Crumbly Acres creatures

Thank goodness for the distraction of Wimbledon! And the forest.

 The porcupine went through the forest.

The frog pond hosts muskrats. They've been eating the native phragmites. 

One year a muskrat family moved in and we hosted them: Guess who had six babies!

The green frog sits in the green frogbit! (An invasive species.)

Frogbit, Latin for frog bite!

The forest canopy surrounds me. It hosts a bazillion bugs. I spotted a part of a poem on FB.

BREATHE

And she stopped...

and she heard what the trees said to her,

And she sat there for hours not wanting to leave,

For the forest said nothing,

it just let her breathe. –  Becky Hemsley

The Eastern Comma butterfly is around. She'll lay eggs in our hops vine. I'll look forward to that. The three black dots identify her.

We also have Eastern Question Mark butterflies, which are very similar. Both have amazing camouflage, and look like a dead leaf when they are folded up. The difference is the little white marks. I don't think I need to lay it out before you! 

As I passed the meadow, the momma turkey was there with her off spring. It surprised all of us!

 

We took a chick into the bird rehab in August, 2019. 

It's wonderful seeing new life. They were in the front yard one year. Aug., 2017.

Lots to do

Joe found a dead muskrat just off the driveway on his walking path. It was partly consumed. Muskrats have musk. I don't know if that factored in. Or traffic roaring by scared the coyote. 

The tail is really interesting. The tail bone is surrounded by fat, maybe stores for winter.

I'd imagine it was hit by a car and the coyote grabbed it, moving it to safety on this side of our fence.

We took the carcass down to the trailcam by the frog pond. It disappeared, too fast to catch it on video. Circle of life. 

I woke Saturday morning to a cottontail running outside, and the tray bird feeder knocked, feed spilled.

💡 We're big on lights around here. Winter is so dark. The light strings were pretty bad, all but one strand pooched out on me. The photo was taken when two were still working. We can thank big business, like Cheapmart, who want shoddy goods that require being replaced frequently. 

First step, deconstruct.

Hand held phone image!

I rested my arm on the railing... sigh.

The birds have been bouncing off the window. I put up a wind sock. It helps.

Cinnamon sat on the windsock. 

McGregor Muskrat

Yesterday a dump of rain (15mm ; 6/10"). Happily, it cleared by the afternoon and I was able to read on the back deck after doing laundry. The wind was wicked, however, and my laundry abandoned the laundry tree. I had to laugh.

Yesterday, I wrote about ADLs! groceries, i.e., meals, are one of the things that must be taken care of. I mentioned the weasel I had to avoid in Perth. It was on the Dashcam. 

weasel in town from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The bugs have been terrible, sorry to complain. If you know, you know! Here is a horsefly. 

 

horsefly from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I braved the bugs to pluck the trailcam memory cards! It was well worth it. Butch is well aware that McGregor Muskrat is camping out here.

 

Butch on the dock from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

And the big news is that there are TWO muskrats. You know what that means!!! 

 

2 muskrats from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The last time we had Muskrats (2014), they had 6 kits and ate and gathered (pruned?) most of the native phragmites to make their shelter. It really cleaned out the frog pond. It is interesting that they are building under the dock.

 

JB is under the weather. He's been napping. A lot. We have our suspicions, but we'll see what the doctor says. 

Booboo bear and Muskrat

The back deck is the place to be. This past week was a tad chilly. We anticipate a hot spell this week. Heat warnings abound. In the meantime, I put out garbage in the pouring rain and climbed the ladder to clean out the gutter. 

The good news is I get my lawn tractor back today. The battery was fried. They serviced it, as well. The bad news is that it is pouring rain and too wet to mow. Thunder and lightning to the south west of us.

I've scheduled a pedicure today. That will be a nice treat. 

The good weather  brought out the planes! 

This was a Cessna!

Going down to the frog pond has been good exercise. One is wise to wear bug spray, long sleeves, boots, and pants. The joys of living in the middle of a wetland! 

Muskrat has been working hard building a shelter under my dock. I guess it is easier than in the middle of the pond. I've been tracking it or them, hard to tell if there is a pair.

 This is just a young bear, determined to renovate Muskrat's shelter. They are curious! He was here an hour prior📹 and came back. You can see him rake away the debris as he snorts and snuffles.

 

Booboo bear June 13 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The next day, Muskrat was working to repair the damage by the curious juvenile bear. I finally captured it on camera! It is working hard to seal up its shelter under the dock. Booboo hasn't been anywhere near the house. Thankfully.

 

Muskrat work June 14 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters

 Around here - most days are critter days. I love our wildlife. 

I toddled down to the frogpond. Muskrat has been renovating. I have to warn them that this is a vernal pond, and may dry up if we don't get a lot of rain. It's been working so hard under the dock.

You can see its well-travelled path, the water in the frog pond. I can see the water moving after it swims under the dock when I arrive. I haven't seen Muskrat since May 1st. 

Phoebe babies are getting close to fledging. In the meantime we watch them flit about feeding 5 little ones!

phoebe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Fred sits and yawns, stretches. Thing is, phoebe keeps dive bombing, looking for bugs. It doesn't seem to bother Fred.

Fred phoebe yawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've still two Freds. I was surprised to see both Freds out at the same time. They change mates from year-to-year. They don't live together. They keep a good lookout for predators.

 

2 Freds! from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Speaking of predators...

 

coyote June2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

May 31st there was a visitor. I hadn't gone down to the trailcam in awhile. Bear was having a wash up. If you watch the video you can see the bugs flying around him.

 

Bear wash ups from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters # 547 For more critters visit Eileen's page.

Frog pond tails

Firstly, the ducks have been busy!

ducks on pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

 I've the camera set as the wood duck is on her nest with about a dozen eggs. 

I think the male uses a lot of energy keeping the other males away from his mate. That said, the wood ducks have eggs!

 

wood duck eggs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The lone muskrat! This is the new home of the muskrat. Under the dock.

You can see that Muskrat likes several paths through the weeds. 

I went down May 1st, and spotted the little varmint!

The Spring Peeper tadpoles have hatched out! 

I've spotted it on the pond, first time in April. I wondered what it was up to!

muskrat frog pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The raccoons like the fallen log, although it goes nowhere. In the middle ground, Muskrat goes under the deck.

 

raccoon & muskrat from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

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!