Camera Critters

I arrived home Thursday from Ottawa. Mini-Freds have been digging and I have to deal with that. 

It is finally Spring, the 8 fishies are out in the pond. The pond lilies aren't growing yet, but they'll hid under the leaves. I think there is a hole in the goldfish pond. Plus we've not had much rain, it's not filling itself up from the rain barrel. 

Anyway, critters... I've been focusing on Fred and mini-Freds 1 & 2. I've neglected the other critters. The spring peeper tadpoles!

   

 The red-eyed vireos are seemingly in full nesting mode. Singing away! 

   

 The coyotes have been very active in May. They took two groundhog kits, which is why groundhogs have 2 - 9 kits!

 

They like the driveway as a travel path! This one crossed the yard.

   

 The porcupine has appeared twice on the trailcams lately.

 

More chores today. We'll see what trouble the groundhogs get into. I've 3 blackfly bites from yard work. I should have put on bug spray and sunscreen. sigh. 

Forest walkies

 Tuesday it poured rain. But no ice rain. Happy dance... some of our friends in Muskoka and northern Ontario have had snow. 

This was Monday morning↓! Pretty cold out west. We warmed up. You can smell the petrichor in the air.

It was a fun walk. 'X' marks the spot! We get lots of saplings falling over.

Down the hill he ran. 

The first stop was to The Point. Cinnamon went island hopping. This is typical wetland here. The critters tend to avoid walking through it. Cinnamon is anxious for it to freeze so we could go walkies out there. He told me so!

 

The next stop was the trailcam. The buck has made a scrape here. Peeing on its glands to mark its territory. Apparently, Cinnamon thought it a great spot to roll around??? We've had rain, and I don't think the buck has been back to this spot. We'll go with that!

 

The cats were grumpy in the rain. Well, not Cinnamon. He hunkers down on the front deck watching for the squirrel. Monday afternoon we needed to get out and about. We went walkies. He sat there on the dock.

We went down to the frog pond. There were bullfrog tadpoles everywhere. Although, I didn't know what they were at the time. Popping up for air. It looked like rain drops falling. 

Bullfrog tadpoles spend two years in this form. Our other frogs, leopard frog, green frogs, etc., are hatched, and morph by summer.

We brought in the garbage cans, and I spotted the Meadow Vole tunnels. They are ubiquitous these critters. And the cats' main prey. 

This is a meadow vole, AKA field mouse!

Saturday's Critters

We are teeming with the promise of spring. We've two phoebe nests, a robin's nest, as well as the House Wrens who are filling two boxes!

Aside from last week's bucks, I haven't seen many deer except this one on the trailcam. They are off to their summer habitats.

forest deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The frogpond is teeming with life.

May 8th, tadpoles and fairy shrimp in the frogpond.

tadpoles from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I was enjoying the back deck, and a bumble bee got stuck on my side of the glass!

bumble bee from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

A regular visitor, Butch came by the frogpond trailcam.

butch raccoon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We don't have any wood ducks nesting in any of our three nest boxes. They are around, however. They go from the frogpond on the right, to the wetland on the left.

ducks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

May 7th, we had a coyote go by. It has unusual markings that will make it easy to spot. I posted it to the FB trailcam page, wondering if it might be a fox. I was duly corrected! It appeared again.

 

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

For more critters, visit Eileen! Saturday's Critters # 491

 

Pond tails

We had a busy day yesterday. It made it up to 28 C. and a great day for working outdoors, especially with water. I made the mistake of doing the back lawn, and the clippings ended up in the fountain. I had to take it apart and clean it out. How dumb was that?! It took me three tries, and I requested and received JB's help. It is tricky. 

I put the goldfish outdoors. Is is truly SPRING, YAM! Percy was tricky, as he doesn't fit into the small aquarium net. I used the butterfly net! Showed him! He is about 28 cm (11") from nose to fin tip.

I've still clean up to do indoors, including cleaning out the aquarium pump and tubing. We anticipate 31 C. today. I had to put sunscreen on. 

goldfish from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The frogpond teems with life. It is growing in, but there is lots going on in the water. We're pretty dry this month, I hope all survive. 

Frogpond in May from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐦Wood ducks

The ducks have eggs! She bolted from the nest so I peeked. I won't look again. She'll lay an egg a day up to about a dozen (6 – 15). It'll take a month for them to hatch.

duck eggs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The duck is in nest box #3. These are archived photos. The female comes and goes. The male is from a trip to Vancouver in 2014. I can never get that close to our male in the pond. 

Butch

If you listen to it, I think it is Butch raccoon tromping around in the dead leaves. The ducks are on the far right. As I walked down yesterday, I spotted the male wood duck sitting on the fallen tree branch.

 

ducks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Frog pond

Tadpoles! Too many to count. I pointed them out, just for fun. I found a page on tadpole ID!

 

The wee tadpoles, I think they are the wood frog tadpoles, are both predator and prey.

new tadpoles from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

They have to be on the watch for snakes, turtles, and dragonfly nymphs. If you watch the video, you can see mosquito larvae, and all sorts of bugs flicking around.

dragonfly nymph from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Dock tails!!!!

I went down to check things out. First, Cinnamon came with me. He thought this old tree might be fun.

I went to check for mail and spotted a deer! Isn't that fun? She watched me like a hawk.

Finally, the dock tails. The tadpoles are grooving along. I love watching them bounce in the water, popping up for air in the frog pond. I need my muskrats back to create some more space. They build push ups from the weeds. 

There are some frogs, but I cannot see them for the wetland reeds. I must research them, as they aren't cattails. Just for laughs, I was looking for it on my small book shelf and couldn't find it. Hubby came to help. He kneeled down carefully. Still couldn't see it. I lay down on the floor in front of the shelf. It's not there. It was tricky getting up, but we did! 

This is what we are looking for, JB!

Can I tell you how bad the bugs are?

I just noticed at 6 seconds in, along the bottom edge, a salamander larvae with gill buds. It's quite a treat. 

We have lots of salamanders and newts here. These are the most amazing little things.

This is a red eft, which is the middle stage (teenager) of the eastern newt.

Blue spotted salamander I found a number of years ago with Buster.

Where did June go?

Here we are, settled back in after our trip to Muskoka. June flew by with 101mm rain.  It was a beautiful drive. Along the way I could hear the birds in the forest. It was spectacular, as they trilled away.
Once home, I fetched the trailcam photos and promptly set the trailcams to video, now that I could monitor them again.

We have frequent cast members: two bucks, a doe, coyotes, raccoons.



The goldfish are looking good. They have a friend.

Our hops vine has been growing majestically. The question mark and comma butterflies like it and lay eggs here.

Once home, back to routines. Usually, I work out at 10 a.m., but with the heat, I took it easy. July 2nd, I went out at 11:00 to get the SD cards. Look who was there about an hour before me!

On the trailcam,  a fine male bear. (You can see dangling evidence of his gender!) He's a good bear. I haven't seen any signs of him around the house. I did see some bear poop June 10th, so he's not a frequent visitor.

bear Jul 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Donning my hoodie, and bug spray, I ventured forth.
Next, I think it is a grouse and her two (at least) chicks. I've run into them twice in the grasses. I thought it was a hawk family, but it is not. (The hawk that got away)
mystery bird from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Just a lovely spot of colour!
 
Scarlet Tanager from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
young buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

You're not supposed to have the trailcam face east, but that's where the trail lies.
Hooper from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The tadpoles are busy in the pond, as well.
tadpoles from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

For more critters...

Saturday's Critters #290

While I was watching...

Trailcam #2 – June 21 23:00 hrs. Junior Bear






They hung around most of the morning!

We've had 17 eggs hatch, the wood ducks are gone for another year.
Wood duck eggs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Again, at the frog pond...salamander larvae. They are prehistoric-looking! Their gills are on the outside.
Salamanders from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Then, the bullfrog tadpoles, who overwinter, are quite large, and pop up for air.
Tadpoles from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Hooper continues to play with Annabelle. When Daisy goes after Hooper, Annabelle comes to his rescue. It's an interesting dynamic.  Daisy is going after Annie much less. 




Then there was action at the trailcam while we were away.
The coyote peed on the ground, right in front of the camera.
Trailcam June 10-11 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

SPRING IS HERE!

Just before we were leaving for a bit of furniture hunting (more on that later), we spotted the osprey flying overhead with a fish! We went down to the nest, but it was hunkered down eating. I've snatched a photo of them feeding, I love how they know to hold the fish so it is perpendicular to their body!

Amazing day:

wood frogs in the frog pond, teeny mosquito larvae swimming happily, bullfrog tadpoles (which remain as tadpoles for two years–unlike other frogs), spring peepers at night, phoebe singing this morning!

Wood frogs & tadpoles from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Spring Peepers from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Wood frog tadpoles have hatched!

The wood frog tadpoles are out and about. They are so cool! I am fascinated with the cycle of life.

Egg mass in the pond

Suddenly they are hatched tadpoles! I went into the pond in my

Adult wood frog – they often cross my path as I
walk in summer in the forest.

chest waders, curious as to their status. We had a bit of a cold spell, and I was concerned. I knew where the eggs had been laid, and, sure enough, they were all happily sitting in the sunshine.
I love doing pond studies! They are happily sheltered in the grass end of the pond, in knee-deep water. The rest of the pond is much colder, and thigh-deep.

They are so wee!

The video is fun, to see the wriggly little critters moving about!



Wood frog tadpoles from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
They've hatched in our vernal pond, and they are swimming about by the millions! I scooped one up for a close-up. Last year's foliage protects them. The green algae shows the mass in which the eggs were laid.