FIRST RED BUDS

Last week the red buds down the back lane bloomed for the first time.The trees were put in 3 1/2 years ago. This Sunday I saw a hen mallard with 15 or more ducklings that had just hatched. I didn't expect to see baby ducks this early. Then Monday I saw mother goose out for a swim with her babies.I went out to her nest and all the eggs had hatched. I checked my camera and had this picture.Tuesday on our weekly jitney ride tour we saw baby wood ducks running across the water.The next morning I checked the box on the edge and they were hatch and ready to leave the box. They put their little heads down and didn't make a move. We road to the Taylor farm and checked out the old granary that I want to relocate to bobworld.Janey found us a garden snake.We drove within 1/2 mile of Mason-Dixon marker 30, near Sandtown - then walked the rest of the way in.

HERE'S THE DIFFERENCE

There are greater and lesser yellowlegs. The greater has a longer bill as you can see here. Here's the lesser, you can see the difference.Here's a frying pan with ducks and pheasants in it.The duck is the darker meat and the pheasant is the white meat. Here my wife and our friends are pigging out on the ducks and pheasants.Here's my resident Canada goose that's nesting at the wetlands.Here's she is turning her eggs.

CLOSE GREEN WINGED TEAL

I got some good pictures of some teal. The pintails are getting closer.The pintails are out there.This wood duck is nice. He is just hanging out while his mate is keeping the eggs warm.There are lots of these greater yellowlegs. T.J got the the big buck back from his taxidermist.I got him to bring it to Bobworld for pictures.I took lots of pictures on different walls. The cool thing is T.J found both his sheds last year.His total score was 195, with deductions he scored 179 5/8. Found my first shed Saturday. With trigger control, good habitat and time, the buck that dropped this rack could get as big [you think].We did another Mason-Dixon adventure and found marker #35.It's a crown marker that they put every 5 miles. This marker is in the woods and in good shape. The kids in the group had to climb up on it.**

WOOD DUCKS

I moved a couple trail cameras to the wetlands. I wanted to get some pictures of a big group of pintails that have been hanging out there.The pintails didn't show up but I got these.Both wood duck boxes have hens setting on eggs. I didn't know there were fish this big in the water - it's only 18" deep.George and Cindy came to Bobworld for dinner and they brought their friend Keavy. We checked out the Mason-Dixon marker on the neighboring Sylvester farm. We peeked in one of the duck boxes. The trail cam I have on the box got this shot and George took this. Cindy and Dakota having an after dinner drink.