Nature in Missouri

Turtles are very common around these parts. Mostly in the variety of snapping turtles and box turtles, though you are most likely to see them squarshed on the road. Do you know how to tell the difference? Box turtles look like boxes, and snapping turtles snap, duh?!?! When they are younger, the best way to tell is to look for the red on the belly...if it's red, it's dangerous...meaning a snapping turtle. This guy pictured is a box turtle that was hanging out in the yard when I was mowing.


This blue bird had an unfortunate accident in colliding with my parent's living room window. William witnessed the event and figured he would go see if he could help the thing out (good thing since it's kinda of what he will be doing for a living). The poor bird had knocked itself out and so William placed it on this bush so it wouldn't be easy prey. That is how I got this amazing picture. Maybe I just should have said it was my amazing ninja skills that got me so close to the bird, not the fact that it was recuperating from the flight incident it had.


It always amazes me all the critters and creatures that I get to see in Missouri. I must have forgotten all the life that is in the world being out in Idaho in the middle of no where for so long :). Just kidding...some things live out there too, just not in the abundance that is back east.
The view outside of the window that birds like to fly into is this tree. We usually hang a humming bird feeder from the branches, but that is beside the point. I would like to talk about this devious little squirrel. It has found out that by sitting on top of the bird house and hanging it's body over the edge, it could gain access to the bird seed inside the house. I was trying to get a picture of it in the act, but this was the best I could come up with.


Now for the grand finale. Have you ever seen a white deer? If you have, then you can stop reading because this is meant to impress people. On the way home from my grandpa's house we spotted the one and only white deer on the face of the earth!! Believe me, ok, it was a long shot. Apparently they aren't that rare, but it was the first time I had ever seen one, and I didn't have to pay to get in. I thought it was pretty cool.