and in 2011, If a Moose Comes for Breakfast and, If a Moose Comes for Dinner.

Camouflage

Look Who Came For Lunch....

.....and stayed for dinner!

We often have moose in our neighborhood and yard.  This afternoon about 1:00 we spotted a cow with last year's calf eating the tasty willow twigs at the back of our yard.  They ate for quite a while, and then laid down and took a good long rest.   They moved around some, but around 7:00 they got up and ate some more.  Mama stayed in the trees, but the calf came out in the driveway to say hello.  They were last seen moving past the shop a bit after 7:30.  And, yes, I took all the shots from either the deck or out the garage door.  Moose are very sweet looking but can be very dangerous.  You always need to exercise caution when they decide to hang out at your place.

Moose Variations

I saw this moose just down the road from my house shortly after noon today.  It was overcast and she was back in the trees, so the light wasn't the best, as you can see in the first photo that is just as it came out of the camera.

 So I did a little editing.....

Hmmm, I can't decide which I like best..... 

The Moose Look a Bit Different in Vermont

Moose are a common sight back home in Alaska, but the ones we saw in Bennington, Vermont, just don't look quite the same!