Saturday's Critters

We are ready for Monarch butterflies. The milkweed is in bloom. It smells glorious, by the way. 

 I headed down to the frog pond, having doused myself in bug spray. The deer are scarce, as we've a ton of deerflies after them. Look at the poor doe's neck.

 

bugged doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The bullfrog tadpoles are big. They live as tadpoles for two years. 

 

The pond is alive with critters. I spotted a turtle in the middle of the pond.

We had what looked like a young coyote!

 

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I caught him on three cameras! Two cameras by the house, Skunk peering into Fred's burrow, and down on the dock, inspecting Muskrat's work. 

skunk June 24 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I enjoyed seeing the bears out and about. They haven't been by the house lately. Never in daylight. Down by the frogpond, Booboo bear! (I think!)

 

bear June 21 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This looks like the older bear!

 

June 25 bear from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We're expecting thunderstorms, which will spoil the weekend for some. I've a grocery order to fetch, having ordered online. I should wash some floors, too. There is no end to the fun!

🕷Heard from a tick specialist: if you see a freckle with legs, it's a tick. Joseph Brian's Lyme Disease symptoms (headaches, chills and sweats) are lessening slowly.  This is a good sign.

Saturday's Critters # 550 <= visits Eileen's meme.

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.

Frog pond, and other tails

I have a ritual. I'll walk down to the trailcams, exchange the SD cards, and bring them back up to the house. I was bitten by a wasp, and my usual trip to the pond was left for later. Daisy woke up later in the day, after I'd cared for my wound, and back down we went.

Mon., July 24th was our 97.7mm ( 3 1/2") of rain.  The meadow was a pond. The pond had risen. The water was touching the bottom of the dock, as it had in the spring snow melt.
The frog bit (an invasive species, sigh) had sunk under the water.

Tadpole from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Bullfrog from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Back in the forest, lots of fungus and mushrooms! Then there is the Ghost Pipe, which isn't a fungus, but depends upon other fungi for its nutrients. It is a parasite; it depends on fungi in mycorrhizal relationships with other plants for its nutrients.

Life and death is reality in the country

First something got into the wood duck nest box and ate 6 of 8 eggs down by the frogpond. I think they were already dead and abandoned. There were ants in the wood chips, as well. I brought the last two eggs up to the house, and the raccoons ate them, as well as the dead cowbird egg. This was before they ended up in my bedroom, though the cat doors.



Then there is the frogpond. It is a vernal pond, from meltwater, mostly, however, it lasts into early summer. In a normal summer. You can see the trenches from the muskrat family, momma and 6 babes, where they came and went. Also, where they dug into the bank for a home. They have gone to find more water. I imagine they will be back in spring!
There is lots of death here, but the raccoons have been cleaning up the fish, as well.



We were so busy tootling around with Yam, I hadn't checked the frog pond. It is, sadly, done for the season. Just a few Ale Wives flopping in the muck. The frogs have gone. The tadpoles, the bullfrogs overwinter for a season, will likely hunker down in the muck and estivate.



I've had to fill the goldfish pond. The evaporation is awful. Froggie sits in the splash. We've had some rain, not a lot. Just a few mm here and there. It is better than nothing.


They are laying new eggs in the mason bee house. They will hatch next spring.


Bambi is on hosta #6! I don't mind, as she is a skinny little runt.