I saw a long tailed weasel today, first one I have ever seen. Corona, CA. I have always known that they were out there.
Neat! I’ve only seen a short-tailed weasel once, and when I did I worried I was hallucinating because it had a (seasonal) ermine coat and I had no idea they were native to this state.
Starlings in our yard. Lots and LOTS of starlings. We have never had starlings before and I didn’t know that they lived out this way but they swarmed in and were very rude to our yard flock.
While the cats enjoyed the activity, I didn’t like knowing that we had hour choice between starlings and native birds. I’ve ordered some more tube feeders and the tray feeders have been taken down. I’d hate to have to stop feeding the birds all together but I’d rather do that than encourage starlings to move in.
Same here. I’ll see a fox once every couple of years, always around sunset, and it’s just a blur running by.
The one time I saw a fox in the middle of the day, it was right in our yard and was stalking me. I shot it and submitted it to our local Department of Agriculture. It tested positive for rabies.
Officially warm weather, saw this beautiful ratsnake sunning on Sunday. Surprised how chunky he looks already.
Cool photo. I’m guessing you won’t see too many rats for a while. 
He was in our yard, likely gorging on toads and chipmunks. My gf loves toads and chipmunks. So I moved him to our barn, where we have very few mice and rats, thanks to all the snakes we move from our yard to our barn.
We’ve had an unbearable spring here. We still have snow on the ground. It’s been raining just about every day for the last couple of weeks and we can’t seem to get out of the 30’sF. We’re way behind in springtime this year. The frogs normally start singing around the middle of April but not this year. The frog ponds are still mostly iced over.
My exciting sighting this weekend was a mallard duck pair floating around in a puddle in my backyard! The Canada geese are finally back too, but a long way from hatching their babies. I’ve spotted a chipmunk poking his head out of a snowbank. I sleep with my window cracked (even though it was in the 30s last night) and when I woke up I heard a robin singing in the tree outside my window. As I lay there, my thoughts were of a beautiful spring morning. I got up and the first order of business is letting the dogs out. I opened the door and there was a fresh dusting of snow on the patio. So much for a beautiful spring morning. BLAH!
I’ve seen more moles in the past two weeks than I’ve seen over my entire life. Somehow, Kizzy became a splendid mole hunter. She stands attentively starring at our pachysandra bed, leaf piles, compost, wherever. Then she does this exaggerated leap/pounce, stabbing her nose down and coming up with a mole, which she tosses high into the air. When it falls to earth, she slams it with her paw, picks it up, and sends it airborne again.
Simi has watched her do this and I worry he’ll learn her technique.
There’s a lot of bird fighting going on at the moment. Any time we go near water we see geese brawling. When I work the allotment/community garden, the robins are at each other’s throats. Today we saw this rather photogenic punch-up.
Fortunately, pheasants fight slowly enough to be photographed.
j
I did a little more grouse watching this morning. I think most of the ladies have picked their partner and what I am seeing is a bunch of younger males practicing for next time.
The eaglets are beginning to show real feathers poking through the down and parents are leaving them alone in the nest more often. They look around, stretch and go back to napping. Awkward puberty stage commencing.
We have two cardinals who have been fighting for the last three days over who gets the river birch and the adjacent Leyland cypresses in our back yard.
I used to raise pheasants years ago and they will fight to the death always had to separate the males
The 4 Fs in animal behavior: fighting, fleeing, feeding and fornicating. If you see an animal doing something, chances are it’s one of those.
No, not really,
Car accidents from birds scavenging road kill and not scooting away fast enough from approaching traffic is a significant cause of injury and death among North American raptors. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case elsewhere, too.
In my neck of the woods - been seeing a pair of cardinals around my building, male and female. I suspect they’ve built a nest in the courtyard but I haven’t located it (yet).
Meanwhile, the pair of medium-sized brown/grey birds that come back every year have built a next above my air conditioner again. Sounds of squabbling. Think they’ve hatched some young ones, but not sure - I’m going entirely by sound. My own parrots are no longer freaking out over the sounds coming from the other side of the wall. Also, the wild parents are no longer entirely freaking out when they see me in the bedroom window.
Yesterday, a large Pileated Woodpecker spent some times in our backyard trees. Very cool, and glad he avoided the siding on our house this time.
At Silver Springs State Park this morning, an eastern coral snake. I had never seen a coral snake in the wild before…very cool!
Cool! Never saw one in the wild. They have a reputation for only striking if you force it to.
A storky slight return. Just found this video of the Knepp storks.
Nice video. What’s interesting for me is that the video is from 7 April; we just happened to visit Knepp (and see an incubating stork) on 10 April. Lucky timing or what?
j
A little birdie enjoys the cool air after a summer shower.
