Vole and other rodent control...good for your young trees.

tj

Marsh hawk and crow...
' Social distancing '

Looks like a sharp-shinned hawk to me. Marsh hawks/northern harriers are much larger and aren't typically seen in backyards, seeing as prairies/ meadows/ grasslands/ hay fields are their favored hunting grounds.

The northern harrier is one of my favorite birds because of it's hunting style. It usually flies in an undulating path, dipping low in hopes of frightening prey into moving or breaking cover. Finding no prey, it turns into the wind and uses the wind to help it gain 10-20 ft altitude before it turns and makes another swoop - it's a very graceful bird.

The sharp-shinned hawk on the fence loves to hunt where the table has already been set - bird feeders. It's extremely agile, can turn on as dime, and can fly at speed through brush and tangles you would think a sparrow would have trouble making it's way through.

Sharp-shinned:

On a hard-to-see squirrel:

Happy New Year!

Al

Nice ID Al !
I thought maybe I was seeing a young one through my screen.
Your description of the harrier hawk is spot on. There's some beautiful marshes within walking distance from my house and I've watched that undulating soaring as they follow the shore lines for prey. Awesome to see!
Good call!

Yesterday this one was checking out my bird feeders. He was not very photogenic and left as soon as he sensed movement inside the house. Don't see these during the day too often. He must be hungry after the storm.

:^)

Strange. At a glance, the antlers say 'mule deer', but all the rest of the body features say 'whitetail'. Must be a trick of the camera.

Al

His tines are a little longer than what we would normally call a 'Fork horn' buck. And they were very narrow in spread. But I could see some brow tines near the bottom of the main beams so although the rack is somewhat small, he could be classed as a 6 pointer.

Glad I put protection on my trees this year. :^)

Merry Christmas!

Bill, he's looking for your evergreens.......

haha!

And it's surprising how much they can eat!

With the farmers' fields, we have an abundance of wildlife around town and the geese are flying low over our house almost every day.

Here's a shot from the end of October 2022, along the bike trail in a city park where I live. I had to stop and take a few pictures. They were actually right in the trail and moved towards the water as I approached. The geese live here year-round AFAICT.

Looking SSE.

Looking East.

Looking NNE.

Near my childhood home, there was just under 2,000 acres of marsh land which was managed for free ranging muskrats, mink, and waterfowl. It had a system of dikes and pumps to control water levels. I trapped the rats and mink for the fur farm part of the operation, so I had access to the entire property. Geese love to build their nests on top of muskrat huts; so in spring when they were laying, I'd brave the attack and rob a few eggs to hatch under an incandescent bulb. Geese imprint readily on the first live thing they see after hatching. I've hatched geese that thought the family dog was their mamma, but usually they would imprint on me and follow me everywhere I went. I'd be riding my bike and they would be following me, flying in circles above me because they flew faster than I could make my bike go, and they were there no matter how far I rode. My grandmothers lived near each other in the city, about 17 miles from where I lived. Every Wed or Thu, depending on weather, I would ride my bike to their home to cut their grass and attend to whatever other chores needed doing. The geese followed me there and back, and lazed about in the grass until I was ready to hit the road again. My maternal grandmother always baked bread on Wed, so she would always make me fried dough for lunch. If you've never had fried homemade bread dough, you owe it to yourself to try it one day. She had a big ol' cast iron fry pan she'd fill with lard and fry it in that, then sprinkle it with salt, then we'd butter it while it was hot. My mouth waters at the memory.

After 4-5 years of putting up with the noise at dawn every day and the goose mess in the yard, my parents put their foot down and said 'no more geese'! The year after (I think) I found Vickie, a fox kit that stayed with us for a year or so, but that's another story. We also had a pet woodchuck (Fatso), a pet coon (Roxie), and all sorts of reptilian short term guests to keep us constantly occupied. At our cabin, we had a half dozen chipmunks that were tame enough to go digging in our shirt/ jacket pockets for peanuts or even climb up to take them from behind an ear.

Al

'Geese love to build their nests on top of muskrat huts;'

I never knew that Tapla. Growing up in the big city, I never got acquainted with the wildlife side of things.

I took this picture a few years ago. I thought the geese were just using the hutch as an island to rest.

Great stories Al. I had domestic geese for 22 years that had imprinted on me. They were wonderful pals. I had wild critters too. A chipmunk baby was given to me by a friend. The mom had been killed and he was afraid his cat would get into the box he was keeping it in. I fed it with an eye dropper until the cheek sacs were developed and then I put it in a bird cage outside for a day. The next day I opened the cage door and eventually he left the cage. My job was done. I missed my furry neck scarf but it was the right thing to do. I have aided orphaned rabbits too but the 6 baby skunks were my favorites. They were very cuddly and docile. You get attached.

That fried bread sounds yummy!

"Geese love to build their nests on top of muskrat huts;" I never knew that ..... Same reason the king surrounded his castle with a moat. They feel safe because they can turn back nearly any predator swimming toward the nest. Jeez, even a person in a boat has to be pretty determined to get by mamma and papa goose to get to the nest w/o being bitten or clawed, or both. Still, they're nowhere near as bad, or good - depends on the perspective, as guinea fowl, the watchdogs of the bird world. Now THOSE babies are capital A Aggressive. If you have chickens, it's good to have a few around as they are very protective of the flock against all comers, including humans they don't know.

I found these baby rabbits under a nursery cart loaded with bonsai trees on the lawn. They didn't even move when I moved the cart - lucky I didn't run them over because I didn't know they were there. They have almost no scent at that age, and rely on staying motionless to remain hidden, though it's easy to see mom could've picked a better place to hide them than in the green grass. They stick out like a sore thumb.

So strong is their instinct to freeze, they didn't move when I scratched their heads.

Al

Used to be a muskrat or two along my border stream, but haven't seen any in years. One year a blue heron was camped out just INSIDE the culvert (an 8 ft diameter steel tube) of the border stream that goes underneath the nearest road, and this was just around Christmas w/ice on the stream. Beavers built a dam on my stream and destroyed some of my shrubs and one small tree. Somebody upstream got pissed about the damage, and the beavers got trapped and moved.

PS As seen, sugar maples grow fine along streams.

Damn, these pics are beautiful.

The other night, there was crash against the house.

Went outside and could see where rabbit literally flew across the yard and hit the house. A few feet away, I appeared there was a scuffle in the snow. A little further was drips of blood in the snow. Could've been an owl areal attack but I think he missed it because the tracks continued on to neighbors yard with no further blood.

I found a big patch of rabbit fur beneath the bird feeder this morning. I had snow-blowed a path, so I couldn't see tracks to tell if it was an owl, fox, coyote, cat, hawk, eagle, other.

Al

Friend of squirrel

A number of half-eaten deer carcasses have shown up on or near my lot since last spring. Not sure what's killing them, but I have seen & heard coyotes.

Wondered what the noise was.

This little guy was fighting with his reflection in the patio door glass.

He'll be the alpha male someday. :-)

A 'Flock' of wild turkeys. caught on the trail cam the other day.

:-)

11-9-2023:

A family of Bald Eagles visiting the area in front of the trail cam.

https://avianreport.com/how-to-tell-a-juvenile-golden-eagle-from-a-juvenile-bald-eagle/

:-)

Al

tapla, I can imagine that eagle thinking 'can't a guy get any privacy around here'. ;-)

It had been hit by a car - bounced off the windshield. It's partially recovered in the image. We couldn't reach anyone for help - Dept Natural Resources, cops, bird sanctuary/rehab center, et al. Son and I waited until it was somewhat revived, then tossed a blanket over it and moved it to the roadside. About a half hour after we moved it, it flew off to a nearby pine for additional rest, looking apparently none the worse for wear.

Al

Tough birds for sure.

I have to confess; my pictures are over an old burn pile where I think my grandkids discarded the remnants of deer carcasses they harvested after the early youth hunt a while ago.

We expected to see more coyotes but generally it's been eagles and ravens.

I figured carrion was the reason for the gathering.

Al

Yes, we generally see these big birds eating on the road kills along the highways.

The birds are vulnerable to getting hit by a car themselves as they fly off when cars approach.

This is one reason to keep the total deer population under control, the number of car collisions with deer annually is astounding.

A month or so ago I was on the way home after a long day of fishing. It was early evening and I was pulling a boat along a back-road short-cut a good distance behind an elderly couple I had allowed to go ahead of me at a 4-way stop because I thought I might slow them down. I noticed an eagle on a dead deer on the roadside well ahead and started to slow down to see how things unfolded. The old guy never slowed, so I assume he didn't see the deer or eagle. The bird flew into the air then turned into the wind, bouncing off the guys windshield. Still, no brake lights and the eagle flew off toward the edge of a woodlot about a half-mile's distance. About 100 yards further up the road, the guy locked up the brakes, and stopped in the middle of the road. I stopped and waited, but he just sat there. Eventually, I pulled around him and continued on my way. The only thing I could figure was he suddenly stopped to drag the deer off the road. Fishing was so good I went the next morning. I watched for the deer but someone had moved it, so I'm guessing it was the old guy. In case you wonder, this was a separate incident, unrelated to the picture I posted above.

Al

An area of Rt 68 near me annually in autumn looks like a war-zone with all the deer roadkills.

Musings: Typically the rut peaks in Michigan's lower peninsula during the first 3 weeks of November, about a week later in Michigan's more northerly upper peninsula, even though most hunters/people think the rut starts earlier in more northerly climes. Timing of the rut is determined by natural selection. Fawns dropped too early often die of exposure, so the later spring arrives in any given area, the later the rut will be.

During the rutting period, bucks whose situational awareness has been diluted by the testosterone coursing through their veins chase does not yet in full estrus and often in a panic to escape their single-minded pursuers, until their own hormones kick in and they are ready to stand (be bred).

In high density deer areas where does often outnumber bucks at more than a 10:1 ratio, not all does are bred during their first (of the year) estrus cycle. This keeps the bucks active and looking for does for as long as 3 months, until the increasing length of the dark period, measured by way of the deer's pineal gland, shuts off the hormonal spigot and activity turns to normal or survival mode depending on the deer's geographical location.

Every year I notice significant upticks in the number of road-killed deer from late October to about Thanksgiving, then again in spring when melting show at roadsides often hold a monopoly on the first source of fresh greenery, which pulls deer like a magnet.

Al

This has been in some ways, the least destructive from the deer. Certainly, in terms of the autumn rut..., so far. But they were eating stuff a couple of months ago that amazed me. It was still mild and green and yet they had eaten many of my potted palms; they NEVER did that before. This year, the raccoons outdid them in destruction. A family of raccoons got into a garage of mine and absolutely trashed it. They must have opposible thumbs now, they opened up drawers and cabinets and removed the contents. When I first saw the damage, I was ready to blame the Homo sapiens for the vandalism. Amazing!

41 North, deer on my brother's lot eat off all the tops of the wild blackberry shoots, thorns and all.

North I would bet it was a fawn(s) eating your palms. They are indiscriminate little pigs and want to try everything. Last year for the first time ever after growing Aruncus dioicus for decades it got sampled along with Polygonatum that they apparently enjoyed much more. Those masked bandits really went to town on your garage from the sound of it. Devils!

10-29-2024:

My first sighting of these in town yesterday at my bird feeder.

Pileated woodpecker.

Nice shot, Bill!

That's a big bird! So much bigger than the cute little Downy woodpeckers we have.

Almost the size of a Raven, it's the largest extant woodpecker in North America and they may get comfortable coming to a feeder if not disturbed.

Looks like I'd better pick up another sack or two of bird food. ;-)

Their most favored winter treat is real beef suet, the hard fatty part of the cow surrounding the kidneys and around the loins. My son lives in a geodesic home with a surrounding deck 18 ft above the forest floor. To keep suet feeders filled, we buy excess suet from a livestock processing facility in fall, cut it into smaller 2" thick chunks, then freeze in 2 gallon freezer bags. They also favor peanuts.

Al

Bill, that's a female piliated woodpecker as it doesn't have the red streak on cheek. One chopped up a bay-window frame when I lived in VA long ago and window had to be replaced.

Unlike the similar but extinct ivory-billed woodpecker, this woodpecker has thrived and is everywhere.

Thanks beng!

The Imperial woodpecker of Mexico (Campephilus imperialis) also thought to be extinct, would make the Pileated woodpecker possibly the largest woodpecker in the world.

And yes, I see the Pileated almost every year, when out in my wildlife observation tower.

They emit an assortment of chirrups and calls, some very subtle. Watching them tear into a trunk of a large dead tree, <30 ft. away is a real treat.

Work of a piliated woodpecker on a dead basswood (but there are living sprouts from it surrounding the dead part). Look at the amount of "sawdust" on the ground.

While living in VA, I saw one in winter on the ground chopping into a fallen log. After it left, I went and looked at the log, and the chopped up part was littered w/frozen carpenter ants! It had discovered and chopped open a big carpenter ant nest and feasted on them.

They can move a lot of wood and how they know exactly where those nests are located is beyond my understanding.

Oh, the parroted description of their beak being chisel like is most likely written by people that don't know what a chisel actually looks like. The Pileated WP has a pointed beak much like all the other woodpeckers in the world, although it looks like a jackhammer with chips flying when they're hard at work. ;-)

The Turkish doves are making regular appearances.

(Streptopelia Decacoto)

At first they were quite squeamish but are getting used to us.

The ring neck doves are back.

I keep watching for them, but no joy as of yet.

Al

Wow, that's a handsome dove. A pair of mourning doves nest every year in my green giant row along the road. One year I was close to their nest, and one (prb'ly the female) came out and did the fake-injury act on the ground, trying to lead me away from the nest area.

I had a sharp shinned hawk landed on the feeders the other day.

I didn't get a picture, and he wasn't there for bird seeds.

4-7-2026:

The redwing black birds are back.

The ever expanding branches of my sugar maple are a bird favorite here.

These were waiting in the wings, no pun intended.

There were this many on the bird feeders so it gets a little crowded at times but most birds a polite enough to wait their turn.

;-)