Wild Kingdom

 

Because I never think to carry a camera with me at all times, I mostly succeed in missing all the really dramatic visitations that occur in our yard. Hence, Robin the Good's stuffed animal collection will offer stand-ins for the actual critters. (Above is "Snake", one of Robin's favorite toys. There are three (3!!) squeakers in this play thing which lends an almost stereophonic soundscape to her rough-housing.)

Coyotes have become a regular feature of life in the wilds of suburban Connecticut. Alarmingly, last week I opened the back door at 10:00 in the morning to hear what I thought was a siren. On closer listen, I realized- as did Robin who wanted back into the house- that it was a pack of coyotes. Out and hunting in broad daylight seemingly just one backyard away. Yikes! Probably hunting turkeys...

So we have turkeys; boy do we have turkeys! There's a flock, or a slew, or... what's the group name for turkeys? A throng? Dunno but we have what must be an extended family of them. Every day or two, they make a slow-motion appearance in the horse field. The horses don't seem perturbed, but Robin goes ballistic. They show up and dine on horse poop. They also are no doubt eating endless bugs and ticks so they are indeed welcome.

(Okay, that's "Bison". I thought it was a squirrel when I purchased it, but it does have horns and on closer examination, yes, it's definitely a buffalo). Anyway, the other day when I was playing with Neko in the round pen, She kept flexing her nostrils and holding her head really high, like she was smelling something. I trying peering across our stream to the area that was holding her interest. I saw motion in the bushes and thought maybe it was our resident fox but NO! It was a large and muscular bobcat. I was brandishing my (long) lunging whip anyway, so I ran to the lower end of the round pen and swung my whip around and ululated loudly. The bobcat- correctly- assumed it was being hunted by a human lunatic and took off towards the nature preserve which our property abuts. Good riddance!

(That's "Alien". Robin doesn't care one whit for Alien but I like him/her.) I saw something that not please me at all the other night. When taking Robin out for her late-night pee, I thought I detected a large dark form near our side fence, between the birch clump and the wood pile. Holy fucking crap! It was a deer! We have been blessedly free of these cloven hoofed vermin; all they do is chew things to pieces. It scrambled to safety as I bolted out of  the house, (again) ululating wildly. (I think there is a pattern developing here. If it keeps the wildlife in abeyance, I'll gladly keep exercising the weirder aspects of my sound-making capabilities!)

("Frog" who makes a peculiar crunching/clunking noise because you put an empty plastic container inside of it. Robin's had this toy forever and he's stood the test of time and constant dog chew.) We also have a neighbor's stanky Siamese cat that insists on putting in guest appearances. I just don't like this pest, particularly because it emerged from the hay section of our barn once and the area smelled like nasty cat piss for days. It's a grudge match since then, with me hollering like a banshee and giving chase (sometimes in the car... don't ask) when I see it. (Our next door neighbors on the other side of the driveway witnessed one of my finer performances involving this cat several years back. I believe I recounted that particularly embarrassing event in a previous blog.) 

(Your guess is as good as mine, here. Chipmunk? Squirrel? Corduroy hybrid? I had to replace the eyes as Robin pulled them off early in this toys debut at our house; that only added to it's elusive identity.) So what else? We do have a fox that stops by. And Bob has a special gaggle of crows that await his mouse offerings. I think they've missed him these past few days as he recuperates. The crows were massed by the driveway and vegetable garden- unusual location for them!- and seemed to be looking for Bob. Don't tell them, but we did catch a mouse and I'll be delivering it to them soon.

Our friends (Hi Sheldon! Hi Louise!) in Hamden have had a bear ramble up the driveway recently. No thank you! You can keep the bears! We have plenty enough wild life without bears!
 

 

Turtles, Foxes and Food Poisoning

We had many visitors this week! Some were welcome and some we were glad to see leave the premises. Beginning with the speckled turtle above. I have heard that they return to the same location every year to lay eggs and the one above seems right on schedule. I encounter a turtle every spring in just about the same place under our giant maple tree in Maggie's side field. It didn't even pull its head in, so I think he/she recognized me.
On the same day, only a few minutes later, our resident crows were throwing a hissy fit. It turned out they were chasing and harassing a fox, which ran across the bottom of our field. Hard to tell, but it's probably the same fox I saw before in Maggie's pasture. I didn't get a picture because it was further away and the drama was enacted pretty quickly but it was cool! Nice looking fox...
That same day, the farrier paid a visit to trim Maggie's feet and agreed that her hind hoof harbored the biggest abscess  he had ever seen. (One assumes he's been in contact with many of them.) He thought she'd be fine, even though her entire hoof feels sort of hollow. She's a tough old horse, and not always fond of visitors to her domain so it's a good thing that the blacksmith came before...
The vet! Horrors! Maggie hates the kind of attention that comes with doctor's visits: teeth filing, shots, intruding hands, although she does seem to like Dr. Carlson better than the evil Dr. Elwell. I request that people coming to minister to Maggie call me from the driveway so as to give me a minute to catch Maggie before she senses strangers approaching. She has been known to turn tail and gallop beautifully across the field, evading hoof trims and shots and spontaneous riding parties. For an older horse, she moves very fast.

Our hummingbirds returned recently and we now have two feeders, thanks to Sheldon and Louise and their birthday generosity to Bob. I haven't seen it, but Bob and our friend Elizabeth claim to have seen the smallest (probably an immature male) hummer they'd ever witnessed. We've already had dive bombing aerial battles.

I will not document the most recent visitor in pictures. I had a case of food poisoning last night and as I needn't remind anyone, this was not good experience. Bob and I purchased salmon burgers yesterday and we both agreed that the young man manning the fish counter was unpleasant. He was pre-occupied and terse and obviously didn't relish being elbow deep in ice, scallops, snapper and free range, wild caught, cold pressed Alaskan sock eye. The couple he waited on before us requested crab so I asked him-ironically- to change his plastic gloves as I'm highly allergic to crustaceans and can get very sick. I say ironically as several hours after consuming the very deliciously prepared salmon burger, I awoke to a nasty cramping in my stomach which required a hasty departure to the down stairs bathroom. Suffice it to say, I was unsure as to which end to attend to first as both points of exit were in dire need and would not be denied. I successfully voided any trace of the offending fishwich after a prolonged intermission in sleep and returned to tell Bob of my plight. (He suffered no ill effects.) Fortunately, I feel fine this morning but am not anticipating craving sushi any time soon.

Wildlife

As wild as life gets! That's Lil' Robin the Good, laying blue eggs. Isn't taht what Robin's do? (It's actually Robin laying around with her football, but it looked like a big egg.)

(Unretouched photo.) But! Life has been anything but dull in the sightings (and hearings) of wild animals department. Bob and I went to a really nice backyard Fourth of July party on Sunday and saw a BOBCAT cross the road in the wilds of Beacon Falls. When we got home and let Robin out to run her yayas out, there were BATS! in the sky above; circling and devouring millions of mosquitoes. I love BATS! I hope their populations are recovering from that dreadful white nose fungus.
And then we heard coyotes that night...
And next morning, while watering the vegetable garden, Bob saw a slew (gaggle? flotilla? gobble?) of turkeys crossing the driveway, with both parents and babies in attendance. Minutes after I returned from my walk with Robin, I saw something dive across the fence line and thought it was the neighbor's pesky Siamese cat, but it was a FOX! Maggie came out from the cool of her stall to investigate, but the FOX was long gone.
Robin and I also saw a very large SNAPPING TURTLE laying her roadside eggs last week. I think it must be the same one I've seen several years running now.

Maggie's not looking too wild in this picture. Who can blame her; it's been very hot.
A close up:

Yup! She's snoozing. I think she's being to feel her age. Aren't we all? I'm due to turn 60 in a couple of weeks. I guess I still have a bit of wild life in me!