Saturday's Critters

It took time and effort to video this! Luck = preparation + opportunity. Blue Jay courting:

🐣 PHOEBE 5 phoebe eggs, estimated to hatch May 15! They are in a safe place. Critters tend to avoid the house. 

 

This Blue Jay was making strange sounds!

 

Barry Beaver continues to be busy. In the dark, it seems. That's when the coyotes are out... I should warn him.

   

 Along Barry's path, a porcupine. Or a porcupette, it seems smallish. 

   

 Our squirrel, '#75,' was supervising the crows who were gathering deer fur for their nest! We lost a fawn in March to coyotes.

   

 The woodpecker was going at #75's nest box! This is in between banging on the internet tower!

 

More critters at Eileen's blog: Saturday's Critters # 646 !

It's winter!

 Deer fur is really interesting. Especially on mornings like today. It's -13 ℃, and the deer really need it.

You can see how insulated they are, when the snow doesn't melt on their heads!

Polar Vortex explained:

 

My flag, DRS, the deer

 I had a wee issue with my flag. I ended up tying it to the railing. This is Isabelle's wreath from last March Break. It sparkles in the sunshine!

Another cold one. It was -19 when I put out the garbage Monday morning. 

Despite these temperatures, the dratted red squirrel (DRS) has arisen from slumber. The black squirrels, not yet.

Of course, our deer. Zola is hanging in. She dominates the feeder, usually.

On our walkies, Cinnamon and I discovered a clump of deer fur. Somebody had a fight!

I learned, from the research done by Carol, that deer fur is hollow. 

"I knew that deer put on winter overcoats. I didn’t know those hairs are hollow. They insulate, of course. But they also absorb solar heat and transmit it to the undercoat next to the skin."

I love watching them, deer parade, trotting past the tree! We had 25 Monday afternoon.

 

  
The young 'uns are a hoot. The twins are quite playful. deer selfies