Deer friends

 We've been having fun! I had the best Birthday ever!  Thank you for your kind wishes. I'll have lots more, but will have to devote some time to collating photos. The party isn't over yet. The Ottawa kids are here, and we partied!

We haven't seen many deer lately. Not until this past week. The sun shone and the world sparkled.

Our neighbour feeds 'em to lure them to shoot them, so we do our part. We feed them to watch them, and hope for a gift of antlers. 

Dec. 26, 2022

I had to repair this feeder. I built them in April, 2015!

Pickle stabber buck. If you looks closely, you can see a few drops of blood on the antler. The younger they are, the less testosterone they have, and the sooner they lose their antlers.

Christmas morning, I was awake before dawn. 

So were the deer! They were wandering about, eating dead weeds.

 

This is worth a laugh. Apparently, the cats got me a Christmas card. 

 

Funny thing, I sent the link to two of my kids, Caitlin (Ottawa) and Jesse (Vancouver) and they both had the same comment, 'he noped out of there.'

I had to look it up. It is a thing! 

A new week begins...

 I begin with vicarious fun! Josephine had a leadership camp at school. Two nights, beginning Friday after afternoon. She attended last year, as well. Imagine her joy when she was able to hold a snake. She adores reptiles.

Now this was my thrill: another shed antler. Right under the big pine tree. A little one, with an interesting groove in the end.

 

Out front, the Dratted Red Squirrels (DRS) are out and about. They are hilarious, roaring after one another in spring glee.

I managed to clean the goldfish tank. Percy is growing fat, methinks. You can tell by the fins that he is a male. Isabelle looked it up when she was here. 

Nutmeg has become interested in him, and sits beside the counter. Percy thought she might feed him 😜 and pressed his mouth to the glass. She leaned over to him, curious, and JB thought it looked as if they were kissing! 

JB was finishing off his curling watching the basement TV. I found a murder mystery on TV: Haunted Harmony Mysteries: Murder in G Major (2023). As I watched the opening, I saw it was based on a book by Alexia Gordon. The star is a lovely young woman, her foil is a ghost, but the setting (Ireland) is amazing, with castles and ruins. It was lovely to watch.

Filmed at: Hollywood Cillín Chaoimhín Knockroe, Black Castle ruin, Corporation Lands, Black Castle ruin, S Quay, Corporation Lands, (Co. Wicklow); Gormanston Castle, Gormanston (Co. Meath), Ireland.

 

This weather is so strange. It was -14 ℃. yesterday morning. This morning it was 1, no, it's up to 2 ℃ with snow on the way. The skating canal had to close after only being open a couple of days.

The wind has been quite strong.

I have to get dressed and put garbage out. I hope it is just snow, not rain! 

In the mornings, the deer gather when I open the garage door thinking I'll feed them.

Saturday's Critters

The trailcam tails have been a bit slow. Our regular coyotes.

 

Coyote Oct. 25 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I wrote, yesterday, about seeing the deer scrape, indicating it is rutting season. Time to make babies!

 

deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The fisher went by at full speed.

 

Fisher Oct. 30 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I captured just the head of the barred owl in the night. I suppose it is evidence of activity, but so disappointing.

barred owl from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Happily, Friday morning, Joseph Brian hustled back to the house from his morning walkabout. "Come!" he said. "Bring your camera!" I threw my coat on top of jammies and housecoat, grabbed the camera and the video camera.

He explained that he'd gone down the path, where I'd cut back fallen branches, and used the lawn tractor.

 It leads down to the wetland.

 This is the spot where he'd found the wee antler last week. This is from last January or February. In winter they shed their antlers, after rutting season is over. 

He scared the barred owl, who flew to another tree. He thought it'd gone. Not far, apparently.

barred owl Nov. 3 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There is was. It looked at me and looked at him. It's head was turned right around, as it was actually facing the other way. 

Thanks to Eileen for hosting! Saturday's Critters # 516 

We cleaned the eaves!

Yes, 'WE!' I did have helpers, a chilly day, Sat. Oc t. 28th. I forgot the little red cleaning tool. JB brought me the broom, as well. 

 

cleaning the eaves from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Cinnamon came to check it all out. 

This is one path down to the wetland. I chopped down several dead sumacs, with great regret. I'd mulched the leaves, as well. 

JB was walking down the path, and found an antler. It's been sitting in sodium peroxide to clean it.

The moss on the roof was horrible. Well, it was pretty, and growing very well. If I was smart I'd have harvested it, but I was wiped out!

Ta da! 

As I was up top, I could hear the neighbour target shooting. It was awful, especially after the recents shooting in the US. Barb wrote about it. I need not reprise it. We could see the massive response to the tragedy.

shots Oct. 28 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

On a walkabout, I checked out Maggie Magnolia. She has borne fruit!

I've been eyeing this little sumac. We are losing sumacs. I think, during periods of drought, they simply aren't getting enough water as they sit in rocky outcrops. That said, out the bathroom window I spotted a beautiful little sumac tree. I had to take off the screen to get a better photo. 

Here we are Monday morn. I have to get the garbage out. It snowed overnight. It begins.

Monday was a glorious day!

 It's been a time, after Ice Storm '23!  The tree crew is going to have to come back and clean up the huge pines. It'll cost double that over last time, since they'll have to do more climbing. We lost the tops of a couple of the great White Pines, and there are several hangers up in the trees, which is unsafe. As I told my first accountant husband, "It's only money."

The garage I swept out for the umpteenth time since the fall. The oak and some maple leaves hang on, then fall in Spring. [♪♫♩Isn't it ironic?!] The storm and winds are sending them flying. 

🐣 I've checked nesting boxes, and the one we moved to the back 40 has had a visitor. The other two by the frog pond – not yet. I did startle ducks there one day, so they are back! 

The frog pond is virtually clear. 

 

Now that the snow melted, I found a wee antler that was buried under the snow. Our snow is pretty much gone. I guess I fooled you with my week-old videos. Sorry, YAM! 

I think our weather has turned. The back deck was 19˚ C. at noon; up to 21˚ by 3:30!

Some of the trees have recovered, others just dropped their branches.

before and after from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I'd meant to ask the kids to help put the snowblower into the shed. Usually I run it around the to the far right of the yard, avoiding down and uphill. My route is clogged by branches. You saw from the previous video↑. 

Then, 💡brilliant idea, I just plugged in the electric starter and motored it on over to the shed. It was tricky getting past the debris, but I did it! 

Down at the pond, the wood duck nest boxes await a guest.

I noticed the mosquito larvae are twitching in the water. 

Up at the house, the first crocus!

I saw an eagle doing loops up above the house. They are majestic.

I heard spring peepers last night, and coming back from a hospice volunteer gig I heard chorus frogs! I'd forgotten about them. I guess there isn't a survey this year. 

Antler hunt and forest walkies

 Joseph Brian had a banner day. He called me to the window a couple of times. One sighting was three robins on the birdbath, drinking a lovely drink. "But there are only two," you might comment. Honestly, there were three. By the time the camera was fetched and focused, one was up in the tree with the male  cardinal!

It may or may not be a sign of spring. Several, I've heard, have overwintered in the region. 

As Yam said, King Henry has lost half his crown! I went out on the back deck for a better look. He was curious. I wonder, too, how they feel when they lose one antler. I know that they shake their heads, feeling them loose. They still act as if they have antlers, and are king of the forest.
This was Tigger, back in the day, followed by Jake. 

One year, I found five antlers. It was a really cold winter, and 5 bucks hung around, which was unusual. I weighed the antler.

457 grams

Venturing out into the forest, I made it to the wetland. The walking, even in snowshoes, is horrid. I circled the perimeter of the forest, checking each path for blood spots. I was out about 50 minutes, and it is really difficult walking. 

First stop was to pick up the trailcam card. I was hopeful at first. There were fisher tracks all over. The mammals are hungry! I'd brought my backpack, the videocamera, a water bottle, and grabbed one trailcam, left the other.

The walking is terribly difficult in the wetland itself. Very deep snow, on top of bulrushes. The rabbit, fisher and coyotes traipsed along the top of the frozen snow. 

Rabbit tracks and poopies, but not a critter to be seen.

It is pretty. The sun warms, without wind. It is calming and quiet. You almost cannot hear the traffic on the highway. There is the odd bird, mostly chickadees.

This bird caught my attention, singing, and a partner joined it. This was the best I could do. I'm wondering if they were evening grosbeaks. I shall never know. They were just too far awy.

Lask week, there was remains of a rabbit. This week, evidence of a turkey kill. 

What I did was circle about half the property. I found one drop of blood. If I do a circle, crossing regular deer paths, I can check up and down the path for an antler or at least blood. The blood ceases to circulate in the antler due to lack of food and testosterone. Like a bone, the antler pops off, and sometimes it bleeds some, sometimes not.

I kept at it, but wore myself out. Having taken water, I stopped to catch my breath. The sun warmed the cockles of my heart!

Back up to the house, I was done, and happily tired.

I don't hold out much hope. I might venture out again today, covering the areas I thought likely. Thursday we are seeing likely seeing rain, followed by snow. Yuck.

It was a good bit of exercise. Bundled up, with heavy sweat pants, and layers, I'd had to zip and unzip and I warmed up during the walk. The shower afterwards was wonderful!