Things are just ducky on the pond. "Water? Bring it on," so say the ducks. You can read about them here, for the 2019 reports! 🐤WOOD DUCKS
At 27 seconds in you can see the female duck flying across the video. She left the box to feed, I guess. At 1:31 the is a run on the dock.
There was drama. With ~13 wood ducks, 3 male and 1 female mallard, and now a female merganser, it is busy. The video begins with the wood duck telling the crow off.
There was (I thought) a turtle under the dock. You can see it to the right of the video. Surprisingly, it's a merganser, a masterful swimmer.
Frog pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
We have two of our three boxes filled with eggs. There are at least 21 eggs. The one box is too high for me to reach in, so I'm not sure if there are more (box #1). The one duck hears me coming and she flees (box #3), but comes back. The other duck doesn't budge.
Even Hooper is getting into the act. The ducks looked hopeful that he might feed them, I think!
Ducky Hooper from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Hooper, sadly, has been crossing the highway. I put out the trailcam to prove it. I suspected it. We'll see how this goes. He is desperate to get outside. If he does it in the night, in the dark, it might be better than during the busy daytime. Our male cats tend to do this. We've lost three cats to the speeding cars. Daisy did, as well. She tended to stop as she got older. With 16 acres, you really wonder. We had a male cat we kept indoors. He went freaky with displaced anger. We want Hooper to be happy. Hopefully, he'll be smart.
Hooper May 3:4 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Butch was there in the night, as well. I was sure it'd fall in, but it hung on by its toes! They are determined.
Butch raccoon 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Oh, yes. The rose-breasted grosbeaks are back (May, 5th). I'm happy to see them. Those, and the purple finches.
7 comments:
I hope Hooper is fine.
My old girl went outdoors while the slider was open for a moment! Miss Kitty sat on the doorsill and watched her go! She came back in when Mike went to the shed, but now she is staying glued to the door, waiting for it to magically open I'm sure. I worry about fishers and coyotes around here. Car's are a rarity.
Fingers crossed for your too adventurous kitty! Love the videos and the birds. Wish I could see a Rose breasted grosbeak in person , but your photo is next best!
Had no idea that Butch could perform such wide 'splits'. I absolutely love your pond and it's busy ducks. Hooper may be at risk in crossing the road but his life of freedom is so much richer than a typical apartment confined feline. Perhaps a refective collar might make him more visible to night drivers.
Can I paint your grosbeak? Lovely photo. There are purple finches?
Thanks, John.
Oh, please do, Christine!
Dipping paws into water- a very cat thing to do.
We'll see if the peak is really past yet- as you say, there's still more snow in the high country. I photographed and videoed the Ottawa River from the Portage Bridge. The Chaudiere Bridge is actually closed to all traffic at the moment.
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