Guess who had six babies!

Adult feeding

Well, I hope my faithful readers appreciate this. I have a mosquito bite on my right hand and my right foot. It WAS worth it! In our frog pond, I spotted 6, SIX muskrat kitts! They are adorable!

They are born blind and naked, but their eyes are open, and they have fur and can swim by two weeks of age. They are weaned in four weeks. They become adult size after 3.5 months. Although the adult male remains as an occupant of the den in which the young are born and raised, it does not participate in their care.

The B.C. government paper says that mortality rates, according to North American studies, fall in the range of 30 -  65%, as they are prey for minks, foxes, coyotes, hawks and owls.
I've seen all of these critters in our forest!

They are basically a large rodent, a field mouse that has adapted to living in a pond.
Hinterland's Who's Who says that they can have another litter or two this summer, and they are promiscuous. They used to be hunted frequently for their fur, but humans have not wiped them out as their population is as high as it was a thousand years ago. I've seen them as roadkill, as they seek out vegetation, or new homes.

They use their glands to mark their territory, primarily in mating season, when they mark around their lodges. They have a poor sense of hearing, sight and smell. I can stand there on the dock and watch them. If I move, they duck for cover.


You can see the lodge they built on the far side of the pond.

We had quite the drought in May, and the pond is very shallow.   It's too shallow for winter, as it freezes, and I imagine they will move on. If you have the patience to watch to the end, you can hear the grey tree frogs calling and see the turtle raft I put into the pond.
muskrats from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The wood frog tadpoles are now breathing air and are losing their tails. Muskrats are primarily herbivores, but will eat snails, and other water critters should they need to. There is a ton of frogbit growing in the pond, an invasive species, but the muskrats love it.

Lots of critters about!

She's very cute, and feeding a family!


The frogs are growing legs!



Driving along a back road, we met 3 deer. Also, a crow harassing what I think is a vulture!


The view into Westport, and a starling feeding it's offspring.


We haven't seen the males in the winter, suddenly they are popping up everywhere!
Deer selfie from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This little sparrow is nesting nearby, he's often atop the trees. I caught him in my conifer, where I could videotape his lovely song, and reaching for the stars.
sparrow song from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

When a tree falls in the forest

BEFORE:

It was in the fall that Daisy and I watched the tree sway in the wind. It was top heavy, and very tall. The trunk had split, detached part way, and it was just waiting for a big wind.
 

AFTER:

There was no wind. I was sitting on the back deck on June 4th, I heard creaking, several times, as did JB over the course of the day... I was a bit worried about the bear being there. Then, a HUGE BANG!


Dorah and I went down for a walk. She thought this was a pretty cool tree and a treat.



Down after lunch, I took off some of the branches to clear the path. You can see a small sapling holding up this large branch. We've got a man coming who'll lay it down for us. Most of the wood isn't usable, as the top half was rotten.
 I like the way in which the canopy has let a lot of light into the forest.

Gray Catbirds dancing in the lilacs

I was out watching the traffic, pulling weeds, earned myself a grass cut (ouchy) and I heard birds in the lilac bushes. All of the lilacs are done for the season. I vaguely remembered seeing these birds here last year, and I began to pay attention.

Sure enough, there were three of them, making an enormous racket. Then, I heard the famous meow sound for which they are named.


Gray catbird from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The last of the Barred Owl

June 5th, 3:16 p.m.

Well, that's it for my owls, methinks. I took a last walkabout in the forest Tu., June 7th, tromping along the peninsula into the wetland, nada. Then across the bog and up the hill. There she was in the back 40. She stared at me and flew off into the wetland. I couldn't see chick at all.

These photos, June 5th are about 50m away from the nest, so I imagine the chick is doing well.  I heard her this morning, doing her solicitation call at 6:00 a.m. and it being a coldish morning I think I'll post my last photos of her, and know she is in the forest!

What I find interesting is that all the reliable resources say that they are nocturnal. I've heard them in my forest for the few years I've lived here, but both day and night. Obviously, my photos are in the day as I don't tromp in the night when we have lions and tigers and bears.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have summed up the sightings of my owl on a page, just for future reference. 

Now, these photos are just beside the nesting tree. I love watching her! She stared, perhaps glared down at a tree. In the last photo, I'm way too slow in reaction times... she suddenly swooped down and plucked a mouse from the base of a tree. Then flew up several metres away, to the top of the canopy. I don't know if the chick was there, I couldn't see a thing. The chick is well-hidden. 
I'm happy for my owl family! 

Book Review: A Jerk, a Jihad, and a Virus,

BQB Publishing

That was a fun story! It incorporated science, mystery, spies, suspense, and comedy! It was good fun. I don't often like mysteries written by men, some are too gruesome, vulgar with locker-room toilet humour. This was a good run of real-world issues and world travel, while examining the risks of SARS, BCV, and the politics around it, as well as jihad. I read the news, and have seen too much of that. I needed a jolly novel.

Jones used @bqbpublishing, which means he and they were co-publishers. This really is the way to go, as you end up with a well-edited book, fit for an ISBN number! (This is how I published mine!)

The author has credibility, and he writes, using his Ph.D in microbiology, to make the story believable. I like books that use excellent science to educate me, without lecturing. This was well-crafted. I really cared about the outcome and the characters, and read to the end!

From the publisher

Learn more about
Jones on his website.

In A Jerk, a Jihad, and a Virus, Jason and Ann Hartman -- veterinarians, lovers, and graduate students -- conduct a study of BCV in calves, a common virus that causes diarrhea in cattle. A recently-arrived Chinese student accidentally exposes the calves to the SARS virus, a close relative of BCV, and both the calves and the Chinese student develop a severe and puzzling pneumonia. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) isolates a hybrid BCV-SARS strain responsible for the illnesses and notifies the FBI of the new and dangerous virus. Ahmed, a fellow grad student and accomplished con man, discovers Jason's samples containing the virus and steals them, fleeing to Yemen where he pretends to be a devout Muslim to get funding from a jihadist group. The jihadists believe the virus will be valuable not only as a biological weapon, but also as bait to lure the United States into military action that will kill innocent civilians and increase the region’s hatred of America. Jason and an unconventional CIA agent redefine “thinking outside the box” as they con Ahmed, dodge bullets, and thwart the jihadists.