Milkweed, Jeremiah, and the weasel

I managed to do the front lawn while Joe was shopping. It's tricky since I had to wend my way around the Milkweed plants. They are precious.

We've one caterpillar left, that I can spot. It fell off another plant, the plant dying as it is done for the season. I'll have to check it today. This plant is right along the sidewalk. Maybe it wasn't prudent to put it right there. 

Jeremiah Bullfrog is doing well. I will have to move him to the wetland closer to freeze up. In the meantime, he is a welcome sight.

I went down to the frog pond to check things out. There is no sign of Muskrat. I don't blame them for taking off. They had too many visitors. The pond, however, benefitted from their eating up the native phragmites. Mind you, it is not open, it is covered in frog-bit. 

Butch is one visitor.

Butch Aug. 6 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The weasel was there Aug. 8 & 10th.

weasel Aug 8 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Camera Critters

Joe had a great result on his PSA test, and had his Lupron injection, his cancer treatment. The poor man: Lyme Disease, then COVID. We've both tested negative, but side effects remain. However, we remain in the land of the living. We tag teamed to wash the sheets yesterday. I put on the mattress protector, then rested. Next the fitted sheet, rested. You get the drift. We cancelled Gramma Camp next week. I am so sad.

The cats left him a gift in his office. Wasn't that sweet of them?! 

 I've been so discouraged with my COVID cough, now that I tested negative. Finally, on Thursday I made it down to check out the 3 trailcams. I imagined, in the 17 days since I contracted COVID, what could be going on down there. I imagined the batteries dead, or our bear working away at it, etc. Common issues amongst those of us who have camera traps. All of us laugh about it!

It turned out that the batteries were fine, because there wasn't much critter traffic. The 3rd camera only grabbed a fuzzy shot of the doe. The dock camera (#2) did well. I was so curious! I could see the Muskrat snuffling about, eating the native phragmites. (I'd tip toed down!) 

This is a screen shot from a June video. 

The poor muskrat family, which I assume is still living under the dock, judging by the mammal traffic, must be having a fit.  Usually they create a dome in the middle of the pond from the phragmities, hollowing out one for a home, another for a food cache. This is an example of old push up, it sort of melted over the winter of 2016. 

There are 3 more videos from camera #1: a wee skunk, baby butch in the daylight, Booboo bear, a coyote peeing 😏, and more of the fisher. I'll post them anon.

 Butch has two kits. Good work!

 

Butch and kits on the dock from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our weasel was checking things out. This is unedited, it came back twice in a minute. The camera is set to capture a 1-minute video. 

 

weasel on the dock from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Then there is the fisher. A scary critter for the muskrats.

fisher from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters # 555 <= for more critters!

Saturday's Critters!

Here we are, putting some of the critters to bed or bidding them farewell. I'm still pondering when to bring in the goldfish. We were down to 2 C. on Thursday morning, but no frost. The hanging planters are hanging in. The fuschia is covered in caterpillars! 'Covered' is far fetched, but there must be a half dozen! 

I've brought my house plants indoors, keeping a sunny spot for Cinnamon. He kindly rolled over on the orchid light, nearly toppling it over. I had to move the cord. 

As always, I try to select the best thumbnail from each video – if you don't have the time or patience to watch it. I love their antics, though. 

There is action on the videos. This is the fawn a week ago. She is beginning to lose her spots.

 

fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

They have to be careful in the forest. There are lots of predators.

 

fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Speaking of predators.

 

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The fawn is so playful! 

 

doe and fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The grouse was fun to see. I don't recall seeing one here!

grouse from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The weasel was a hoot. You could mostly see its eyes reflecting the light.

weasel from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thanks for Eileen for hosting critters lovers: visit more here... 

Saturday's Critters # 459

The weasel

Nutmeg tends to bring prey back to the house. 

Nutmeg from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Cinnamon came walkies with me.

Cinnamon (I think) headed towards our 3rd lot. There are mice friends in the grass.

cat from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Fred continues to hang about. I think he's still under the deck. More often I see him coming from the forest, though.

I've been trying to use up my mealworms. I give a couple a day to Maple tree frog. I haven't heard the tree frog indoors since the first time. We won't have to lure it out, I guess. As I fed Maple, Nutmeg yells at me through the Muskoka Room door. I noticed that it drools as it reaches for the worm.

 

tree frog eating from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We had the cats bring a weasel back to the house. I tend to think it was Nutmeg. She knows she is vulnerable. 

It took off. I shall hope for the best.

weasel from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I turned over a few rocks, and found two blue-spotted salamanders under two different rocks. 

tree frog eating from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Nutmeg is in the door of the Muskoka Room, anxious to get out. She was grounded.

Narrows Lock Birding – Part 3

I decided to chop this trip into three posts. It didn't last all that long, but serendipity being what it is...  As I was watching the common mergansers in their aerial acrobatics, I noticed a weasel run across the road from one side of the lake to the other. That got my attention. I walked over.

I found a long-tailed weasel, Mustela frenata. It ran across the road as I was standing there. It went back across the road from whence it came. 

As I watched it leave, I turned back to the water, and found there was another one! I had my zoom lens on the tripod, and it was tricky, but rewarding. It wasn't as fast as other critters, and was quite curious and/or tolerant of me.

It ran up and down the rocky shoreline.

I watched it capture a frog in the water. It wasn't too worried about me. You can hear the miserably cold wind on the video. I was standing there holding my camera and tripod, and filming with the videocamera. The sun was so bright I could barely see in the viewfinder. I didn't do too badly, after all. 

weasel from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It decided that was it, and galloped across the highway.

This was the best I could do, as it ran all along the shoreline, behind the blockhouse, around the lock itself, catching the attention of the geese, who were a bit worried.

This one went back to the other shoreline, and skirting the shoreline I followed it from behind the blockhouse to where I was standing on the concrete locks. The geese were a bit worried. I tracked it along the shoreline, dragging my tripod, my zoom lens with me. I looked back but couldn't see it.

Following it, the geese were paying attention. I lost sight of it. 

Again, serendipity, I leaned over looking for it, and noticed some very large fish in the water. Big fish in Big Rideau from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We toodled off home, done for the day. It was a lovely couple of hours, away from news in the sun, and we found lots of critters. I like the thin ice warning. 

There is some snow left, although we had 🌧 20mm of rain overnight, and if we go back it likely has further diminished.

Back in Lanark County...

Vultures have been here for a week or so, migrating back for spring. I spotted several.

As we arrived home, I snagged a photo of our three crows.

It was a great drive in the sunshine. Quite healing. 

• Narrows Lock Birding – Part 1
• Narrows Lock Birding – Part 2

Snowshoes!!!

Wed. morning, Jan. 30th, I popped out to grab the rain gauge from the deck, to check the snowfall. The little tracks in the snow were so cute. Poor critters out there in the cold. The polar vortex extends down into the USA.

In the dark of the morning, I could see tracks. I examined them in the light of day, and I'm not sure. Something in the rodent family, with something running sniffing its path. It wasn't Hooper, he hadn't been out overnight.



It's a goodly distance for a small track. Perhaps our weasel.

This is from December.


Red squirrels are everywhere. Here, near the water barrel, leading to an actual hole in the snow. The snow has a base of about 30 cm.


This tree is still splitting. It will fall into the wetland, it won't harm anyone. It creaks in the winds.


It's so dark, but looking for tracks is motivation! Once you get going, you warm up.


This is our island in the middle of the wetland. It's a busy crossing, a path all the critters use. You can see the fox scat, and then the turkey tracks.


A deer bed, they nestle in the snow.


This was in the middle of the frozen frog pond.


My trusty snowshoes.


I'm thinking these are turkeys, strutting their stuff, dragging their wings, as they do.


The purpose of the trek was exercise, as well as fetching the trailcam SD cards. This guy I filmed out the kitchen window. He's shed his antlers. I was hoping to find some. It's good exercise.



Jake is still carrying his.
Trailcam Jake from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.