Friday 9 October 2020

Caterpillars and the fisher

I still have to clean off the hops vine, but I'll wait until the critters are all gone. This was a couple of days ago, and this morning it is 1 C., so the hops will go soon.


The frogpond trees are lovely!

This caterpillar keeps hanging around. It's a giant leopard moth caterpillar. I spotted it September 19, then again on the step on Oct. 3rd. 

They are big moths, white with black circles on it. I have no photos of any I've seen. 
There have been a ton of wooly bears!

 It's fun to watch, as while its sharp spikes are black, it has a red body. You can see it when it moves.

caterpillar from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I looked high and low and couldn't find my caterpillar, which would be distinct with a black pupa shell.  Well it was good exercise, bending over, searching high and low for the little thing.

Our big excitement has been the regular visits of the fisher. JB came in, quite upset, as he had heard, then seen the fisher. He was on his regular walkies around the property. It's good exercise, and relieves stress. He's still in pain with his shoulder. He came to tell me he saw the fisher, and we needed to find Cinnamon. Nutmeg is still at the vet. 
As a result, I've collated sightings, just to get an idea. 📹Fisher We hadn't seen it since March. 

At 15 seconds in, it hears JB and take off up the tree. You can hear his footsteps as he approaches the trailcam at the very end. The little beggars are fast. And dangerous.

fisher 3 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

And it was back, playing with the box, which scared it! 

Fisher Oct. 6 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've kept Nutmeg indoors, as she is still recovering, Cinnamon we let out in the morning, and then hustle him in after an hour. This way Nutmeg is calm while we get her medications into her. She is much better, sleeping quite a bit. But she wants out, which is a good sign. 

He has been playing fish... they play along, thinking he might feed them. I have put up another barrier to cover the opening. What a cat!


9 comments:

Tom said...

...what kind of winter are the caterpillars forecasting?

Anvilcloud said...

It said 1C when I awoke at 6 but there was frost of car and house roofs. Still is at almost 8:20 on the shady side.

Jenn Jilks said...

I don't know, Tom, I don't follow that stuff!

RedPat said...

You are going to have a wet cat one day. I hope that he doesn't knock the light into the water!

William Kendall said...

The fisher looks quite sleek.

Nancy J said...

The fisher looks dangerous, Hope both the cats are OK from now on. 1C, getting cold up your way, about 6C here, nights are warmer, days almost what I would say " Quite warm" . love your autumn colours.

Kay said...

That is a cool caterpillar. When you talked about the fisher, I was figuring on kingfisher and looking for a bird. This is the first time I've heard of fishers. Wow! I had to look it up online. This is so cool!

Ontario Wanderer said...

Love the Fisher video. I have never seen the animal.

Christine said...

The deer are comfortable at your house! Friends live there..