Our 4 bucks worth...Sir, and the maître d'

Seriously, I think we actually have 5 bucks. There was one with teeny antlers. Like this. He'd be #5, but sans name tags, or scars, wht can a woman do? Sir we can distinguish by his behaviour. He's a loner and likes the frozen bird feeder!

In the front yard, #1 buck 'Sir'... he's been around for a month. Sir comes around on his own, no friends. It's unusual, as we seldom see the bucks, except for Tigger. We never see them in the summer. Usually, we only have the does and their babes.

Sir: "Any black cats here?"

"She didn't top up my feeder!"

"This one is a bit low, too."

In the side yard...a trio. They hang out together, although Big Daddy won't let the 4th buck hang out with their apparent trio. Big daddy is the boss.

#2 Big Daddy

#3 He's a bit smaller. 

#3 looking beyond the shed
#4 was grazing.

What a difference Jan. 3rd => Jan. 4th... 10cm snow!

What a difference a day makes!

Jan. 3rd in the morning.
Our does: Sister, Momma; and Baby.

The morning of Jan. 3rd we had little snow left. A big storm came in that afternoon and overnight. We have about 10cm/ 4" of snow, with a layer of ice, a sharp crust, on top. Bambi's legs have to crack the ice.

I woke early, at 6:00 a.m., and found three bucks at the bird feeder in the front yard, emptying the 'bird' feeder!


Deer bird feeder from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
I need to label the bird feeder. "Sir" seems to think the bird feeder is for him and his buddies! As we watched out the kitchen window, Daisy cat decided to see what all the fuss was about. She hopped up onto the window.

Snowy owl hunting in Ontario

Visit SC #55

I'm taking a break from my Wolfe Island  saga.

The owl we found on Wolfe Isl. Dec. 31st

People were so thrilled with the 2014 winter irruption of Snowy owls. They are a beautiful bird, hunted by photographers all around the world. They are strikingly obvious, what with our recent melt down. Our snow has gone, which is unusual.

They are camouflaged for the arctic, but survive well here, sans snow! They blame the irruption on plentiful food up north, and last year the juveniles had to find territory away from the adults. Some didn't go back north and others have returned in 2015. They estimate 50 in the Ottawa area alone.

We went into the city to have 'Christmas' and birthday with hubby's aunt. We both have December birthdays, but with her 5 adult children, she's been busy! On the way home, after a two-year drought, another snowy owl.

It appalls me that these people feel free to march out onto a farmer's land, and I kept to the highway. You can see from the photos that it was windy, and bitterly cold, but the owl seems fine up there. It's head would turn slowly, scanning the ground for mice. For me, it's as funny watching the people as the owl, who ignores them.

Our buck, cleaning out the bird feeder!

Sir visits from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
We call him Sir. He's been coming to the front yard feeder every night. This time he didn't budge when I turned on the front porch spotlight!