It was an astonishing day!

. Firstly, I was waiting for my coffee to brew. Cinnamon and I were on the back deck. We heard TWO barred owls calling to one another. Back and forth, deep in the forest, down the hill. Now, I could have gotten dressed, it was a cold 10 ℃, but I thought I'd just leave them alone. I have photos!

June, 2014

 

Friday I'd found owl mute, and searched around. I found an owl pellet. I brought it up to the house to dissect it. Too bad the grandies aren't around to see it! 

Barred owl hoots twice, robin harasses her! June, 2016:

Standing on the back deck, still waiting for coffee, Cinnamon had his head poked out between the glass. A hawk of some sort swooped by, right under our noses. You should have seen Cinn's eyes! Big and wide, and greatly concerned. He's been watching the phoebes coming and going. As well as Fred.

It was silent, and glided on by. Grabbing my camera, still in housecoat and jammies, I threw on my clogs and ran around the house. All I found was a red squirrel, sitting twitching its tail. Very concerned. That'd be breakfast for a hawk.

I am thinking it was the broad-shouldered hawk. There aren't many photos of hawks from above them, on a fly by, but I distinctly recall the black and white stripes. 

Also Friday, there was a pair of Brown Thrashers in the lilac tree. Horrid photo with my iPhone, but proof of life! You can sort of see them. Happily they were calling, which helped me spot them.

The bird bath has a new pump. It took me 10 minutes to find the pump. It was still in its box. Ah, old age!

The fountain is working in the goldfish pond. This keeps the mosquitoes out of it, as they don't like moving water.

I have my tractor back! All cleaned up, mouse nest removed, new oil, so I toodled around the back. 

Today I'll plant a few things that are hardy. It's been chilly. Caitlin and Aster planted Saturday. Jordan came back to town Saturday for a trivia tournament. 

Jordan posted his first year report: GPA 3.9! Darn good! We're so proud.

A hawking good tail

We've lots of hawks around. 

Juvenile sharp-shinned, I've been told. 

This one was eyeing #75's nest box. 

These three photos are from a company who goes around to festivals and fairs. Very educational.

kestrel

red-tailed hawk

This was from Bala, when we lived there.

This hawk hit the window in 2018. I am sure it was chasing a bird. 

hawk 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

rough-legged hawk from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This broad-winged hawk came in a pair in summer. It hung around for a couple of days. 

It was screeching something in hawk-speak: 

 Why are these men on the roof? That was an adventure. They brought a hawk to scare away the gulls while they harvested the gull eggs to limit the gull population.

We had a hawk visit the feeder this week. I am giving up identifying hawks. Sharp-shinned, red-tailed, Cooper's,  or kestrel. We have a kestrel in the area. Birders with much more expertise have seen it around. I won't lead anyone astray! It was small, not as chubby as the mourning doves. 

It cleared the feeder. They slowly came back, first the chickadees. It was still sitting on the branch in the tree. I went out and it flew off at great speed. 

For more critters: Saturday's Critters # 637 visit Eileen!

Crumbly Acres Fred and family

 Things have been 🐞 buzzing and 🐸 hopping. 

When I was out on the back deck, I spotted the hawk a couple of times, a few days apart. Sunday, flying from one tree, a perfect photo-op if only the camera was on hand. Tuesday, a blue jay chased it out of the forest! Here's an archive photo.

I know my blog readers are creative. You'll have to imagine the beautiful smell of the milkweed, as well as the hummingbird I enjoy watching visit them!  I must have a couple dozen in the front garden.

I've reburied Freds hole at burrow #6. When I have to do this work, it requires the bug hat, bug spray, and courage. 

Oh, Fred! I was sitting out back, reading. Then Fred caught my attention. She eyed me carefully. I kept an eye on her because something was up. She ran past my half-eaten hostas 👀😏, then onto the driveway. I didn't have time to don bug gear, as I watched her run up the driveway, then towards the arbour. GONE!

Deerflies abound.  Sure, I thought, might as well get out of this funk and go looking for her. (I'd been awake since 3:30, for no apparent reason.) The deerflies will lessen in the month after mating season. Bug spray, long pants, off I went. 

No sign of Fred or a burrow. I am sure one if not both kits are there. I think. She was back 20 minutes later. I could not find a sign of another burrow. Well done!

I picked myself up another tick. You can compare the nymphs to the adult I found last week. I should have put my clothes out in the sun after I came home. Rookie mistake. I felt the pain and itching right away, plucked it out with tweezers, and popped it in the jar. I applied polysporin and a bandaid, and hoped for the best. I think it was only attached 5 minutes before I felt it.

The red-eyed vireo are coming along. I try not to disturb them. They are above the path from the garage to the shed and I have to avoid it so as not to flush her.  

🇨🇦 I had a lovely Canada Day phone call from Jesse and his family in B.C. They are at the cottage for three weeks. Jesse just passed another exam to add letters to him name! We're so proud. Jess took Cluny to Cultus Lake, where they did paddle boarding. Bryony and mom went to the pool. Happy kids, happy parents! 

Bernie, their cat, has has some expensive healthcare, something about a UTI. He is a pistol! Think Bernie Saunders!

Our Ottawa grandies: Jordan went to his prom. They had so much fun, a group going as buddies. Jordan is busy choosing a residence at Queen's for astrophysics. This was taken before they left. I photoshopped out his friend as I don't have permission to post her photo.

 

Aster wrote me a lovely letter and included some flowers she dried. She goes out for walks and collects flowers. Aster is taking an online summer course to get that off her plate for gr. 10 next year. She graduated from Pathfinders, with some awards. 

It was a great Canada Day across the country. We've taken our flag back from the convoy lunatics. We are in good hands with PM Carney, a clever, experienced leader and economist. 

Trailcam Tales

Of course, we watch Fred. He's busy watching for predators.

The doe had her eye on my garden.

The deer are still pregnant!  

 We had a coyote after midnight.

   

And the next night around the same time.

   

 Fred hunkers down in one of his burrows.

 

Finally, the frog pond is down one wood frog! I don't know what kind of hawk.

 

Camera Critters

Thursday

 I let the cats out for their 6 a.m. run before breakfast. We let 7 cats in the front door the rest of the day, Thursday. We only have two cats. Now, I'm kinda foggy, not over COVID. I had to think that through and puzzle it out. I think, barring the Cosmic Joker, that since I opened up a couple of screen doors, the wind was blowing after our tornadoes. Things are calmer, though. I could hear the door bang. We'll go with that explanation! Things is, we closed the front door at noon. They still got out after dinner. 😳😳😳

To their credit they didn't bring home any dinner, although we ought to look into deworming meds soon. 

Joe looked everywhere to find a torn screen or open basement door. We couldn't see this opening. After dinner Cinnamon was busted. I grabbed his bum in one hand, his tail in my other. He was most disgruntled. Gorilla Tape to the rescue! I do think it was Nutmeg, though. 

🐢Turtles

On May 3rd, Joe rescued a turtle, hit by a car awhile back, right in front of our house. He took it to Perth Vet. From there it went to the turtle rehab place, Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre. It's been fixed up and is being returned to the area. Volunteers came to our door and want to release it Saturday on a nearby lake.  Thing is they didn't know where the closest lake was. We don't have lake access, and they refused to let them go in our frog pond. We directed them to the Otty Lake Facebook page. Most people on the lake look after shorelines, and prepare fish egg laying habitats, and plant shoreline vegetation. They have a wonderful association. 

Second piece of good news, Joe took in another turtle, quite dead. The rehab harvested the eggs from her and they are getting close to being released. I haven't seen too many lately. We've seen the little ones around over the years. This is a wee one, and a juvenile. They live on land for two years, then off they go. 

🦌I was looking out the back door in the dark one night, and there was a doe sitting on the lawn. 

 

doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

She came back the next evening.

Funny story about my COVID cough. I've been going outside to cough. Fresh air, and spitting phlegm over the back deck. It seems better than into the sink. It is an offensive sound, poor Joe. I was doing that and Fred was out there. He looked up at me, the way a dog does with head almost tilted (archive photo!). I laughed (silently) at him. "What the heck?" 

At this point I am certain we aren't having babies. 

I've not been down to the trailcams in two weeks. The last time I was there I saw our buck hanging out in the frog pond. 

buck July 9 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

A porcupine, the dark blob in the video. You can hear the barred owl, chick and adult in the background.

porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Friday

At 10 a.m., I had a coughing fit and went out to the back deck to cough and spit it out. Look who I saw! 

buck and doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

They ↑ disappeared, and I could our local hawks yelling. They do that frequently. Video camera in hand, luckily, there were a pair of eagles soaring. The hawks were not amused. People on our local lake had taken photos of them nesting from their kayaks. They nested about 4 km away. 

eagles and hawk from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters # 554