Another Deer

I didn't know deer came around that much. We counted the rings on the trees that were cut down to see how old they were, and we estimated a couple trees to be around 70 and 80 years old, and the largest tree that fell we estimated to be at least 100 years old, maybe 120 years old!

Disaster Strikes Backyard

Heavy rains which caused flooding in the yard, followed by extremely high winds, caused a huge tree to fall on our house on Monday! It fell on the tree I used to always have the camera trap on, and broke it in half. A few other trees had branches broken off or are leaning. Luckily it didn't cause much damage to the house, mainly it ripped off the gutter. We are having 4 trees removed that either fell, are dead, or are leaning. Hopefully it won't deter the wildlife from coming around. Our yard used to feel like it blended in with the park and now it is more open. The tadpoles are about the size of peas with tails. Hopefully they will survive tomorrow when the tree crew finishes the job, as the majority of the trunk is resting near the pond still. Luckily we weren't home when the tree fell, although I'm sure our 3 kitties were scared. It must have happened early in the day because they weren't acting scared when we got home, but it must have made quite a commotion when it came down. I had put my new camera trap on a different tree, and it came out of the catastrophe unscathed. The front yard also had its own separate disaster. Trees were touching the power lines which were sparking like fireworks, until a firetruck came and they shut off the power, right as I was about to post these pictures. The power was off all night Monday, and our internet connection was not restored til tonight.

New Views from Inside the House

Here's the new camera trap:

More Tree Shots

First Picture from New Camera Trap

This looks like a small deer. It's nice to finally have good quality pictures! Thanks, codger. By the way, the rat managed to eat the sunflower seeds in the garage, without getting its picture taken.

Fox Sighting!

It was 8 pm and I saw a fox crossing the street towards our house. He seemed to be looking to make sure no cars were coming. Where he comes from, I'm not sure. There is construction going on across the street and so he'd either have to be hiding somewhere til the coast is clear or just come running and hope there's no cars. So we ran to the other side of the house to look out the window to the backyard. He came trotting up the pathway, paused to scent mark an azalea bush, and kept trotting off to the park. He looked good, no mange to be seen. Unfortunately, I had just set my new camera trap up in the garage with some bird seed to try to get pics of Ratella (I give it a new name each time, depending on my mood). But now at least I know that if I put the camera trap on the old tree I used to, I would have missed the fox. So maybe I'll try a new tree tomorrow night and forget the rat, since the foxes are out mainly in April.

New Species Moved In With Us

I went to the garage to get in my car to go to the grocery store, and spotted a new species...I had thought we had raccoons in the garage based on the large dirty footprints on our almost new sofa which is temporarily there while we're doing some remodeling. Also, a finger was missing from my garden gloves which probably smelled of compost that the raccoons love. The other day I thought I heard an animal in the garage when I was leaving for work in the morning, but I looked around and didn't see anything. I thought it was a raccoon, but now I know what it was...a rat!!! Today I saw it scamper across the shelves, with its long tail. At first I was a little freaked out, but then I remembered, rats are nice people. I've started calling it Panya, which makes it seem more like a friend and less like an intruder. You see, Panya (not sure I'm spelling it right) was the only other rat I've known. Panya was our friend's pet rat, who used to sleep with her at night on her pillow. Unfortunately, my camera trap's flash doesn't work anymore, but my dad, a.k.a. Camera Trap Codger, has made me my very own camera trap, which I'm sure will give much higher quality photos. I'm waiting for it to arrive in the mail, and then hopefully I can lure Panya with some bird seed. Other things to note--I saw a hawk being chased by a crow the other morning. This morning we got a dusting of snow (although flowers are blooming), so I hope it didn't have any delerious effects on the tadpoles.

Baby Tadpoles Draw a Crowd

What are they doing in my yard?!
Ah, I think they see something in the pond...
It's baby tadpoles! At least I think that's what those black spots are. They aren't swimming yet, but they just cling to the edge of the pond and any surface they can find. They are very tiny at this point. They were eggs a few weeks ago.

Break in

Something broke into the garage and ripped open the bag of birdseed, and got into a can of fish food on a top shelf! I knew something like a mouse had eaten some birdseed, but this was no mouse! I'm betting it was a raccoon. The door to the garage was closed, so it probably found some other way to get in.

Fox Sighting!

Leotis saw what he thought might have been a fox crossing the road onto our driveway. I thought it might be the fox and sure enough then we spotted one running in the neighbors yard. It crossed their fence and ran to the park. It seemed to do the same thing as the last fox we saw, and it was lightly snowing again. I tried to take a picture but it was moving too quickly.

The Sordid Truth about Frogs (Warning: X-Rated)

I awoke to a noise that sounded like water dripping, since the snow has been melting recently, and up until probably yesterday the pond was covered in ice, or at least slush. It finally warmed up significantly, and as I came more to my senses, I realized it wasn't water dripping, but the sound of the frogs which must have emerged. Sure enough, the ice on the pond was gone, the pond was full of frogs frolicing about, and one was spotted making its way to the pond from the woods. Luckily we had removed the netting when the leaves stopped falling, since last year we were having to rescue frogs caught in the net. You may recall the unfortunate missing toe incident. On closer inspection, these frogs were engaging in some rather ...well, disgusting... yet amusing activities. The kind of activities you don't want to watch, yet you can't avert your gaze. You see, there seemed to be only about 2 female frogs, and about 21 male frogs. I don't envy those female frogs. One female frog appeared to be a victim of a...gang bang (imagine a ball of frogs, a contorted mass of arms and legs) and I wondered if they had raped her to death and didn't care that she was dead. Or perhaps it was just an orgy (JUST an orgy?). Another entanglement of frogs, luckily only 2 this time, occasionally would turn into a threesome, where a lone male frog would try to knock off the other male frog attached to the female. The pair would try to swim away from the intruder, as the male would not give up his female for anything. I also had to wonder, was this pair a male and female, or some sort of conjoined twins, a veritable frog mutation? Then, you have the semi-frequent homosexual encounters, where a male frog would try to mate with another male frog, and then quickly realize, "hey, wait a second, that's not a female!" (much like in the movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" where John Candy says his hand is between two pillows, and Steve Martin exclaims "Those aren't pillows~!"). Leotis went to take pictures since I'm recovering from a cold, and I waited to look at the pictures until after I had finished eating my lunch, since the look on his face told me that what he saw up close was rather disturbing. However, on a positive note, he did report that the female at the center of the orgy, appeared to still be alive. Needless to say, spring has arrived.

First Fox Sighting of 2007!!!

Several inches of snow fell today, and I was fortunate to see this fox! I haven't seen any foxes in ages, and was beginning to wonder what happened to them. But they do exist! I think usually I see them at the end of January, so they are a bit late this year, maybe because January was so warm. The fox was checking out the suet I have hanging a few feet off the ground on a tree, but he kept going until he was out of sight. Then a few minutes later I saw a fox, probably the same one, in the neighbors' yard, and then it jumped over the fence into another neighbor's yard! I'd never seen a fox jump. We put out a piece of salmon hoping it will return. (By the way, words, after switching to the new blogger, I found all your comments from like a year ago I had never seen before. Sorry. Feel free to post more comments. I might actually see them this time.) :)

Squirrels

Evasive Banana Eater

Somehow the ripe bananas managed to get their picture taken, but not whatever ate the bananas!
  

Young squirrels scrounging for seeds

At one point there were at least 6 little squirrels out there. They put their tails on their backs to keep warm. I think they are only like a year old, because there are other squirrels that are larger that are downright fat. The place is still covered in a sheet of sleet so I haven't been able to refill my birdfeeder in the back of the house. The squirrels weren't interested in the old tortilla we threw out there.

 
 
 
  

Squirrels eating seeds

 
 
 
  

Squirrel

 

Unfortunately the camera took a bunch of pictures that were totally black, and then a couple of this squirrel. It is sleeting out, so I put out some suet and birdseed, and several woodpeckers were eating the suet, and cardinals and juncos were eating the birdseed. I put out some bananas in hopes of getting at least a raccoon! There were lots of footprints the other day on the pond which is frozen and covered in snow. I think it may just be too cold for the batteries in the camera, or else I need my dad to make me one, although he charges a pretty penny. Now I'm thinking the bananas are not in the view of the camera, so I have to go out and move them.