Red Fox

So, I recently spotted my first fox at the farm (or, actually, near the farm, just down the road). I hear there have been a few other sightings, which I find very exciting. Foxes are very shy around here and thus, rarely seen. Knowing they are here is a bit like knowing there are fairies in the woods... I may never see them, but knowing they are there tells me there's always a bit of magic in these woods.

A next goal: Getting a photo of our shy red friends...

Eastern Gray Squirrel

Squirrel, a photo by paynehollow on Flickr.

North American's ubiquitous comic acrobat, loved by one and all (except for folk with bird feeders...)

Black Rat Snake

Black Rat Snake, a photo by paynehollow on Flickr.

A funny thing to do is, if you're out hiking and your friend gets bitten by a poisonous snake, tell him you're going to go for help, then go about ten feet and pretend that *you* got bit by a snake.

Then start an argument with him about who's going to go get help. A lot of guys will start crying. That's why it makes you feel good when you tell them it was just a joke.

~Jack Handey

For the record, black rat snakes are not poisonous, they're "good snakes" and help keep rodents away...

Northern Fence Lizard

Northern Fence Lizard, a photo by paynehollow on Flickr.

You've got to get out and pray to the sky to appreciate the sunshine; otherwise you're just a lizard standing there with the sun shining on you.

Ken Kesey

Fowlers Toad

Fowlers Toad
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Found this fella while cutting grass one day in the big field. Not the safest place to hang out. I had to convince him to move on some place safer.

I think this is a "Fowlers Toad," but could be mistaken.

Big Toad

Big Toad
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

I'm just sort of ballparking here that this might be either an American Toad or a Fowlers Toad.

I was looking here to try to sort it out.

Any help? Thoughts?

Raccoon

Raccoon 2
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

I more often have seen their little hand-shaped tracks in the mud down by the pond or creek than I have actually spotted these bandits at the farm, but they are there. They're probably easiest to spot early in the morning or at night.

The one in this photo was scrambling up a tree off the ridge path as I took an early morning hike.

Chipmunk

Chipmunk
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

While I haven't personally spotted any chipmunk yet at the farm, they're almost certainly there scampering about the woods, singing songs and hoping that Disney will make a movie out of them.

Groundhog

Groundhog 3
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Also known as the woodchuck and, my favorite, the whistlepig. I don't believe one has been spotted at the farm, but they're in the region.

Grasshopper

Queen Anne's Grasshopper
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Just grasshopper. I don't think I'll try figuring out what sort of grasshopper this one is. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a grasshopper.

Bigfoot?

BigfootSarah
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Not spotted yet at the farm.

Yet.

White Tailed Deer

Hinds Feet...
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer.

~Robert Burns

Racoon

Racoon 2
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Some people call me the space cowboy, yeah
Some call me the gangster of love
Some people call me maurice
Cause I speak of the pompitous of love

~Steve Miller

Cottontail Rabbit

Rabbit
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

ONCE upon a time there
were four little Rabbits,
and their names were--
Flopsy,
Mopsy,
Cotton-tail,
and Peter.

They lived with their Mother
in a sand-bank, underneath the
root of a very big fir tree.

~Beatrix Potter

Common Buckeye Butterfly

Common Buckeye Butterfly
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

As this brownish butterfly flooples* by, it may appear rather drab and colorless. BUT, if it alights somewhere and opens its wings, you can see how truly bright and showy it looks.

[* flooples: v. the flight of a butterfly. copyright 2008, Dan Trabue]

Eastern Tailed-Blue Butterfly

Eastern Tailed-Blue Butterfly
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

My best guess is that this is an Eastern Tailed-Blue Butterfly, which are found in this region and seems to match the description.

This is a softly shimmering blue little butterfly that I've seen flying in the farm field.

Silvery Checkerspot

Silvery Checkerspot
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Widow Skimmer Dragonfly

Dragonfly
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

I don't know the name of this specific dragonfly, but I suspect it's Bob. He looks like a Bob to me. Looking at some guides, I believe Bob more properly goes by the name of Widow Skimmer.

There are always plenty of dragonflies and damselflies to be found around the pond, along the streams and in the field at the farm during the warm months. And, given the right light at the right angle, their colors are just brilliant.

Monarch Butterfly

Monarch Butterfly 2
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Resting atop the Butterfly flower, blooming brightly in the warm days at the end of June.

How do these guys ever make it to Mexico?

"Four to five generations separate the monarch populations that make the migration, so the butterflies that make the trek to Mexico are the great, great grandchildren of the previous generation to have made it."

Amazing.

Chipmunk

Chipmunk
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

While I haven't personally spotted any chipmunk yet at the farm, they're almost certainly there scampering about the woods, singing songs and hoping that Disney will make a movie out of them.