Saturday's Critters

It was a banner day. JB asked if I wanted to go for a drive and look for things to photograph. Hah! There was lots to see at home. 

I'd done my morning workout, JB did his walkabout. He spotted a porcupine on his walk. After I posted the 📹video of our Porky with the gimpy leg, a porcupine was hit on the highway. I was glad to hear that he saw another one.

From there I decided I could hear a red-tailed hawk, or a blue jay imitating them, and walked down the path to the forest. It called, again, and I knew I was on the right track. Suddenly, it flew over my head.  Hearing the hawk across the highway, up I went to see what I could see.

red-tailed hawk Sept 8 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

From there, I skirted around the yard, headed towards the back. I've elm trees down and ought to chop them up for firewood (non-mental note). I have to dodge those leopard frogs, nestled in the dewy grass looking for yummy friends. 

As I came around the corner, I scared Fred Groundhog as much as myself. He's been appearing from time-to-time. I think he has abandoned the wood pile for a hole just in the forest.

fred Sept 2 #6 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After Fred disappeared, I walked to see if I could see his hole and nearly stepped on a jumping forest mouse, who jumped to get away from me.

jumping forest mouse from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The few Monarchs we have sail on the summer-like breeze in the backyard. The robins are happy having a bath in the water fountain. There were a half dozen of them taking turns. 

The Robin was eating wild grapes:

robin Sept. 5 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

From there, they all needed baths, but the Cardinal watched them.

robins bathing from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

cardinal & robins from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It is funny watching their behaviour. The cardinal watches. The other robin comes up and the first one chases it away.

The raccoons are active in the forest at night.

Butch & kits from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐝HORNETS

From there, I looked up at the Hornet's paper nest and found another one. Having seen it several weeks ago, I'd walked down to the lower deck but could not spot it. This time it was obvious. The large hornets are buzzing in and out. They leave us alone and we leave them alone. 

hornets Sept. 5 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I've found out a bit more about these frequent flyers. From Iowa State U, I found out that there are about 100 - 400 drones in each nest, with one queen. They build up to 400 nearer the end of summer. The old queen will lay new queens, they will go off and mate, with the new queens hibernating after mating. The old queens and drones die off in winter.  

They have a typical four-stage life span: egg, larvae, pupa and adult. 

From Wiki: Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0 

Thanks to Eileen for hosting! 

Saturday's Critters # 456

Poor little grouse

It last happened in November, 2014. A ruffed grouse went into the window. I suspect the hawk chased it. There is a pair of red-tailed hawks checking out the old horned owl nest just across the street. They have not nested there, but I hear them a lot. We have a sharp-shinned hawk in the area, as well.

It happened again, on May 1st, 7:45 a.m. I wrapped it in a towel to see if it would recover. It did not. I held it until it was gone. It was a massive hit.
I put the little body on the far lot. Some creature would benefit from it. Either the vultures or the coyotes.

More sightings; hawk, deer

On my way home from visiting my client, I spotted our sharp-shinned hawk, or red-tailed, I'm not sure!. It has a way of glaring, doesn't it?! In the first photo, there is a bird on a fly-by, just in the center beyond the hawk. The crows were not happy with it in the area. You can figure out what it did in the last photo, not captured on the photo, thankfully.



I saw a doe in our back 100m. She was clearly agitated, and worried about a predator. You can see her ears back, listening. Hubby spotted something in the back on the edge of the forest.
There have been a lot of bear sightings nearby. He doesn't think he saw a bear, though. We'll keep you posted. The deerflies have been miserable, and we haven't seen many deer about, perhaps we have a new predator?


Then, there are the deerflies. The ticks are way down this summer. This is why deer are scarce.

Owl hunting on Wolfe Isl.

Dec. 31st, 2014

Traditionally, birders only tell other birders (privately) where they find amazing birds. Everyone knows, however, that Wolfe Isl. has a lot of snowy owls (for some reason). So, I'm not giving anything away here, especially since we didn't see any! Not a one. I was so flummoxed.

We've been to Wolfe Isl. several times, only once seeing an owl.
Snowy owl #1 Dec. 31st, 2014 It's all very exciting, owl watching!
Snowy owl #2
Snowy owl photo-op #3 (Ottawa)!
Wolfe Island Trip 2016 Part 1: Sites and critters 


There wasn't much snow, and there was a lot of fudgey road. See my boots!
We had left home at 8:30 to catch the ferry across, and over we went. We rode the Wolfe Isl. Ferry

We tootled around a bit (26 min.; 19km), then hubby wanted to stop for a cookie. I suggested we just have lunch, since it was 11:30 and I had forgotten to have some before we left! Lunch in the W.I.P.P., to start the day. We took Muffin Muncher. He had a chat with a little boy just as we left!



We spotted three red-tailed hawks, a tree sparrow, pigeons, geese, a pair of deer, cows, crows, then a horse ,and foal napping! I was so disappointed. But, then, I DID see the Great Horned Owl on the way here. Great Gray Owl Sighting



We traveled 67 km, over 141 minutes, having driven over 100km to get there in the first place! Finally, at 2:30 we hopped back on the ferry to go to the hotel.