Ignorance fought (as they say) - Thanks!
j
It’s after ten PM here, and we were just disturbed by a screeching of foxes. They were in the back yard and activated the security lights so we were able to watch them. There were two - one was playing in a flower bed, but the other was in the herb bed and, weirdly, was rolling in a marjoram bush, rubbing itself vigorously with the herb.
I mean, great if I wanted to cook it, but beyond that….uh….?
j
I had the pleasure of spending time with this lovely yesterday. This is a Long-eared Owl, until recently endangered here in Illinois. Still a rare bird but such a delight to see. We had a stare off for about 15 minutes before the bird got bored and fell asleep. Pretty much made my week to see this beauty.
What a terrific photo!
Cool!
I can believe it! Nice shot. One of those common nocturnal owls I’ve never actually seen (that runs to a pretty good list, actually).
Last night coyotes were making noise very close to our house. I’d taken my hearing aid out already (it was around 11:30pm) but my gf heard them. She opened our bay windows so the dogs could participate and they did! Kizzy barked and Simi did a weird howl he never did before. Loki just sat with me ignoring the whole thing.
This is the second one of these I’ve seen although the other one was a couple of years ago. I did spot a barn owl about a month ago in the same general area. In the past I’ve seen a Saw-whet and a Short-eared in this particular forest preserve. Great Horned Owls are fairly regular here too while the others are more likely migrating.
Saw-whet are another I haven’t had an encounter with. I’ve been pretty much limited to owls you’re a little more likely to catch in the daytime OR are in suburban/urban environments. Barn, great-horned, barred, short-eared and burrowing. I think that might be it 
. I have heard a fair number of Western screech owls and once in the Sierras a great grey owl, but never any visuals.
I did once have a great-horned owl land right next to me. I was working a graveyard shift in a facility next to a protected seasonal creek and standing still on a landing next to an elevated catwalk, just enjoying the evening. Suddenly one swooped in silently and landed about 8 ft away on top of a light fixture slightly below me, more or less at my waist level. I froze and it gave me a careful once over for about 30 seconds before deciding I looked sketchy and moved on. They are quite large that close up 
.
I interacted with a screech owl that was a permanent crippled resident at an avian rehab facility. The little guy was hand tame. I was in its flight and it flew over and landed on my wrist. I fed a few pieces of cut-up mouse which it ate out of my hand.
“Permanent cripple” sounds archaic, but that’s the term they used. It had lost an eye to injury and was considered non releasable.
Cool. I can report that last night, I was hearing the wolves that sometimes scour our neighborhood for eats. I hope nobody left a turkey to thaw on their porch.
Caught red-pawed in the beds earlier today:
Not a great photo, I confess. A better photo op was there when - by sheer dumb luck - I happened to be gazing out of the window when foxy poked their head out from behind the shed and stared at me. My phone was in the kitchen…
In other news - when you see (European common) buzzards, it’s usually a single bird hunting. Occasionally I’ve seen them working in pairs, I think always in spring, so I guess they are mates. Today I saw a group of five (!), wheeling around together above a field. No evidence of any conflict. The only time I’ve seen that many raptors circling together (actually, a lot more than 5) it was vultures in the Pyrenees. Odd.
j
A pair of deer
Two shoveler ducks, on the lake at a local park. The winter migrant season has started.
For some reason our honeysuckle bush decided to bloom. It is covered in honey bees!
Well, now that the political nail-biting is done for the night…
Immature raptor day!
A young Cooper’s hawk on the edge of a marsh pond. Very tolerant, as young raptors sometimes are - I took about a billion shots of her/him. He was fine with a couple of people walking quietly by, but a leashed dog finally got him to move. Here it is just beginning a cautious crouch as the dog approaches. He’ll fly off a few frames later.
Not more than 15-20 feet away was an immature red-shouldered hawk on a much less attractive structure. The two were politely ignoring each other. Not even the dog spooked this one. He/she flew away shortly afterwards on a whim of its own.
Lovely photos! Well done.
I am sure you know about Echinococcus multilocularis (Fuchsbandwurm in German), but just to make sure, please be careful with what you eat from your garden! At least in my surroundings foxes are the main vector.
Not much to contribute, but now that I consistently come home between 11 pm and 1 am from work (second shift, late-closing restaurant) I also consistently see a rabbit chilling in a similar spot in my backyard when I pull up.
Bun-bun doesn’t flee or even fear-crouch. I always gently coo, “Hi, bun-bun!” and move as non-threateningly as I can towards the door.
It does make me smile to see what seems to be the same rabbit, around the same time in the middle of the night, when I’m tired and achy and kinda done with people.
For some reason, this made me chuckle. Nice pics, too!
Well, I sure didn’t … till now. Yikes.
I didn’t know specifically about that one, but of course we’d be wary of anything that a fox might have pissed on.
All of those beds are food beds - they are, moving away from the house and towards the shed: blackcurrant and redcurrent (so they get netted when producing); asparagus and herbs (not netted); salad leaves (netted); gooseberries and salad leaves (netted).
So bed #2 is a concern. Asparagus is steamed, of course. Not too keen on the herbs these days. It’s become a problem this year because the old earth (fox den) behind the shed is being used again so our back yard is … well … their back yard. But it’s pretty cool to have them as next door neighbors.
j