Milkweed, Jeremiah, and the weasel

I managed to do the front lawn while Joe was shopping. It's tricky since I had to wend my way around the Milkweed plants. They are precious.

We've one caterpillar left, that I can spot. It fell off another plant, the plant dying as it is done for the season. I'll have to check it today. This plant is right along the sidewalk. Maybe it wasn't prudent to put it right there. 

Jeremiah Bullfrog is doing well. I will have to move him to the wetland closer to freeze up. In the meantime, he is a welcome sight.

I went down to the frog pond to check things out. There is no sign of Muskrat. I don't blame them for taking off. They had too many visitors. The pond, however, benefitted from their eating up the native phragmites. Mind you, it is not open, it is covered in frog-bit. 

Butch is one visitor.

Butch Aug. 6 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The weasel was there Aug. 8 & 10th.

weasel Aug 8 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The monarch caterpillars!

😷What a week it's been for many people. We are holding our own. We are still recovering from COVID. Slowly. Dr. Brian Goldman is warning us:

The new #Covid KP3 subvariant is spreading like wildfire. You may want to consider masking for larger gatherings indoors. Some hospitals have returned to required masking. My anecdotal sense is that KP3 is much more than "a cold."

🔨 I was about to suggest to daughter Caitlin, in Ottawa, that they'd had two incidents (toilet issues), and a third was likely on the way. Wrong! They had more than this. 

Here are their tale of woes: backed up drain, the heat pump kept frosting up so they couldn't use the AC continuously, toilet glugging, dryer vent blocked (that involved cutting open the wall), and dishwasher drain plugged. I was tired just reading her list!

🛠  🏠  🔦  🔩

🦇Baths or moths?

I found a 📹video of bats in the dark on the Facebook Trailcam group. This tells me that my videos are of large moths! Not bats. You can see the bat outline.

A couple of years ago this poor bat was stuck in a used plastic container and couldn't fly out. It wasn't amused! I flipped up the lid, launching it into the air, and off it went.

This poor bat was circling our bedroom ceiling fan. Again, this is the bat shape I should have been looking for.

I like putting a mystery to bed. 

sphynx moths from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐛Yippee! I found two monarch caterpillars. This is a good sign. There must be more, but the pumpkins are crowding the milkweed. They can co-exist! I gave them a good water Sunday. Monday, it poured! 

 

Aug. 1st

Aug. 5th  – peek-a-boo!

July storm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's critters!

 There are so many critters in the yard.

The milkweed are their own little habitat. The Tufted Milkweed Moths are doing their thing.

There are lots of bugs! Monarchs and tufted together.

The crows have been vocal, since the little ones fledged. I've enjoyed watching for them. crow 

The lactating doe still hasn't brought the fawn around! Her poor face, with deerflies. mama doe 

 

Out in the front yard, both a monarch and a fritillary on the milkweed. butterflies  (The monarch is difficult to see!)

 

We've lots of slugs around.

This is a bit strange. Walking in the meadow, I saw a slug hanging from a thread. It could be an LDD caterpillar thread. It was rather weird! Doug the slug 

 

For more critters: visit Saturday's Critters # 394

The Inept Birder

I follow someone on Twitter who calls themself @TheIneptBirder. They are the go-to person for sharing self-deprecating bird fail photos. It really is funny! Various people help one another attempt to ID really bad photos of birds who are totally uncooperative. I know many have talked about bird butt photos!

Gone are the days of 24 images per film. It's better to happily snap and hope for the best! My videocamera covers up mistakes, as one can select an image from it. (That's the only way I can capture lightning!)
The wren is very fast.
Clip4 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Then, there is the sparrow. It's not bad, but they are so flitty!
sparrow from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

My trailcam has been the same. When I go through several weeks with nothing but Butch Raccoon on the memory card, I ought to have given myself a shake! I did. I moved the camera.


Now, there are many things to keep in mind. Trees and grasses trigger the motion sensor. You should face it north, which is tricky with trees and all. The idea is to set it up in a known high-traffic area. Sometimes I pick up traffic, as well! In this case, the grasses were moving  in the wind.

 Then, when I went down to fetch the memory card, I realized there were leaves flapping in front of the camera. sigh.

Better...

Sunday morning, in my jammies and housecoat, I went to fetch the cards.


It was brisk, but the mosquitoes were few and far between in the cold. On Oliver's Lot, I saw a nice buck. By the time I'd pulled out my videocamera, GONE! This is the second time this has happened. I fooled them, though. They had some up from the meadow.

deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I haven't seen our bear in a month. They trapped one in the spring and took it off to a forest. I get them infrequently on the trailcam.


The big news in Perth: bear who had been on the loose on Sunday. They captured and moved it.

a bear wandering in town

The green dragonfly was co-operative!

Then, there are the hundreds of monarch caterpillars. They are slower moving and are easier to photograph. Not only that, but this plant, beside the front step, has had 6 caterpillars. I keep moving them, but this photo has four on it now.

We have a little patch of catnip and Annabelle approved! I pick a plant now and then.

Look at the wild grapes! I'm going to watch the birds go after these, if I remember and I am quick enough.

Our monument to our three black cats has officially fallen apart. This is what it looked like. The wood has finally split.


I repainted it and will look for another place for it.

Happy summer!

Critters and caterpillars

During Gramma Camp, Isabelle and I were watching the caterpillars. These are milkweed tussock moths caterpillars.

July 24


Wednesday, July 31st


August 1st

Monarch caterpillars

Everyone, across Facebook, is finding TONS of monarch caterpillars. I knew the population would rebound. nature is like that.

All of the above are on the milkweed at the front of the house. In the backyard, there are a few more.


Back when I had my macro lens...


The milkweed hosts a number of critters!


Meantime, my cherry tomatoes are popping up all over the property!
In the water fountain...  on the front step! It is our little chipmunk.

My pumpkins are doing OK, although I have lost a LOT of blossoms. JB's deer friends, I imagine. We really need rain.


The hops vine is hosting a number of mourning cloak caterpillars, at varying stages of development.

The (vernal) frog pond is beginning to dry up. We had 9mm rain the other day, which helped. The bullfrog tadpoles live two years in the pond. They'll hunker down in the mud. 

The deerflies are easing up. When I work in the goldfish pond, this really helps. With the drying wetland, the green frogs are showing up in the wee goldfish pond. We had one all spring, two more joined it a couple of days ago, and yesterday I counted 5.

The leopard frogs hang out in the grass, as do the garter snakes. I have to be careful mowing the lawn. I nearly ran over this snake.

On Monday, Annabelle caught herself said garter snake. She didn't hurt it, at all. I liberated it from her, and put it into the back garden. It was hanging about the lilac tree. Silly cat.