New Species!

Early this morning I was woken up by Phineas creeping along the headboard of the bed. "What are you doing, Phineas?!", I asked. He perched above Leotis's head. I was just glad he wasn't above my head, since the headboard is only about 2 inches wide. I went back to sleep and when I woke up, I told Leotis Phineas had woken me up looking at something in the window, and that the other night Selma also woke me up leaning against the headboard looking in the window. I said to Leotis, "I wonder if we have bats.", to which he replied, "We do!". Sure enough, there was a little brown bat wedged between the screen and the storm window. He's still there tonight, and I saw him stretch and yawn and he had a mouth full of tiny teeth. He shifted around when I was taking pictures. I had just read an article the other day in National Wildlife magazine, that said that in some dry regions, the only water for bats to drink is from water troughs for livestock, and that the bats drink while flying so it's better if there is no vegetation around and it's better if the trough is long. Sometimes bats drown and so it's a good idea to put wire mesh so that they can crawl out. So, I was just thinking I bet we don't have bats because our pond is too small and surrounded by vegetation. But, we have plently of mosquitoes and other insects that bats love! So he is a welcome visitor, except that if he returns each night, I will have to get woken up by the curiosity of our cats.

Frog Attacks Chipmunk

This morning I saw the chipmunk go to get a drink from the pond, and then the large frog lunged out of the water towards the chipmunk! Normally the frog always dives under the water when anything approaches, but since the frog and the chipmunk are the same size, maybe the frog was more aggressive. The chipmunk ran off, then came back swishing its tail from side to side. I didn't see whether it tried to drink again, but I wonder if it can't see the frog because it is the same color as the duckweed.

Tree Climbing Cat

When I first saw this picture on my camera display, I thought at first it was a humongous flying squirrel, but then when I downloaded the picture, I realized it's that cat again, up to no good. I wonder what it was going after.

Mamma Deer and Bambi!

Crows

The Foxes Are Still Around!

I assume this is all the same fox, or maybe 2 foxes. It looks pretty healthy. It probably is getting bitten by mosquitoes and that's why it is biting itself. I get bitten about 20 times when I go out there, so I can empathize with the little guy. I guess those mosquito dunks I put in the pond are not that effective.

Raccoon Eats Leftover Plums

Bloated Squirrel

Is it just me, or does this squirrel look bloated? I had seen it eating the plums shortly after I put them out there. Maybe the plums did not agree with the squirrel, at least temporarily.

Deer

Cat with an appetite for Chipmunks

Here it was making eye contact with me through the window. I feel kind of guilty that I shooed it away since it was only trying to make a living, and was once a stray kitten I was feeding. But, I saw the chipmunk again after the cat tried to catch it, so that is good (for the chipmunk).