Wildlife Watching...

At approximately 7:45 AM yesterday morning Bill makes a mad dash upstairs telling me that there is a bear in our backyard. So Erin and I rush to the bathroom window to get a glimpse of the invader. I was somewhat amused by seeing a big black blur (didn't have my contacts or glasses at this time of the day) in our neighbor's yard at this point, but went right back to sleep. Erin couldn't see him so Bill took her downstairs and outside (good thing I did go right back to sleep) to see the bear. Well she was excited, and returned to my bed with her "Critters of Massachusetts Pocket Guide" to learn all about black bears. Mercy! All those trips to national parks and camping trips never yielded a bear sighting, but right here in our backyard, BAM, there you go! Bill had gone out to do some pool maintenance and looked up to a bear 50 feet or so away. Yikes! Now, the kids (and adults) are banned from the yard at dusk and dawn. As if I needed one more thing to worry about. LOL!!!

Not to be outdone by Bill's story of a bear sighting in our backyard, Bill's boss, Brian, sends a picture of a bobcat in his backyard last night. It just so happens that Brian had his phone and took a picture of it. Welcome to New England I guess. I don't have Brian's picture so all pics of animals are the results of a google image search and not our own personal photos, just in case you might believe that we run around with tripods and awesome photography equipment all the time.


Then, just this morning a Great Blue Heron landed in our backyard. I was watching the news, because I'm a news junkie, and out of the corner of my eye I see a huge bird with a large wing span fly in and land. Wow! I thought it was an eagle at first glance, but nope. I guess I shouldn't have mocked Erin's pocket guide search because now I had to reference the "Critters of Massachusetts Pocket Guide" to learn all about the Great Blue Heron.
Now the kids are hanging out by the glass patio doors to see what other critters make their way to the Dermody yard. Oh my!