Wood frogs and spring peepers

There are moments. A robin:

 

A Flicker, with a red-winged blackbird. We have a half-dozen blackbirds, and another half-dozen Grackles. 

I swapped out the green ribbons for March, to yellow for April. 

Our snow is gone. Joe Brian did a bit of a rake.

There are enough outdoor chores with out making more to do inside. Something happened with the coffee machine. The coffee overflowed, and dripped out, down, and under. We had to scrub it all. Great fun. 

Outside it is a mess, wet, muddy, with more rain on the way. We'll be begging for rain in August, I bet. Meantime... there are flood warnings and watches around Simcoe, Sudbury, Muskoka, and Lake of Bays in Ontario. YIKES.

 

The wood frogs are signing. OK, mistyped that, but they are signaling for mates! 

   

 A couple of days later the Spring Peepers chimed in.  

 Down in the pond, the mosquito Larvae are squiggling around.

   

 The yellow-bellied woodpecker is doing its thing. They have learned that banging on the metal towers amplifies their sounds. He is looking for a mate.

 

Fall chores

UPDATES: 

1. Our American cyclist/visitor, Rick, made it to the St. Lawrence River, cycling from Ottawa. 
2. Jordan has safely arrived at Queens University. Caitlin, JL, and Aster drove him there. (Our other 3 grandies begin school this week. )

I am working on 🍁Fall Chores. There may be some warm spells between now and fall. I keep records, since the change in temperatures really impacts us. Also, it's good to know the patterns of the seasonal changes. The big thing, for me, is bringing in the goldfish. 

We've got someone coming to pump out the septic tank, someone to check the chimney, and clean the fireplace (every two years). 

This is something I forgot about. The down pipe came off this year in March. I fixed it, but not very well. It was cold that day. The bugs are bad in Spring and early Summer, and now is the time. 

Our Gray Tree Frog was there supervising. 

Joe spotted me on the ladder, and assisted by handing me the drill. I dropped the drill once, it landed on the flowers, the battery popped off and ended up on the ground above the old drain spout hole. Sigh!

The Hibiscus are falling over with the rain. Soon they will be done, too.

I am tracking all sorts of 'last spotted,' although these two I only heard and did not see. (Hooray Merlin app!) These are photos from May, when they returned to us from the south. It was warm enough to sit reading on the back deck, albeit under a blanket!

Great Crested Flycatcher:

Also heard, the Northern Flicker. This is one of the woodpeckers that migrates. It prefers to forage on the ground, and soon ours will be frozen!

Northern Flicker in Spring

I found a Monarch on Friday, Aug. 29.

 I've been watching a series: The Spy. It takes place in Portugal, during WW II. Caitlin and Jean-Luc went to Portugal for their 20th wedding anniversary this year. 

Joe and I are watching Munch. It is fun, and a light mystery. A great way to end the day, in between tricky tennis tournaments! 

Saturday's Critters

Update on our Freds, I noticed a miniFred in the borrow under the shed. We had a chat. I told her to watch out for predators. 

Meantime, A/C's Sue had a question. I have a frogpond trailcam. One needs to set up a 'camera trap' on a path that is restricted by, for example, bodies of water. This track has the frogpond on the one side, and the wetland on the other. It's about 100m to the camera, but it is down a hill, through the forest, and well out of sight of the house. 

I do like porcupines! They just waddle on through the critter path.

 

The coyote with the bad leg still has a bad leg.

   

 I give you bear!

   

 This is funny. Couldn't the flicker have been fully in frame? I'll have to had a word with it.

 

Another great place for a camera trap is the driveway. The doe on the driveway didn't seem thrilled with the heavy rain. We've had some spotty storms running through.

   

 The fox has been back, on the driveway, just trotting in. You can see the camera lights on the house.

 

Saturday's Critters # 604 visit Eileen's critter meme.

Crumbly Acres Critters

 The birds are back! Tons of them. Grackles, Red-wing Blackbirds, Starlings, Phoebes, it is terrific!

🐻Bear season is upon us. Hibernation is over in Ontario. Bears are hungry. 

The mother bears, and/or her suitors, kick the 2-year-old bear out of their territory – usually in May. The young bears have to look for new a habitat. It usually affects us, since the youngsters are desperate for food and haunt bird feeders. Often I see them on the trailcams. Not in the flesh fur! 

It was 2022 that I had a shock. It was self-inflicted. We'd had a bear in May, and I put the feeder away until July, wanting to see the rose-breasted grosbeak, I put it out. Whoopsie!

In Ottawa in 2023, police shot and killed a young bear. If a bear is roaming backyards, it can be deadly. 

Thursday, they had another bear which was tranquillized, this time, and relocated.

Phoebe hasn't decided on a nest site yet.

Phoebe is back! I love the song. I went for a walk in the forest with Cinnamon. You can see Cinn roaring by me at the end of the video.

   

The Flickers are so interesting. 

 The Northern Flicker has been working the ground for bugs and grubs.

 

Big rains predicted today. We'll see what happens.

Saturday's Critters # 593 visit Eileen's meme.

Spring is peeling open

Yes, spring is revealing layer after layer, slowly. It hasn't suddenly descended. A cold front is slowly leaving us, as many of you know.

windy afternoon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Bryony, bless her little heart, was 6 yesterday. Our Vancouver grandies were in a Panto last winter. They were in a photo shoot for advertising for this year. Such fun!

 

Sunrise on Tuesday!

Song of the white-throated sparrow, "old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody!"

No sign of phoebe eggs yet! They've been really active here. This is last year's nest.

The poor rhododendron folds its leaves in the cold, then opens them when it warms up. 

Tuesday afternoon it was a balmy 16 ℃ then the clouds rolled in. It is still raining today. I am never going to get that water fountain cleaned up! I had a client yesterday, and it's been too cold up until then.

And still the Northern Flickers are hanging about this dead elm tree. I think they will nest here. 

They are the most beautiful birds. One flew into the window one day in 2012. I took the opportunity to take some photos. 

 The goldfinch is eating lilac seeds. It looked so proud of itself! 

It is pouring rain, and the daffodils are in bloom.  Fred popped out from under the shed Tuesday afternoon when it warmed up. He prefers fair weather!