Saturday's Critters

It's been busy with spring critters. I am itching to get back into the garden, but it has been wet, cold, damp and rainy. I can hear the twitch grass growing into the garden, but don't have the energy to pull it out. The bugs are back, with many song birds returning to mate. The forsythia along the highway is very cheerful.

The mating season is upon is. I noticed a pair of flickers bopping around the arbour. They seem to be nesting in the dead elm, again. They were one of the first birds I noticed here. These photos from May, 2011.  The photo after is from our visit to Batchawana Bay in 2009.

 

Flicker from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've small, medium and large critters! The spider web on the camera lens – doesn't help the image.

 

2 raccoons Apr 14 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The cottontail is so fast. Which is a good thing. I haven't seen them since the weather turned wet and cold.

 

critters from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The coyotes did their thing!

 

coyotes Apr 17 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The pond is greening up! We've two pair of mallards and lots of mosquito larvae!

 

mallards on the pond apr 18 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It is the second time I've seen a lone muskrat. It is very difficult to spot. It swam over to the dock and then went under it. 

 

muskrat Apr 18 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters # 540 <= visit more critters here!

Trip to Newboro

 Monday afternoon, we had a mission. One last Christmas present. It was a last-minute decision to go there, not made until after lunch. Off we went. We took our masks, and water bottles. 

This is a lovely store, Kilborn's. We popped on our masks. I was really stressed out, and found it difficult to breath. They have no clothes, including winter boots, that fit me. Sad to say. I've wide feet. We fetched a basket, and made our planned purchases. There was lots of sparkle!

We ate at the Stagecoach Inn in the past, but we'd had lunch before we left the house. That is safer these days.

The sun shone. I could see lots of birds on Big Rideau Lake. The problem is where to access the lake view. The Portland Bay Conservation Area wasn't great for that.  

We passed this house in Portland with two suspicious flags. I snapped them on the way home.

I'd seen them before. One can find them online. 

From there, we headed to Smiths Falls for the shoe store, for winter boots for me. They are closed on Mondays, which is the way around here in tourist country. Ah well. It was a nice drive. Back home it was.

I found more decorations. This was a lovely scene. It'd be lovely in the dark, but we don't tend to go out at night.

 We have the same bears, the dark brown pair on the left↓! 

On the way by Rideau Ferry I'd seen ducks as we drove over the bridge. We stopped on the way back for a look. Walking out on one dock, they were not amused. Off they went.

Just as I snapped it, the duck on the upper right rose up and flapped its wings and I missed a lovely shot. You'll have to use your imagination.

This was our view in summer, when we'd eat on CC's patio. They are closed on Mondays, and it was REALLY cold.

Lovely to see them before they fly south!

Saturday's Critters

I made this for Eileen!
Saturday's Critters # 385

That was a cold one last night! I took out the birdbath heater and I regret it. There is a shim of ice on it. We had 2 cm of snow, prefaced by 25 mm (1") of rain Friday. The rain is fine, but to see the snow...😒

Cinnamon brought home two ticks this week. Isabelle helped me wrangle him the second time. I put them in the jar with rubbing alcohol. We've ordered the anti-tick goop, but it hasn't come in to the vet yet.

Butch is trying to get into the wood duck nesting box. Thank goodness I knew to put up flashing. last year the weasel got another nesting box because a dead tree gave him access. Butch and the wood duck 

  

I put out cracked corn for the ducks. Someone helped himself. frogpond tails 

  

You Two deer  are still getting their summer coats in. I would love to brush them!

We haven't had a house wren nest here in two years. The chickadees used this box once (June 2012). This nest box fell apart after the wrens were done (house wren – 2019). I replaced it with a couple of new ones.

The wren was looking for a place to nest, I think.  I am hoping they nest, as they are comical, and lovely singers. This is through the front window, but if you turn the sound up you can hear him. This was three days ago, and I haven't seen him since. I shall patiently wait to see what happens.

 

The crows  are still nesting in the tree, in the pouring rain. They did a call and answer, with one in the deciduous tree, the other in the white pine tree nest building. The barred owls used to do that.   

The duck pond  had a couple of mallards, but in the first two seconds, you could hear the geese honking as they fled the pond.

I am always happy to see the wood duck  return to the nest box.

 

Trip to Code Dr. 3

Back to our March 26th adventure:

Home => Carleton Place =>  north to Appleton (at the top of the map) south through Franktown then => Code Dr..

We kept on going, looking for open water.
 
Some of the fields are opening up.

This looked so sad or poignant!

It's strange seeing the geese in the water on the fields.


OK, funny story. We passed the Park 'N Ride in Franktown. I think the people in the cranberry-coloured truck were necking! The back window was open, and heads were together. I could be wrong...It gave me a good giggle.

I wish we had the cash to do this. Solar power is important.

Code Dr.

OK, the dam, where the water flows. We were there March 18, and it was quite frozen. I like the sound of the water flowing. The culvert heads downstream, to where there is a beaver dam. We drove and parked near the dam.


Looking back towards the culvert, where the fast water has thawed. The road is in the background.


I could hear the geese honking across the way. I couldn't see them.


Hubby nudged me, and I found a veritable feast on this side of the dam. A pair of mallards.



Two Canada Geese, the one looked like it was sleeping. That's what we'll go with. They were below the dam. 
Canada Geese from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I was watching the mallards, when I noticed a pair of mergansers.

Ducks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Walkies

Our tick count
You can see the engorged adults, from Dorah and Annie,
the group of 10 nymphs was from Daisy.
I pluck them off with tweezers.

Daily I check the owl, the trailcams, the phoebe nest, and then the wood duck nesting box.

Twice daily we check the cats for ticks. Daisy is the winner, at 34 of the 38 ticks we've harvested. She favours the fields where the mice hang out, of course. Thankfully, it's easy to spot them on her. They crawl for a couple of hours, up to their heads. We've put Bravecta on them, a new product for cats. It kills them after they latch on, not before.


Daisy is my companion! She loves climbing trees. Her favourite are the cedars, with numerous branches that act as a ladder. She's not afraid of going down backwards, like a firefighter. I videotaped her doing this, that's in my previous post.
 

She launched herself up several, the mallard ducks weren't impressed. They flew off.


The ladyslippers are growing nicely. They might blossom in a month.


Owl is still trying to encourage the babies to come on out of the nest and branch. It's been coolish, so I don't blame them for staying in the cavity!