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!

Saturday's Critters

 The bird feeders continue to attract blue jays, chickadees, goldfinches, mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, and nuthatches, for example. The male cardinal visits mostly at dusk. This was a wet day.

The goldfish are doing well. There was ice on top of the goldfish pond. They don't know what they are missing! 

 I miss all our seasonal critters. That said, we've a lot of deer and raccoons about, thanks to the pumpkins. The deer are sometimes curious.

Doe selfie from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Butch raccoon is quite wary. If anything spooks them, up the tree they go!

 

Deer and Butch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We had a fawn with a limp. I haven't noticed it since. We'll see what happens.

 

Injured fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This momma is the one with triplets!

 

deer triplets from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Down in the forest, I've two trailcams. One by the frogpond, the other by the deer scrape. What is fun is that the fox appeared on both trailcams, which gives me an idea of where it was headed. 

quick red fox from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After a couple of weeks of trying, I finally managed to video the actual bucks at the deer scrape. The one buck sneezed, after sparring at the deer scrape. It is mating season. They appear to be brothers, and sort of play fight. They might be 3 years old, judging by their antlers.

 

deer sparring from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thanks to Eileen for hosting Saturday's Critters # 468!

Saturday's Critters

It's been a noisy week. Wednesday the new driveway was put in.  Clover, the doe, has been scarce. Then, Thursday, the OPP certification carries on across the wetland, behind a forest in the field. Twelve cops fire into targets at the same time for 10 seconds on and off all day. It sound like rapid gun fire.

In the meantime, things carry on. The gray tree frog, who is currently green for camouflage, is back on the corner of the deck railing.

We have a lot of tree frogs! 

Someone asked about the deer and deerflies – if they get them on their faces. They do. It's quite something. They flick at them all the time with their big ears.

The deer turned up, again, after the driveway was done. 

Clover, the doe, was keeping an eye on Nutmeg. 

I was so excited to see TWO little newborn monarch caterpillars! Sadly, I went back to show JB, and I think a daddy long legs ate one. I saved #2 by moving it to a safer plant nearer the house. Life is so short!

I went back even later, and found a slightly larger caterpillar on the nearby milkweed plant. 

Common yellowthroat was in the burdock!

My trailcams have been fairly quiet. Finally, the does are moving around the forest in the dark. We've two, with three fawns between them. I thought we just had Clover and her singleton! This is from July 12, 2018, since they aren't being particularly co-operative! 

The doe & two fawns  in the forest and the meadow.

 

I put the old pillow down there to see what would happen. Apparently, some of them are deeply suspicious! I ended up moving it away.  doe and fawn  

 

Saturday's Critters # 397 < = Visit more critters at Eileen's blog. Thanks for hosting!

Mice Friends, et al

We've had some visitors. This morning there were 18 deer, one loud crow, and three, no FOUR turkeys.  Lots of raccoons, and mice friends. The porcupine is awake, as well. I haven't seen the coyotes in a couple weeks.

This is our front deck. I put up old cedar fence rails to soften the cement. The rails, below the feeder, collect the bird seed. Mice friends like it!

The cats monitor the hole very carefully.

In the night, that's when the action happens. Watch for the mouse eyeballs up on the deck. They disappear as our strange visitor cat, Oregano, approaches! I've used the Ken Burns effect, zooming within the video, to point out the mouse eyes. 

  

Oregano & Mouse.m4v from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've lots of deermice. I've found them in the wood duck nesting boxes, in the shed. One year [Mouse tails – Happy endings are good!], they built a nest in my lawn tractor! 

 

The deermice friends were out when Butch came to visit, as well! You can see one of our cats in the window. They are like little cartoon mouse eyeballs, reflecting the light of the trailcam. 

 

Butch & mouse.m4v from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

 

I threw out our decorative corn. Apparently both Butch and the mice like it. Butch and Sundance, and the hole in the wall gang, are pretty snarky with one another. It's a dog-eat-dog world! People manage amazing trailcam tails of bobcats, big bucks, moose, bears, and the like. We've raccoons.

 Then, there are the deer friends.

 

    

MVI_0044.m4v from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

 The turkey's heads are changing colour, in preparation for mating season!

wild turkeys from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

For more critters by Eileen:

Saturday's Critters # 379

We've a lovely few days ahead. I am happy about that. Our 'normal' temperatures are 6 C. and -3 in the night. I know our neighbours are busily making syrup, there are two farm forests nearby. I hope they've done well this year. We shall miss the annual Festival of the Maples.

trailcam tales

I'm always surprised when I compare the day vs. night photos. In the 2nd photo, see how the deer keeps her ears down. Sometimes we get deer hanging out in winter, and one, not part of the family, hangs nearby.

I love those selfies!!!

The raccoons are out and about, as well.



I love these twins. One in front, the other trailing behind.


We've been having Lake Effect Snow, ribbons of snow picking up moisture from the Great Lakes. Snow showers, with the sun making the snow sparkle. I just thought this was pretty.

snow from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We expect some freezing rain tomorrow. Perhaps 25 - 30 mm, although they do tend to overestimate. We shall see.

I'm on the mend, the cough is some better, but JB is still coughing hard. I whipped out to the restaurant and picked up two orders of fish and chips for dinner. (After going to Carleton Place to fetch some supplies, I was baffed.) We saved half of our meal, and have enough for another meal! The tree lights were pretty in the dark. These are photos from my day trip. The first one is from the canoe rental place!

It's still snowing!

I usually begin the day to see how much Caitlin or Tom have beaten me on Angry Birds! At these temperatures, you want to wait for the day to warm up a tad.





A storm was on its way. Freezing rain in Toronto, and around the Gold Horseshoe.  The Golden Horseshoe is the area from Toronto through Mississauga and around to Niagara Falls. Most of Ontarians live around here, about 8 million people.

I could see the mess on the radar, as well as thousands of power outages.

There was a 30-car pileup on the highway east of Kingston. The highway was closed and just opened an hour ago (5:30). One person is dead and 16 went to hospital. Another woman dead in Niagara. 

Sgt Kerry Schmidt

@OPP_HSD

·

15m

About 500 crashes in the #GTA in the past 24 hours. #OnStorm

#Hwy401 wb lanes near #Hwy15 at @cityofkingston. Wb lanes will be closed for several hours for investigation, vehicle removal and cleanup. Follow @OPP_COMM_ER and @511ONEastern for updates this and other #ONHwys issues. Pls do not call 911 or OPP for road info. #ONStorm ^bd pic.twitter.com/ize1bgR34h

— OPP East (@OPP_ER) December 2, 2019

We started getting snow around 4 p.m.,  no rain. 

Annie came barrelling in the door. Little Twinkletoes has been busy! I bet this is where she fetched the two voles she ate on the front porch.

Annabelle from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The raccoons were busy at the pumpkins. This looks like the momma who had triplets. We lost a raccoon on the road a few weeks ago, it looks like that family. 

trailcam 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I went down to fetch my canoe paddles and life jacket from my canoe.

The shoreline was frozen.

We'll see what the day brings. It's only -5 C. today. I have to go out and shovel. Also, put out the garbage. I have physio this morning, too. I'm better, but can't talk too much or I cough. Poor JB is still coughing heavily. We'll get him to the doctor shortly.

Track my plow!

Forest tails

We were so excited to see our 4 release raccoons on the trailcam. It was an ucky rainy night, but they were keeners. FREEDOM!!!!!

Bless their little hearts. It'll take some time to find their territory. A month, I read. There are lots of nooks and crannies for them. Many trees for them to climb for safety.

4 raccoons from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The night before... keep counting!

  4 bears from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

My plants are indoors for the winter. Hooper has rediscovered my terrarium. I've finally found the watering regimen and it is growing nicely.

Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary Release

This was the highlight of my week. We had two people from Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary come to release 4 rehabbed raccoons. The raccoons were found in Perth, and needed to be released within 25 km.

This is a bit late to be releasing them, but one of them had to put on a bit more weight. The boys and girls are from separate litters, BTW. Apparently, with Taco and Burrito: the bigger one was protecting the smaller one by the side of the road. Mary Kate and Ashley took their time to gain enough weight to be released.

They arrived, anxious to get going.
release from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Not so anxious to leave the crate after all!



Eventually...
raccoon release from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.




Eventually, they all climbed the same tree.



This is where they hung out for at least an hour.
raccoon release 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We were done for the day!



Joe went back in an hour and they were still there. I hope they do well.

There was a fisher at the trailcam in the night!

fisher from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.