I was on my way to the barn yesterday and saw that a deer was hanging out in the pasture. Had to tease Joey about his new girlfriend.
…and out on the bike this morning (yep, you guessed right) at this point on this road -
- another huge one crashed without any warning out of the left hedge and flew into the road barely two meters in front of me. Fine rack of antlers, by the way. The only sound he made was that crash through the undergrowth - not even any sound of hooves on tarmac. He was almost close enough to pat on the back. Nope, I did not brake - you can’t react fast enough. All I did was brace for impact and shriek “Shoot! Fancy!” (or something similar). Didn’t shut my eyes. And by sheer dumb luck or great skill (on the part of the deer) there was no collision. And, in the way everything slows down at times like this, even as I realized I was going to miss, I thought I bet there’s a second one - and there was another crash to my left, but this time behind me; and then I was gone and wondering: wft happened there??.
There are a lot of deer around here at the moment. This is getting hazardous.
j
This is really MPSIMS. Today was grocery shopping day. A block away from the store are a couple fields with prairie dogs in them. Saw one fairly good size group hanging out together today.
Yep, be very careful around dawn and dusk. We had one find it’s way into the racetrack Sunday. And I almost personally met one coming home that evening.
We just saw a smallish raccoon with two kits in the backyard.
Yesterday we saw three bunnies. One was in the front yard when I came home Tuesday. I startled it, and it went to the corner of the house… but it didn’t hop away when I went to the front door. It was still there when my wife and I went out for an oyster po’boy and beer. Yesterday it was in the side yard where we could see it from the catio. Then a bit later it and two others came hopping around the wood shed.
Today as we were walking round a National Trust garden (so this only “sorta” nature), I heard a strange crackling noise. We tracked it down to a bush - some sort of broom - which was popping away at better than a pop per second. It’s been warm and dry, and I guess that’s what triggers the exploding of the seed pods - I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that before. Heard and seen, actually - you couldn’t see the seeds flying, but every now and then a casing would be thrown out of the bush. Very cool. I found a video on YouTube which is pretty much exactly what we saw and heard:
j
Wrens have taken up residence nearby. But of course, I know nothing about how a wren house was placed on the property. My HOA doesn’t allow such things.
Truth to tell, I really do know nothing about it except that my cats are delighted.
Here in Waikiki yesterday, we saw Hawaiian monk seal Rocky and her new pup, born last weekend. Kept our distance of course. Never mind that she is highly protective of her baby, just touching her would entail a $50,000 fine. Got some pictures but not being terribly tech oriented, have yet to figure out how to get them onto this Board.
Cool!
I saw a great horned owl today, didn’t get a very good picture though.
I’ve been hearing a lot of owls in the neighborhood lately. Usually it’s the more common barred owls, so I was excited to see the horned guy.
I just use Imgur - it’s free and simple, if probably not the best quality.
My one and only picture of a Hawaiian monk seal on Kaua’i. It’s the least impressive seal picture ever, but just seeing one in the wild was a thrill 
:
https://imgur.com/a/u53mYfJ
For context, he/she’s in the lower left 
:
https://imgur.com/a/ovJZA7i
Driving to work this morning, I’d just turned onto a road and a beautiful black bear jogged across the road. It was only 10 yards from my car, and its coat was shiny.
While I was fly fishing on the South Fork of the Shenandoah yesterday, I saw an osprey chasing off a bald eagle.
I posted this in the MMP, but it belongs here too.
We just now saw an otter in the back yard. An otter. In the back yard! I’ve heard there were otters in the general area, but this is the first one I’ve seen in the almost-19 years I’ve lived here. We do have a seasonal creek in the bak yard.
Lucky you guys!
Yesterday people from the wildlife center that previously released squirrels at our house came with 9 juvenile mallards to release on our pond. There were 4 or 5 ducks on the pond when the release was done, and everyone seems to be happy so far.
My neighbor warned me to keep my housecats inside because a cougar had been spotted nearby on Monday. Cougars are very rare here in Minnesota but they do occur as they follow the river bottoms scouting for food. Sadly, someone on the highway did a hit and run on the animal. It did not survive. But all the locals with small pets are breathing easier. Seems they forgot about the wolves we see every year.
My husband was mowing our fenced back yard yesterday and when he came around the corner of the house, he startled a deer, munching away on one of the bushes at the side on the house. In broad daylight, this deer apparently wanted to get to that bush badly enough that she jumped over the fence to get to it. When she saw him, she jumped right back out.
We have never had that happen before.
Happy ducks on our pond this morning. They all look identical to me, but my gf (who was there for the release) can spot the newcomers.
She just got home from the feedstore with an extra 50 pounds of shelled corn.
Today on Reigate Hill on the North Downs we watched three kestrels hunting. For much of the time they were actually off the side of the hill and below us, which was weird. I understand that you don’t get (Common or Eurasian) kestrels in the US, so: the most striking thing about the kestrel is, even when it’s blowing a hoolie (as it was today - literally blew my hat off) they hover with extraordinary stillness, unmoved by the wind and barely twitching a wing, Here’s video of a kestrel hovering in strong wind on youtube:
We were watching one bird closely for about ten minutes. Repeatedly it would hover at a height of perhaps 30 meters, then drop like a stone to a height of ten or so meters, then stoop. We saw this repeated seven or eight times without success.
j
We get American kestrels . Very similar birds, very similar habits, however not very similar genetics. They’re the only “kestrel” in the New World and appear to be an example of convergent evolution with the Old World kestrels.