Backyard wildlife

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I've seen them in northern Ontario and especially BC, never here. But I've seen one of the birds to which he refers, and it looked and behaved differently to our 'local' crows. Looking up their range, it shouldn't be.
 
New developments –
Seelergirl lives just outside the city for borders in an area where there are no services; therefore the lots are big – several acres each to accommodate drilled wells and septic systems. Each individual property owner has cleared up spot on his property and built his home surrounded by the original forest. Seelergirl and her man's house was built near the back of their property and they have a long driveway, more like a lane from the road to the house.

Tuesday morning her 15-year-old son walked out to the end of the driveway to wait for the school bus. A few minutes later in Seelergirl looked out. There was a large black animal crossing the property between the house and road. It was not a big dog; it was a black bear! Fortunately, her son(my grandson) was looking up the road for the school bus and didn't see the bear which seemed unaware of his presence as well.

The next day there was a write up in the local paper and a picture of the bear at the next neighbour over's birdfeeder. A naturalist thinks it was a young bear, kicked out of his mother's den to fend for himself, and wandering around like a lost teenager. I hope he moves on soon – perhaps he already has. Usually the block bears around here try to avoid people and we seldom see them. The bear would probably be more frightened encountering a person than the person would be of him. Nevertheless, it's a bit worrisome to have a young teen standing alone at the side of the road with the bear passing by.
 
A pair of ducks just came in over my roof. Damn, they look awkward in the air compared to some other birds, at least during landings.
 
and bears have very poor eyesight but a well developed sense of smell.

Advice? Try not to get close or surprise a bear - make noise when walking in bear country; if one is nearby, it will fade away in the and youwont even be aware of it.
Keep aware of your surroundings.
Stand still, don't make any noise, then slowly back away, staying down-wind if possible.
Be especially aware of a mother bear with cubs.
 
make noise when walking in bear country; if one is nearby, it will fade away in the and youwont even be aware of it.

I have hiked in bear country many times and follow this rule. Haven't had a run-in with one yet, though I just missed seeing one in Grand Teton. We saw a family of black bears in the Appalachians last summer but from a distance while in our car.

Another rule is to be careful about food. Author Neil Gaiman lives in the country and has a "writer's cottage", basically a small building he uses to get some peace and quiet for writing. He left a bucket of molasses (something about helping tree stumps rot) on the back stoop of his writer's cottage and it attracted a black bear. He posted a nice pic of it (taken from inside the cottage needless to say) on his Twitter earlier last week. Given that he has a 3 year-old running around, I hope he'll be more careful in future.
 
Some say meeting a bear face to face is a grisly experience ... (causing horror or disgust). Perhaps this is connected to that peculiar feeling of falling into unknown space when drifting off at night ... causing the insecure to remain awake and twittering about failures of those believed to be lesser nature ... alternate cogs ... thus cog nates if your wise about getting rest within a soul stripped of mindfulness!

It could be a cool off period ... depending on how you meet suit Baubo before departure from reality ... the opposite cog is a deep nick in the other wheel ... downfall of some items ! After that the one called Chiron may carry you off ... like 3 in a bote ... drifting in wonder ... all those strange things down there ...

It is like election polls .. if they disagree with your desires ... fire the damn things ... such is freedom of absolute denial ... thus all is lost! Others may encounter these waves in their dreams as troughs ... Frederic Nietzsche's words on chaos! Cough, hack, etc. Don't sneeze at anything ... it could be part of the eternal ... it expands too ... emotions can stretch to get around a thought ...
 
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Anyone think it was strange that I was talking to a caterpillar on the door frame? I got up close and it stuck its little head/ face out at me. And it was furry and cute so I said "Hello buddy, how're you doing?" My mom was around and she asked me who I was talking to. I told her "just a caterpillar". I guess she hasn't seen my playful side in a long time because we avoid each other. Later that day I got a call from my dad wondering if I needed to see a psychiatrist. My mom had called or texted him, non-specifically "worried about me". Lol. I'm not crazy. Not appreciating the small creatures when you notice them, and not having a sense of humour about it because one is too busy being busy - is crazy. The fuss budgets who put their priorities in the wrong places are problematic for me.


:)
 
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Saturday morning phone call from Seelergirl: 'Mom, can you and dad come out. Pete's away for the weekend, there is a dead bird on the veranda and if dad doesn't come and get it I won't be able to go out on my veranda all weekend.' So we drove out. Sure enough there's a little brown bird landing on the welcome mat. I went in the side door from the garage and Seelergirl of my made coffee while Seelerman put on his gloves and look after matters. When granddaughter left for work she also used the garage door. But she didn't need to; Seelerman was ready to come in for his coffee. A bit later when we started to leave by the front door Seelerman, in front of me stopped.
'It's a good thing we didn't leave sooner. Now there's dead chipmunk on the doorstep.' I sat down again as he went for his gloves and did his duty.
'All the while Seelercat walked around purring, with his head and tail in the air, as proud as could be.
'Why?' Seelergirl ask. 'Why would he do this to me? We feed him well.'
'He's bringing you presents.'
So we scolded Seelercat. He is a killer. But we didn't get any more calls on the weekend and Pete should be home by now.


To give Seelercat credit; he doesn't often bring home a bird, and he keeps the population of mice and moles controlled, as well as chasing any stray cats off the property. And they haven't seen the bear since that one time. Maybe Seelercat chased him away.
 
I dealt with a dead bird (Robin) on my deck last night. It was deep under a table, so not likely a window hit, which would have landed on top. There was a new cat hanging around the property this weekend so maybe it? Not sure.
 
From dead birds to one that feeds on the dead. Met this bad dude on a neighbouring street while on my walk tonight. Closest I have been to a vulture in years

2730
 
We get a lot of wildlife at our cottage. All the regular birds and squirrels and chipmunks. Have a large herd of deer that live out back, we track them much more easily in the winter when the fields look like the 491 of deer tracks

Have spotted black bear droppings but not seen her yet. Coyotes, wolves, saw a bobcat once
 
We have had evidence of everything in our back yard ... but some say it is circumstantial! Because they didn't see it ... thus it lies there ... like a sublime god of wisdom ... something one has to dig! Tis buried in a bunch of literary devices ....
 
We get a lot of wildlife at our cottage. All the regular birds and squirrels and chipmunks. Have a large herd of deer that live out back, we track them much more easily in the winter when the fields look like the 491 of deer tracks

Have spotted black bear droppings but not seen her yet. Coyotes, wolves, saw a bobcat once

Our cottage has bears but we were always there in the summer when the constant presence of cottagers kept them in more isolated areas and around the dumps. In spring, though, when it's quieter, they have been seen on our property and on the private road that services it. As a consequence, my first sighting of a wild black bear was just last August on our trip to the Applachians when we saw a family (from a safe distance) in Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
 
We have lots of birds in our neighbourhood - which we love. Our very old garage has a small opening in the eves - and we have a pair of sparrows that raises many a nestful from that location where they squeeze in & out. They have occupied this spot for many years now. On the weekend this little young'un was peering at me, quite curious and fearless as I went in out of the garage doing my various chores. We had some pleasant conversation :)
 

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