Saturday's Critters

Feeding the birds leads to all sorts of critters. We haven't had many deer at the bird feeder this year. Lately it has been poor disabled Duke, with his dislocated ankle. He is doing better, navigating this awful snow cover, with its frozen layer and slush, somedays.

Duke Feb. 1st from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thursday, Feb. 1st, we were watching TV at night, and Cinnamon heard a noise. He's been sitting watching the wall since the real cold began. We've mice in the wall, none in the house. We've had young mice other years. They learn there are cats, though. Here is Nutmeg in 2022!

That said, I went out front and looked for evidence of racoons. None. They don't seem to be awake yet. Going out back, I noticed tracks in the snow. I thought about it. They aren't very deep, and the snow was soft. It couldn't be a coyote. I couldn't see the tracks properly in the dark, but they were there.

Hooray for the Crumbly Acres camera. I thought of it as I was in bed reading. I used great restraint to keep reading and knew I would check it out in the morning. Such a search is not good for sleep hygiene! It turns out the fisher came by about 7:40. This is the first time.

Fisher at the feeder from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Here is the cedar corridor in the fall. I trudge through in my snowshoes, and the critters tend to follow my tracks.

Having managed to get down once to the trailcams, we had critters. The deer cross the path, through the rough snow, in the precipitation. At one point the fawn shakes like a dog!

deer cedar corridor from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters # 529 

Winter play!

 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.

Our Ottawa family went to the Senator's hockey game!

Outside, the bucks are having fun. They are still play fighting. This is good since they might loosen their antlers and I'll get to find one. Normally, the bucks hang out elsewhere in the area. We usually only have the females. This has been unusual, as it is very cold.

Out front, this dude, AKA Prince Harry, was using the driveway. It is horrid walking in the forest for them in knee-deep snow, and a 5 cm icy crust on top. 

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...

I was happy to see the young buck hunkering down in a deer bed in our forest. I was miffed the old camera did not pick up the buck making his bed!

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.