Max Goes Fishing

As long term readers of this blog are aware, we have cats. And one of our cats, Max, likes to go outside. Pumpkin, our other cat, prefers to remain indoors.

And as cats are non-native predators, we keep Max on a leash whenever we let him enjoy the outside world (and yes we do walk him around the yard). But that doesn't mean he can't get the full sensory experience of our yard.

Max is fascinated by water, any water, other than that in his drinking bowl. Nor the fancy drinking fountain Patty got for him and Pumpkin (since returned). 

And like all cats, he is attracted to movement. So the fish in the pond are a source of continuing fascination. 

And a bit confusing as well. All those things moving around!

He spent quite some time watching. He then drank some of the pond water (yuck!), jumped up onto the deck, and found a sunny spot to relax. Hard work that fish watching.

No Cats nor Fish were harmed in the making of this blog post.

The Not a Warbler Show

My Mom hates squirrels.

I wonder how the birds feel.

🐿  🐿  🐿  🐿  🐿

In my younger days, growing up, a squirrel or squirrels, chewed through the fuel line of my Mom's car while it was parked in the driveway. Dad's car, parked right next to it, was left untouched. And then, when my parents were redoing the kitchen, squirrels had nested in the attic. This in itself was a bad thing (talk radio blasted from a boom box got them to leave, but the damage was done). And one day, when the walls had been removed from the kitchen, a squirrel came crashing down from the attic, onto the kitchen counter, just as my Grandmother was making her breakfast. The resulting commotion, and screams, ensured everyone else was awake that morning.

The squirrel wasn't all that happy either.

Around the Yard

Working from home, which I will be doing until at least next September, I spend quite a bit of time in the yard. Breaks that used to take place in the office lunch room or wandering outside the office building now occur in the yard.

And that's a good thing.

Here's some of what I've been seeing ...

Not a tiny pinecone, but Frass. I've been seeing Frass all about the yard, but I've not been able to find the producers. But it is good to know the caterpillars are there.

I am still seeing caterpillars. This Smartweed Caterpillar is still munching away on the pond reeds.

And Yellow bear Caterpillars ...

... are all over the yard.

Other critters visiting ...

A rather devilish looking White-tailed Deer in the not yet deer fenced area of the yard. Look how skinny it is. It is really quite sad. New Jersey has a deer density that is often greater than 100 deer per square mile. The overpopulation is not good for the deer or the other critters that share the forest. A healthy population, not just for deer but for the entire ecosystem, is one tenth that number (references here and here).

Another Northern Short-tailed Shrew. And another dead shrew. This one likely met its fate at the paws of Max. This is not a good thing. 

Snakes have been slithering about the yard.

This Eastern Garter Snake lives just outside the garage in the back garden.

This snake skin was next to the bench in the Bench Garden.

And I think this tail is that of a Black Racer, which was hanging out by the Fish Pond for several days.

I'll end this episode with one of my favorite yard flowers ...

... Indian Pipe, which is popping up in the woods behind the "Hermitage".

We are very lucky to have such a wonderful property.

Deer

We've started to put a deer fence up around the other half of our property, but hot weather and travel have taken priority over finishing that project.

So we get this.

A White-tailed Deer fawn checking out the trail cam.

It has been stopping by for several days now.

Good news is that the weather is starting to cool. So the rest of the fence will be going up.

And the understory in our woods can return.

Yard Critters of the Week

A Yard Critter twofer! 

Although sadly one est morte (that's French for "is dead"; all that studying in high school finally paid off!).

A Northern Short-tailed Shrew and a beetle, the Roundneck Sexton Beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis.

This is the Shrew (duh!). Patty spotted it a couple of mornings ago at the end of our driveway. Other than the blood about the mouth there are no obvious injuries. 

As with most of the shrews we've seen in the yard, they are dead, And curiously, untouched by other non-insect critters. (There was a live one.) This one has been at the end of the driveway for several days now. But while larger carnivores have ignored it, the insects have not.

Why are they uneaten? Well in the case of this critter one of its defenses is to emit a foul oder when attacked. Stinky! And it seems this critter is venomous. And uses echolocation to find its prey (its small beady not much use underground, where it spends most of its time).

Pretty cool critter, huh?

Now I suppose that stinky odor attracts insects.

Including this Burying Beetle. Today was trash day, and as I was taking this weeks rubbish to the curb (full disclosure, we have no curbs on our road) I noticed the shrew was moving. 

AARRGGHH! A ZOMBIE SHREW!

But it was just this beetle pushing it around. As the name suggests, Burying Beetles tend to dead critters, and help keep the world from being piled high with dead bodies. Once a male beetle finds a dead critter, it emits its own fragrance, attractive to the lady beetles. 

My insect guides state that this is a rather common beetle, and given its distinct coloration, and the dead critters we've had in the yard, I'm surprised I've not seen it before.

But I've seen it now. And it, and the shrew, are the latest additions to the yard critters.

🪲  🐀  🪲  🐀  🪲

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

The Warbler Show

In this episode no new birds but a new critter ...

First up, the Chestnut-sided Warbler returned, and I got much better pix this time.

Here in the heated bird bath (heater not on) with a male American Redstart.

And here on the bicycle.

It was Patty who first spotted it and called it to my attention.

The ubiquitous Tufted Tit[mouse | mice | mouses] enjoying their daily dip.

And the Prothonotary Warbler(s) came by as well. This one with a yummy bug.

Multiple American Redstarts were about the yard. I saw at least three males and five females. Migration seems to be well underway.

And as to the new critter ...

It's am Eastern Gray Squirrel.

The birds were not amused.

Not So Comfy Squirrel

This past Friday afternoon thunderstorms came barreling through the area. And this poor Squirrel seemingly had no place to go.

Its attempt to shelter on this small platform feeder apparently not successful.

Karma for eating all that bird seed.

Comfy Squirrel

These animals are getting very comfortable in the yard of late. First the rabbit. 

And now this Eastern Grey Squirrel.

No doubt full from eating all the bird seed.

My attempt to foil it by using double baffles failed. But I'm trying a new baffle configuration. So we'll see who's boos of the yard. 

(I'm betting on the squirrel ...)

This Is Why. ...

... we need that deer fence.

Looking over the Mini-Meadow like it is some kind of smorgasbord.

I do have the wireless deer fence posts around the Mini-Meadow, it may help, but there are just too many deer.

Mama Bandito

This is the view out my home office window, overlooking the deck, fish pond, out to the woods to the east.  The Redstart was in the Crabapple Tree in the upper right.

The large black rectangle in the lower left is the screen of my work laptop. The small square, just left of center above the deck railing, is a platform bird feeder. And no, that is not the optimal angle for it to be hanging.

Doesn't really seem to bother the birds though.

There is a yard critter who has figured out how to tip the feeder and dump out the goodies.

This critter:

A Northern Raccoon, getting a drink (I think) from the fish pond. I don't think it was after any fish nor the snakes. Up until the last few days it has been very dry around here (the first two images were taken Saturday morning, while it was raining).

Mostly nocturnal, it is unusual to see raccoons out during the day. As this one will flee if approached it is unlikely to be rabid. My researches found that nursing mothers will feed during the day. A likely explanation methinks.

And have I mentioned that if I have to work, (spoiler alert: I do), I much prefer working from home?

Relaxing Rabbit

It has been a bit on the warm side of late. And even the critters are feeling the heat. Like this Eastern Cottontail outside my window, resting in the cool clover.

A friend and (one time) rabbit keeper told me that a rabbit in this relaxed pose feels safe and secure. And judging how they react when I'm out in the yard, they feel pretty comfortable with me about. 

There are several that call our yard home, each with its own comfort zone, five feet being the closest at least one will allow me to approach.

Perhaps to comfortable in our presence, as they have replaced deer as garden menace number one.

Time for a rabbit fence? 

Squirrelly!

This isn't good ...

Despite multiple squirrel baffles one squirrel has figured out how to get to the feeders.

Or maybe this one is just an Olympic class jumper. 

But the gauntlet has been thrown.

To be continued ...

Mouse

We have many mice at our place, although they are rarely seen live. Small and nocturnal, they live their lives mostly unnoticed, with just the occasional glimpse should we disturb them . But generally, it is only in death they make their presence known.

 This one was live, albeit just barely.

Sadly, it had an encounter with Max. And even though we keep Max on a leash and on or close to the deck, this mouse wandered close enough to catch the cat's interest. 

🐭  🐭  🐭  🐭  🐭

We put traps in our attic, our crawl space, and our garage. But seeing this poor critter made me very sad.

“The best laid schemes o' mice an' men"

We keep a small compost bin by our kitchen sink. It was full, so I took it out to our full size compost bins.

And while out there I decide to turn the compost. So I returned the small bin to the kitchen, went and got my work gloves and pitchfork, and got to work.

And eventually this mouse sprang up. It was surprised to see me. I was surprised to see it. Eventually I thought to grab my phone to get a picture. 

Eventually it thought to run away.

Eventually I finished turning the compost, took a shower, had some dinner, had a glass of wine, and wrote a blog post.

I hope the mouse's night turned out just as well. 

Choosy Raccoons ...

I noted in the Long Time No See post that we've not seen Northern Raccoons coming to the peanut butter we put out in our feeder garden.

However, since I've put the trail cam out at the back pond, I've found they visit almost every night.

Now, we did change brands of peanut butter. Do you think that's it?

Midnight at the Oasis

Well, night time at the back pond at least. 

I recently moved the trail cam to the back pond and after several days of nothing finally there were some critters.

One or more Eastern Cottontails made and appearance.

As did the Virginia Opossums.

And while those two critters are welcome in the yard, all long as the rabbit doesn't eat too much, this last one is not.

A non-native Domestic Cat.  This does not bode well for the Timberdoodles.

Pine Vole

One of the best things we did to improve our home is to install sliding glass doors in our living room, overlooking what is now the feeder garden. Full disclosure, it was Patty's idea.

We've been rewarded not only with continuing bird activity.

But other wildlife as well.

Like this Pine Vole.

We've seen this critter before, but never this close. Nor so early in the day. The other sightings mainly at twilight.

It is a cute little critter, but one that maybe we don't want in the garden, as they eat plants from the roots on up. I've seen videos where plants "un-grow", disappearing into the ground.

So far though we've not seen a significant impact on the plants.

We'll be watching. And will do so from the comfort of our living room.

This critter is likely hawk prey, which may be keeping them under control. And our garden intact.