Monday, October 3, 2011

Battlefield Whitetail, Wild Turkey and a Marsh Wren...

Worthington house, Constructed ca. 1851, Monocacy National Battlefield

During the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864, Confederate troops crossed the Monocacy River onto the Worthington Farm. From the farm fields, the Confederates initiated three advances toward the Union line positioned at the neighboring Thomas Farm. These actions resulted in heavy casualties and the Worthington House and yard were subsequently used as a field hospital. As the battle raged throughout the day, John Worthington and his family took refuge in the cellar of the house. Although the cellar windows had been boarded up prior to the battle, six-year-old Glenn Worthington was able to observe the action. Impressed with a scene that was forever etched in his memory, Glenn Worthington grew up to write a history of the battle called Fighting for Time. Published in 1932, the book remains an excellent eye-witness account of "the Battle that Saved Washington."
There are many different types of habitats around the park including grass meadows, fence rows and tree lines, deep woods areas, agricultural fields, and river and stream-side forest environments. White-tailed deer are found in abundance on the battlefield; along with wild turkeys and a multitude of other birds and mammals.

Many of my bird and animal photos have been taken in and around the Worthington acreage, including what you see here.    

Lane that leads to Worthington House...
Worthington House...
Fields that help provide sustenance to the wildlife in the area...
Early morning Canadian Geese...
Forever on the alert, Whitetail doe and fawn...
A doe dispute...
Ears down and hooves a flyin'...
And don't come back...
A Marsh Wren...

Marsh Wren...
Wild Turkey...
A young 4 point Whitetail buck...

Youngsters on alert...
An absolute buffet...
Whitetail family...
Worthington House sunset...

5 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

SO beautiful! the lane would have been enough for me, but then you kept bringing in deer, wrens, and the sunset! ugh!

Joe said...

Nice shots Larry. Like the two does fighting.

Larry Ostby said...

Thank you Theresa :)

Thanks Joe, it only lasted a few seconds.

grammie g said...

Hi Larry...Wow what a lovely area that is!!
Your have great photo's here I am not going to be able to pick a favorite for sure ...the deer in action are super!
I will say I do lean toward the field in fog and the last one with the sunset for beautiful!!

Have a good one,
Grace

Larry Ostby said...

Thank you Grace, it's amazing how quickly the sun disappears. I took several but liked this one best.