Category Archives: wildlife

A quick blog

Family, pets, wildlife

It’s been a busy weekend.

Daughter, Rebecca and son-in-law, Andy stopped by and we put them to work. The two of them dragged an air-conditioner from our basement, where it was stored, to the second floor. They then took the old air-conditioner from there and brought it downstairs and finally out the door.

Thanks a big bunch!!!! Now we will be able to sleep comfortably.

But since I didn’t take photos of the big move, which they wouldn’t have wanted anyway, I thought I’d add photos of cute chicks today.

Chicks from a previous hatching.
Say, “Cheese.”

These photo chicks were purchased. The chicks on our farm today were hatched by hens.

Warning! Do not try to get close to current chicks. The big white mother hen is mean and will come after you. She knows how to take care of her babies.

So there you have my blog for today. We’ll have to wait for tomorrow to see what I write next–but don’t bother asking me ahead of time. I rarely know what I’m going to write.

Copyright © 2019 Susan Manzke, All rights reserved.

Zoomed in

photography, wildlife

This family was very far away when I took this photo. Actually, I didn’t know if I caught them at all. The sun obscured my screen view, but I clicked a couple of photos anyway.

After, I zoomed in even closer with Picasa, an old program which I still have on my computer.

real Wisconsin wildlife

Our grandchildren said we are so lucky. They might be lucky to see one someday, too, that is if they can keep quiet while riding in our cart with Grandpa Bob.

Critter Cam in Action

nature, photography, wildlife

We have a couple of spots where we attach our critter cam to trees. These are right along our lane.

One time we attached the camera to a different tree and ended up with hundreds of photos. It turned out that wind moved the tall grass and set the camera off. Hardly any animals walked into view.

With the camera set in one of the usual spots, we caught Bob cutting grass and the neighbor taking a ride toward our woods–yes, the neighbor has permission. Raccoons come by this area, too, but the best is when we get deer.

On June 20th, we had a beautiful stag cross our camera’s path.

A whitetail in a hurry.

Bob and I sure do appreciate capturing the action with a camera, even if we aren’t on the scene at the time.

Butterflies flutter by

nature, photography, wildlife

Over the years I’ve chased butterflies with my camera. Once in a while, I was successful. More often, I ended up without the image of the butterfly. It had flown far from view.

a swallowtail butterfly

So far this year I haven’t even tried to snap a photo of a butterfly. I have just enjoyed having their beauty in the neighborhood.

Last fall’s migrating monarchs.

As children, we chased the butterflies during the day and fireflies in the evening. For us, the chase was half the fun, even when neither my sister nor I caught anything.

Today, one butterfly seemed to follow us as we rode the cart down our farm lane. My thought was, “Isn’t it nice having such beautiful company.”

I hope more come for a visit in the future. Maybe, if they rest long enough, I’ll be able to capture their beauty with my camera again. I sure hope so.

More critters

Bob, nature, photography, wildlife

A second day of having our critter cam out along our farm lane meant more wildlife.

The tom turkey didn’t return to strut his stuff. Instead, two sandhill cranes walked across the field. Two days before we scared one from the overgrown ditch–maybe she was nesting there. We can’t be sure if she is one of this pair. No matter. It’s always nice seeing them on our farm.

The critter cam shows two of the sandhill cranes on Sunnybook Farm

Again, the night photos didn’t show much, only a few distant glowing eyes. Earlier a different kind of wildlife showed up in the afternoon.

Susan and Bob looked at the camera. Sunny had his eyes on a hopping robin.

We reset the camera today, thinking we missed last night’s thunderstorm. Little did we know a half hour later another storm would pop up in our area. Good thing we made it back to the house in time.