Wildlife of the Suburbs

Recently, a family of robins made its home in front of William's bedroom window.  Adam set up his camera at the foot of Will's bed and one of the kids captured the above photo using the remote shutter. Note, no zoom required, they really are that close to the window.  Just two days later, the babies already look more robin-like, their down becoming feathers.

At around the same time we noticed the robins, we also saw a large rabbit in our backyard. It moseyed around the yard for several minutes while my whole family, including the dog, stood watch at the window and only hopped away when I started taking pictures of it.

I was just marveling at the beauty of nature right in my own backyard, when I heard about a black bear being spotted, and promptly shot dead, at Mountainside Park, not far from where we live.  While I don't relish the idea of meeting a bear while biking to the park with my kids, I'm saddened by the tragic loss of such a beautiful animal.  The bear didn't attack anyone, didn't do anything wrong except to wander into our small patch of paradise, where all kinds of creatures are welcome as long as they are less deadly and dangerous than we are.