Cute, Smart and Funny Animals and Birds

On our many walks, we see lots of creatures, both furred and feathered and even scaled, bumpy and slimy too. I look forward to Spring when again we will see the frogs and toads and fish jumping out of the lake at dusk after bugs. I look so forward to seeing the baby animals and birds again this coming season!

Last weekend, I tried to balance some drawing time with walks and photography time though. Still, however, it was probably 10 - 90 lol! But, it felt awesome to get in some drawing from life, of my partner, in the afternoon on the holiday Monday. Still, we did get out for one long walk and a couple short jaunts.

Lately, we've seen tons of attitude on the animals and birds. Must be the cold weather and the competition for food. We've seen some amazing sights, one just this weekend. There is a pair of ravens that hangs at one of the spots we hike in. They are often heard before they are seen by us. This past weekend, just as we were  reaching the entrance to one of the paths, don't we look up at a large black bird which at first glance appeared to have a white head. What in hell could that be I'm thinking as I whip the camera up and take 2 shots of it as it passes overhead. I see then in my lens that it is a raven carrying in it's mouth an object - a snowball?! But why? When we got home and looked at the 2 images I caught, one clearer than the 2nd, we saw things sticking out of this ball of snow that the raven held in its beak. My boyfriend had read back a bit, when we saw the Kestrels a few times, that Kestrels will save and hide extra mice or voles, freezing them, to later thaw them out by I guess sitting on them, when food seems like it may be getting scarce or harder to catch. It dawned on us that maybe the Ravens had found one of the Kestrel's, who are also in that vicinity, frozen future meals. It is the only conclusion we can think of, unless it is a frozen discarded fries or burger from the nearby McDonald's or Harvey's lol!