danceswithcats has a bird feeder that one of the tree rats has figured out. The one squirrel hangs upside down from the top and grabs on with his little paws and eats birdseed to his heart’s content.
I don’t know whether to be annoyed or amused.
Here’s the little thief in action.
Here’s another shot.
Two recent animal encounters have been reptilian in nature, and both on local bike trails: a dinner-plate sized turtle in the middel of the Guadalupe River Trail, and a 10" alligator lizard along the Los Gatos Creek Trail.
Today, when I was shopping for plants at OSH*, I encountered a small black and white cat napping in the one of the potted philodendrons.
*Orchard Supply Hardware, a California-based precursor to Home Depot
The other morning I watched an anole (a lizard) right outside my window on the screen, hiding behind a plant. He was hunting insects. It was very cool to sit in my easy chair, watching while sipping my coffee. I often watch the birds in the birdbath, and the squirrels running up and down the trees and fences.
I just started hiking for exercise (for the summer, I’m in the Catskills, not in NYC as my location indicates), and so far, I’ve encountered a jackrabbit and two deer. I also picked up some loose bluejay feathers.
Isn’t that one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen?
Sitting out front friday evening, was pleasantly surprised at the number of goldfinches using our thistle feeder. And golfing over the weekend, some huge carp were hanging out in the pond shallows.
On the “absence of critters” end of the spectrum, the damn cicadas are almost gone. It’s about time!
A few weeks ago, Zyada and I dropped in to a local plant store that has a couple of 8-foot trees in pots flanking the front door. One of them had a cute little kitten (Squee! as needed) curled around the trunk having a nap in the sun. (It wasn’t all that wild - it stretched and purred when we petted it, and went right back to sleep.)
As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve had little lizards in the house, and a snake, and a frog. The latter two probably got into our cat room, which isn’t well sealed, and were brough to the living room by one of the cats. I put them all outside.
And a couple of days ago we saw a hawk perched on a pole watching the traffic.
Of course I missed the edit time as soon as I thought to mention the number of butterflies around in the last couple of weeks. I see lots of different kinds. Maybe they like the thunderstorms we’ve been having.
We have lots of wildlife out where we live. The most unusual thing that happened recently was yesterday - I was driving back out to our house from town and saw a large bird picking at something in the ditch next to the road. I expected the bird to be a vulture, but as I got closer I saw that it was a female turkey! She put her head up to watch me as I went by, with a small piece of meat hanging from her mouth.
Weird. I’d mostly seen turkeys up until that time foraging for loose grain in fields that have already been harvested and I’ve pretty much always assumed they were vegetarians. Turns out that they are ‘opportunistic feeders,’ according to the info I found I online.
Thanks for sharing that! What a remarkable strategy. Snuggled to death!
A friend that we visited have two hedgehogs that live somewhere in the vicinity of their backyard.
They put out bowls of food for them.
Hedgehog food.
Yes… evidently one CAN actually buy “hedgehog food”.
She puts it in “their” bowl.
A ceramic bowl. With the word hedgehog in muted blue on the side.
I saw them eating out of their bowl.
She loves her hedgehogs.
Awww-wwwww… hedgehogs.
The African Monarch and other butterflies are starting to emerge from the chrysalids that litter my backyard and garden walls.
Huh…is this friend in N. America? Cause AFAIK, hedgehogs aren’t found here, so they must be either someone’s escaped pets, or the offspring thereof.
For the past two days a Lorquin’s Admiral butterfly has been flitting about my patio. Of the large butterflies, we only get tiger swallowtails and the occasional zebra swallowtail, so it’s been a real treat seeing this guy. According to what I’ve read in the linked site, I think he’s a bit out of his range. (Actually, I’m hoping it’s a “her” and she lays eggs on my camellias or some other plant here.) Maybe global warming has convinced Lorquins to expand their range.
On Saturday, TikkiDad and I helped TikkiSis move out her apartment in the building next door. We had just finished securing the last load of her belongings in her truck and were saying our goodbyes when a hawk glided over the yard across the alley. Only about 15 feet above the ground, I got a good look at it’s barred red-and-white breast but not a lot of other detail in the few seconds I had it in my sight. Still, that narrows it down to two choices. It looked bigger than the sharp-shinned hawk that hung around my patio last winter so it might have been a Cooper’s. Either way, maybe he was a good omen for my sister, the new homeowner.
Oh, I forgot–last week, when my co-worker and I were driving from Frederick, MD to Dulles to fly home, we missed a turn and ended up in West Virginia! As we found a place to turn around and try to get back on the right path, we saw two fawns in someone’s back yard. Awwww…
Was driving up a mountain road to the cabin the other evening and for the first time ever I saw a little fox running along in front of me. To my surprise, a minute later I saw a secong and then, a minute later again a third.
Dad was sitting at a window near the stream, heard a noise, turned and was window to face with a good sized, older black bear. I think he poo’d a little.
Just moved to Independence, Ohio, and our house has a great backyard. The other day while eating on the screened porch, we saw a fawn wander through the yard for about 10 minutes.
http://gallery.opalcat.com/gallery/Misc/backyard_fawn3?full=1
We had a late freeze here, and there are no acorns, nor maple seeds. The squirrels depend on these for food. We have three that live in the tree in our front yard and we started to leave out dried corn for them. Pretty soon, they connected us to the food source and they have become quite friendly. Over the last couple of weeks they will come to the porch every afternoon right after we get home from work and wait patiently for their portion of corn. One is braver than the others, and in the last couple of weeks has been getting closer to taking his ear of corn from my hand.
Last year, somehow a ruby throated hummingbird got into my porch. He was flying around so loudly, at first I thought he was a bat, then a very big moth. Once he settled, I captured him in my hands and took him outside. He was so beautiful! His feathers were metalllic and shiny, and he was small, delicate, and perfect, like a clockwork. I could feel his little heart beating in the palm of my hand, where he sat quietly until I took him away from the house. Then, I opened my hands. He sat for a little while longer, then whoosh! Like a miniature helicopter, he took off. Incredible. Right afterwards, I left the house for my first date with my soon-to-be husband. The hummingbird was an auspicious omen.
