Birding and More of Nature in Oldham County~

Above...
Easter Cottontail Rabbits taking a rain bath. 
I must say, I do not ever remember seeing that before and they seemed to be enjoying the entire event~
Below
More bunnies, enjoying the warmth of the sun.
Many are taken by predators, yet their counts always remain very high~


Remember to double click on the image, to view a larger slide show of the images shared ~

  I am linking up with Stewart at:
Wild Bird Wednesday
(http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/)

and

I am linking up with Mary for:

"Mosaic Monday"

at: 

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com

 

 

Sweet face of  juvenile Barn Swallow...oh I do appreciate these birds~ 
 

One of my favorite farm entrances off of one of my favorite country lanes, and having fun with my mosaic of same~
 

A female White-tailed Deer, very swollen, and so she must have had at least one fawn hidden near by. 
She stayed along side the road and just did not seem to care that I was taking umpteen images of her beauty~
 

 

 

My youngest daughter Ashleigh spotted a large Sunflower garden, at least an acre of them, one day en route back from the "big city". 
We spoke with the land owner about them, as you just do not see large gardens of them around here. 
They were planted by the land who owner is a big Dove hunter and he wanted to bring the birds in for the hunt...I hated that!
But the flowers were certainly beautiful~
 

Now this momma deer and her twin fawns were not as

accommodating with my photo taking. 

They were so frightened and it made me feel sad, as one of them ran to the top of the hill while the doe and second fawn went off into the woods...at least they were not too far apart, yet still...goodness~
 

 

Wild Bird Wednesday followers, see I have a few birds...;),  just trying to use up the remainder of my lost and missing, and finally found images, so I can begin a fresh...at last!
Red-headed Woodpecker~
 

 

The first cow was just such a nice looking big girl and the temperatures have been sweltering in the upper 90's. 
I watched as this one went for a swim.
The second group of cattle were wading in the creek, under a shade tree.
 The mother cow in third mosaic below was tenderly licking and caring for her young calf. 
I found this scene just quite endearing~
 

 

 

A week ago today I went to visit family living in a rural area called Smithfield.
I had stopped to take some photographs of a Red-tailed Hawk on a utility wire and once I saw how thin it was, I decided I did not want to frighten it, as it was obviously very young, and hunting, and needed to find a meal before the afternoon sun went down. 
I drove up the road, no further than a mile and made a left turn. 
As soon as I did, another Red-tailed Hawk flew low across the lane in front of me. 
It landed on a fence post right out from my passenger window with a small rodent in it's beak.
 

 

Living in horse country, we have the extreme pleasure of seeing lots of these amazing creatures.
 The young colt and mare below live on a large Thoroughbred
 farm in Prospect~ 

I had been photographing some Swallows one morning and the horse below came walking toward me to check out what I was up to. 
Before I got there it had been rolling in the dirt to cool off and rid itself of flies.
It had to most appealing face~

My favorite breed of horse would be the Arabian and this mare below has been in several of my shares in the past. 
Last year she had a young one, but I have not seen her with one this year.
Her blue eyes and the fog filled meadow and blue skies to the right, just seemed to say they belonged together for this mosaic~
 

The steeple of a barn's roof top and one of the fences that this county is so well known for. 
Way back in the back out of sight, was a cat hanging off of one of the top rails...hunting for field mice~

The 2 mares below and foal are always together in the same pasture...they must be friends;)~

An Icelandic Horse with fly protection, rolls in a field to also rid itself of some of the insects that always seem to be biting not only them, but me...ugh. 
I so enjoy Summer, but the insects are just nasty!

Rolling hills, green grass and horses...Kentucky...the land near my home~

The Red-tailed Hawk continued to just stare me down, as I sat in my car with window down, photographing...and then...~

A few weeks ago, I left our home early to get my visits to shut-ins done before it got super hot. 
The sun was on the rise and when I saw this, I had to pull over into the emergency lane to get these two images. 
There was a foggy mist rising above the pond and the sun's rays were pouring through the mist...
What a way to begin my morning~

Several weeks ago, I shared some images of spider webs in the dawn of early morning light. 
I went back a few days later and got the images shown here. 
I liked the way the field of frosty grass heads looked like a second layer behind the grasses covered in spider webs. 
All of it was like it's own magical little world...so much activity going on and once the sun came up, you never even would have known all of this was there~

Oh My!!! 
I could not believe it. 

When the Red-tailed Hawk finally decided it had stared me down long enough, it flew, and when it did, it accidentally dropped its meal...what a shame~
 

Weeping Willows, what dramatic looking trees, always add such gracefulness to a scene like this~

We had quite a bit of fog roll in Oldham County a couple of mornings last week. 
The voice of a Red-tailed Hawk in the distance,  just before it flew from a bale~

Fog images at sunrise beneath as well.
The east and west end of the same field~
 

Some of you may remember seeing this farm in shares before. 
It is in Prospect, across the lane from Henry's Ark Nature Center~

The beauty of a Red-Shouldered Hawk...what else needs to be said...right ;)~

One last view of the farm with a field of fog cover, had it's own magic happening~