List of birds I've seen here in West Virginia since I've recently started keeping track.

Alphabetical.

American Crow
American Goldfinch
Bald Eagle
Blue Jay
Canada Goose
Carolina Chickadee
Chipping Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Wood-Peewee
Gray Catbird
House Finch
House Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Tufted Titmouse
Turkey Vulture

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Backyard Critters

Sharing what all the critters are I have seen in my backyard here in West Virginia!

• Eastern Box Turtles
• Deer
• Racoon
• Opossum
• Ribbon Snake
• Lizards
• Toads
• Bats - probably Little Brown bat.
• Squirrel
• Chipmunk (seen close to home)
• Rabbit - Eastern Cottontail
• Mice
• Dragonflies 
• Bees & Wasps
• Butterfies
• Katydid

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Pinnacle Rock State Park, WV

We decided to go check out Pinnacle Rock State Park and we went to the part where the rock is and there is also a picnic shelter there. It does have a nice parking lot which is right next to a busy road and in sight of what looks like a town. I think it is Freeman/Bramwell.

  

First we tried the Homestead trail..... it was fairly rough and uneven and there was a tree that was obstructing the trail....

 

The trail was in some nice thick forest, with some interesting stuff to see......

We heard some birds, seen a squirrel, several soaring turkey vultures, and they have spiders!!

Since the trail was kinda rough/tough we headed back to the shelter then I hiked up the Overlook Trail. It was fairly steep, with big stone steps, and noisy from all the traffic on the road next to the park, but it was nice once I was up on the lookout.

The lookout trail did have some very interesting huge rocks and the scenery was great from up there on the top!

On the way back home we spotted a small lake- Kee Reservoir, and quickly pulled in to check it out - there we seen some butterfly's, wild bees, gold finches, some birds skimming over the water, and another turkey vulture!

Next time we go there we will be going to the other end of the park to where the lake is - Pinnacle Rock Lake Number One.

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Autumn Colors.....

The very beginning of autumn colors is here..... there is a vine that I have noticed that changes to a nice red before most of the trees change colors - though a few trees are showing the beginning of some gold!

 

In our yard today we had a multitude of birds! We had Blue Jays, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, Chipping Sparrows, House Finches, Ruby-throated Humming Birds, and an American Goldfinch all at the same time!

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Pipestem Park, WV

A while ago we got out and went to Pipestem Park. First we stopped in at the nature center which has really great displays! We enjoyed seeing the live turtles and found the copperhead to be very interesting (in aquariums.) Of the displays we were impressed with the Ruffed Grouse, fox, coyote, and the variety of nests on display.

Out back they have a very nice bird feeding station!

Then we went and hiked up Knob Trail to The Lookout Tower - this hike was somewhat steep but short.

The view from up on The Tower was amazing! Elevation 3,000 feet. We are looking forward to the trees changing color soon......

 We also got some nice pictures of a Turkey Vulture in flight - looking forward to getting more in flight pictures and some pictures of different raptors!

While there a momma deer and her young one made an appearance!

That was most of our afternoon at Pipestem Park and that was just one small part of that park!

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Spring plants n' gardens....

We have had some nice weather, touch of frost one night last week that didn't hurt anything, and a few good thunderstorms. I got some major weeding done and our roses are pruned and sprayed. All of our tree seedlings are doing good, our two remaining peonies are looking good, just one peony did not make it. I discovered we have two new wild-rose bushes! oh our lilac bush we got last spring from a local greenhouse which we got for next-to-nothing 'cause it was not doing well is now in bloom n' looking great! The lil' fern/vine like plants that I thought had all died out are back along with what looks like bulb type flower plants - will have to wait to see what they have for flowers...... and to see how well our berries shall do this year!
    Soon I will be able to get into the flower gardens and we still have many more bulbs we can get out - it's a large variety of bulbs! Also I will be able to replace many of the rock on the border of our heart-shaped flowerbed on the corner with some larger rocks so they will hopefully stay in place..... oh I wonder where I put those bulbs!!

Spring is Springin!!

    Finally spring is here! The time of new life and rebirth. Well, it officially arrives tomorrow and it is feeling more like summer. Our lil' magnolia trees and hyacinths are blooming happily. The trees n' shrubs n' bushes are all budding away. Birds that have been away are back n' singing happy songs. Grass, moss, and weeds are looking green n' doing their thing.... frogs have been doing their evenin' song. Soon we should be seeing the baby animals, deer, squirrels, possums, raccoons, and the baby birds.
    It's time to start to clear up the flower beds and clear out some stuff in our lil' wild area. Last year I did get all the big bad weeds that took over and now the berry bushes will do good. Also cleared out lots of dead stuff and done lots of trimming! Have to figure out what to do regarding that huge rotted tree which will most likely fall where we want to put a gazebo - not very safe to bring down a tree like that as it's unpredictable what it will do. Would be nice if it would just fall one night then problem solved! haha.

My Photography

  Here is some of my scenery photography. These are from around here in West Virginia. It's a beautiful area!

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A True Animal Story

Time for something light n' humorous, late one summer night I had the door propped open so the cats could come n' go, I could hear their lil' claws click on the wood floor as they would go in n' out and each one is different - each one has a distinctive sound to their walk, when I heard a louder clicking I was wondering which cat it was - I looked over and it was a big 'ol raccoon, it looked at me - I looked at him - the cats didn't know what to think..... I just told him, sorry but ya can't stay here, he then slowly turned around n' slowly sauntered back outside.......