I’ve been watching a mama robin sitting in her nest in our front yard for the past couple of weeks. She picked a nice spot in a maple tree under lots of leaves. I see her every morning when I walk by with the dogs. I’d either see her little head or her tail feathers poking over the edge of the nest. On Sunday when I went past, I looked up and there she was feeding 3 babies! I told her she had beautiful babies. I’m trying not to get too invested in this process, because there are a lot of crows and other predators around. I’ll be devastated if something happens to the babies. I know that they usually have more than one clutch(?) each year because most of them don’t make it. She’s still sitting in her nest most of the time when I pass by.
Cleaning in the barn this past weekend, I lifted up some junk and out sped a rat! Next thing I know, I found her four babies. They were so fuzzy and cute, but didn’t have their eyes open. I scooped them all together and left them as near as possible to where I found them, plus some peanuts to lure Mama back. Now I’ve just got to stay away from that area for as long as possible so I never know what happened.
That’s very kind of you. Not everyone is so accommodating for rats 
. Roof rats, I assume?
Well, these particular ones were floor rats. 
I love animals, and I sure can’t dispose of any little critters that don’t even have their eyes open yet. A funny thing, those peanuts came out of a humane trap I’d set for their mama. It wasn’t working anyway. The new plan is to keep the chicken feed shut up tight and get rid of excess clutter in the barn.
Yesterday I saw something I have never seen before. We were with friends, having a coffee at an outdoor table in the cafe at Wakehurst Place. It was quiet - we were the only customers sitting outside. There were crows and (surprisingly) a mallard scrounging for dropped food.
A very short distance from the tables are a couple of trash bins - I guess you could call them mailbox style, so that you post your waste in horizontally rather than dropping it in a hole at the top. My attention was caught by a noise from that direction - a crow had managed to drag a bag containing an uneaten sandwich out of one of the bins. He/she dropped it on the ground, jumped down, ripped the bag open and started eating real fast - because in literally less than thirty seconds another half dozen crows flew in squawking and demanding their share.
Now, that was weird enough, but next… our enterprising crow perched on the lip of the aperture, took a good look around, and then… jumped in the bin. A few seconds later it emerged with another snack, regained its perch on the lip and, rather than dropping its new prize on the ground, ate it in place. This went on - jumping into the bin, jumping back up to the perch with a snack, eating it, taking a good look around, jumping back in the bin again and so forth - for a good ten minutes, Finally, a couple of families turned up and sat too close to the bins for comfort, bringing the entertainment to a close. Shame.
j
PS: Did I take photos? Well yeah, but a black crow in a trash bin on a sunny day just doesn’t photograph well. Sorry.
That is weird.
Visited a local farm today with lots and lots of lavender planted. For $15, they lend you a pair of scissors and you can cut your own. Beautiful purple field with lots of bees flying around, doin’ that whole pollination thang, but none of us got stung. We collected a generous handful of lavender and now have it in water.
They’re damn clever buggers.
I ran across one early this morning that was picking at what I thought was mute swan poop (there was a fair bit at that particular bend). I waited a second, but then pressed on as it was a narrow trail, I was cold from a pretty stiff wind and it could always go back to its poop-picking after I left. But it turns out it had just caught a very live, still intact and squirmy crayfish from the shallows. I felt bad after it flew very far away, abandoning its catch. After some internal debate I returned Mr. Crayfish back to the pond.
I up your two sandhill cranes with my eight. They frequent the local farmers’ fields.
One evening on my way to Road America, I had to take a detour from my usual path and I came upone what looked like strange bowling pins in a field. When I got closer the image resolved into a whole bunch of sandhill cranes but with the sun low in the sky and the color draining into dusk I could have sworn it was a mirage or an artist’s sculpture being built. It was awesome. I’ll never forget both my confusion and then excitement about what I was seeing.
Yesterday, for the first time ever, I witnessed bald eagles flying over our road race track. We were used to ospreys, but they have disappeared, possibly due to bird flu. We love watching them ride the thermals.
Cycled up Leith Hill today - quite the hill round these parts. Going up (at tiny speeds - I like to think I was moving so slowly that I was undetectable to nature) I watched a red kite drop down onto the road just in front of me - for roadkill, maybe? - and then wheel up, directly over me, no more than six or seven meters above my head, They really are fabulous fliers. Whatever it had picked up, I couldn’t see as it soared over and away from me, but there was a stain on the road where it had landed.
Actually it isn’t the going up Leith Hill that bothers me; it’s the terrifying descent. Just as you get down to the main road there’s some (what I assume is) common land, and there was… a magnificent red kite. Between the going up, along and back down again, I wasn’t much more than a kilometer or two from the first sighting. Same kite? Could be.
j
Today I had 3 fawns resting in my backyard. The mom had stopped by last night and I fed her two apples and two corn on the cobs, so today she dropped off the kids.
Oh my gosh! Lucky you!
I saw a young alligator on the road yesterday as I was driving home. As I came up to him, he started walking ahead of me, so I pulled alongside and nudged him toward the verge. Also rolled my window down and gave him some friendly advice to watch out for cars in future, but he didn’t look appreciative. I wish I could have gotten his picture, but someone was coming up behind me.
I was just about to say how that would be a good pic for the competition. Guess I lose again this month! 
Nice shot, all lined up lie that . Also, somewhat unusual. Triplets aren’t common for does.
Nice daycare you run there. Looks like they are waiting for you to tell them a story.
That is some weapons grade cuteness! Thanks for sharing the pic.
My sister had triplets in her yard recently. I’ve been running into fawns in the woods lately as well.
This happened relatively recently.
I was on the treadmill at my gym, and right outside the window in front of me was the level top of gridwork that covered the building’s air conditioning machinery. Walking along the concrete border that framed the gridwork were a few crows, and it was apparent that one was a youngster, as he was flapping his wings and begging from the other crows. This despite the fact that he was bigger and fatter than the adults.
One of the adults half-heartedly found a husk of something-or-other, walked to the youngster and placed it on the ground right in front of him, and then swaggered away. I mentally filled in a comment for him: “See if you can bend down and pick that up yourself, ya fat squab.” The youngster stared at it for a full thirty seconds, then picked it up, walked to the open gridwork, and deliberately dropped it through the grates and turned his head to watch it fall down into the air conditioning machinery.
That day I spoke to the building maintenance guy and told him that if the air conditioning units were full of nut husks or other food debris, to blame it on the crows.
That is amazing.
I once saw a video about urbanized wild animals and saw how a bird learned that flying in front of a door monitor can open it, and it had nested inside the building. It was a very large place, and the business roped off that corner. It was a couple of swallows if I remember correctly.
@teelabrown I think reading your post drew crows to my friend’s townhouse. I came home from today’s adventures to 4 crows on the roof of the townhouse and one mucking about in the front garden. I didn’t tell the homeowner as she is superstitious.