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. 

Deer Sighting

This morning I saw a deer in the woods. Since there has been like an inch of snow on the ground it's easier to see things. I saw some footprints near the compacted corn log I had left for the squirrels, and the corn was totally missing. I also saw footprints leading to the log where I set the camera trap, but probably the batteries are dead since they don't hold their charge in this cold weather. Then Leotis said tonight he thought he heard foxes! We just finished off most of a baked chicken, so tomorrow I will probably move the camera trap back to where it was, and put the chicken carcass out to see if we can attract the foxes!

Birds Galore

It's snowing lightly out, and the birds are out in full force. I hung my new bird nests and squirrel proof feeder. I just saw a wren go in one of the bird nests! I also saw chickadees, nuthatches chasing each other, cardinals, woodpeckers of various sizes, multiple juncos, a new kind of finch, house finches, tit mice (or is it mouses). I had moved the camera trap to a log where I had seen the foxes and raccoons walk on in the past, however I've checked it like 3 times and no pictures! So, I will probably move it.

Happy New Year!

One of my new year's resolutions is to get back on track with my blog. I sort of slacked off at the end of last year. At the risk of losing my audience (me, myself, and I, and a few others :) ) I would like to show you my father's blog, which is infinitely better than mine. I finally convinced him to make his own blog, but since we are on opposite coasts, we have different wildlife. Maybe I'll even get him to make me a better camera trap than the one I'm using, and I think I'll move my camera trap to a new location. Anyway, his blog is: http://cameratrapcodger.blogspot.com.
Happy reading!

Crazy Woodpecker

While I was sleeping in this weekend, or trying to, a woodpecker kept pecking right near my head outside the window. I thought it was in a nearby tree. When I finally got the energy to raise my head, I was face to face with it only a few inches away! It was clinging to the window staring me right in the eye, as if to say, "what's that person doing in my tree?!". Then it flew off. I was too groggy to see what kind of woodpecker it was, but this is not the first time my sleep has been so rudely interrupted.

Hawk Sighting

Today I was in the yard and saw a hawk high in a tree. Then it flew off through the woods.

Hawk Sighting

Today I was in the yard and a hawk was sitting in a tree and then flew off.

Buck walking off. You can see his hind right leg bends inwards at the knee. Poor guy. But he looks healthy otherwise and it didn't seem to bother him.

Buck eating.

Buck Sighting!

This morning I saw a buck with antlers! Unfortunately, he had a broken hind leg. :( It sort of bent the wrong way and he kind of walked funny, but it may have been an old injury that just healed that way, because otherwise he seemed to be healthy and could walk around. I took some pictures through the window so I will post them tonight, although they probably will be blurry. There was a smaller deer in the area too.