Well, it is a tad nippy out there! Saturday was the warmer day! Nutmeg went out for a run in the dark, before the birds come out. Cinnamon chose to chase mice in the garage. The windchill is -27 C.!
The good news is that the Rideau Canal Skateway is open today. Not all of it, but some! This bodes well for the Winterlude Festival. The water didn't freeze enough last year for skating (yay, Climate Change), Ottawans and tourists are happy to get out there this year.
I don't normally work out on Saturday and Sunday, usually doing 20 minutes on my elliptical in the basement. However the snow was too tempting, and I decided not to be a couch potato.
I had fun seeing where the critters used my previous snowshoe tracks.
What was really fun was as I approached my eldest trailcam, I spotted a deer bed! And it was right in front of the camera. (The camera is on the large tree trunk. )There were three deer beds here in the Cedar Corridor.
What they do is scrape the snow away to build a sort of nest. They don't seem to reuse them, since they cannot be predictable with coyotes about. Coyotes cannot take down a healthy deer, but if a deer is asleep...
deer bed cedar corridor from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
They use my snowshoe tracks as a pathway. Deer, coyotes, and Fuzzy Fawn:
Cedar corridor action from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Up at the house... One of our young bucks has lost one antler. They are play fighting in the yard, and I am hopeful to find one. The year I found 5 was amazing! I put them on the plain chandelier!
Tom Turkey (we've just one visiting), King Frederick, Fuzzy Fawn, et al:
Turkey Jan 18 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
14 comments:
...the turkey is quite a sight.
It's neat that turkey and deer seem to get along together at feeding area. A strange companionship I wouldn't have thought to happen! You are definitely part of their forest life, providing the path which is easier to walk for all those critters!
I love the deer beds.
Wow, the antlers on the chandelier are fabulous! What a great find/idea.
I had no idea deer made beds in the snow. I did see a coyote here while running yesterday, but nothing like all yours creatures. Good on Cinnamon for earning her keep :)
Another delightful post. And how clever of the animals to use your tracks to make getting around a little easier.
It's a tough life out there for the animals, they are hardy beyond anything I can imagine. But to walk where the others have made huge foot-holes makes good sense.
Love the deer and the turkey!
Good luck finding those antlers.
Take care, have a great day and happy new week!
It makes winter fun for you.
Looks like a lot of snow there.
Thank you!
I love your chandelier -- what a great place for the buck horns. That deer in the first buck video --- the other deer -- looks small. A younger one? Love your videos!
We've got people here falling through ice because they don't realize the lake has to do more than freeze over to hold a person's weight. Nothing but shocked expressions resulted, which is a good thing. Lessons are being learned.
Definitely a tad chilly with the wind-chill at -27 C.!!!
Brr stay as warm as you can.
All the best Jan
PS I enjoyed your photographs.
I think finding the antlers would be an amazing gift. I am sure you saw the video of the moose shredding his very large antlers. I never realized how seemingly easy they fall off, one good head shake & off they fell.
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