Raccoon chows down some more

 
 
 
  

Raccoon chows down

 
 
 
  

Best meal he ever had

These are the pictures of the raccoon after he ate the chicken leg Leotis put out there. Also the black cat visited that night. These are from March 11th and 12th. I got a new computer and it took me a while to load some software so I could get back to posting. The frogs went back into hibernation since it got cold again. At least I assume that's where they disappeared to.

raccoon

raccoon

raccoon

raccoon

Removing the pond net

Today Leotis and I removed the pond net. Problem is, there were frogs in there, and a bunch of leaves. So I had to pick through the leaves to find any frogs. Plus there were a bunch of frog eggs in the water! They don't waste any time. So I made sure to scoop the frog eggs to where there was no net, so we wouldn't lift them out of the water. There were 4 frogs caught in the net. Two hopped off into the woods. Hopefully they will make it back. Two more were stuck in the net. One we freed and put it back in the pond, easily enough. The other one was more stuck in the net, and I had Leotis go get some scissors. I cut the net off but I think he may have lost a toe because of it getting caught in the net and struggling. (I didn't cut it off!) I hope he's okay. We put him back in the water. I think he'll be alright. So I guess we'll have a new crop of frogs. It already seems like there are too many! Some of the aquatic plants are still alive. I don't know if the frogs need all those leaves to live off of, but there are still plenty of leaves in the pond I'm sure, since I only covered 3/4 of the pond with the net. Anyway, hopefully they're happier now that the net isn't in the pond. Next year we'll have to take it off sooner. Leotis put an unmedicated chicken leg on the pond deck in front of the camera. At dust we saw the flash go off a couple times. I hope it was a fox and not the raccoon. I'll check tomorrow. Drat. Leotis said he just saw a raccoon out there. That's probably what got the chicken leg.

Strange Events

There had been a tree that was leaning in the woods, and after the snowstorm, it was leaning even more. Last night we heard it fall. Then I had a dream of a tree falling, and all these animals came running towards the house (including camels and all kinds of things).
This morning the pond water was moving. At first I didn't know what it was, but it wasn't raining, and then I saw it was a bunch of frogs-I counted 18 of them!!! Unfortunately we hadn't taken the net off the pond yet which we put on in the fall to catch the leaves, because it had frozen, and today all of a sudden it was like 70 degrees. So hopefully the frogs won't get stuck in the net. I'll take it off tomorrow. I don't know where they all came from-I only ever saw like a few frogs last summer from all those tadpoles.
Leotis called a wildlife hotline and today went and picked up some medicine to treat the fox's sarcoptic mange. He also got a bunch of information on what to do, and he cooked up a ton of chicken legs that we're supposed to feed to the foxes, once a day. Then when they are used to being fed, we're supposed to inject a chicken leg with the medicine. Hopefully that will work and that we won't just have a bunch of fat raccoons and cats.

Return of the mangey fox

Well, the cat seemed to hang out for a long time, and the raccoon made 6 appearances. I feel bad for the mangey fox. If you look at the first picture of him, he at least had some fur on the end of his tail but now nothing! I definitely think there are 3 different foxes. I wonder if the healthy fox and the mangey one are a couple, since this is the second time they both came around. I hope it's just mange and not a more serious health problem.

At least the other fox still has a good coat.

Poor mangey fox. Looks mangier than ever!

Finally after an hour and 20 minutes, the cat leaves the area.

cat

cat sitting

cat

cat

cat taking a drink from the pond

raccoon heading towards compost

raccoon

An assortment of wildlife

I finally got rechargeable batteries and after only one night, got quite a few pictures. The resident chipmunk made his first appearance in front of the camera, plus a new cat which looks suspiciously like my cat but how is that possible? The raccoon had raided the compost bins again, and is probably out there feasting right now since I put more compost out there. The fox looks different--I'm wondering if it's one of last year's litter, because it looks smaller than the mangey one and not that mangey, and not as big and fluffy as the other fox who I think is last year's mother. So that was an interesting assortment. There was another picture of something unidentifiable and a picture of the chipmunk mid jump, going up the stairs, but that was also too blurry to post. Unfortunately the batteries went dead after one night of use! But I have a spare set I am charging so I guess I'll just have to be recharging on a regular basis.

tail of an orange cat

raccoon

Little fox

back of the raccoon

chipmunk

Video Cam

No new pics, because the batteries went dead again. I'm getting rechargeables soon. Leotis installed a wireless video camera under the deck, but so far we haven't seen anything under there. It can also see in the dark. Stay tuned til the next pictures...oh yeah, we heard all this barking again the other day that seemed really close, and then it headed off into the park.

Then the snowstorm hit. We got around 6 inches.

Snowstorm

I wonder how all the animals are faring after the snowstorm. I went around clearing snow off bushes and put out some bird seed and suet. I discovered the wren is living under the eaves of the shed. The camera trap keeps turning off again, even though I just put in new batteries. Not sure what the problem is, but at least I got a couple shots.

Fox sniffing the deck near the pond.

Black cat with white feet, with that caught in the headlights look.

Two foxes, a raccoon, a mourning dove, and a squirrel

The mourning dove and squirrel pics didn't turn out well very. Leotis had seen the mangey fox and the healthier fox yesterday in the park, and I debated pointing my camera trap towards the park, but I'm glad I didn't. Interesting that the raccoon and foxes seem to be inhabiting the same area, although I'm not sure they all are staying under our deck. I feel bad for the poor mangey fox. I wonder what happened to him, and if this is the same fox couple as last year. Of course, the pictures weren't all that good so maybe he looks worse than he is.

Poor mangey fox. His tail is half bald.

Blurry mangey fox.

raccoon

fox sniffing

Raccoon sniffing something on the pond deck.

Raccoon caught on film

Finally I have some pictures to post. The camera batteries went dead, although I wasn't sure that was the problem at first since I wasn't sure I was operating the camera right. There were a few more pictures of the raccoon, but they were hard to see, since the pictures were taken at night. There was also a black cat with white feet, which I'm not posting because all you can see is the feet. There might also have been a picture of a fox, but it was too hard to tell. So now that there are fresh batteries, hopefully I will be posting pictures more regularly.

Raccoon heading towards the space under the deck.

Raccoon's profile.

More Clamoring

Last night there was lots of noisy clamoring. I moved the camera trap to point towards the pond deck, but no pictures of anything yet. I did see footprints right under the camera trap, so something was too close to get its picture taken.

Bark or Vocal Clamor?

Tonight as we were checking the camera trap, we heard a bark. Leotis (not his real name) had heard the barking earlier and then saw the fox. Plus the barking we heard was coming from the direction where Leotis saw the fox go. What I'm wondering is, was it a bark or a "vocal clamor"? The animal diversity website (under my links) says this: "Copulation usually lasts 15 or 20 minutes and is often accompanied by a vocal clamor. " This is mating season after all. In 53 days we might have baby foxes!

Fox entering yard.

Deer.

Fox leaving the yard again.

Fox entering the yard.

Fox leaving the yard.

First Camera Trap Photos

I didn't check the camera trap for a couple days, in the hopes that there would be more pictures on there. Then the SD card reader wasn't working, but I slapped it, and then it worked. No raccoon pics, but a fox! Note the time stamp on the pictures.

Culprit Revealed

Last night I went to check the camera trap. It had taken 25 pictures...all of me, and my cat peering through the sliding glass door. As I was adjusting the camera to point at the compost bins better, it snapped a picture. I thought probably it took a picture of my cat again, but then I saw the culprit walking out of the woods towards the deck! A raccoon! How he managed to raid the compost bin without getting his picture taken I don't know. He must be camera shy, but not too shy to be seen in person. We'll see tonight if he was actually caught on film.

Camera Trap

I bought a camera trap or "scouting camera" from Cabela's, to automatically take pictures when something walks by it. I tied it to a tree last night, pointed towards my compost bins. Something has been knocking over one of the compost bins to eat the kitchen waste. I put more kitchen waste in it last night, and sure enough, this morning the bin was knocked over again. Hopefully the culprit will be caught on film, although since it's my first time using the camera trap, it may not have been pointed in the right spot. I'm anxious to find out who the culprit is.

First fox sighting of 2006

Last night at around 9 pm I saw a fox running down the middle of the road, to a wooded area along a fence. I wonder if this is the same one I used to see in that area! Hopefully we will have a new crop of babies this year.

My Online Habitat

Check out Jayla's online habitat. I registered my habitat on the National Wildlife Federation web page. I might get our yard certified at some point.
http://www.enature.com/backyardwildlife/nwf_bwh_showhabitat.asp?bwhID=48913

More deer, new frog update

The other morning I saw a doe and her two fawns, which did not look all that young. We put a net over the pond to catch the leaves, but we left part of it uncovered so that animals could still drink from it. I scooped some of the leaves off of the uncovered part the other day, and this morning I saw that tiny frog again! I thought he would have hibernated by now, although it has been quite warm for November.

Deer, new pond inhabitant

I've been lax about posting, but we saw 4 does the other week. I also spotted a new pond inhabitant--I saw something that looked like a small frog in the pond, and sure enough it was! It looked like a baby, which is strange considering the time of year. It appeared after it had rained several days in a row. I'm not sure whether it came from somewhere else, or was one of the original tadpoles. It seemed awfully small to be one of the original tadpoles. Hopefully it is big enough to survive the winter.

Fox Sighting!

I was looking at the backyard and saw a fox again! This is the first time in several months. It was not really in our yard but more in the park land trotting through the park. I will have to be on the lookout again now that I know they are still around. The pond has at least one frog daily. I was looking with the binoculars and one frog has a bright green mouth, and reddish brown eyes, whereas the larger frog doesn't have a bright green mouth but has a yellowish lower lip.

Hummingbird

We have had a hummingbird feeder out for a few months now, but I had never seen any hummingbirds at the feeder. I stopped changing the nectar since I thought nothing was coming, but then the other day I saw a hummingbird! I was afraid the old nectar would make it sick, so I put in new nectar and bought some more. Since then I've seen the hummingbird on at least two separate days. On Saturday we must have seen it like 5 times. It is so tiny and its little tail waggles when it is flying.

Deer

Tonight we saw a young buck in the backyard. We watched it eating vegetation as it walked farther in the back yard. Then up walks another buck! ...And another!!! The poor third buck was skinny, kind of mangey, and had a slight limp. Considering this is the suburbs, it was kind of surprising to see any deer, although I knew deer had been here before.

Pond Fiasco

Over the weekend we removed the pot we tried to use as a fountain, and tried to set up the fountain with just the slabs of rock. It seemed to work, so we let the fountain run a while. I turned it off that night, but in the morning most of the water was gone! Apparently the hose had come off and the water didn't get back into the pond. The poor baby frog was still sitting in there without much water, but the large adult frog wasn't there. So we filled the pond up again and fixed the fountain. Two frog have been spotted since, so I guess the adult frog came back.

Mouse in the House

The other day, we heard a screeching, and then our plumpest cat came running through the living room with her mouth full and a tail hanging out. :/ We managed to get her to release the mouse, and I thought it was dead, but then I saw it breathe! So after observing it for a little while, we thought it looked okay because it could run around in a garbage can, so we released it outside. We saw the ground cover move so it must have run off. Poor thing. It was just a baby Peromyscus (white footed mouse). I had done a science project once on homing in white footed mice, and no matter how far away I released the mice I caught, they would always come back and get caught in the live traps again. (We would snip their fur to be able to recognize them). This one mouse I had caught several times, except one cold night it had gotten into the trap even though I would close the traps over night, and we thought it had frozen to death. My mother gave it CPR (well, she rubbed its chest) and I saw it breathe! So we kept it in a cage for a week, and then released it. "Frozen Boy" kept getting caught in the traps after that and I can't remember if I continued to transport him and release him, or if I decided to retire him from the experiment.

Buck in backyard.

Frog Update

The large frog has been out regularly and I occasionally see a baby frog. I never did see 200 baby frogs all at once, but have seen one baby frog at a time every now and then. I wonder if it's the same one the whole time, or a new one? I was looking at the baby frog today which looked kind of different, but then it went MIRP! and dove off the plant pot into the pond, which confirmed it's the same species. The katydids are chorusing up a storm. I love the sound because it reminds me of home.

Zoomed in picture of hawk (Oct. 4, 2003).

Hawk sitting on the deck near the pond. (Oct. 4, 2003)

Hawk!

This morning at around 8:30 I heard "ee-yahr! ...ee-yahr!...ee-yahr!" so I looked outside and saw a hawk flying through the forest. It landed high up in the tree canopy. It had bands on its tail and was pretty large-at least macaw sized. There may have been another hawk calling in the distance. It is probably the same species we had seen in 2003. The pictures are of the hawk in 2003, which spent a good 15 minutes taking a bath in the pond.

Baby frog sighting

A baby frog, maybe the same one from yesterday, was in the pond today. I saw a bug, and then I saw it eat the bug, and then it hopped up on the edge of the pond. I also saw the chipmunk today, but it was missing half its tail. :(

Cat Snack or Frog Rescue?

Earlier today the large adult (male?) frog was out, and what I thought was the smaller adult (female?) frog sitting on a pot of marginal plants. On closer inspection, it wasn't the small adult, but a baby frog! It was much larger than the puny froglet I had seen the other day. If it's the same one, it sure did grow fast. It's about the size of a golf ball or silver dollar. Then around dusk, I spotted the stray cat. It looked like it was trying to catch something in the ground cover, and then I saw something jump and I thought it was a toad! So I raced out and shooed the cat away, which at first wanted to ignore me and continue pawing at its find, but then it walked off. It wasn't a toad but a baby frog! It was just sitting there, not moving. We wondered if it was alive, although it had its eyes open. So I picked it up and turned it over to see if it was injured. It was breathing and seemed okay, but it must have been scared. We held it and took pictures, and then were debating where exactly in the pond to release it. It didn't have the patience to wait, and leapt out of my hand and did a belly flop into the pond and went swimming off. So it felt good to save its life, although I feel a little guilty that I deprived the cat of a juicy morsel. Still, I get the feeling the cat is well fed because if it were that hungry it probably would have eaten the frog already. I wonder if there were other fledglings that it already ate. It's the same cat in the picture lying near the pond. So that was exciting to hold the frog. It felt moist and squishy, but he had cute big eyes.

Holding the baby frog.

Baby frog posing for a picture on the pond deck.

Baby frog on walkway.