we have such a over abundance of beavers here the MDIFW trap them to control their numbers. they plug up culverts and flood road ways. years ago fur trappers kept them in check now theyres barely anyone trapping them. i don’t think theres a limit on how many a trapper can take anymore. they used to relocate them 20 yrs. ago but they just continued to over populate and it was expensive. too bad as i like to watch beavers do their thing.
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Nope, this is a different species. Red-bellied woodpecker (and it is male).
You can check out the differences between sexes of the pileated woodpeckers here: Pileated Woodpecker Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
And red-bellied woopeckers here: Red-bellied Woodpecker Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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Wow, that bird is beautiful. You take some great photos! I’ve never seen one of those here in PA. Is that a cattle egret?
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Yes. They come on their own sometimes. But EVERY time I crank up my tractor they appear from nowhere…Great birds IMO…looks like this guy is going to hang around all day
And it’s not me with the pictures. A good camera will make things look really good. All the credit to the camera. These are through windows as well. They are a lot sharper if not for the glass…
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Never seen cattle egret in breeding plumage. Once upon a time I lived where they can be found in California, but they must have bred somewhere else than the fields of Monterey county.
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Ruffed Grouse was in a Juneberry / Serviceberry eating blossom buds. Very unusual for them to be near the house. Sorry for the bad pic, I was zooming in between the deck rails.
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saw 3 eating berries left over in my mountain ashes 2 mornings ago. seems in the spring they aren’t as jumpy as in other seasons.
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Right around dusk, this was a first…we’ve got several barred owls living in the woods near the creek, but I’ve never seen one sitting on the bird feeder before…
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Big fella.
Found a friend today while weeding my asparagus. Kinda startled me but after a profane introduction we had a nice visit and a photo session. After a bit he thought I was boring and left to explore other venues.
He (she?) was probably all of 8” long! 
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When they are that young it is often hard to tell gender. Once they approach mature length (& you are familiar with the species’ dimensions) you can decide if the tail is long enough for male or tapering faster to the shorter tail of a female. (If you must know, the hemi-penis is carried on the tail side of the vent, which makes the beginning of the tail to be pretty much parallel with the body width on a male.)
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I’m guessing that would require turning HIM over and THAT’s not going to happen!!! But thanks for the info…and FYI I did think the tail wasn’t tapered as much as it should be so maybe SHE was the one that made me curse!!! (Or maybe I nicked it with my digging fork but I didn’t see any blood) 
. My husband thought IT was a worm but I pointed out that it could stick out it’s tongue… anyway I hope HE/SHE does it’s job in my garden. 
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I think its a dekays brown snake, You did not know it but you two are serious homeys, She eats all your bad pests and just wants a cool place to relax.
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I actually think this is a Rough Earth Snake. Picture matches perfectly, size, actions, and habitat. I really had never heard of this little snake. Once, however, as a girl, we were digging worms for fishing. It was just in a gray water area in our pasture where our sinks and washers drained so it grew nice earthworms. I found this lovely fat earthworm and had it lying in my hand closely observing it…it stuck its forked tongue out at me… I dropped the snake and quit digging worms. I thought about that when I found this little snake and tonight researching this I realize this must be the same kind of snake. According to the info this little fellow was a fully mature rough earth snake eating earthworms, slugs, ant larvae, etc.
https://www.dirtdoctor.com/garden/Rough-Earth-Snake_vq1680.htm
A better photo of Rough Earth Snake
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